Books I Read in 2024

The 30 books I finished this year in the order I completed them.

My Struggle: Part One by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Format: Kindle Paperwhite
Finished on 2/3/2024
What inspired me to read it? This post by Tyler Cowen
Brief description: Knausgaard eyes the tiniest of details to reveal truths about himself and human nature. Beautiful observations. The book is an onion of tangents.
Excerpt:

It is in this light we have to see the strangely ambiguous role death has assumed. On the one hand, it is all around us, we are inundated by news of deaths, pictures of dead people; for death, in that respect, there are no limits, it is massive, ubiquitous, inexhaustible. But this is death as an idea, death without a body, death as thought and image, death as an intellectual concept. This death is the same as the word “death,” the bodiless entity referred to when a dead person’s name is used. For while the person is alive the name refers to the body, to where it resides, to what it does; the name becomes detached from the body when it dies and remains with the living, who, when they use the name, always mean the person he was, never the person he is now, a body which lies rotting somewhere. This aspect of death, that which belongs to the body and is concrete, physical and material, this death is hidden with such great care that it borders on a frenzy, and it works, just listen to how people who have been involuntary witnesses to fatal accidents or murders tend to express themselves. They always say the same, it was absolutely unreal, even though what they mean is the opposite. It was so real. But we no longer live in that reality. For us everything has been turned on its head, for us the real is unreal, the unreal real. And death, death is the last great beyond. That is why it has to be kept hidden. Because death might be beyond the term and beyond life, but it is not beyond the world.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Format: Hardcover Book
Finished on 2/18/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Tim Ferriss podcast episode
Thoughts: Guidebook on how to focus your energies on the most important few things in your life. I stayed inspired while I read the book. But, I failed to implement the principles in my daily life. Enjoy his podcast appearances, and they serve as reminders to re-focus my energies.

Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 3/5/2024
What inspired me to read it? This teaser from Shane Parrish.
One Idea: We should maintain a Personal Board of Directors. These are people of high success and/or high character. We want to elevate ourselves to the standards of excellence that they set. My Personal Board has changed overtime, but currently it is: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Neal Brennan, in comdy; more generally, Tyler Cowen, Tim Ferriss, Chris Williamson, Shane Parrish, Cal Newport. I'm probably over-indexing on the Podcastrati.

Open by Andre Agassi (ghostwritten by J. R. Moehringer)
Format: Libby via Kindle for Mac
Finished on 3/15/2024
What inspired me to read it? This piece by David Perell and Ana Fabrega.
Excerpt:

My father says that when he boxed, he always wanted to take a guy’s best punch. He tells me one day on the tennis court: When you know that you just took the other guy’s best punch, and you’re still standing, and the other guy knows it, you will rip the heart right out of him. In tennis, he says, same rule. Attack the other man’s strength. If the man is a server, take away his serve. If he’s a power player, overpower him. If he has a big forehand, takes pride in his forehand, go after his forehand until he hates his forehand. My father has a special name for this contrarian strategy. He calls it putting a blister on the other guy’s brain. With this strategy, this brutal philosophy, he stamps me for life. He turns me into a boxer with a tennis racket. More, since most tennis players pride themselves on their serve, my father turns me into a counterpuncher—a returner.

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 3/16/2024
What inspired me to read it? I've read So Good They Can't Ignore You, Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and A World Without Email, plus I've listened to 20+ Deep Questions podcast episodes, and many podcast interviews of Newport like this one, this one, and this one. So, inertia? Shane Parrish might say I wasn't 'thinking clearly'.
Thoughts: Newport's concise rules: 1. Do fewer things. 2. Work at a natural pace. 3. Obsess over quality. Pairs quite well with Essentialism if you are a self-help junkie like me.

Ask the Dust by John Fante
Format: Libby via Kindle Paperwhite
Finished on 3/18/2024
What inspired me to read it? Ryan Holiday calls it one of his favorite novels
Thoughts: I haven't read enough of Fante's contemporaries to contextualize what the author accomplishes here. Also, I didn't realize this was the third book in a series of four, so I may have lacked important context about the character, Arturo Bandini. The most enjoyable portions are Fante's scenes of romantic desperation.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 5/6/2024
What inspired me to read it? The Coen Brothers' movie, this Very Bad Wizards podcast episode and I'd also read The Road in 2021.
Thoughts: A rare instance where book and movie are on par with each other. Like with the other McCarthy books I've read (or attempted to read), I feel like I am missing the deeper story. However, the characters and setting are always so well written, so it never feels like time wasted.

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 5/10/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Tim Ferriss Show podcast episode
Thoughts: Thoroughly enjoyed reading. Temporarily deluded me into thinking I should become a creative for a marketing firm. Tons of ideas on the what, the how, and the why of marketing campaigns. Have I used them on this blog? Nope.

Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown
Format: Paperback Books
Red Rising: Finished on 5/12/2024
Golden Son: Finished on 5/18/2024
Morning Star: Finished on 6/19/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Modern Wisdom podcast episode
Thoughts: Very fun reads. Breezed through all books. Would recommend to anyone who wants to get back into reading.

Love Life by Matthew Hussey
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 6/7/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Modern Wisdom podcast episode
Thoughts: Sheepishly including this one on the list. This book helped me realize how much of an anxiously-attached, hopeless romantic I've been in past relationships.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 6/26/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Marginal Revolution post and the fact that it was available at a Half Price Books store.
Thoughts: Similar thoughts as Ask the Dust, I lack context (and 'context is that which is scarce' - see point #4 in the link). Now that I'm writing this, I guess every widely-acclaimed, historically-significant book I read will require some ChatGPT prompting to reveal the necessary context.

Calypso by David Sedaris
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 7/2/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast episode.
Thoughts: Hilarious and poignant. I aspire to this level of captivating weirdness and comedic story-telling.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 7/6/2024
What inspired me to read it? Ryan Holiday and Sam Morril reference him in podcasts–I cannot remember the precise episodes, that's why I don't have them linked. Ham on Rye was Bukowski's most highly-recommended book and was available at Half Price Books.
Thoughts: Henry Chianski, the novelized version of a young Bukowski, reminds me of South Park's characterization of Russell Crowe: an alcoholic scrapper. Quite a depressing story. The most memorable scene, for me, came early: Henry watches his starving cousins huddle around a peanut butter jar to scrape and search for its last little remnants to spread on dry toast.

Educated by Tara Westover
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 8/24/2024
What inspired me to read it? I bought this back in January 2019 because it was on Obama's Favorite Books of the Year. What inspired me to read it this year was Rob Henderson saying, "Educated was a fantastic book. I mean, it was better than my book. In terms of its quality and its style, I'm just like, that's maybe one of the best memoirs I've ever read" from this How I Write podcast episode.
Thoughts: Grueling perspective of childhood under the whims of a highly-paranoid manic-depressive Father. Back to the idea of "context is that which is scarce": no one realizes how terrible/wonderful/quotidian childhood is while you are in the middle of it. It astonishes me that someone like Westover could survive and thrive after such an upbringing. Fortunately, the lack of context cuts both ways, and for her, it made her incredibly resilient.

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 9/6/2024
What inspired me to read it? Kevin Rose mentions it in this Tim Ferriss podcast episode (though Rose misremembers the title as 'Superconnectors').
Thoughts: This book made me realize I am a poor listener, and therefore, communicator. Tons of highlights. The few times I made conscious efforts to deploy some of this book's tactics, I left the conversation feeling more connected to my interlocutor. Need to revisit and integrate these tools into my daily conversations.

Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 9/18/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Founders podcast episode.
Thoughts: Rife with Dylan's poetic and sometimes provincial turns of phrase. More mythological than biographical.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 9/21/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Conversation with Tyler podcast episode. Plus, I was on a buying binge at Half Price Books.
Thoughts: Serves as a COVID-with-a-much-higher-CFR counterfactual-cum-novel.

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 10/11/2024
What inspired me to read it? Ali Abdaal stated Show Your Wok was the second most impactful book he'd read (behind The 4-Hour Work Week) on this How I Write podcast episode.
Thoughts: Like The War of Art, it is one of most highly-distilled and potent forms of motivation a creative person can consume. Prompted this blog post by me (clearly, I've not lived up to the ambitious schedule).

Naked by David Sedaris
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 11/5/2024
What inspired me to read it? Wanted a fun read to get out of reading-rut.
Thoughts: Fun to read, but preferred Calypso.

Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 11/6/2024
What inspired me to read it? This Modern Wisdom episode. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed Four Thousand Weeks.
Thoughts: I followed Burkeman's suggestion to read one chapter a day. That is probably the right pace to read most self-help books. I would love to fully-integrate the book's four core messages into my life, but maybe it is my clenching of this desire that blocks it from happening.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 11/12/2024
What inspired me to read it? Jon Stewart suggested reading anything by Vonnegut in this Ezra Klein Show podcast episode.
Excerpt: (scene where an early-detained English POW speaks to the convalescing Billy Pilgrim)

And he said, "You know– we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that is was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. When we saw those freshly shaved faces, it was a shock. 'My God, my God–' I said to myself, 'It's the Children's Crusade.'"

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Format: Paperback Book
Finished on 11/17/2024
What inspired me to read it? I loved the David Fincher movie, plus a friend highly-recommended the book.
Thoughts: A riveting read. Quickly paced. Found it interesting that some of the topics covered were (fairly) recent news stories–for example, the abuses of power via guardianship à la Britney Spears saga.

Building A Second Brain by Tiago Forte
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 11/19/2024
What inspired me to read it? This article by David Perell.
Thoughts: I now use the PARA method of idea collection, note-taking and organization. It helped me write this blog post. Recommended for anyone who feels disorganized yet desires to produce more creative work.

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
Format: Kindle Unlimited for Mac
Finished on 11/20/2024
What inspired me to read it? After reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I used the search function on Marginal Revolution and came across this post by Tyler Cowen.
Thoughts: I read this book in contrast to Larsson's TGwtDT. Complete opposites in pacing. Mankell paints a more realistic picture than Larsson of the slog that is detective work. The interiority of the protagonist Kurt Wallander has a vividness akin to Knausgaard's in My Struggle: Volume One.

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
Format: Kindle Unlimited for Mac
Finished on 11/22/2024
What inspired me to read it? Chasing the high that was the reading of Show Your Work. Plus, this article by Ian Leslie.
Thoughts: This blog post is downstream of this book–I am 'stealing' the form of year end book lists from the likes of Ryan Holiday and Tyler Cowen.

Wool by Hugh Howey
Format: Kindle Unlimited for Mac
Finished on 11/25/2024
What inspired me to read it? My brother suggested watching the Silo series on Apple TV. Plus, this episode of the Tim Ferriss Show podcast. Plus it was 'free' on Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: Decent read. Really enjoyed the afterword where Howey draws parallels between the western and post-apocalyptic genres of story-telling. Afterwards, I started watching the Silo TV series, but couldn't stomach the discrepancies.

On Writing Well (30th Anniversary Edition) by William Zinnser
Format: Kindle Unlimited for Mac
Finished on 12/18/2024
What inspired me to read it? This book was a 10/10 on Derek Sivers' book notes page, and it was "free" through Kindle Unlimited.
Brief Summary: Practical guidance for numerous forms of writing. Supports every point with apposite textual selections.
My favorite parts: The scans of the Zinnser's handwritten edits on the manuscript and Chapter 10: Bits & Pieces.

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up by James Hollis
Format: Kindle for Mac
Finished on 12/29/2024
What inspired me to read it? From the 'Further Reading' section of Meditations for Mortals, Burkeman writes, "I unequivocally recommend the work of James Hollis. My introduction to his writing was Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up."
Thoughts: A not-so-subtly titled book with absolutely no implication about my current life circumstances... This book deserves a stand-alone blog post. Felt like a rude awakening from a decade-long sleepwalk. An impellation to answer the questions that stir the soul.