The Best Books I Read in 2024

In total, I read 28 books this year, which is more than I have in a long time. The biggest factors in being able to pull this off have been cutting out taking-head podcasts (sports, politics, etc.), realizing that fiction is far better to read in audiobook format (for me at least), and taking a disciplined approach to reducing how much TV I watched and replacing it with reading time. You can see the limited amount of TV I watched in this post, the Best Movies and TV I watched in 2024.

Top Ten

	1 – Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things, Dan Ariely (2024) – The book that I’ve thought most about this year. It’s easy to equate this to politics, but people believe crazy things about all kinds of topics. If you’re curious about how we traverse the path of misbelief, this is an easy-to-understand must-read.
	2 – Losing Our Religion: An Alter Call for Evangelical America, Russell Moore (2023) – Another work that makes me think a lot. Approaches modern Christianity with a case against blending politics and religion too much. Interesting thoughts from a pastor with tons of scripture to consider.
	3 – Design for How People Learn, Julie Dirksen (2011) – Came to this book on instructional design partly as a work read, but it helped a lot with raising kids and thinking about what it takes to create learning experiences big and small. The biggest takeaway was a section early in the book exploring the learning gaps people exhibit, whether they be knowledge, behavior, environment, among others. If you’re responsible for teaching things to others, this book will help you.
	4 – The Summer Book, Tove Johannsen (1972) – This is a delightful fiction title, the first on this list. A well-written, short-chapter, story about a young girl spending her summer on an island with her father and grandmother. As each day passes, the girl sees a bit more about her life and those around her.
	5 – No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson and Johnson, Gardiner Harris (2025) – This one is a doozy and isn’t publicly available until April 2025. It wasn’t my favorite read, but I think it will be one of the most talked about books of 2025 given the current state of our healthcare system. As much hate as people have for health insurance companies, this book will remind everyone that the hate should be shared with drug/equipment companies like J&J, as well as the doctors they influence.
	6 – Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny, Edward J. Watts (2018) – A retelling of the political, economic, and cultural systems that led to the fall of Rome over hundreds of years. It’s a lot, but it’s not hard to follow the thread of what killed their democracy, which is similar to what we’ve seen across the globe in the last few years.
	7 – Smart but Scattered Teens, Guare, Dawson & Guare (2012) – All kids struggle with certain aspects of managing their lives. The text gave me a ton of vocabulary to use for various challenges I was running into with kids (and adults). Being able to recognize skill needs like organization or emotional control is common, but having a guide for things like response inhibition and goal-directed persistence is supremely valuable.
	8 – Animal Farm, George Orwell (1945) – Obviously a classic, but I try to revisit this, 1984, Brave New World, and others every few years.
	9 – Feel Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You, Ali Abdaal (2024) – From former doctor and productivity YouTuber Ali Abdaal. Ali lays out his collection of brain science and tips for being productive. His habits have proven effective as one of the biggest YouTube influencers in 2024.
	10 – Red Rising, Pierce Brown (2014) – Another fiction entry. I read the initial trilogy of this series and loved it, but book 1 was by far the best. Great world-building, characters that make you deeply passionate about the stakes… really, really enjoyable. Also, would highly recommend the audiobook as the voice talent is top-notch.

Everything I Read in 2024