The Best Books I Read in 2024

My first fiction-heavy roundup

I haven’t done one of these lists in a couple years (which I regret) but I’m excited to share my favorite books I read this year.

This was the first year in as long as I can remember where I read more fiction than nonfiction. My interests started to drift this way last year, and now that I’m working on a sci-fi novel I’m much more interested in mastering the art of story, world building, character building, etc. which fiction has more to teach me about.

Also it’s more fun. Nonfiction is a form of “acceptable” entertainment for the hustle-inclined mind, and once I got over the mental barrier that it was unacceptable to read for, gasp, pleasure, I realized fiction was secretly the better educator too.

So let’s dive in. Here are my eight favorite books I read in 2024, in no particular order.

Logicomix by by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou

Part biography of Bertrand Russell, part philosophical inquiry, this is a wonderful way to explore Russells life’s work and the impact it has on our understanding of truth and knowledge.

The graphic novel format also makes it particularly approachable if you’re not someone who would normally read a “philosophy book.” It’s light without skimping on the depth of understanding.

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

The entire Red Rising saga is worth reading if you haven’t started it, it’s easily one of my favorite sci-fi series. If you found Three Body Problem or Dune a little slow, give this series a try. It absolutely rips without compromising on the world building.

To be honest I found books four and five a little slow, but book six, Light Bringer, is exceptional, and makes the previous two worth pushing through.

Brown really masters the interweaving points of view, the greater world from the first trilogy starts to come together, and it sets the stage for what I anticipate will be an epic finale in book seven.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Fifteen years ago a deadly flu wiped out most of the world, leaving a broken society where a traveling symphony roams the midwest performing Shakespeare.

It’s a patchwork novel with a satisfying payoff for how the interweaving stories tie together in the end. It manages to be both beautiful and tragic, an impressive mix for a post-apocalyptic novel, heavier on the interpersonal relationships and lighter on fighting roaming bandits.

The Will of the Many by James Islington

The best praise I can give it is that I’ll be reading the sequel the day it comes out.

Orphaned boy with secret powers and a hatred for the autocratic society he’s stuck in unlocks his potential and fights his way to supremacy through a magic academy uncovering its awful secret along the way.

Fantastic world, action, characters, mystery. The magic system is new and creative.

If you already read Red Rising, this has a similar vibe.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

This was my second time reading East of Eden and it remains the best novel I’ve ever read.

Also as someone who has pushed through some “hard” books, East of Eden is quite readable. It moves at a good clip, there are bits of action and terror and humor throughout to keep your energy up, for an “old classic” it doesn’t drag or feel like an effort the way some others might.

You owe it to yourself to pick it up at some point.

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

An eccentric gaming company billionaire dies, unleashing an autonomous computer program, a Daemon, that wreaks havoc on society, bringing our computerized society to its knees.

This is a WILD imagining of how our digital world might be attacked, and anticipated quite a few modern trends (including cryptocurrency!) in a shockingly prescient way. The characters and dialogue and other “literary” elements aren’t as strong here as some of the other books on this list, but if you like hard sci-fi you’ll eat this up.

Armor by John Steakley

Written in homage to Starship Troopers, Armor tells the story of Felix, a soldier clad in power armor fighting giant alien ants on a foreign planet, who mysteriously keeps surviving every encounter he enters, even when everyone around him perishes.

It lags a little in the middle, but the payoff at the end is incredible.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys

An absolutely heart wrenching story of a man with an extremely low IQ who undergoes an experimental treatment to become smart.

But his intelligence soon exceeds that of the people experimenting on him, and when the mouse who his treatment was based on starts regressing, he fears for his own regression too.

It will have you in tears at the end.

Bonus: Crypto Confidential by Me

Can you blame me? If you haven’t gotten a copy of Crypto Confidential or had time to read it yet, this is a fantastic time to pick it up.

Crypto excitement has returned, it looks like there will be significantly more development in the space over the next four years.

If you want to understand the industry better as well as get a behind-the-scenes look at the more degenerate side of it, Crypto Confidential is an extremely fun way to do it.

I hope you get some good reading done over the holiday. And if you have any books you read this year that you think I’d love, leave a comment and let me know!