2024 Reading List for Productivity & Positivity
POSITIVE AFFIRMATION
"Today I’ll gain some new insight - about myself, about others, or this world I’m in."
Welcome to a new list I plan on doing each year. A list of books that I recommend become part of our reading list for 2024, after sourcing from various bestseller lists, other productivity experts, like the infamous James Clear, and my friends. Some aspects of life warrant being an early adopter, but with books, I’m totally ok with others vetting them before I spend my time on them.
The purpose of this book list is to deepen our knowledge of productivity and positivity. But I believe to do that to great effect, there’s an element of exposure and cross-pollination of other topics. Plus, sometimes we just want to be entertained in exhilarating, unexpected ways.
Here’s the 2024 list, which you can find at bookshop.org, which helps to raise money for local bookshops.
Ultralearning by Scott Young
On James Clear’s recommended list, this book aims to teach us a framework on how to learn new skills quickly, ever important to keep ahead in this changing world as we only get older and stuck in our ways.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
Awareness is critical to understanding why we do what we do. Therefore, it behooves us to what ‘others’ may be doing to us.
Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel
With a focus on money and wealth, hoping to gain insights into the finance world to relate to our expectations on productivity with how the brain anticipates, sees risk vs rewards, and identifies patterns.
On Work: Money, Meaning, Identity by Derek Thompson
The way we work has changed ever since COVID, with myself working from home these days. Looking forward to Thompson’s analysis and predictions for the future, as I can relate it to productivity.
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace, dubbed “one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years" and on James Clear’s list. I’m interested to hear what insights he had on life.
Manual for Living by Epictetus
It's been awhile since I’ve read something on stoicism, helpful during our turbulent times and fickle emotions. Epictetus taught Marcus Aurelius, so there’s that.
Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier by Oprah Winfrey and Arthur C. Brooks
I’m a fan of Arthur C. Brooks’ previous From Strength to Strength, and it’s as if they wrote this book title specifically for me!!
The Archeology of the Mind by Jaak Panksepp and Lucy Biven
Ever since reading Harari’s stuff, I’ve been intrigued about how much our behavior and biology are driven by how we evolved, so this book dives into the “emotional systems that are common to all mammals.”
The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow by Michael F. Roizen and Peter Linneman
A book that’s about rethinking what old age is and also a plan that blends prevention, treatment, and technology to get there better? I’ll give it a listen.
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
Being a huge fan of Sapiens and Homo Dues, this book is described as, “picking up where Sapiens left off, Eve will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens has become such a successful and dominant species”... understanding the female body evolution.
The Wager by David Grann
On both the NYT 100 Notable Books of 2023 and Obama’s summer reading list, this tells the tale of the H.M.S. Wager shipwrecked off the coast of Patagonia in 1742. The surviving crew members returned to England with dramatic — and starkly conflicting — tales about what had transpired. Enthralling horror ensues!
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
I literally had a conversation recently where we wondered, why was it the Europeans that colonized and conquered others, versus the other way around. Why didn’t a real Wakanda emerge?
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
I don’t do many fiction books but this was recommended by a great friend, and between all the serious books, a “laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist” sounds nice.
Small Mercies: A Detective Mystery by Dennis Lehane
For some reason, I find Boston crime stories fascinating. Maybe it’s the family nature of them or just the Boston accent! From the author of Mystic River, I’m looking for this chapter on crime and revenge.
(protips on consuming books)
First of all, who would’ve ever thought someone like me would write a title like that?! I’m not the fastest reader and all the books I’ve consumed have been the audio versions. Here’s what’s worked for me:
➩ Definitely the Libby App, free, and once connected to your local library, you’ll have so much access.
➩ Although Nike & Masterclass trainer Joe Holder teaches us to exercise without headphones so that we can listen to our body… I do like to get lost in a book while on a run.
➩ This means you’ll need some nice earbuds while on the run, whether in the gym or preferably outside. Everyone has Apple earbuds, but I like Sony and have my eye (ear?) out for the Sony WF-1000XM5 Noise-Canceling True Wireless In-Ear Headphones. I’m still rocking cheapo Enacfire earbuds that I bought for like $40 years ago and still waiting to lose them… ;)