2024 Reading Review
2024 Reading Summary
This quarter, rather than doing my standard book review, I’m going to report on my reading from last year, sharing some of the favorites I finished last year, with a few comments on each. I started seriously reading in 2003, and because I like to keep track of things, I started tracking my reading at the same time. I count listening to audiobooks as reading. Once I discovered Audible in 2013 and started distance running, I greatly increased my ability to get through books.
In 2024, I finished a total of 77 books, which is a record for me. Of these, 24 were print, for a total of 7,045 pages (293.5 average), and 53 were audio for a total of 610 hours, and 17,616 pages equivalent (11.5 hours and 332.4 pages average). This was an average of 1.5 books and 474 pages per week. One change this year was listening to an audiobook twice in the same year, which I did with “The Now Habit”, “Supercommunicators”, “Give and Take” and “Talking To Crazy.” I read the Bible completely for the 23rd year in a row. The longest books I listened to were Les Miserables (60.5 hours/1488 pages), The Bible (listened and read -38 hours/1000 pages) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (43 hours, 616 pages). The longest physical books I read were the Bible – 1000 pages, The Best Minds – 526 pages, and Retirement Planning Guidebook – 453 pages.
Business and finance books:
The Price of Time, by Edward Chancellor is an excellent book on the effect of interest rates on the economy. William Bernstein wrote a great review. The main point is that there is a natural rate of interest that maintains equilibrium. Too high a rate stifles growth, while too low a rate fans inflation and creates all manner of problems. We’ve experienced an extended period of artificially low rates, leading to malinvestment, bloated asset prices, financialization and “zombification.” Malinvestment occurs when low-return projects that would normally be nonviable are funded with even lower interest rates, essentially wasting resources. Bloated asset prices are a wealth transfer from the young to the old, and from the poor to the wealthy. It is harder to build wealth when investable assets have been priced up to levels generating very low future returns. Financialization misallocates resources as labor turns to financial roles rather than productive ones. Zombification happens when companies that should go out of business are kept on life support through easy capital. They use up time and money that could be diverted to more productive endeavors.
A History of the United States in Five Crashes by Scott Nations describes the Panic of 1907, the crash that started the Great Depression in 1929, the crash in October, 1987, the 2008 crash that was sparked by the Housing Market Bust and ushered in the “Great Recession” or Great Financial Crisis, and the “Flash Crash” of 2010. Nation’s narration is engaging as he takes us into what it felt like to live through these crashes. Each of the crashes was a little different, and each was important in its own way. Interestingly, he doesn’t include other crashes, such as the Tech Bubble Bust in 2000. This was interesting for me, as I was professionally involved in the market during two of these crashes. This book is a great read for any investor.
Dollars and Sense by Dan Arielly and Jeff Kreisler was a very entertaining look at how we make decisions around money. We like to think we are purely rational, but our decisions show otherwise. Nudge: The Final Edition by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein is in the same vein. Despite its strong political bias at points, this book is also a worthwhile read.
Family, Inc. – is a about how to run your household finances like a business. It is full of practical advice for personal finance.
Personal Development:
Take the Stairs by Rory Vaden is an annual read for me. “Easy choices - hard life, hard choices – easy life.”
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Dr. Daniel Amen is about brain health and how we can improve our brains.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock The Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg shows how success comes not just to the brilliant, but to those who understand communication. He explains what the best communicators do. One characteristic is that they are sympathetic and match the tone of others.
Verbal Judo by George Thompson is one of my favorite books. It is about conflict resolution through de-escalation. Thompson was a combative cop before learning the skill of getting belligerent people to cooperate. He went on to train police forces on this delicate art.
Give and Take by Adam Grant explores “givers”, “matchers” and “takers”. Surprisingly, while takers tend to have short-term success, givers do better over time, as long as they are careful to not let people take advantage of them.
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great little book on how to develop good habits. “You are what you continually do.” I was really impressed with the idea that while building a new habit can be hard, once done, it allows the desired action to be more or less automatic. He teaches us to make the desired behavior obvious, easy and attractive and to do the opposite with behaviors we want to avoid. Setting up for success is much more important than willpower or even motivation. I also like his idea of habit stacking – add a desired habit to one you already do to make it easier.
History and Biography
The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel by Douglas Brunt was a fascinating biography of a world-changer who was one of the twentieth century’s greatest inventors before meeting a mysterious end.
Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller gives the history of the US airmen in the European theatre of World War II. (I learned there is a mini-series based on it, but haven’t watched it yet.)
Peace Child by Don Richardson is the story of missionaries to a savage people group in Papua New Guinea.
The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson is the story of a young rural pastor who went into New York City in the 70’s to minister to the youth in street gangs. It is an amazing and inspiring story.
Other
Giving it All Away and Getting It Back Again by David Green was a great read on charitable giving, and living for a purpose bigger than ourselves.
I listened to a C.S. Lewis collection, with such pithy, thought-provoking works as Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, Miracles, The Problem of Pain and more. Lewis was a great thinker, and is always a great read.
What about you? What have you been reading? I have a long list of books I want to read, but I’m always looking for good book recommendations and interested in what other people have been reading.