My 2020 Bibliography
By: Arvydas Venckus
Tags: Reading, Books, Bibliography, Review, Year In Review

The pandemic was a perfect time to review my reading list and read more than I usually did before. These are all the books that I have read in 2020. I have two intentions with this entry — first and foremost it is a means to share books. If someone, after reading this list, will discover their next favorite book, I will be happy. Secondly, it will serve me as a reminder of which books I have read in the past. The dates next to the book titles are their original publish dates as I believe it’s better to think about the authors and the ideas while having time context in mind. The actual editions I have read are most often more recent than the original publications.

1. Nuo amato prie verslo. Pradžia (From Craft to Business. The Beginning, Lithuanian), by Nerius Jasinavičius (2017)

A book that is all focused around a single idea — The transition from a “craftsman”, a person who is an expert in his field, to a manager. The common problem with transitioning managers is that they are often better at their craft, compared to their workers. The book argues that “trench” work should be left to the workers in a way, that if the manager disappears for, say, a month, the entire company would not collapse because of the manager’s absence. The book refers to the Toyota Production System quite a lot and is generally a nice read.

2. Kodėl spaudžiam dešinę: apie etiketą ir manieras (Why Do We Shake Hands: About Etiquette and Manners, Lithuanian), by Giedrius Drukteinis (2014)

I was expecting this book to be a bit more in-depth. It essentially tells the story about the origins of etiquette in 17th century France. The impression I got from this book that most etiquette rules were created arbitrarily and there is no special meaning to them, which was quite disappointing.

3. Lyderiai: 50 sėkmės istorijų (Leaders: 50 success stories, Lithuanian), by Giedrius Drukteinis (2013)

It’s a collection of short stories about how some of the well-known companies were founded. How immersed I was in this book varied from story to story, but the origins of Bosch were the best part of the book, personally. Robert Bosch’s management style resonated with me and it was a pleasure to find out how his company thrived by investing in it’s workers’ happiness. Robert himself was a modest person and I think it was one of his main qualities that helped the company rise to it’s heights.

4. Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, by Walter Isaacson (2014)

From Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage all the way to the creation of Google and Wikipedia, this book tells the story of how the computer age came to be. It was enlightening to read about all the people who made history while working on the early computing machines. There were a lot of decisions to be made, that steered the course of computer development, for example, the decision between decimal and binary systems. Or the desktop metaphor of Xerox Alto GUI and the way it inspired Steve Jobs to develop the interface of the Macintosh in a similar manner. Going through this progression each step of the way was genuinely immersive. I think that there will definitely be a time when I will want to re-read this book.

5. Grid systems in graphic design: A visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers, by Josef Müller-Brockmann (1981)

A classic about grids in design compositions. Mainly focused on text layout for books and other printed materials, but most of the principles can be transferred to web design as well.

6. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings, by Philip A. Fisher (1957)

In this book, Philip gives an overview of his “Scuttlebutt method” and makes a point that long-term investments in stocks are more meaningful and worthwhile.

7. Macbeth, by Jo Nesbø (2018)

To get myself some time away from the more practical books, I turned to this modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s play. While I can’t call it one of my favorite fiction books, it was still quite captivating and author’s creativity is definitely admirable — most memorably in the beginning, where the setting of the plot was introduced through the perspective of a falling rain drop.

8. The Design of Everyday Things, By Don Norman (1988)

It’s a legendary design book, no doubt about it. Don’s thinking brought strong foundational ideas to the design discipline and everyone focusing on usability in their work should be familiar with the concepts described in The Design of Everyday Things. I was familiar with notions such as affordances, signifiers, feedback loops and constraints in design from bits of information floating around the internet, but reading this book deepened that knowledge significantly. This was definitely one of my favorite books in 2020.

9. Decipher: The Greatest Codes Ever Invented and How to Break Them, by Mark Frary (2019)

This book is nothing more but an overview of various encryption methods used throughout the ages. It also lists a few common methods, such as frequency analysis, used to break codes. Encryption in the past several centuries got increasingly complex, but first known methods such as Caesar cipher or even Polybius square are quite easy and fun to try with friends.

10. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (2012)

Frankly, it was a pain to read. The whole book is written around a single idea — the contrast between extractive and inclusive political and economic entities. While the examples mentioned are quite compelling, it felt like entire paragraphs were copy-pasted and it often seemed that I was re-reading the same sentences over and over again.

11. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel Levitin (2014)

I genuinely enjoyed reading The Organized Mind. Daniel made some interesting points and even referenced Don Norman’s idea of affordances in the chapter about preventing yourself from forgetting various items at home. The idea of two different brain activities — focused work and mind wandering — was especially interesting. It made me realize that most people don’t allow themselves enough time to daydream. This thought wandering is integral to our brain’s ability to process thoughts, ideas and concepts. The author also condemns multitasking — it’s true that the way people multitask is essentially switching between tasks repeatedly. However, such context switching not only degrades the “quality” of our attention, but it tires us out way more than regular work, focused on a single task. I’m putting this book beside The Design of Everyday Things as one of my favorites of the year.

12. The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher, by Bruno Ernst (1976)

I am so glad that Bruno Ernst decided to spend his time with Escher and collect his stories, sketches and anecdotes into a book. Every time I look at Escher’s work I am utterly amazed that this man made such intricate graphic works that explore complex mathematical concepts while having no understanding of them from the mathematical perspective. This book was so pleasant to read, and the inside view to one of my favorite artist’s work process was just as captivating as the graphic pieces themselves. The prints that I was not aware prior to this book proved to be just as amazing as Escher’s more popular work. Just take a look at this absolutely mind-bending litograph and try to analyze it. Once more, a book completely worthy to be among the favorites.

13. Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive, by Charles Duhigg (2016)

It felt like a quite generic, but nevertheless good book about productivity. It was all based on real stories that are quite inspiring. I especially liked the stories about Google’s project Aristotle and about how General Motors adopted the Toyota production system.

14. Wabi-sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, by Leonard Koren (1994)

I was first introduced to the idea of wabi-sabi in university and I was in love with it ever since. From looking at pictures you can get a good idea of what wabi-sabi is, but presonally I have always struggled to put it in words beyond that it’s beauty found in imperfection. Albeit rather short, this book was enough to get a better idea of what wabi-sabi actually is and how it can be compared to a directly opposite style — modernism — through different lenses. For example modernism can be considered as being expressed primarily in the public domain, mass produced, modular and attempting to control nature. In contrast, wabi-sabi is expressed primarily in the private domain, it is one-of-a-kind, variable style that believes in the fundamental uncontrollability of nature. If modernism is thriving in purity, wabi-sabi embraces corrosion and contamination.

15. Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell, et al (2003)

A lot of design books I have read are quite “ideological” in a sense. They focus on abstract ideas that are more widely applicable, but can be subject to long debates and endless kinds of interpretation. Universal Principles of Design was the exact opposite of that — it’s a list of more “concrete” design ideas that have been tested and proven throughout the years. It describes various Gestalt principles, flexibility-usability tradeoff, expectation effect, horror vacui and many, many others. It was nice to find out about some of these principles and deepen the knowledge about the ones that I already knew. There are resources on almost every page that can be used to dig even deeper into a specific topic.

16. The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, by Gary Chapman (1992)

It’s not often that I read about romantic relationships but I believe this is a worthwhile endeavor and this book proves it. Built on a simple idea, that seems obvious when you read it, but we have to be constantly reminded of this — other people feel love it when you express it in a way they want it. In other words, what works for you, doesn’t necessarily work for your partner.

17. The Shaping of Us: How Everyday Spaces Structure Our Lives, Behaviour, and Well-Being, by Lily Bernheimer (2017)

The title of this book really got me interested and I had high expectations, but sadly those expectations lowered my enjoyment of the book significantly. It felt like a generic book about distant concepts that I was already quite familiar with. I can’t even say that I remember that much beside those concepts without looking at my notes.

18. Ando, by Masao Furuyama (2006)

Tadao Ando is my favorite architect and was ever since I found out about him. His delicate orchestration of light in buildings and the way he incorporates surrounding nature to be in complete harmony with the structure has always fascinated me. I never miss an opportunity to find out more about his every project. Although this volume contained some interesting stories behind all of Tadao Ando’s works, it was quite short and I am yet to find a book that would be more extensive. When that happens, I will gladly phase out from the surrounding everyday noise and immerse myself in stories about Tadao Ando and his projects. Until then, short catalogues like this one are keeping me happy.

19. Don’t Make Me Think, by Steve Krug (2000)

This classic on usability was just as good as everyone says it is. Reading it was probably long overdue for me, but hey, better late than never. I can confidently say that it’s as good as people are claiming it to be. Very practical and well thought-out, not a single word too many. The main idea of this book is stupid simple — Leave as few things to interpretation as possible. Don’t make users struggle to find what they need, and don’t make them guess what they can click on. A simple idea, yet many designers forget this principle and choose to create overly stylish designs that burden people with poor usability.

20. The Story of Trees: And How They Changed the Way We Live, by Kevin Hobbs & David West (2020)

It’s an entirely new, catalogue-like book about 100 trees and their significance to humans. Although I discovered a lot of new trees and learned new things about the more familiar ones, the stories weren’t particularly captivating. However, what it lacks in written content, illustrations definitely make up for. This book looks absolutely beautiful, definitely the most good looking book of the year. The illustrations are done by Thibaud Hérem and they make the entire book come to life.