I admire books.

I see them as high-intensity information pills written by a complete expert or a dedicated enthusiast. Firstly, they are fairly cheap or free. Sucking all life experience of an expert just costs you $10. Secondly, They are curated for consuming in a shorter time in contrast to long YouTube videos. This makes it easy to consume. No ads, no bullshit.

Who wouldn’t take these pills? I’ll take them.

But, I discovered a hidden problem while I was moving house. I have tons of really amazing books and I’ve just read 10 of them at best. Shocking! I was buying more books than reading them. The diagnosis is tsundoku. Tsundoku is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them. Yes, It doesn’t look cool even it has a cool Japanese name.

New year is a good starting point for gaining habit. So, I’ve started making a list of books which I’d like to read most in 2020. I would like to dedicate 2020 for reading books. In first iteratition, I had a list with ~65 items. I cut the list to 50 items. However, Is this doable?

• What I learned from reading 50 books in a year
• 8 Things I Learned Reading 50 Books A Year For 7 Years
• How to Read 50 Books a Year
• Bill Gates: The Billionaire Book Critic

I’ve find articles above. They are thrilling. Honestly, I don’t see it as sustainable for life. However, It worths to give a shot for a year. So, I’ve decided that 2020 will be a reading book year of me.

Also, I’ve found that all of these hard copy books are waste of woods. So, I decided that not buying a hard copy book if there is an equivalent e-book version.

Books of 2020

I’ll share progress on this page.

Technical

• Don’t Make Me Think - Steve Krug
• Effective Python - Brett Slatkin
• Fluent Python - Luciano Ramalho
• Getting Real - 37signals
• Grokking Algorithms - Aditya Y. Bhargava
• High Output Management - Andrew S. Grove
• It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work - Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
• Mastering Bitcoin - Andreas M. Antonopoulos
• Mazes for Programmers - Jamis Buck
• Peopleware - Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister
• Programmers at Work - Susan Lammers
• Python 101 - Michael Driscoll
• Python 201 - Michael Driscoll
• Python Interviews - Mike Driscoll
• Python Tricks - Dan Bader
• Remote - Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
• Rework - Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
• Sayma - Ali Nesin
• Shape Up - Ryan Singer
• The Effective Engineer - Edmond Lau
• The Elements of Style - E.B. White, William Strunk Jr.
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni
• The Manager’s Path - Camille Fournier
• The Pragmatic Programmer - Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas
• The Rust Programming Language - Steve Klabnik
• Hackers and Painters - Paul Graham

Fiction

• 1984 - George Orwell
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• Efendilik Savaşı - Fakir Baykurt
• Mr. Spaceship - Philip K. Dick
• Ressamın İkinci Sözleşmesi - Murathan Mungan
• Sokaktaki Adam - Atilla İlhan
• Yalıda Sabah - Haldun Taner
• Zeytindağı - Falik Rıfkı Atay
• The Divine Comedy - Dante

Nonfiction

• Anayasalcılık ve Demokrasi - Ergun Özbudun
• Kalemimin Sapını Gülle Donattım - Ferhan Şensoy
• Başkaldıran Kurşunkalem - Ferhan Şensoy
• Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
• Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
• Milgem’in Öyküsü - Özden Örnek
• Just Kids - Patti Smith
• The Invisible Hand - Adam Smith
• Paralel Yürüdük Biz Bu Yollarda - Ahmet Şık
• Ordered to Die - Edward J. Erickson
• Sofranız Şen Olsun - Takuhi Tovmasyan
• The Compound Effect - Darren Hardy
• TRT’de 500 Gün - İsmail Cem
• Turkey: A Modern History - Erik-Jan Zürcher
• Türklere Güvendiler - Ender Arat