18 Books That Made Me Think(2024)

The more I read the less confident I feel when recommending books. I have come to realize that my reasons for liking or disliking a book are often very personal to me. I do not see myself as a tastemaker or make any claims to know what a good or bad book is. Only what moves me at the point of interaction and engagement. There are loads of books I read (some of which are written by dear friends on important topics), which I am sure are quite good (maybe even a masterpiece or two) but they will not make my list because of my own disposition toward the topic at the time. Or, to no fault of their own, because the subject is something I already know a good bit about.

On the other hand, I finished reading book number 396 for the year this morning, and I know this sheer volume of consumption does, perhaps, give me a unique perspective. I can still see that when something stands out to me, it might just be that it is either, a truly remarkable work (like Red Comet from this list), or it is dealing with an important issue at the right time in what seems to me to be, the right way (like The Anxious Generation, Bad Therapy, or Leading from the Emerging Future). My favorite books are the ones that surprise me. Either with ideas, I have never heard (like Magic Pill or the Year of Dangerous Days), or the courage to look at a subject from the other side of convention (like the Fund and the Man Who Broke Capitalism). Some surprise me simply by their originality of tone or construction (like Doppelganger, the Song of Significance, and as always Gladwell's latest book, The Revenge of the Tipping Point). And some just say what I wish I could say only better (like Scarcity, and Facilitating Breakthrough).

All to say, liking a book is more art than science. But if you are like me and looking for something to read that might just surprise you, here are the 18 from this year that made me think the most.

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler

The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams by Seth Godin

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt, Sean Pratt

The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni

Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs by Johann Hari

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case and Angus Deaton

Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier

The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend by Rob Copeland

Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together by Adam Kahane

Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies by Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer

The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America — and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles

Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict by William Ury

Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell

The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980 (A Wild Year in Miami’s History) by Nicholas Griffin

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather L. Clark