Rating And Thoughts On Books In Communication, Community, Wellness, And More
In 2024, I read 74 books—at least twice each—and averaged 3 book reads/week until mid-December.
What can you learn in a year? Can you find out what you learned from your activity history of the previous year?
I’m reflecting on the year through these books, similar to Spotify’s annual wrap-up. In this summary, I’ll highlight my top reads, share aggregate statistics, and explain how each book impacted me.
First, I’ll share my top picks.
Next, I’ll introduce my “impact rating,” which I use instead of a star rating.
Finally, I’ll provide links to the insights I gained from each book I remember reading in 2024.
I spent 5 hours, 50 minutes writing my thoughts on each book, consolidating data, and writing this blog. You need 10 minutes to read each word in this post. Instead, skim to a section relevant to you.
Related:
For the detailed lists, my books are in this order:
8 Books on Communication
7 Books on Scaling A Tech Company
7 Books on Health and Wellness
6 Books on Psychology and Mindset
5 Books on Productivity and Time Management
5 Books on Friendships and Community
4 Books on Self-Help and Personal Development
4 Books on Popular Science
4 Books on Parenting and Family
4 Books on Marketing
4 Books on Career Growth
3 Books on Understanding The World With Data
3 Books on Sales
3 Books on Philosophy and Thought
3 Books on Leadership and Management
1 Book on Product Management
1 Book on History and Culture
1 Book on Finance
1 Book on Consulting
2024's Top Picks: My Favorite Reads Of The Year
Each of these books stood out for its unique impact and memorable content. Here, I'll share why these top 5 books earned their special place in my year.
The top 5 books I liked or re-read the most, in no order, were:
Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships (Friendships and Community): I loved this book because it amplified my thoughts on friendships. From the layers of social ties to their impact on health and longevity, it had insights to strengthen my social goals and had actionable tips.
SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient - Powered by the Science of Games (Self-Help and Personal Development): This book turned my daily challenges into opportunities for growth by gamifying resilience. Its practical exercises, like "worst-case bingo," and fresh perspectives on anxiety vs. excitement left me inspired to improve my mental well-being. I need to re-read it for more impact.
Designing Your Life: Build a Life That Works for You (Career Growth): This book had a profound impact on me during my career pivot in 2024. Its actionable exercises, like mind mapping and five-year planning, helped me clarify my goals and take meaningful steps toward a fulfilling life.
Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity (Health and Wellness): This book challenged me to think beyond treating symptoms to optimizing long-term health. Its blend of data and practical advice inspired changes to my fitness routine. After reading this and a few related books in 2024, I stopped eating desserts or sugar.
Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction (Parenting and Family): I loved this book for its empathetic and actionable approach to parenting. It reminded me that focusing on connection over correction helps build trust and resilience in both parents and children.
You can watch a video walkthrough of the statistics and book covers here.
Genre Insights: Categorizing My 2024 Reads
Categorizing books by genre reveals my reading patterns and preferences. Here's how the genres played out in my 2024 reading list.
All books I read were Nonfiction.
Some inferences from the top genre tags (overlaps):
Self Help: 73% of books helped my drive of continuous self-improvement.
Business: 66% tagged as Business.
Psychology and Leadership: 53% tagged as Psychology. 41% tagged in Leadership.
Yearly Comparison: 2024 Vs. 2023 Reading Habits
In 2024, I read more books per week than in 2023—three books per week compared to 2.7. However, I read fewer total books because I re-read each book two or three times to feel comfortable writing a few paragraphs about its impact on me.
I read 74 books in 2024, 106 in 2023, and 96 in 2022.
A virtual book club friend decides on his books for the year beforehand. I love that approach, but I did not do it for 2024 or ever before.
At one point, I faced a challenge. I was reading the right books, but my retention was diminishing. I wondered: Is there a maximum number of books you can read in your life? Or maybe in a year?
This decline was probably because I started a new job in a GenAI startup, so I spent time learning about a rapidly evolving technical domain. I had racing thoughts about making a startup successful or about GenAI domain.
I set a 2024 goal to read at least one paperback book but couldn't reach it till mid-December. Most of my reading was through audiobooks on Audible or the Kindle accessibility feature.
Impact Rating For Books, Not Stars
I realized that using the conventional star rating system could make my ratings appear objective. My ratings are not objective, they are subjective. So, I call it an “Impact Rating”. I give an Impact Rating to each book based on:
Change in my beliefs
Actions I took in my career or life
New information vs my previous knowledge
I rate each book on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. A lower Impact Rating doesn't mean a book is poor in quality. For example, a book may have great content but I knew its content. Or, a book may have great content but I didn’t take any actions in my career or life from the book.
Last year, some readers doubted whether I could truly learn from reading so many books. To address this, I now write about each book's impact on me. This practice serves as a forcing function to ensure I extract value from each book and provides evidence to support my claims.
8 Books on Communication
Here’s the output based on your input and instructions:
3 - Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships (Nonviolent Communication Guides) 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
4 - The Art of Explanation 💡💡💡💡 4/5
7 Books on Scaling A Tech Company
9 - It's Not Luck 💡💡💡💡 4/5
10 - "Isn't It Obvious?" 💡💡💡💡 4/5
11 - Critical Chain 💡💡💡💡 4/5
7 Books on Health and Wellness
18 - Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
20 - The Case Against Sugar 💡💡💡💡 4/5
6 Books on Psychology and Mindset
24 - Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
25 - You Are Not So Smart 💡💡💡💡 4/5
5 Books on Productivity and Time Management
30 - Radical Focus : Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) 💡💡💡 3/5
5 Books on Friendships and Community
34 - How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 Rule for Turning Your Business Network into Profits 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
36 - Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
37 - Friend Of A Friend . . .: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Your Career 💡💡💡💡 4/5
4 Books on Self-Help and Personal Development
39 - SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient - Powered by the Science of Games 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
40 - The Magic of Thinking Big 💡💡💡 3/5
42 - But It’s Your Family…: Cutting Ties with Toxic Family Members and Loving Yourself in the Aftermath 💡💡 2/5
4 Books on Popular Science
44 - Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know 💡💡💡💡 4/5
45 - Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst 💡💡💡 3/5
46 - What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (What If?, #2) 💡💡 2/5
4 Books on Parenting and Family
47 - Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
48 - The Whole-Brain Child: Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind 💡💡💡💡 4/5
49 - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness 💡💡💡💡 4/5
50 - Raising Boys in the 21st Century 💡💡💡💡 4/5
4 Books on Marketing
53 - No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls.: The Next Generation of Account-Based Sales and Marketing 💡💡 2/5
4 Books on Career Growth
55 - Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
57 - Never Search Alone: The Job Seeker’s Playbook 💡💡💡💡 4/5
3 Books on Understanding The World With Data
59 - Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering 💡💡💡💡 4/5
60 - Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life 💡💡💡 3/5
61 - Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are 💡💡 2/5
3 Books on Sales
62 - Founding Sales - The Startup Sales Handbook 💡💡💡💡 4/5
63 - Network Like A Fox: A Targeted Approach To Building Successful Business Relationships In Person And Online 💡💡💡 3/5
3 Books on Philosophy and Thought
65 - Falling Awake 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
66 - What We Owe the Future 💡💡 2/5
67 - The Creative Act: A Way of Being 💡💡 2/5
3 Books on Leadership and Management
68 - Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up 💡💡 2/5
69 - Influencing Up 💡💡 2/5
1 Book on Product Management
71 - Product Management in Practice: A Real-World Guide to the Key Connective Role of the 21st Century 💡💡💡💡💡 5/5
1 Book on History and Culture
72 - The Secret History of Christmas 💡💡💡💡 4/5
1 Book on Finance
1 Book on Consulting
74 - Consulting Success: The Proven Guide to Start, Run and Grow a Successful Consulting Business 💡💡 2/5
Timeless Favorites: Most Revisited Books
Some books are like old friends, offering comfort and wisdom time and again. In this section, I highlight the books from previous years that I found myself returning to even in 2024.
Deploy Empathy: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Customers: It shows you how to really interview your customers. This book has psychology explanations that help you internalize its tips. Then it has tactical tips that are actionable.
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7: This is my favorite book for understanding my relationship with my kid. I go through it every few weeks, especially when I come across new challenges in parenting.
How We Learn: It covered ways to improve a skill, schedule my time, and read books.
Fair Play: It made me more empathetic towards tasks my spouse does that I might not notice. It offers a framework for fairly sharing and owning tasks between my spouse and me.
Night School: Wake up to the power of sleep: I read this book like a manual to help me improve my sleep. I often read it, focusing on specific chapters to tackle different sleep issues.
The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients walked me through common potholes and success steps to build my consulting business.
Concluding And Behind The Scenes
I used the same process as 2022 and 2023 to get the data and visualize it. Read the steps in 2022’s post to replicate this analysis.
You can watch a video walkthrough of the statistics and book covers here.
A virtual book club friend decides on his books for the year beforehand. I love that approach, but I won’t do it for 2025.
Related: