The Best Books of 2020
Last updated: November 08, 2024
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1
The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder
by Richard Rohr -
2
Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Calm, Clarity, and Courage
by Philip Goldberg -
3
How to Be a Failure and Still Live Well: A Philosophy
by Beverley Clack -
4
The Passion Economy: The New Rules for Thriving in the Twenty-First Century
by Adam Davidson -
5
The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work From Home
The Best Self Help Books of 2020, recommended by Oliver Burkeman
The Best Self Help Books of 2020, recommended by Oliver Burkeman
We asked Oliver Burkeman, the Guardian writer and author of The Antidote, to select the best self help books published in 2020. His recommended titles include spiritual guidance for the age of doomscrolling, a philosophy of failure, and practical advice for those working from home for the first time.
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1
The Philosopher Queens: The lives and legacies of philosophy's unsung women
by Lisa Whiting & Rebecca Buxton -
2
The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad
by Emily Thomas -
3
Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers
by Cheryl Misak -
4
The Murder of Professor Schlick: The Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle
by David Edmonds -
5
Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind
by Peter Godfrey-Smith
The Best Philosophy Books of 2020, recommended by Nigel Warburton
The Best Philosophy Books of 2020, recommended by Nigel Warburton
2020 has been a great year for popular philosophy with many excellent books published. Here, Nigel Warburton, our philosophy editor and co-host of the Philosophy Bites podcast, picks his favourites and explains what he likes about them.
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1
Aby Warburg: Bilderatlas Mnemosyne
by Aby Warburg, edited by Roberto Ohrt and Axel Heil -
2
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night
by Andrea Schlieker, Elizabeth Alexander, Isabella Maidment & Lynette Yiadom-Boakye -
3
Walker Evans: Starting from Scratch
by Svetlana Alpers -
4
Albers & Albers
by Nicholas Fox Weber -
5
Cairo Since 1900: An Architectural Guide
by Mohamed Elshahed
The Best Art Books of 2020, recommended by Romas Viesulas
The Best Art Books of 2020, recommended by Romas Viesulas
Which art, architecture and photography books have we added to our library in 2020? Romas Viesulas, art & architecture editor at Five Books, takes us through his personal choice of beautiful reference books and biographies to add visual and conceptual interest to any well-appointed bookshelf.
The Best Historical Fiction: The 2020 Walter Scott Prize Shortlist, recommended by Katharine Grant
Historical fiction is experiencing something of a golden age at present: there’s never been a better time to immerse oneself in the past. The acclaimed novelist Katharine Grant—chair of the judges for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction—talks us through their 2020 shortlist.
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1
The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Empowering Women
by Linda Scott -
2
The Great Pretender
by Susannah Cahalan -
3
Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time
by Gaia Vince -
4
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
by Bill Bryson -
5
The World According to Physics
by Jim Al-Khalili -
6
Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships
by Camilla Pang
The Best Science Books of 2020: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Anne Osbourn
The Best Science Books of 2020: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Anne Osbourn
The Royal Society is the world’s oldest independent scientific academy, dedicated to promoting excellence in science—and that includes an annual prize for the best popular science book. Here Professor Anne Osbourn, Fellow of the Royal Society and chair of this year’s judging panel, talks us through the six books that made the 2020 shortlist—and what makes them intriguing, accessible and exciting.
The Best Thrillers of 2020, recommended by Anthony Franze
Every year, the International Thriller Writers awards highlight the best new thrillers of the previous year. Anthony Franze, administrator of the awards and an acclaimed thriller author in his own right, talks us through their 2020 shortlist for the best new thriller published in hardback.
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1
Aftershock: Essays from Hong Kong
by Holmes Chan (editor) -
2
Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang
by James Millward -
3
Forbidden Memory: Tibet during the Cultural Revolution
by Susan Chen (translator) & Tsering Woeser -
4
Beijing from Below: Stories of Marginal Lives in the Capital's Center
by Harriet Evans -
5
Champions Day: The End of Old Shanghai
by Jim Carter -
6
American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang
Best China Books of 2020, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Best China Books of 2020, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
All eyes are on China as it occupies an increasingly important role on the world stage and its economic growth continues to barrel on. But behind the Chinese Communist Party’s apparent competence lies a deep insecurity about its relationship with its own citizens, particularly those who question its right to rule them. American historian and Sinologist Jeffrey Wasserstrom picks the best books of 2020 on China.
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1
The Return of the Russian Leviathan
by Sergei Medvedev & Stephen Dalziel (translator) -
2
Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait
by Bathsheba Demuth -
3
Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future
by Kate Brown -
4
Stalin's Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival, the Life of Mikhail Sholokhov
by Brian Boeck -
5
This Thing of Darkness: Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible in Stalin's Russia
by Joan Neuberger -
6
An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent
by Owen Matthews
The Best Russia Books: the 2020 Pushkin House Prize, recommended by Serhii Plokhy
The Best Russia Books: the 2020 Pushkin House Prize, recommended by Serhii Plokhy
Every year since 2013 the Russian Book Prize run by Pushkin House, a UK charity, has carried out the important task of drawing attention to books that “encourage public understanding and intelligent debate about the Russian-speaking world.” Here, Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy, chair of this year’s judging panel, talks us through the books that made the 2020 shortlist.
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1
Vesper Flights
by Helen Macdonald (author and narrator) -
2
The Sandman
by Dirk Maggs (audiobook adaptation), Full Cast & Neil Gaiman -
3
The Pull of the Stars: A Novel
by Emma Donoghue & Emma Lowe (narrator) -
4
The Searcher: A Novel
by Roger Clark (narrator) & Tana French -
5
A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team
by Adam Lazarre-White (narrator) & Arshay Cooper
The Best Audiobooks of 2020, recommended by Robin Whitten
The Best Audiobooks of 2020, recommended by Robin Whitten
With most people carrying smartphones these days, entering the world of audiobooks has never been easier. Some are straightforward narrations of a book, but when an audiobook is done well, it can be an extraordinary, all-encompassing experience. Here Robin Whitten, editor of AudioFile magazine—the best resource for finding good quality audiobooks on the web, in our view—talks us through her picks for the best audiobooks of 2020, chosen from the hundreds they’ve reviewed over the course of the year.
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1
Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands
by Hazel Carby -
2
Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent
by Priyamavada Gopal -
3
Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power
by Pekka Hämäläinen -
4
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
by Charles King -
5
All Our Relations: Indigenous Trauma in the Shadow of Colonialism
by Tanya Talaga
The best books on Global Cultural Understanding: the 2020 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize, recommended by Patrick Wright
The best books on Global Cultural Understanding: the 2020 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize, recommended by Patrick Wright
Every year the British Academy's Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize is awarded to the best nonfiction book that has contributed to 'global cultural understanding.' This year, the legacies of colonization and empire loom large. Patrick Wright, Emeritus Professor at King's College London and chair of this year's panel of judges, talks us through the books shortlisted for the £25,000 prize.