As an avid reader, for many years I have set the goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks. It’s ambitious, but reading is a hobby and this exercise helps me keep track of what I’ve read. In 2023, I read 92 books, exceeding my goal by quite a bit. Or, more accurately, I listed 92 books that I read. I don’t list books that might reveal certain things I might (or might not) be working on.

Picasso like image of people gathered and looking at book

In 2022, the total number was 80.

I again found that I was starting and abandoning quite a few books. And I’m reading way more audiobooks than ever before – largely a function of convenience and the trickiness of fonts and font sizes as I get older.

If you forced me to pick my top books for 2023 (in alphabetical order) that I’d recommend, I’d probably list:

  • Artificial Intelligence, Melanie Mitchell
  • Breaking Through, Katalin Kariko
  • Bridge, Lauren Beukes
  • The Earth Transformed, Peter Frankopan
  • Every Man for Himself and God Against All, Werner Herzog
  • Excellent Advice for Living, Kevin Kelly
  • Moshe Feldenkrais: A Life in Movement, Mark Reese
  • Saving Time, Jenny Odell
  • The Smart Mission, Edward Hoffman, et al
  • Unmasking AI, Joy Buolamwini

I’m doing the same thing in 2024. My approach is the same as in previous years – I’ll simply update this post from time to time from time to time throughout the year as I finish books.

I’ve enjoyed doing this challenge every year and hope you find the list useful. And I encourage you to take the challenge yourself.

I welcome your recommendations of good books I might read this year.

As Bill Taylor says, “Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?”

Challenging yourself to read 52 books is probably a good way to start to answer that question.

December

November

October

September

August

60. How the World Ran Out of Everything, Peter Goodman
59. The Infernal Machine, Steven Johnso
58. The Presidents and the People, Corey Brettschneider
57. Brave New Words, Salman Khan
56. A Death in Cornwall, Daniel Silva
55. 1177 BC, Eric Cline
54. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
53. 3 Shades of Blue, James Kaplan
52. The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Stacy Schiff
51. The Wolves of K Street, Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins

July

50. The Incorruptibles, Dan Slater
49. The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, Margalit Fox
48. Misbelief, Dan Ariely
47. Stories are Weapons, Annalee Newitz
46. Ask Not, Maureen Callaheen
45. Craig Johnson, First Frost
44. All the Worst Humans, Phil Elwood
43, After 1177 B.C, Eric CLine
42. Code Dependent, Madhumita Murgia
41. The Age of Magical Overthinking, Amanda Montell

June

40. The Great River, Boyce Upholt
39. The Man Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carre
38. The Explorers, Amanda Bellows
37. The Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson
36. Hellhound on his Trail, Hampton Sides
35. The Devil’s Chessboard, David Talbot
34. The End of Everything, Victor Davis Hanson

May

33. Where God was Born, Bruce Feiler
32. A Brief History of Intelligence, Max Bennett
31. Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides
30. The Light Eaters, Zoe Schlanger
29. Empire of the World, Sathnam Sanghera
28. ADHD is Awesome, Penn and Kim Holderness
27. The Algebra of Wealth, Scott Galloway
26. Lost Birds, Ann Hillerman
25. The 6 Types of Working Genius, Patrick Lencioni
24. The Wide Wide Sea, Hampton Sides

April

23. Co-intelligence, Ethan Mollick
22. Glad We Met, Steven Rogelberg
21. A Fever in the Heartland, Timothy Egan
20. The Anatomy of Fascism, Robert O. Paxton
19. 10X is Easier than 2X, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy

March

18. How to Win an Information War, Peter Pomerantsev
17. Burn Book, Kara
16. Slow Productivity, Cal Newport
15. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, RObert Pirsig
14. Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg
13. The Lantern’s Dance, Laurie R. King

February

12. Technofeudalism, Yanis Varoufakis
11. Sins of the Shovel, Rachel Morgan
10. Germany 1923, Volker Ullrich
9. Eighteen Days in October, Uri Kaufman
8. How to ADHD, Jessica McCabe

January

7. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Eric Jorgenson, ed.
6. Artificial Intelligence, Michelle Mitchell
5. Right Kind of Wrong, Amy Edmondson
4. Damascus Station, David McCloskey
3. Endgame, Omid Scobie
2. The 32 Principles, Rener Gracie
1. The Worlds I See, Fei-Fei Li


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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