There are a lot of similarities between personal finance nerds and reading enthusiasts. The more involved you are in either activity, the more you want to talk about it. All the time. Conversely, people who don’t geek out on books or their own finances don’t want to hear about how you spent your Saturday morning reading a book and updating your net worth spreadsheet, similar to talking to other people about your fantasy football team.

Now, reading a book about personal finance? No choice but to talk about that! Fortunately for you, you don’t have to listen. But for those who do, allow me to recommend some good non-fiction books I read this year that have nothing to do with personal finance. (Here are five popular personal finance books I read this year).

If you don’t care to read any further, all I ask is that you simply click on one of the Amazon affiliate links on your way out and order a bunch of crap online so that I am able to earn a small percentage of revenue off of your indifference.

Five Best Non-Fiction Books I Read in 2020

Despite having more time on my hands this year than ever before, motivation was hard to come by in 2020. I ended up reading just 15 books, barely one per month, which is well shy of my two-per-month goal. Maybe next year.

Many of those 15 books pertain to personal finance. But I read a handful of memorable books that had nothing (or just a little) to do with money. For whatever reason, these all hovered around the mid 2010s, with only one newly released book on the list. So without further ado, here are the five best non-fiction books I read this year that have nothing to do with personal finance.

Being Mortal – Atul Gawande (2014)

Being Mortal is the most impactful book I read this year, in a year of such death and despair. The book advocates for comfort care in favor of painful “life-saving” treatments that prolong the inevitable for the elderly at the expense of their quality of life.

I read this at the beginning of the year, before the pandemic, and it completely changed my perspective on elder care—just before such medical topics were brought to the forefront by COVID. As such, an unintended takeaway is that I am a little more empathetic of older folks who throw caution to the wind at a time when a deadly virus is wreaking havoc on their age group. If you only have a few years left, you’re going to be more willing to risk death when, in your mind, the loss of remaining life is not as valuable as enjoying the present while you can.

The Splendid and the Vile – Erik Larson (2020)

If Erik Larson writes it, you should read it. He’s the master of narrative non-fiction, and he does it again with his account of Winston Churchill leading Britain at the height of World War II. The book is deliberately not a Churchill biography. Instead, it focuses on his first year as prime minister, as London and surrounding cities were being bombed relentlessly by Nazis. An especially relevant read on the human condition and our ability to adapt to unfavorable circumstances. Slight spoiler alert, but a particular scene regarding a popular night club filled to capacity despite the nightly air raids doesn’t seem so far off from our current tendencies to gather despite the known consequences involved.

If you haven’t read anything by Larson, I highly recommend Devil in the White City and his previous book, Dead Wake. He has a knack for bringing a historical moment in time to life by weaving in personal accounts and diaries that give depth to the parties involved.

Red Notice – Bill Browder (2015)

It seems like all the best books I read this year have some relevance to the craziness that is 2020, which was not by design. Red Notice is a real-life thriller involving big time finances with your run-of-the-mill Russian corruption at the forefront. One of the best complements you can give a non-fiction book is that it “reads like a novel,” which is very much true in this case.

Let’s just say that after reading this, I’m slightly terrified to so much as write a review of the book. I have no doubts about what lengths the parties involved are willing to go through. If you happen to be a Russian spy, thank you for the page view. But please don’t hack my blog.

Hillbilly Elegy – J.D. Vance (2016)

Apparently now a poorly-rated Netflix movie, this was an incredibly quick read that surprised even its own author in its reception. I don’t know that this is a book that explains the 2016 Presidential election as some hailed it, nor that it was intended to be. What it is is a personal memoir that paints a vivid picture of lower class whites and the perpetual cycle experienced by the poor and often under-educated. And it does so from the perspective of someone who “made it.”

Like many successful people, Vance experiences an almost lifelong guilt over leaving behind his poorer relatives. The imposter syndrome that comes from living a life separate from the one you once knew is inevitable. The book alternates between relatable, enlightening, frustrating and, at times, touching. The bonus is that you can read this in a day. I suppose that can be said of all of these books, assuming you’re a much faster reader than I am. Which is highly likely.

Dreamland – Sam Quinones (2015)

If Hillbilly Elegy provided an inside look at the Midwest lower class, Dreamland is a look at a troubling issue in Suburbia: the growing opioid crisis that has resulted in innumerable preventable casualties (once again, this theme rings a bell in 2020). Dreamland explains how a few greedy pharmaceutical companies bear the burden of responsibility for an addiction that now affects all classes. If it’s not one epidemic, it’s another.

Dreamland is a powerful and informative book on how the opioid crisis came to be, and where all this heroin comes from to begin with. I anticipate this issue to thrust itself back into the national spotlight in the coming years.

Non-Fiction Recommendations?

I have found myself reading more and more non-fiction, and am always open to recommendations. My hope is that I do more reading in 2021, both personal finance and otherwise.

Note that while this post includes Amazon affiliate links which entitle me to 4% of Amazon’s portion of the profit on any sale, please look into local book shops in your area if you are considering any of the above titles.

With that out of the way, what’s on your bookshelf?