2024 Books (read by Soph)
2024 Books // read & written by: Sophie x
My goal is to read 52 books in 2024. At the time of updating this list, we’re 32 weeks in and we’re about 13.5 books in. And it’s totally changed our lives. Here are a list of the books we’ve read so far, in order, with a totally arbitrary ranking out of 5.
** summation of 2024 - still picking up and reading **
Fiction really makes sense since this year I stayed at home a lot, reading a lot of fiction is to have adventures without actually having adventures if that makes sense. Having to stay in, at home and not be able to go out there and into the great things, I found a lot of solace in reading these fiction stories and just diving into the world. I’ve noticed that I’ve been very focused on a few genres, mostly Western sci-fi and that’s cool. You know I enjoy it more, but this year I’ve started with some international fiction; there are a couple countries I want to learn more about, India is one. So, right now I’m reading,
Rohinton Mistry’s, A Fine Balance; so far really really good.
TL;DR - reading a lot of international fiction, I think it’s a really interesting way to learn more about culture, so if you have some books that you recommend that kind of fit into that, would love to hear from you.
1. Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Definitely don’t agree with every comment in this book. Basically a philosophy book about impermanence - things change, backwards or forwards, wish you were younger or that you were older…however you go, you end up in the same place, and this book has a certain angle to that. The first half of this book is really good in explaining as people apply chaos or as you apply time - things become more fragile, so like the world for example, so it’s super interesting to think about that general concept. With a lot of these books, there are concepts I’ve thought about, but maybe not deeply, but with Taleb’s idea.. it’s a completely original idea to me and was definitely more thought-provoking than a lot of the books on here. 4/5
1. Flow - Mihaly Csikszent
Answers some of the core questions about happiness in your life. End of my praises. I think that’s a major goal in anyone’s life, and Flow just gives you the blueprint to do it. I don’t think my life is that much happier than anyone else’s, it’s just that engaging in things that give you the state of ‘flow’ - you get happier. 5/5
1. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson
I got this book as a Christmas present, and it was a good one. Written quite informally and reads quickly. Manson’s main point is this: life is a constant struggle for everyone, and there is no such thing as a goal that will make you permanently happy. Instead, we should become happy in our struggle, and “choose the problems that will make us happy to solve”. I get behind this message. I strongly recommend this book. 4.5/5
1. Origin - Dan Brown
I read this book as an ebook on my iPad because I was looking for a nice light fiction book. It did the trick. Read a little more cumbersome than I remember Dan Brown reading. If you’ve read the other books in the Robert Langdon series, then I tentatively recommend it. 3.5/5
1. Utopia - Thomas More
This was a pretty interesting read! It’s definitely not something that you can just pick up and skim through, or at least I can’t, but there’s a lot of substance in those pages. I was inspired to pick up a copy of this book because I kept paging it from the library, and I’m glad I did. If you’re interested in political systems or enjoy thinking about how the world could be run better (don’t we all?) then I recommend this book. 4.25/5
1. The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman
If you’re into design, or you think that you might be, this book has some awesome content. I found reading to be really slow at points, with Norman breaking systems down into minute detail. While this would have been super awesome if I was actively designing a project, I’m not, so I had nothing to relate this to and therefore found it a little boring. If you’re working on design actively, it’s a strong recommend. Otherwise, I think there’s definitely enough value to tentatively recommend. 3.75/5
1. Shoe Dog - Phil Knight
Another Christmas present… Wow, am I ever glad I didn’t leave this one at home. This book was a page-turner from the very first page, touching on some of my biggest interests in running, business, and just life in general. Phil Knight has led such an incredible life, and this memoir reads exactly like a novel with incredibly important messages. Can’t recommend this book enough. 5/5
1. Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark
This was a pretty awesome book, definitely hitting one of my major interests: AI from an ethics perspective. If you’re interested in this side of AI at all–what the future might hold and what we might want it to hold, Tegmark explores potential scenarios in awesome detail and breaks down quite complicated concepts into easy-to-parse bits and pieces. Strongly recommend. 4.5/5
1. 10% Happier - Dan Harris
Wow. This was one of the books that really changed my life as I was reading it. I got into meditation a little while back, and then took a Zen Buddhism course at school, but I’ve struggled to apply it in my daily life. Harris gives a brilliant explanation on how you can still be sharp and ambitious while gaining the benefits from mindfulness meditation. Short read, too. Can’t recommend enough. 5/5
1. The Signal and the Noise - Nate Silver
Nate Silver is somewhat of a cultural icon at this point. If you’re interested in probably the most interesting read on Bayesian statistics that exists, I highly recommend you pick up this book. Silver looks at real data, interesting data at that, to prove his points about how the world works from a statistical perspective. Pretty awesome read. A little long compared to some of the books on this lost though, be warned. 4.5/5
1. Drive - Daniel Pink
This book, by Pink, really opened my eyes to the truth behind motivational structures and how flawed they can be. I guess I never really considered why we use carrot/stick rewards as opposed to intrinsic motivation, but as soon as I read that it completely clicked. Of course you have to be internally motivated to be successful! Pink does a pretty good job overall of expressing how to run your life and your company in such a way that it encourages this intrinsic motivation. Definitely a good read. 4.75/5
1. New and Selected Poems, Volume One - Mary Oliver
I have never really read an entire poetry anthology before. April has always had a sweet spot for poems and poetry but there has never been a poet that captivated me as Mary Oliver has. I read through this anthology in a few days, rarely putting it down, returning time and time again to the poems that made me feel amazingly alive. Honestly, a truly inspirational artistic work. 5/5
1. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell 4.25/5
2. Buffetology - Mary Buffett - In progress…3.25/5 so far
5. jonathan livingston seagull
