I consumed a lot of good, thought provoking material during the pandemic lockdown. And in today’s post, I wanted to curate the list of content from different platforms that I have listened, read or watched over the last year (2020) and found to be impactful. I plan to do a deep dive into these in my blog posts over this year with my impressions and opinions. As a start, I am listing down my recommendations.

Books

I read a higher number of (non-fiction) books than the previous years and among them, the following were all insightful in some way or the other.

• Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations by Dan Ariely
• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip and Dan Heath
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
• Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Suprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong by Eric Baker
• The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
• The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for You and How to Get Good at It by Kelly McGonigal

Podcasts

I really got into a variety of podcasts this year, listening to them while cooking, laundary, walking,….you name it. And this is the collection (some of them technical) that I have found interesting enough to continue listening.

• Hidden Brain
• Revisionist History
• Michelle Obama Podcast
• The CloudCast
• Rails with Jason
• Go Time

Miniseries

I have not watched a lot of new video content this year but the following are some really great mini / web series from 2019-2020 that are a must-see.

• Unbelievable
• Chernobyl
• Stranger Things
• Delhi Crime
• Inside Bill’s Brain

Looking back on this list, I am happy to have consumed all this good material even though it falls way short of my goal for 2020. I hope 2021 is enriched with many more books, podcasts and videos that open my mind and broaden my thinking.