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<h1><a href="../">Noon van der Silk</a></h1>
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<a href="../about.html">About</a>
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<h2>2020 Books</h2>
<div class="info">
Posted on February 14, 2021
by Noon van der Silk
</div>
<style type="text/css">
div.book {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
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<p>Continuing the tradition <a href="../posts/2019-01-03-2018-books.html">started in 2018</a>,
continued in 2019 <a href="https://braneshop.com.au/posts/2019-Books.html">over on the Braneshop
blog</a>, I was
reminded I haven’t posted the books I read in 2020 yet.</p>
<p>So, here we are:</p>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/how-long-til-black-future-month.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/40855636-how-long-til-black-future-month">How Long ’til Black Future Month?</a></strong> by Jemisin, N.K.</p>
<p>As a big fan of N.K. Jemisin I just wanted to read more of what she’d written.
This is good for that; it’s a really nice dip-in to the worlds she has created
and leaves you wanting more!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/gravitys-century.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/40010687-gravity-s-century">Gravity’s Century: From Einstein’s Eclipse to Images of Black Holes</a></strong> by Cowen, Ron</p>
<p>Pretty good. This was a nice history of black holes and an introduction to
some of the pressing issues presently.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-cloudspotters-guide.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/174372.The_Cloudspotter_s_Guide">The Cloudspotter’s Guide</a></strong> by Pretor-Pinney, Gavin</p>
<p>I picked this up after starting (but not finishing) <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8474155-the-wavewatcher-s-companion">The Wavewatcher’s
Companion</a>,
which I found to be hilarious. This book was not as funny, but was still
pretty good. Gavin has a very nice way of appreciating the world.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/altruism.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/22208239-altruism">Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World</a></strong> by Ricard, Matthieu</p>
<p>I really quite enjoyed this book, and infact wrote a longer review over on the
<a href="https://betweenbooks.com.au/reviews/2020/altruism-matthieu-ricard-2015.html">Between
Books</a>
website.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/girl-woman-other.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/41081373-girl-woman-other">Girl, Woman, Other</a></strong> by Evaristo, Bernardine</p>
<p>A nice collection of stories featuring different women and how their lives
intersect. I think it’s quite nice to get so many stories from the everyday
lives of women; especially for me, for whom it’s a bit unknown territory.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-white-album.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/421.The_White_Album">The White Album</a></strong> by Didion, Joan</p>
<p>The first Joan Didion book I’ve read. She’s very famous of course; and I don’t
know. It was good to read; but was it objectionably good? Maybe. It’s at least
nice to know a bit about her life and how she writes. I’ll probably read more.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/mullumbimby.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/17319691-mullumbimby">Mullumbimby</a></strong> by Lucashenko, Melissa</p>
<p>I quite enjoyed this story. It’s also the first time I’ve read a modern
fictional Australian indigenous-centered story. Will be on the look out for
more books of this kind! Came up as part of the <a href="https://ochouse.com.au/">OC
House</a> bookclub, I think.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/down-girl.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/34640834-down-girl">Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny</a></strong> by Manne, Kate</p>
<p>This book is amazing. I found it to be written in a bit of an academic-y
style; so it can be a bit dense, but it does an amazing job of framing what
misogyny is and how it is present in all aspects of society.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/unfree-speech.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/49964359-unfree-speech">Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act, Now</a></strong> by Wong, Joshua</p>
<p>This is a nice short history of free speech and how China is taking over Hong
Kong. It was interesting to read about how they attempted to make some large
changes to their democracy through grass-roots organisation. In some ways
quite inspiring, but also a reality check that it isn’t easy to defeat power.
Worth a read.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/a-month-in-siena.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/43783430-a-month-in-siena">A Month in Siena</a></strong> by Matar, Hisham</p>
<p>This was just a nice simple book about someone getting amongst life in a new
town. In many ways I think this kind of experience is how many people wish
their holidays to go: meeting some nice stranger, integrating into the
community, and just appreciating the joy of life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-weil-conjectures.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/41940441-the-weil-conjectures">The Weil Conjectures: On Math and the Pursuit of the Unknown</a></strong> by Olsson, Karen</p>
<p>I can’t remember much about this book at this point; I think I enjoyed it.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-worst-journey-in-the-world.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/48503.The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World">The Worst Journey in the World</a></strong> by Cherry-Garrard, Apsley</p>
<p>I read the next two books back-to-back. This one was strange. It’s written
from the English perspective; it’s quite racist at times. I wouldn’t recommend
reading it, unless you really want to compare perspectives on the journeys of
Scott and Amundsen.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-last-place-on-earth.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/549488.The_Last_Place_on_Earth">The Last Place on Earth: Scott and Amundsen’s Race to the South Pole</a></strong> by Huntford, Roland</p>
<p>This was a really interesting read. It was so fascinating to compare how
Amundsen approached the journey compared to Scott. According to this book,
Scott was woefully underprepared and arrogant, and Amundsen spent many many
years training and learning the right skills from different indigenous groups
in order to survive.</p>
<p>If you want to learn about the race to the south pole; this book is definitely
better than the above.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/food-rules.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/7015635-food-rules">Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual</a></strong> by Pollan, Michael</p>
<p>More of a blog post than a book; but still, nice to keep next to you somewhere
when you want to remember if it’s okay to eat chocolate everyday (probably
not) or have a wine with dinner (probably fine).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/men-explain-things-to-me.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/18528190-men-explain-things-to-me">Men Explain Things to Me</a></strong> by Solnit, Rebecca</p>
<p>Hilarious. This is a collection of stories; some funnier than others, but
overall great.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-shadow-of-the-sun.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/9541.The_Shadow_of_the_Sun">The Shadow of the Sun</a></strong> by Kapuściński, Ryszard</p>
<p>I enjoyed this as a nice way to get a bit of, albeit an outsiders, insight
into how different people live in some of the poorer parts of Africa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/capital-and-ideology.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/50849430-capital-and-ideology">Capital and Ideology</a></strong> by Piketty, Thomas</p>
<p>I really enjoyed this book, and wrote about it more over on <a href="https://betweenbooks.com.au/reviews/2020/capital-and-ideology-thomas-piketty-2020.html">Between
Books - Capital and Ideology</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/capital-in-the-twenty-first-century.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/18736925-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century">Capital in the Twenty-First Century</a></strong> by Piketty, Thomas</p>
<p>This one I also enjoyed; I don’t think you really need to read it first before
Ideology, but I opted to do so. Reading this really inspired a love and
interest of economics, and Piketty seems to do an amazing job of exploring
these topics in an approachable way.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/affluence-without-abundance.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/31451192-affluence-without-abundance">Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen</a></strong> by Suzman, James</p>
<p>This book wasn’t bad; it’s an exploration of life with a marginalised tribe
referred to as the Bushmen. It doesn’t totally take the expected view that the
simple life is better; but it does discuss how politics and the community
encroaches on this tribe, and how they live life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/a-woman-in-the-polar-night.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/8266887-a-woman-in-the-polar-night">A Woman in the Polar Night</a></strong> by Ritter, Christiane</p>
<p>I think this is a classic book; it’s a little strange, but it does show one
persons journey into the Arctic and how she learned to love it. It didn’t
exactly inspire me to go and life there, but I do admire her approach!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/touching-the-void.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/18600.Touching_the_Void">Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival</a></strong> by Simpson, Joe</p>
<p>This is amazing. I read this assuming a particular fact about the story (I
won’t spoil it by telling you), but it turned out that my mind was blown by
what actually happened. I’ll probably read it again!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/into-thin-air.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/1898.Into_Thin_Air">Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster</a></strong> by Krakauer, Jon</p>
<p>I bought this I think after the one above; desperate for more books about
climbing. This is also an amazing story; I think if anything it made me feel
certain that I’ll never attempt to climb Everest.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/honjin.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/5863774-the-case-of-the-honjin-murder">The Case of the Honjin Murder</a></strong> by Yokomizo, Seishi</p>
<p>I just happened across this one in the bookshop and thought I’d give it a go.
I can’t say it was the best; it was quite sexist. The story was probably
pretty good, if you could ignore that; but I couldn’t.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/tall-man.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/3901371-tall-man">Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee</a></strong> by Hooper, Chloe</p>
<p>This was a good read but super aggravating. It’s really unsettling to learn
how terrible some of the policing is; and the subsequent investigations that
yielded no useful outcome. Eye-opening for me in terms of how bad racism is in
Australia.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/mountains-of-the-mind.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/839157.Mountains_of_the_Mind">Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination</a></strong> by Macfarlane, Robert</p>
<p>Pretty good. I went through a phase of reading about mountain climbing. This
was a nice little overview of how people justify climbing. Good for an
introduction to other things to read.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-city-we-became.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/42074525-the-city-we-became">The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)</a></strong> by Jemisin, N.K.</p>
<p>For how much I loved her other books; I have to say I found this one a bit
disappointing. I think by normal sci-fi standards, it’s certainly excellent,
and I’ll definitely read the rest of the series; but if you’re looking for
something as amazing as her other books, you might not find it here.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/annapurna.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/306659.Annapurna">Annapurna: A Woman’s Place</a></strong> by Blum, Arlene</p>
<p>I really enjoyed this one. It was interesting to compare this to other
climbing books written by men, which almost never feature much uncertainty or
collaborative leadership.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/underland.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/41817481-underland">Underland: A Deep Time Journey</a></strong> by Macfarlane, Robert</p>
<p>This is just super cool. We are taken on a journey through lots of different
underground worlds. Certainly makes you want to do this kind of exploring.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/the-eastern-curlew.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/41011110-the-eastern-curlew">The Eastern Curlew</a></strong> by Saddler, Harry</p>
<p>I read this after meeting the author at a party! I felt so cool; I’d never met
an author in real life before. Inspired by that meeting, I picked it up. It’s
really a nice story about following the migratory path of a bird, and thinking
about how their ecosystem is being impacted. Would definitely recommend!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/her-body-and-other-parties.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/33375622-her-body-and-other-parties">Her Body and Other Parties</a></strong> by Machado, Carmen Maria</p>
<p>Not bad. Probably not my favourite style of book, but if you like weird kind
of magical fiction with a message, probably quite good.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/my-sister-the-serial-killer.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/38819868-my-sister-the-serial-killer">My Sister, the Serial Killer</a></strong> by Braithwaite, Oyinkan</p>
<p>I quite enjoyed this one; it was a very quick read; so I’m looking forward to
more by this author!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="book alt">
<div class="img">
<img src="../images/2020-reading/in-praise-of-shadows.jpg" />
</div>
<div class="text">
<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/34473.In_Praise_of_Shadows">In Praise of Shadows</a></strong> by Tanizaki, Jun’ichirō</p>
<p>Pretty good. Very very short; but a thoughtful analysis of how light impacts
space. I think it’s a classic of the architecture world.</p>
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<img src="../images/2020-reading/barbarian-days.jpg" />
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/18693910-barbarian-days">Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life</a></strong> by Finnegan, William</p>
<p>I really really enjoyed this one. Very nicely written, you feel like you’re
living the life alongside the author. It’s nice to read about someone who
follows their passion so directly.</p>
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<img src="../images/2020-reading/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race.jpg" />
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/33606119-why-i-m-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race">Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race</a></strong> by Eddo-Lodge, Reni</p>
<p>I picked this up as soon as I arrived in the UK, to gain an understanding for
how people here think about race issues. Pretty good reading.</p>
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<img src="../images/2020-reading/kon-tiki.jpg" />
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/790171.Kon_Tiki">Kon-Tiki</a></strong> by Heyerdahl, Thor</p>
<p>This was a funny one. A classic kind of adventure story, from real life, I
have to say I enjoyed it.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/2060190.Mad_Bad_Dangerous_to_Know">Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know: The Autobiography</a></strong> by Fiennes, Ranulph</p>
<p>I found this one also kind of funny. I suppose this guy is very famous in the
UK, but I’d not heard of him really. It’s funny to read about how he thinks of
endurance, and his claim that “anyone” can be like him; in terms of running 7
marathons at the age of 70 across 7 countries; or something along those lines.
Didn’t exactly encourage me to do the same, but did give me some food for
thought about willpower and energy.</p>
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<img src="../images/2020-reading/see-what-you-made-me-do.jpg" />
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/43800661-see-what-you-made-me-do">See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence</a></strong> by Hill, Jess</p>
<p>This is a very hard book to read, emotionally. It contains some exceptionally
difficult stories. Definitely recommended reading, but if you want a more
academic treatment see the earlier book by Kate Manne.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com//book/show/40669652-becoming-bodhisattvas">Becoming Bodhisattvas</a></strong> by Chödrön, Pema</p>
<p>Easily the best book I read last year. Of course it’s a buddhist view on how
to live life; but I found it very practical and thoughtful. I’ve read it again
during some difficult times, and found it very uplifting.</p>
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<small><a href="http://jaspervdj.be/hakyll">Hakyll</a> was involved here (<a href="https://github.com/silky/silky.github.com">source</a>).
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