2020’S BEST NONFICTION BOOKS
David Bowie, Barack Obama, Wes Anderson +
Let’s face it; 2020 was a year for the books and a year for incredible books, from political reflections to a glittery bit of Bowie. So settle in, pull on those sweatpants you’ve been wearing for ages (no judgments from us), and let’s get reading.
Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Koval
Inspired by the same-named Instagram account, Accidentally Wes Anderson delves into the soaring hotels, twee trams, and Pepto Bismol-pink fire stations that were nearly-but-not-quite envisioned by Wes himself.
Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Weiner
Peering into Silicon Valley’s “move fast, break stuff” ethos, this memoir looks deeply into our digital age’s plastic soul, melding a coming-of-age with Big Tech’s peaks, valleys, excesses, and innovations.
Complex Presents: Sneaker of the Year: The Best Since ‘85
This fully illustrated masterclass explores decades of iconic kicks history, tracing from the bombshell Air Jordan to white-hot collabs with Sacai and Off-White. Lace up and let loose!
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Bringing us into Obama’s pivotal political moments, landmark candidacy, and fraught trials and tribulations, A Promised Land presents one of 2020’s most clear-eyed historical accounts.
David Bowie: Icon by Iconic Images and George Underwood (Introduction)
Culling images and interviews from Ziggy Stardust-snapping shutterbugs like Mick Rock and Masayoshi Sukita, this visually lush look levels a full circle gaze at Bowie’s dazzling onstage and offstage presence.
Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America; Essays by R. Eric Thomas
Written by the witty Elle columnist, this memoir-in-essays takes on everything from the 2016 election to the author’s grappling with his sexuality and faith-based identities in a world where nothing is certain, but everything is wryly hilarious.
Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly by Guerrilla Girls
“Imagine you’re artists pissed off that almost all the opportunities in the art world go to white men,” entreats the Guerrilla Girls’ firebrand introduction. Beginning their boundary-breaking movement with a declarative poster, this ephemera-rich book brings us along for the ride.
The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Maria Konnikova
Threading together Konnikova’s drive to understand human behavior, professional poker’s blustery macho world, and insights gleaned from poker champion Erik Seidel, this high stakes memoir antes up.
High on Design: The New Cannabis Culture by gestalten
Merging activism, entrepreneurship, and minimalist design, this watershed work views our modern booming cannabis culture through an anything-but-smoky lens.
Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne-Helen Petersen
Rooted in BuzzFeed alum’s Petersen’s explosive article on our ever-present malaise, Can’t Even turns up the heat, seeking to understand why burnout seeps into our work culture, self-expectations, and our long-simmering anxiety and grand scale societal discontent at large. Putting a defined name to our cultural ailment, it’s an incisive and timely take.
