Books that Made My 2024

If I may, I had a very, very good reading run last year. Some were recommended by friends, others gifted by family, and a couple thrown in by Amazon’s algorithm. I inevitably found a few at my favourite bookstore’s exceptionally well-curated bargain table.

I fortunately didn’t have to give up on any of the books I started. A few were challenging reads, forcing me to focus, think through implications and take lots of notes. Others were soothing balms to take the edge off intense work days. All left me with a feeling of time well spent. So if you’re looking for books that will expand your perspective, sharpen instincts, inspire through the lives of others, keep you hooked from page one, then keep reading.

Standout Reads

🔹 Burn Book – Kara Swisher (Fearless, sharp, mandatory reading. Tech’s power players exposed.)

📌 Key Idea: Tech journalist Kara Swisher, through memoir, exposes the makings of Silicon Valley’s biggest egos—Zuckerberg and co —cutting through the myth-making to reveal the real, flawed figures behind tech’s most powerful companies.

💡 Biggest insight: Speak truth to power.

🎯 Who should read this: Anyone fascinated by tech, power, and the personalities shaping our world.

🔹 Alchemy – Rory Sutherland (Logic is overrated—human psychology drives decisions.)

📌 Key Idea: The best solutions often don’t make sense. Understanding irrational human behavior is the real superpower in business, marketing, and life.

💡 Biggest insight: The “official reason” behind a decision is almost never the real reason, and is unknown to even those who made it.

🎯 Who should read this: Anyone who thinks logical reasoning is the be all, end all.

🔹 Eaters of the Dead – Michael Crichton (A historical retelling of Beowulf, told through the eyes of an Ibn Battuta-like Arab scholar.)

📌 Key Idea: The writer behind Jurassic Park and Westworld reimagines the Beowulf legend, blending adventure, history, and myth into a brilliantly reframed narrative.

💡 Biggest insight: There are far more interesting ways to retell a timeless story than simply modernise using the latest tech and storytelling trends (yes, I’m thinking of Disney remakes).

🎯 Who should read this: Fans of historical fiction, adventure novels, and anyone who loves the thrill of well-researched storytelling.

🔹 A Calamity of Souls – David Baldacci (A gripping, powerful story set in the racially charged 1960s.)

📌 Key Idea: Set in the American South in the 60s, this novel follows a racially charged murder case, with a white and Black lawyer pairing up to help a Black man accused of murdering his wealthy, older, white employers.

💡 Biggest insight: The fight for racial justice was (and still is) messy, painful, and brutally personal.

🎯 Who should read this: Fans of historical fiction, courtroom dramas and civil rights in America.

🔹 The Billionaire Raj – James Crabtree (A deep dive into India’s rise—and its growing inequality.)

📌 Key Idea: India’s economic boom has led to staggering inequality, with billionaires amassing massive wealth while millions struggle. Crabtree examines the consequences of unchecked growth.

💡 Biggest insight: Fix inequality, end crony capitalism, navigate the challenges of industrialisation to unlock the potential of India’s people.

🎯 Who should read this: Anyone curious about global economics, emerging markets, and the intersection of wealth, politics and corruption.

The Full Reading List

1. The Big Leap – Gay Hendricks (Self development)
2. The Last Graduate (Book 2 of The Scholomance Trilogy) – Naomi Novik (Fantasy)
3. IKEA: How to Become The World’s Richest Man – Johan Stenebo (Biography)
4. Eaters of the Dead – Michael Crichton (Fantasy)
5. Thinking in Systems: A Primer – Donella H. Meadows (Science)
6. Same as Ever – Morgan Housel (Business)
7. Burn Book – Kara Swisher (Business Memoir)
8. The Billionaire Raj – James Crabtree (Business)
9. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl – Carrie Brownstein (Memoir)
10. Alchemy – Rory Sutherland (Social psychology)
11. A Calamity of Souls – David Baldacci (Historical fiction)
12. House of Hidden Meanings – RuPaul (Memoir)
13. How the World Thinks – Julian Baggini (History/Philosophy)
14. A Memoir of my Former Self – Hilary Mantel (Essays)
15. As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis Devoto – Joan Reardon (Biography)
16. Training the Mind – Chögyam Trungpa (Tibetan Buddhism)
17. The Story of a Ceylon Teamaker – Merrill Fernando (Memoir)
18. The Contrarian – Max Chafkin (Biography)
19. How to Write a Great Business Plan – William A. Sahlman (Business)
20. Supercommunicators – Charles Duhigg (Business)
21. The Cat Who Taught Zen – James Norbury (Fiction)
22. The House of Unexpected Sisters (Book 18 of ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) – Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
23. Make Something Wonderful – Steve Jobs (Business)
24. Becoming Steve Jobs – Brent Schlender (Biography)
25. The Watchmen – Alan Moore (Fiction)
26. The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashwai

📚 Hope you find something in the above that stays with you. If there’s one that I should add to my 2025 list, let’s talk!