Ok. Here goes.

I track all my books at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK. I am going to go through the list and talk about the books I read in 2020 that struck me. Hopefully this won’t be 55 tweets long.

The first book I read in 2020 was this book about punk rock I think recommended by @dansinker

I love books about music and especially music that I enjoy. I learned a lot reading this book and it introduced me to a number of bands. Was fun.

https://t.co/VGpVabzKEQ
I will read anything by Ken Liu. This collections is wonderful. The story “The Paper Menagerie” broke my heart. I loved it so so much.

https://t.co/bsXUieugXL
A friend recommended Infinite Detail and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often think about the techno utopian world that we have build and what will happen in the future. This book details a very bizarre and weird future building on a lot of those ideals.

https://t.co/YC4yg4swAd
I loved reading this book. I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Simpson before - but really enjoyed her autobiography. Who knew!

https://t.co/ESyCTp7Q3s
I found this book to be unsettling. I recommended it to some friends. They also found it unsettling.

https://t.co/c79FCT3LCZ
I quite enjoyed this book. I typically don’t like it when people are named “harper.” This book was solid. I love sci-fi like this.

https://t.co/VwkfI3TpAm
A friend recommended this book and I had always wondered about Warhol. It is an incredible book. I read this book for what felt like 2 years. That may have just been 2020 tho. @BlakeGopnik did a wonderful thing with this book.

https://t.co/MkCp9JLguK
I will read every murderbot book that is released. @marthawells1 has done an amazing job of creating one of my favorite series of books

https://t.co/g4FbKxkVd9
I adored this play. A friend had recommended this and I am glad I read it. I always spend a lot of time learning about the authors of the books that I read and It is so sad that she had such a short life.

https://t.co/Zygv3AmqBY
This was one of my favorite books of 2020. The was a beautiful and haunting tale. Can’t wait to read more of @mieko_kawakami’s books.

https://t.co/pS6wTpT0em
This book blew my mind. Mostly because it was such a different idea. Such a scary book.

https://t.co/xvyJlnt0jy
I love the lady astronaut books. @MaryRobinette has done such an amazing job of building a world that Ilove. All of the Lady Astronaut books are amazing and fun. I highly recommend them.

https://t.co/jDpDLEFnO6
Reading Weather was such a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it. I found it haunting and magical.

https://t.co/xTdvVY9GXG
My friend @sewellchan recommended I read this book. I am so so glad I did. It simultaneously made me hopeful for the U.S. and scared for our future.

If you have any questions about why and how for the U.S. I recommend that you read this.

https://t.co/vDm32jeNmc
I really liked @intelwire’s book. It is another example of a world that could exist if we just keep things going how they are going now. It isn’t ideal.

Read the book tho. Especially if you are in ad buying ;)

https://t.co/waXlKpD498
This was a random book I read. I reallllllly liked it. It was like reading a spy movie. Almost unbelievable! But it is real! So so good.

https://t.co/PoMHxC4aNU
I am often looking for books that give me an atmospheric feeling. I find that Kazuo Ishiguro books always give me that atmospheric vibe.

A pale view of the hills is such a book. It is much different than his later books, and still so dark and strong.

https://t.co/8UNgx1lJA0
I loved reading this book by @xrw. It gave me inspiration, excitement and hope for our world.

It made me hungry for tasty food in far away locales.

I can’t wait to travel again.

https://t.co/H6lG0muN8L
I read this book to understand Goya. These artist biographies are long af. I now know way more about Goya that I ever wanted to. I just wanted to know why and how he painted his Saturn Devouring His Son painting. And the author is like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lol

https://t.co/nDgC1chPq6
I have had the paper version of this book on my coffee table for years. I reread the first essay often. I have never completely finished the second essay (no idea why)

I spent some time deliberately finishing the second essay and am very happy I did.

https://t.co/3SC2Hu6X6C
I don’t have any idea how I found this, but I loved it! I ended up staying up super late to finish it.

https://t.co/3DWw5ZQTvb
My brother suggested I would like this book. I devoured it and the second book as well. Such a nice universe and setting. Recommend!

https://t.co/9DS6Z9CSxd
All in all I read about 55 books this year. Mostly fiction. Some biographies. A few history.

It was all wonderful. You can see the full list at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK

Post your favs from 2020! I need recommendations!

More from Culture

Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.

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I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.


I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖

Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W


Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela


The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.


One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.


Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"