As I have done since 2014, here is my reading list for 2024.

According to Goodreads, there are over 220 books on my ‘Want to Read’ list. These can be broken down into two categories: my fun reads, of which there are ~140 titles, and my morning reads, of which there are ~80 titles. While these numbers appear large, it’s an improvement from last year when there were over 230 books in the queue.

I am continuing to maintain the two lists. My fun reads are primarily fiction books, mostly in the sci-fi genre. While it’s mostly for recreational purposes, there are some distinct reasons why the list leans towards science fiction which you can read about here. My morning reads are books I use for learning purposes. They are generally focused around personal development, health and fitness, or business. If you’re interested in how I compile these lists, I’ve included the guidelines at the bottom of this post.

I generally get through around 30 books for the year – 20 fun reads and 10 morning reads. Even though I keep these lists, there is the possibility that new titles in 2024 could jump the queue if I find them interesting or compelling enough.

So without further adieu, here are the lists.

The fun reads

1. Pandora’s Brain – Calum Chace
2. The Water Knife – Paolo Bacigalupi
3. When She Woke – Hillary Jordan
4. Reap3r – Eliot Peper
5. Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Novel – Tashikazu Kawaguchi
6. The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
7. The Dog Stars – Peter Heller
8. 14 – Peter Clines
9. We Are Legion – Dennis Taylor
10. Keep Mars Weird – Neal Pollack
11. The Quantum Thief – Hannu Rajaniemi
12. Interface – Tony Batton
13. Cipher – Sean Jenan
14. Three Laws Lethal – David Walton
15. Eversion – Alistair Reynolds
16. The Genius Plague – David Walton
17. Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
18. Silicon Man – William Massa
19. Calypso – David Sedaris
20. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
21. Please Report Your Bug Here – Josh Reidel
22. The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
23. Upload – Mark McClelland
24. How to Stop Time – Matt Haig
25. The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C. Clarke
26. Foundry – Eliot Peper
27. Slick – Daniel Price
28. The Measure – Niki Erlick
29. Startup – Doree Shafrif
30. The Warehouse – Rob Hart

The morning reads

1. Excellent Advice for Living – Kevin Kelly
2. Outlive – Peter Attia
3. Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
4. You Are the Placebo – Joe Dispenza
5. Mindf*ck – Christopher Wylie
6. Spoon-Fed – Tim Spector
7. Internet for the People – Ben Tarnoff
8. The Choice – Edith Enger
9. Weapons of Match Destruction – Cathy O’Neil
10. Way of the Turtle – Curtis Faith
11. Stoicism and the Art of Happiness – Donald J. Robertson
12. The Spiritual Brain – Mario Beauregard
13. The Body – Bill Bryson
14. Reality is Not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli
15. Company of One – Paul Jarvis

The revisit list

Each year, there are a couple of titles that I like to try and revisit. It’s a good way to reinforce the key concepts I took away the first (or last) time I read it.

1. Ego Is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday
2. Mastery – George Leonard
3. The Power of Positive Thinking – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

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Even though I spend considerable effort arranging my reading list, there’s always room for more. Every year, a few books find a way to jump the queue. Feel free to leave recommendations in the comments as I’m always on the lookout for new additions, and if they’re compelling enough, they may find their way onto this year’s list!

If you’re interested in the lists from years past, you can find them here.

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The reading list guidelines

To make the curation process a little easier, I’ve come up with a set of guidelines that help me build the reading list.

• I read multiple books at once. I have a couple of daily readers, a non-fiction book about personal development, business, or health that I read in the morning, and a recreational book that I like to read in the evening. Therefore, my first task is to split the list into two, my fun reads and my morning reads.
• I keep a third, short list of personal development books to reread. The goal is to revisit and reinforce concepts that I want to incorporate into my day-to-day living.
• Recommendations from trusted sources get highest priority.
• Books from authors I like receive preferential treatment. A few of my current favorites are Blake Crouch, A.G. Riddle, Eliot Peper, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Holiday.
• If I’ve already purchased a book, I make an effort to prioritize it. In the past, this list was rather lengthy. There are just a handful of books on this list heading into 2024.
• I like to include a few books by new authors. It’s fun reading books by authors I’m not familiar with and discovering up-and coming talents.
• Books still on the 2023 list got moved to the 2024 list. If it was on last year’s list, it belongs on this year’s list. I do my best to put higher priority on books from the prior year’s list, but I’ll confess there is still a few titles on the list from 2021.
• My fictional preference is primarily science fiction, but I will venture outside of this genre if provided with a good recommendation. My science fiction books tend more towards books that explore hard science fiction or plausible ideas such as artificial intelligence, human augmentation, or robotics. I’m not one for space operas, although I will dabble here and there if the first book in a series looks interesting.
• I always save room on my list for “classic” science fiction. It fascinates me how authors have foreshadowed or predicted the future in their books, some which were written well over 50 years ago.
• My non-fiction reads center around self-learning, business learning, founder/company stories, neuroscience, and health and nutrition. I do my best to include books from each of these categories every year to stay current on the latest findings.