20 Books to Make You a Better Person in 2020
Oh, January, the magical time of year that inspires change—when you vow to get six-pack abs before pool season, you promise to stop binge-drinking, and you set a goal to read more books because some guy on the internet said that reading is good for you. You start the year with so much hope and optimism, ready to become the person you’ve always wanted to be—but then life happens. You can’t find parking because the gym is overcrowded, you can’t say no to the birthday girl at bottomless mimosa brunch, and you have no idea which books are worth spending the time to read and which would better be used as toilet paper. Beyond mixing laxatives with the gym’s water supply, I have no idea how to solve the parking problem, and I have no intention of ripping those mimosas out of your cold, drunk hands—you’ve earned them, after all—but I can help you with that third thing.
As a writer-by-trade and reader-for-pleasure, I believe any book you read can make you a better person. No matter what you choose or how you choose to read it (yes, listening to audiobooks counts as reading), books tend to increase your empathy, give you new ideas, and stimulate your mind. Reading 30 minutes every morning is how I kickstart my brain, relieve stress, and boost my productivity.
Last year, I wrote a blog post titled “19 Mentally Stimulating Books to Read in 2019.” Some of those books ended up on the following list, but I discovered most of these within the last year. I also recycled some of the reviews I wrote because I can’t plagiarize myself, can I?
Before you glance at the book titles, close your browser, and order another round of mimosas, I encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone this year and for the years to come. Reading and thinking about words you disagree with, digesting ideas that make you uncomfortable, exploring subject matter you were taught to fear—that’s how you become a better person.
Because I value honesty, this list only contains recommendations for books I’ve read. They may not be right for you, but each one gave me a total brain-boner (sorry, mom). Regardless of what you’re looking to improve, I think you’ll find something for you on this list. Some of these books will increase your knowledge of the world. Others will encourage you to change your way of thinking. They might even help you stop making excuses for why you can’t work out. Plus, it’s a hell of a lot harder to guzzle three bottles of champagne with a book in your hand. I know this from experience.
I’ve done my best to organize the books by category for easy browsing. If you end up buying one or two of these suckers based on my recommendation, do me a favor and purchase them through the provided links. The affiliate revenue is what keeps this website alive. Enjoy!
To Make You a Better Critical Thinker…
1. The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How To Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake by Steven Novella
If you only read one book this year, make it the Holy Bible. Just kidding, make it The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. Did the last two sentences make you angry? Congratulations, you may be suffering from self-serving assumptions of moral superiority! Perhaps if I had said “make it the Quran” or “make it the Torah” you would have reacted differently.
Wait, don’t leave. I’m not using you as an example to spite you. We all suffer from cognitive bias and motivated reasoning. We think we’re right all the time. Most of us agree with what we were taught as children. We choose to go with our gut instinct instead of hard data when evaluating what’s true. But the brain is an imperfect machine and can’t always be trusted. For example, check this shit out…
“A 2015 study by Julia Shaw and Stephen Porter found that many adults can be convinced that they committed a nonexistent crime after just three hours of interrogation by police.”
Steven Novella, a clinical neurologist and assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine (in other words, one smart motherfucker), packed this guide with tons of interesting facts and helpful information. The back cover of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe explains the merits of reading this book more eloquently than I ever could:
“It's intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). But, by thinking skeptically and logically, we can combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments and superstitious thinking. It's difficult, and takes a lot of vigilance, but it's worth the effort.”
I challenge you to put in the effort.
To Help You Change Your Habits…
2. Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness by S.J. Scott
With a title like that, this book is clearly a good choice for anyone who wants to get their proverbial shit together. Scott's method for creating new habits involves taking a habit you already have (like brushing your teeth, hopefully) and stacking other habits on top of it (let's say flossing, just in case you don't do that already). By attaching new habits to old habits, the idea is that the new habits are more likely to stick. Whether that's true or not, this book still has plenty of ideas for small habits that make a big difference.
3. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by William H. McRaven
It only took me an hour to read this book, but that's okay. An hour is all you need to be inspired by the words of William H. McRaven, former Navy Seal and current badass author and public speaker. Filled with personal anecdotes and life advice, Make Your Bed argues that big changes start with tiny actions. Accomplishing one small victory (even just making your bed) at the beginning of the day can have a profound effect on everything else that you do. Maybe your one small victory should be reading this book.
4. Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus
Most of us are addicted to consumption. In our nonstop pursuit of the American Dream, we buy things we can’t afford with money we don’t have, our wallets empty to fill our oversized homes, and our garages become trash heaps—piled with things we once “loved” but that we’ll never use again. Still, there’s never enough to make us happy. No matter what we acquire, we always want more, more, more! Reading this book is a great first step to take if you want to free yourself from the shackles of consumerism and live a life filled with meaning instead of junk.
To Make You a Better Historian…
5. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
This is probably the most intellectually stimulating book that I’ve read in recent years, not only because of its subject matter but also because of its scope. Strap in as Harari takes you on a journey from the beginning of time to the present day, exploring history through a variety of natural science lenses—including evolutionary biology. I found myself highlighting tons of interesting facts and reading those facts to my fiancée over and over until she said, “shut up, I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy.” Here's something to chew on...
"More than 90 percent of all money — more than $50 trillion appearing in our accounts — exists only on computer servers."
Yep...if an EMP hits and Earth's computers crash, the entire economy will crumble. I recommend this book to anyone wants to brush up on their world history, particularly as it relates to homo sapiens and our shenanigans.
To Make You a Better Futurist…
6. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
This follow-up to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind takes a similar approach but focuses on where humanity might go in the years to come. Based on what humans have accomplished so far and how we stand in the 21st century, this book attempts to paint a picture of what the future might hold for our species. It covers many philosophical issues, including human experience, individualism, human emotion, and consciousness. By reading this book, you can get smarter, think harder, AND freak out about humans turning into cyborgs all at once!
7. A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers
The only fictional work on this list, A People’s Future of the United States contains 25 short stories that imagine what the future might hold should we continue down the political, social, and economic paths we tread today. From bleak dystopias to worlds governed by peace and equality, the settings of these stories are bound to make you think about what kind of future you want to fight for.
To Make You a Better Citizen of Earth…
8. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
This Pulitzer Prize-winning book explores five mass extinction events throughout history and argues that we are in the midst of another one. However, it's not an asteroid or ice age causing this sixth extinction...dun dun dun...it's us! Throughout history, homo sapiens have been the bane of other species (we even wiped out our closest relative, the neanderthals), but never before has biodiversity been so directly affected by what we do. Kolbert doesn't preach the virtues of eating a meatless diet or driving an electric car. She simply offers understandable, peer-reviewed science about how humans are affecting the flora and fauna of the world we live in. Some of you won’t read this book because you think climate change is a myth and that millennials should go fuck themselves with a piece of avocado toast. If that’s the case, please read The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe first.
9. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
I read The World Without Us to learn what might happen to highways and cityscapes centuries after an apocalyptic event, which helped me with world-building for my upcoming science fiction novel. Written by journalist Alan Weisman, this well-researched work of non-fiction envisions a future where humanity has disappeared. It takes a data-driven approach to explore how we affect the planet while instilling an appreciation for how the planet affects each of us. The overall message is simple yet bold: “Without us, Earth will abide and endure; without her, however, we could not even be.”
To Make You Less F*cked Up…
10. Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions by Russel Brand
Whether you suffer from addictions yourself or you have a loved one who does, this witty and introspective work by comedian Russel Brand will help you understand the intricacies of addiction—and make you laugh along the way.
“Addiction is when natural biological imperatives, like the need for food, sex, relaxation or status, become prioritised to the point of destructiveness. It is exacerbated by a culture that understandably exploits this mechanic as it's a damn good way to sell Mars bars and Toyotas.”
11. Unf*ck Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life by Gary John Bishop
This is a bullshit-free guide to changing your life for the better. While many self-help books preach the virtues of positive thought, Bishop argues the following: “You change your life by doing, not by thinking about doing.”
To Make You Superhuman…
12. Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal
There is a movement happening in the shadows of humanity. People everywhere are turning toward altered states of consciousness to unlock boosted focus and creativity in their daily lives. The Greeks called this flow state ecstasis, the act of “stepping beyond oneself.” In Stealing Fire, learn how the ecstatic movement is spreading through various fields—and how anyone can harness the power of ecstasis through meditation, exercise, technology, and drugs.
To Make You a Better Artist…
13. The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield
Going through life as an artist can be rough. We experience things differently, and the world doesn’t often work how we think it should. This concise philosophical guide explores what it means to be an artist and, more importantly, what it means to be your true self.
To Make You a Better Entrepreneur…
14. The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
Composed of well-researched case studies on small businesses, The $100 Startup is filled with information and actionable advice for anyone trying to start a business with little or no capital. If you value freedom, if you’re tired of living someone else’s life, if you want to give your boss the finger, get on a plane to the Caribbean, and never come back—this book might be for you.
15. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
If you want the secret recipe for what it takes to lead and inspire others, look no further. In this book, Sinek argues that all great leaders—from political revolutionaries to tech giants—have one thing in common; they start with why.
“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”
If you don’t have time to read Start With Why, you should at least watch the Ted Talk.
To Make You a Better Revolutionary…
16. Where We Go From Here by Bernie Sanders
“Wait a sec,” you’re thinking, “why on Earth would I read a book by a socialist?” When people hear the word “socialist,” they sometimes think “evil Soviet communist who wants to destroy America.” I get it. It’s easy to fear what you don’t understand. When polled by Gallup in 2018 about the meaning of socialism, nearly a quarter of Americans couldn’t answer the question—and 6% understood socialism as “talking to people, being social, social media, getting along with people.” Yikes! You can learn how socialism became such a dirty, misunderstood word by watching this video.
Politics are complicated, and I’m not here to tell you who to vote for, but I do know that Bernie Sanders has been fighting for social justice nearly twice as long as I’ve been alive. He’s a smart guy with a lot to say about the political climate in America today. And as far his plans to destroy the United States go, all he wants is “a government that works for all, not just wealthy campaign contributors.” That’s something worth reading about.
17. The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang
Jobs are disappearing, the economy is changing, and robots are coming to destroy us all. Okay, not really, but robots and AIs are taking over jobs you didn’t even know they could do—like being your therapist, for instance. In this book, take a deep dive into the crises of the working class with Andrew Yang. You’ll learn how the free market rewards efficiency above all else, why that’s not good for human beings, and what we might do to fix it.
To Make You More Confident and Hopeful…
18. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Unlike most self-help books, this book doesn’t preach sunshine, positivity, and unicorn farts. Quite the contrary, actually. Mark Manson’s irreverent tone and witty commentary bring an unorthodox yet extremely satisfying approach to the genre. His advice gets straight to the point, whether you’re willing to digest that point or not.
“You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a fuck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice—well, then you’re going to get fucked.”
See? He doesn’t sugar-coat or unicorn-fart anything.
19. Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson
We live in prosperous and technologically advanced times, but the world is still plagued with violence, intolerance, and hate. We, the hopeless, search fruitlessly for hope that things could be better. In Everything Is F*cked, Manson uses his signature mix of psychological reasoning and irreverent humor to challenge the hopeless:
“Don't hope for better. Just be better. Be something better. Be more compassionate, more resilient, more humble, more disciplined. [...] Be a better human.”
To Make the Author of This Blog Post Smile…
The Last Safe Place: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller by yours truly, Andy Gorman
I don’t know if the novel I wrote will make you a better person, but you might find the premise fascinating…
Kapp Adams—a bionic astronaut forced into early retirement after a crash landing—spends his days drinking and womanizing in Las Vegas. Jaded by life on Earth, he jumps at the opportunity to return to space and soon embarks on the mission of a lifetime—to investigate a strange object discovered on the Martian moon Phobos. Upon waking from stasis eight months into the mission, Kapp discovers that all is not right on board. From system failures to sabotage, he and the crew must conquer the dangers of outer space to stay alive and complete their mission. Hopelessly stranded, they choose to risk everything for a chance to get back home. But returning to Earth isn’t the biggest challenge they face…it’s what they encounter when they arrive.
The Last Safe Place is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller where life itself hangs in the balance. Fantastic yet familiar, the near-future setting touches on everything from nanotechnology & genetic engineering to cyborgs, aliens & artificial intelligence. This novel is perfect for avid fans of science fiction, but it’s still accessible to readers new to the genre.