My 2024 reading list so far: mid-year review
and my thoughts on them.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert [link]
“The world ain’t straight. You grow up thinking things are a certain way. You think there are rules. You think there’s a way that things have to be. You try to live straight. But the world doesn’t care about your rules, or what you believe. The world ain’t straight, Vivian. Never will be. Our rules, they don’t mean a thing. The world just happens to you sometimes, is what I think. And people just gotta keep moving through it, best they can.”
It is a fantastic novel, but I cannot recommend it to someone who is a newbie to reading books in English because the language is not light.
7/10
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal [link]
“being surrounded by other people who show persistence and effort in overcoming challenges can increase our own feelings of self-efficacy because they demonstrate to us that these challenges can be overcome.”
I took the day off to read this book immediately after its publication, and it did not dissapoint. It is one of the best books I have ever read.
10/10
Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours by Noah Kagan [link]
“After all, there are a ton of top-rated MBA programs, $10 Udemy courses, free YouTube videos, and entrepreneurship how-to books—so why wouldn’t you learn all you could? That’s got to be a lot safer, and it probably makes you much less likely to fail, right? Wrong.”
Even if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, you can learn a lot from this book. But, if you do, you MUST read this book.
10/10
Good Material by Dolly Alderton [link]
“We wander around London in the late-afternoon sun. We walk past men with loosened ties standing outside Soho pubs drinking pints, and then down to Trafalgar Square, where teenagers perch on the edge of the fountains.”
There are a few writers that I read any books that they published and will publish. Dolly Alderton is one of them; she is also so genuine in person.
10/10
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel [link]
“But good investing isn’t necessarily about earning the highest returns, because the highest returns tend to be one-off hits that can’t be repeated. It’s about earning pretty good returns that you can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time. That’s when compounding runs wild.”
This is the first personal finance book that I read, and it is much more than a finance book. This book can change your life forever, for the better.
10/10
Designing Your Life: For Fans of Atomic Habits by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans [link]
“Not only is it true that prototyping is a good idea, it’s equally true that not prototyping is a bad and sometimes very costly idea.”
The book you wish you had read sooner at whatever age you read it. Highly recommend it to everyone, especially people in their 20s.
10/10
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport [link]
“As the twentieth century progressed, this visible-activity heuristic became the dominant way we began thinking about productivity in knowledge work. It’s why we gather in office buildings using the same forty-hour workweeks originally developed for limiting the physical fatigue of factory labor, and why we feel guilty about ignoring our inboxes, or experience internalized pressure to volunteer or “perform busyness” when we see the boss is nearby.”
If you are a knowledge worker, i.e., white-collar employee, you MUST read this book. This book is eye-opening.
10/10
So Good They Can't Ignore You Cal Newport [link]
“This insight brought me into the world of performance science, where I encountered the concept of deliberate practice—a method for building skills by ruthlessly stretching yourself beyond where you’re comfortable. As I discovered, musicians, athletes, and chess players, among others, know all about deliberate practice, but knowledge workers do not.”
I like this book, but I find Cal Newport’s narrative too pushy, which is something I don’t like about academics in general (funny, ha?). There is no one way of living life, so some of the advice in this book should be taken cautiously.
9/10
Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life by Matthew Dicks [link]
“Instead, when I need to make a decision, I try to look to the future. I look to the one-hundred-year-old version of myself. The version of myself near the end of his life. The person who understands what it’s like to be on the doorstep of death.”
Fantastic book. If you lose your hope about living the life you want, please read this book. You will find lots of practical advice.
10/10
The books that I started but didn’t finish
Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Love and Making a Life by Amy Key (will continue reading it)
Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson (don’t like it)
The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks (don’t like it)
Please share your thoughts in the comments if you read any of these books. Also, any book recommendation is more than welcomed.
Cheers,
Sidika
thanks for giving insights of what you read!! will definitly follow your recommendations
I am so happy to have found you... You're so smart and intelligent and incredibly kind. I had added this book list to my list when I saw it on youtube, but it's great to find it here in written form. Also, I was so excited when I saw your email on Sunday morning (because it was the first email from you) that I immediately went to my desk, put on some nice music and read it. Let our wonderful one-sided friendship begin :))))