In a 2015 TED Talk, American businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates said, “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war — not missiles but microbes. Now, part of the reason for this is that, we have invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents, but we’ve actually invested very little in a system to stop an epidemic. We’re not ready for the next epidemic.” Indeed, fast forward to 2020, we were not ready. We still are not ready. It is far from over.
Life has changed. The word normal has transformed itself into a definition of resolute adaptation to a reality that is distressing and perplexing. The boisterousness of social media despair is only a tip of the iceberg to the silent lethal pain of depression – unspoken and undisclosed. Little did we know that the vibrant goals of 2020 will be overturned to survival mode.
Aside from the company of family and friends, media has also been our companion as we endured the time loop of 2020. Though I consider 2020 as the year where I have watched and reviewed more movies than the past, my love for reading has a place of its own in my day. It remains to be a respite from the exuberance or gloom of content platforms and social media.
Below is my 2020 Read Log.
17 – [Dec 15] Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo
16 – [Dec 08] The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
15 – [Nov 05] Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski
14 – [Oct 04] Good Morning, I Love You (Mindfulness + Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity + Joy) by Shauna Shapiro, PhD
13 – [Aug 30] Asia’s Cauldron (The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific) by Robert D. Kaplan
12 – [Aug 29] Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
11 – [Aug 07] Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams
10 – [Jul 17] Alibaba (The House that Jack Ma Built) by Duncan Clark
09 – [May 31] Talking to Strangers (What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know) by Malcolm Gladwell
08 – [May 14] One Man’s View of the World by Lee Kuan Yew
07 – [Apr 26] Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas
06 – [Apr 12] Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford
05 – [Mar 29] The Man Without a Face (The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin) by Masha Gessen
04 – [Feb 29] Charlotte’s Web by Elwyn Brooks White
03 – [Feb 26] The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
02 – [Feb 15] The Other Side of Happiness (Embracing a More Fearless Approach to Living) by Brock Bastian
01 – [Feb 08] Hit Makers (How To Succeed in an Age of Distraction) by Derek Thompson
*** Indicated dates are completion dates.
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© rooks 2021
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