2020 was made easier by the fact that there were so many books to discover this year. With all of us not going many places, this was a year to reconnect with reading. After years of promising myself that I would read more, this was the year that I finally made good on that promise to myself. So here are the things that I read in the past year that made an impression, in no particular order:
Moneyball (Michael Lewis): I picked this up again after reading it a couple of years ago (and watching the movie with Brad Pitt). Being in analytics and research, the central idea of the book -- that analytics should drive decision making -- has resonated across business, with Billy Beane, the subject of the book, now making speeches to tech companies. But rereading the book this year and thinking again about what Beane actually did, it's not so much about complex analytics and sabermetrics as it is about refocusing on the measures that really matter. Specifically, the idea that while most players were paid for hits, home runs, and scoring, that the individual statistic that led to runs was on base percentage, and that OBP was an undercompensated statistic so that he could sign players with high OPAs at a discount. That's helped me in my own work this year to help my colleagues focus not so much on complex analysis in itself, but helping them learn what matters to them, and how to measure those things.
How to be an Antiracist (Abram Kendi): This was probably the most important book that I read this year. I picked it up after the killing of George Floyd, and while it's not my place to talk about what it says, I am very happy to hear his voice and to learn how to practice antiracism.
The collected essays of James Baldwin: I also read this during the summer and love Baldwin's voice. I had known about him for many years (he was a prolific writer and expatriate who spent much of his life in Paris, and appeared on "Sesame Street" when I was little). His stories of growing up in New York, and advice he gives to his fifteen year-old nephew, are also very resonant.
Buzzsaw (Jesse Dougherty): I preordered this book once I knew Dougherty, the Nationals beat writer for the Washington Post, was writing it, and it came out only months after the Nationals' amazing run to the World Series title. (As a Washingtonian who grew up with the borrowed Orioles as the only local team, I had been waiting for about forty years to read a book like this.) The best beat writers are able to capture both the fans' joy at being present for a title run, but also what was going on in the clubhouse. In this day and age, it's so important for any organization to celebrate its diversity, and it was clear from this book that the Nationals did, especially around their core of young Latino players like Juan Soto and Victor Robles.
SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2020 and to celebrate, it published an anthology of baseball writing including both analytics and history. There are some real gems in here, including alternate statistics, pieces about female umpires and players, and Honus Wagner's rookie year.
Effective Data Storytelling (Brent Dykes): My "day job" is managing an analytics team, and I'm always on the lookout for useful ideas and thinking about how to present data in compelling ways. I took a lot from this book about what we communicate using data, and how to bring colleagues forward in using data in their own work.
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