Here is my reading list from 2020.
I post this up here in the tradition of what I’ve done the last few years. (See 2017, 2018, 2019 here.)
- Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21 by Rosa Koire
- Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes to Improve, Your Health, Wealth and Happiness by S.J. Scott
- The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Use And What To Do About It by Marcia Angell, M.D.
- Hoodwinked: An Economic Hitman Reveals Why the Global Economy Imploded – And How to Remake Them by John Perkins
- American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
- The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins
- Propaganda by Edward Bernays
- Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired: Solutions for a Better, Healthier Life by Russell Jones
- War is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler
- The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs the Masters of the Universe by Matt Kennard
- The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World by John Perkins
- Shape Shifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation by John Perkins
- The System and Revolution by V.A. Shiva
- Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
- The Smear: How Shady Political Operative and Fakes News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote by Sharyl Attkisson
- Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays
- Entering the Shift Age: The End of the Information Age and the New Era of Transformation by David Houle
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You by Patrick McKeown
- Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
- Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington
- Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World by Scott Harrison
- Fauci: The Bernie Madoff of Science and the HIV Ponzi Scheme that Concealed the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic by Charles Ortleb
- Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez
- Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science by Dr. Judy Mikovitz & Kent Heckenlively, JD
- Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma has Corrupted Healthcare by Peter C Gotzsche
- You Are Enough: Revealing the Soul to Discover Your Power, Potential, and Possibility by Panache Desai
- Common Sense by Thomas Paine
- The Man Who Could Fly: St. Joseph of Copertino and the Mystery of Levitation by Michael Grosso
- Influx by Daniel Suarez
- No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy by Linsey McGoey
- The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Peter Rost MD
- The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It by Warren Farrell, PhD and John Gray, PhD
- This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsey
- The Official U.S. Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare Handbook: Guerrilla Warfare, Resistance & Insurgency
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
- Change Agent by Daniel Suarez
- Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen
- Spark: Take Your Business From Struggle to Significance by David A. Hilton
- Touching the Jaguar: Transforming Fear into Action to Change Your Life and the World by John Perkins
- Soul-Centered Healing: A Psychologist’s Extraordinary Journey into the Realms of Sub-Personalities, Spirits, and Past Lives by Thomas Zinser, Ed.D.
- Unrestricted Warfare: Translated from the Original People’s Liberation Army Documents by Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui
- The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America by Allan M. Brandt
- Creating a Private Foundation: The Essential Guide for Donors and Their Advisors by Roger D. Silk and James W. Lintott
- King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
- Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
- Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five by John Medina
- Li Qingyun: Longevity Methods of a 250-Year-Old Taoist Immortal by Stuart Alve Olson
- The Carnivore Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Returning to Our Ancestral Diet by Paul Saladino MD
- Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World by Adam LeBor
- Finding a New Normal: Permission to be Real in Your Grief by Ray Leight
- The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care – And How to Fix It by Marty Makary, MD
- Detox Declutter Dominate: How to Excel by Elimination by Perry Marshall and Robert Skrob
- The Elixir of Immortality: A Modern-Day Alchemist’s Discovery of the Philosopher’s Stone by Robert E. Cox
- Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump by Michael Cohen
- I Choose to Live: On 29 May 1996 Sabine Dardenne was Kidnapped by Marc Dutroux. She was Twelve Years Old by Sabine Dardenne
- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
- The Ultimate Isometrics Manual: Building Maximum Strength and Conditioning with Static Training by Paul “Coach” Wade
- The Practice of Soul-Centered Healing: Vol. 1 Protocols and Procedures by Thomas Zinser, Ed.D.
- Gone in 20 Minutes: Helping People Nationwide Like You Recover From Their House Fire Disasters by Dick Emerine, PhD
- The Serpent on the Staff: The Unhealthy Politics of the American Medical Association by Howard Wolinsky & Tom Brune
- The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben: The Unholy Alliance Between Hitler and the Great Chemical Combine by Joseph Borkin
- The Scrum Fieldbook: A Master Class on Accelerating Performance, Getting Results, and Defining the Future by J.J. Sutherland
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
- Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
- Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley
- Renegade Millionaire: 7 Secrets to Extreme Wealth, Autonomy and Entrepreneurial Success by Dan S. Kennedy with Lee Milteer
- Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in American by Richard E. Brown
- Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism by Sharyl Attkisson
- Not For Sale by Operation Underground Railroad
- How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
- The Complete I Ching by Taoist Master Alfred Huang
- The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse by Dale Pendell
Some Details About My Reading This Year
At 73 books I read less than the previous year. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. I think many of these books are significantly bigger than previously. The 1,311-page Tragedy & Hope being the biggest of the bunch, but plenty 400 and 500 page books too.
In addition, with the pandemic I was doing more online research and a bit less in reading books, which I would say is the main reason my total was less.
On top of this were life events such as my home burning down and moving out of state that took up my time.
But there was good news in that. I never replaced my TV, so my reading time increased towards the end of the year. (From #50 on was all in just the last three months of the year.)
I would love to dig into the many great books I read but will not be spending that much time on it this year. Too many other pressing projects. Still I’ll give a little bit…
Top 12 for Expanding My Worldview
I will give a Top 12 List for understanding how the world really works:
- The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. This I re-read leading up to my interview with Perkins. Great place to start as he’s also a great writer.
- The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs the Masters of the Universe by Matt Kennard. Very similar to the John Perkins book but from a journalist and covering more current events.
- The Smear: How Shady Political Operative and Fakes News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote by Sharyl Attkisson. All three of Attkisson’s books are well worth reading. Doing so will give you a good understanding of how news is broken, especially why it’s gotten so much worse in in the last two decades.
- Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma has Corrupted Healthcare by Peter C Gotzsche. If you read one book on the subject of Big Pharma’s criminal actions, this is probably the definitive text. It’s what I read that really gave me the strong hypothesis that Big Pharma actually operates as a criminal cartel.
- No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy by Linsey McGoey. It’s interesting that any criticism of Bill Gates is now thought of as far-right conspiracy theory. But it’s not true. There are very legitimate reasons to criticize this billionaire. I borrowed heavily from this book for this article here – Non-Conspiracy Criticism of Gates Foundation
- Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen. Operation Paperclip is one of the well-known and disclosed conspiracy theories. It’s when the US government brought over Nazi scientists, including war criminals to the USA and covered their tracks. This was even discussed in one of the Avengers movies. Nazism didn’t so much die as it went underground. The consequences of such are darker than any neo-nazi thing going on today in my opinion.
- Unrestricted Warfare: Translated from the Original People’s Liberation Army Documents by Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui. Information warfare. Scientific warfare. Narrative warfare. I’ve talked about the Battleground for Your Mind. This book written by Chinese Communist Party members shows the evolution of wartime thinking and strategy helping to inform what’s occurring today. Parts of it are a slog but other parts let you understand how war is waged today and we’re actively in it.
- The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America by Allan M. Brandt. Understanding how industry captured science and politics is essential understanding. Big Tobacco were the pioneers. I’m working on a report that distills down this information. This is the definitive history on the subject.
- Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World by Adam LeBor. The Bank of International Settlements is one of the most important banks in the world…that next to no one knows anything about. Deep ties with Nazi’s, including laundering gold stolen from countries and the teeth of concentration camp victims. The BIS is literally structured beyond any national government…and not transparent at all. Learn the history here. (More Nazism going underground. This book specifically mentions the Redhouse Meeting which is chilling and something I’ll definitely cover in the future more so.)
- The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben: The Unholy Alliance Between Hitler and the Great Chemical Combine by Joseph Borkin. I.G. Farben was a chemical conglomerate that was responsible for Hitler’s War Machine. After WW2 they were broken up into smaller companies…but not really. These companies still exist making up agricultural, chemical and pharmaceutical giants (Bayer is one). Nazism becoming corporatism.
- Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer. Understand how the Koch Brothers used their money to make more money and manipulate, well, just about everything. Shows the history and outcomes of the Kochtopus. Recognize that this is just one powerful group making use of these tactics.
- Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley. A history of the world from before WW1 through to the Cold War. Fascinating overview which includes the paradigms, the systems that led to many things such as the rise of Hitler. Does not shy away from known conspiracies either like Rhodes and the Round Table groups.
It’s important to realize that no one book will give you everything you need to know. Instead it is best to look at each as a lens through which to get a view on a particular area. And that lens likely comes with some of it’s own baggage, even ideology that can distort other lenses.
Favorite Novels
I was going to say, let’s end on a more positive note, but in a way this fiction is just as dark! I’ll mention two of my favorites here, very different from each other.
Influx by Daniel Suarez – Suarez is one of my favorite sci-fi writers. This story involves a Bureau of Technology Control that keeps powerful and disruptive technologies from the public. We know there are some hidden technologies by our governments. The question is how far does it go? This book takes those concepts and runs far with them.
The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse by Dale Pendell – This book is about a pandemic that starts in 2021. It was written in 2010. It’s an odd book in its structure, telling stories across the span of time. Some from right after the pandemic (this one being actually very deadly). Others centuries and millennia afterwards. It stretches the mind to see civilization collapse and spring up again in ways that show the cycles repeating.
Your Turn
If you have any questions about any of these books go ahead and ask them in the comments below.
Also please share your top one or two books that you read last year.
2 books read this year that were partiularly impactful:
Apocalypse Never – Michael Schellenberger (Expose of unintended effects of certain kinds of environmental activism, as well as a defense of nuclear energy)
Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning – Timothy Snyder (Title says it all)
I’ve heard of the former but haven’t read either of those.
Bro, a couple of years ago I started keeping up with the books I read each year. It started doing that because I saw you doing it. So thanks for the challenge. I don’t guess I’ve ever told you about that.
Two of my many faves from last year were:
Anti-fragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Moving Mountains by John Eldridge
I think I need to do a post similar to yours. It encouraged me to step up my reading, and I can pass the torch!
Thanks for posting this bud. I’ve added several of yours to my list of books to read.
Glad to inspire. I love Anti-fragile. I’ve read one of Eldridge’s other books but not that one.
Lessons from history – William Durant.
the 100 odd page ‘lessons of’ is enough to rewrite most modern narrative. You can’t discredit true history. Interest rate in Sumaria was 16%. Egypt had PI at 3.14 .. modern times hasn’t moved those margins far.
Nice. Somehow that one wasn’t on my radar.
2 of my all time top 5:
Napolean Hill, Outwitting the Devil.
Candance Pert, Molecule’s of Emotion if you can ignore some of her feminist rants.
Don’t laugh, one of may favorites from last year was The Glute Lab from Brett Contreas. Certainly not one of the greatest I have ever read but a really good book.
Just started on Hacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, you would probably like that one.
I thought Outwitting the Devil was probably the best of Hill’s work or at least a close second to TGR. Hacking the American Mind does sound up my alley.