2024

What I read in 2024

70 books, 26,946 pages across 12 months. Most recent read first.

December 2024

9 books · 3,796 pages
On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service Anthony Fauci · 2024 · read Dec 2024From a Brooklyn childhood to decades running the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci tells his career as… The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business by Duff McDonald The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business Duff McDonald · 2013 · read Dec 2024McKinsey spread modern management tools through corporations, government and business schools after its 1926 founding. The Showman by Simon Shuster The Showman Simon Shuster · 2024 · read Dec 2024Shuster was inside Volodymyr Zelensky's presidential compound in Kyiv as Russia's full-scale invasion unfolded, with extensive… The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World – and What We Can Do About It by Steven Brill The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World – and What We Can Do About It Steven Brill · 2024 · read Dec 2024Follow the ad money behind a disinformation site and you can find a mainstream brand that never meant to fund it. Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic by Ben Westhoff Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic Ben Westhoff · 2019 · read Dec 2024Fifty times stronger than heroin, cheap to make in Chinese labs and sold online for Bitcoin: fentanyl is where the overdose… A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times by Mark T. Esper A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times Mark T. Esper · 2022 · read Dec 2024During the 2020 George Floyd protests, Trump asked whether troops could just shoot protesters in the legs, according to Mark… The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness Jonathan Haidt · 2024 · read Dec 2024A play-based childhood traded for a phone-based one in the early 2010s: that's the great rewiring Haidt blames for surging teen… Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing by Peter Robison Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing Peter Robison · 2021 · read Dec 2024MCAS was the software that could override 737 MAX pilots. Impeachment: An American History by Jeffrey A. Engel Impeachment: An American History Jeffrey A. Engel · 2018 · read Dec 2024Three presidents, three case chapters, and one argument: impeachment runs on politics more than law, and it goes nowhere unless…

November 2024

4 books · 2,143 pages
The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis George Stephanopoulos · 2024 · read Nov 2024One room, twelve administrations, Kennedy to Biden. Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Adam Higginbotham · 2019 · read Nov 2024What blew apart Reactor No. Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space Adam Higginbotham · 2024 · read Nov 2024Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986, and the story usually stops at the booster O-rings. At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House by H.R. McMaster At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House H.R. McMaster · 2024 · read Nov 2024Run a structured national security process amid internal power struggles, leaks and partisan media: that was the task McMaster…

October 2024

8 books · 2,825 pages
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet Jeff Goodell · 2023 · read Oct 2024Your body, the work you do, the city you live in, your food and the diseases that reach you are all being reshaped by extreme… Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church by Hahrie Han Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church Hahrie Han · 2024 · read Oct 2024Han's case is that relationships, not corporate-style diversity training, can drive deeper change on race. True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between by Gretchen Whitmer True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between Gretchen Whitmer · 2024 · read Oct 2024COVID-19, a severe flood, a mass shooting at a high school near Detroit, and an FBI-foiled plot to kidnap her: those are the… Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump by Michael Cohen Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Michael Cohen · 2020 · read Oct 2024Cohen admits he enabled crimes on Trump's behalf during more than a decade as his personal attorney and fixer, and the confession… Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoğlu Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty Daron Acemoğlu · 2012 · read Oct 2024Similar people, very different outcomes: North and South Korea are Acemoğlu and Robinson's central illustration. War by Bob Woodward War Bob Woodward · 2024 · read Oct 2024Two wars at once, in Ukraine and Gaza, and a White House trying to keep either from becoming a wider or nuclear conflict. War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Powerbrokers by Benjamin R. Teitelbaum War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Powerbrokers Benjamin R. Teitelbaum · 2020 · read Oct 2024Traditionalism, an anti-modern spiritual school rooted in René Guénon and Julius Evola, has had a tiny following for a century. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI Yuval Noah Harari · 2024 · read Oct 2024Information isn't the same thing as truth.

September 2024

9 books · 3,533 pages
Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success by Russ Buettner Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success Russ Buettner · 2024 · read Sep 2024Trump received more than $400 million from his father, in today's dollars, through loans never repaid, trust funds and interest… Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America Maggie Haberman · 2022 · read Sep 2024Haberman's case is that Trump governed with the same combative, transactional habits he built in New York real estate, tabloid… The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and his Spies are Undermining America and Dismantling the West by Malcolm W. Nance The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and his Spies are Undermining America and Dismantling the West Malcolm W. Nance · 2018 · read Sep 2024Voter databases hacked, Democratic officials' emails leaked, bots spreading pro-Trump disinformation: in Nance's account, 2016… White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy by Thomas F. Schaller White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy Thomas F. Schaller · 2024 · read Sep 2024Rural white Americans hold outsized electoral power and still face poor access to health care, failing infrastructure and lost… The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal by Mary L. Trump The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal Mary L. Trump · 2021 · read Sep 2024Genocide against Native Americans, slavery and systemic racism: Mary L. Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright Fascism: A Warning Madeleine K. Albright · 2018 · read Sep 2024Fascism, for Albright, is less an ideology than a method for taking and keeping power. The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020 by Jonathan Lemire The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020 Jonathan Lemire · 2022 · read Sep 2024The stolen-election claim didn't start after the 2020 vote. Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America by Barbara McQuade Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America Barbara McQuade · 2024 · read Sep 2024Disinformation works through emotion: it polarizes you, exploits the divisions you already have, undermines institutions and… What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton What Happened Hillary Rodham Clinton · 2017 · read Sep 2024Who does Clinton blame for losing in 2016?

August 2024

13 books · 4,346 pages
Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Omarosa Manigault Newman · 2018 · read Aug 2024Manigault Newman's relationship with Trump ran about fifteen years, from the first season of The Apprentice through the 2016… A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James B. Comey A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership James B. Comey · 2018 · read Aug 2024Your loyalty belongs to lasting values like justice and truth, not to any one person. American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power by Andrea Bernstein American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power Andrea Bernstein · 2020 · read Aug 2024It starts with two immigrant grandfathers, a Trump from Germany in 1885 and a Kushner from Poland after World War II, and runs… The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew G. McCabe The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump Andrew G. McCabe · 2019 · read Aug 2024When you think about what the FBI protects you from, you picture mobsters and terrorists. The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It by Robert B. Reich The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It Robert B. Reich · 2020 · read Aug 2024Socialism for the rich and harsh market discipline for everyone else: that's how Robert Reich describes an economy where four… How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump by Robert Dallek How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump Robert Dallek · 2020 · read Aug 2024Every president from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan gets credit here for real strengths. They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency by Malcolm W. Nance They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency Malcolm W. Nance · 2022 · read Aug 2024TITUS, the Trump Insurgency in the United States: that's Nance's name for the movement around the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and… Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency by Michael Wolff Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency Michael Wolff · 2021 · read Aug 2024The title is Trump's own word for an election he lost. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Michael Wolff · 2018 · read Aug 2024How much can you trust an account the White House denied and CNN's Jake Tapper urged skepticism about? Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers Andy Greenberg · 2019 · read Aug 2024Most hacking you hear about steals data or spreads disinformation. The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House by Nancy Pelosi The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi · 2024 · read Aug 2024From housewife and mother of five to the first woman Speaker of the House, Pelosi arranges her more than three decades in… Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service Carol Leonnig · 2021 · read Aug 2024The Secret Service is the agency that can't afford a single failure. I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year Carol Leonnig · 2021 · read Aug 2024Put your own political survival first through a pandemic, mass protests and a lost election, and you get the year Carol Leonnig…

July 2024

4 books · 1,450 pages
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America Heather Cox Richardson · 2023 · read Jul 2024Richardson's argument is that America has always carried two traditions, one leaning toward authoritarianism and one reaching for… A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America Philip Rucker · 2020 · read Jul 2024Flash cards instead of written briefings, generals disparaged in public, advisers fired at will: that's how Trump governed his… Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis J.D. Vance · 2016 · read Jul 2024Deindustrialization hit Rust Belt towns hard, and Vance grants what that did. When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s John Ganz · 2024 · read Jul 2024The politics people blame on 2016 were already loose in the early 1990s.

June 2024

6 books · 2,087 pages
Mindfulness: HBR Emotional Intelligence Series by Harvard Business Review Mindfulness: HBR Emotional Intelligence Series Harvard Business Review · 2017 · read Jun 2024If you've ever been too busy to meditate, two of these pieces argue you can still practice mindfulness in small doses through the… Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty Patrick Radden Keefe · 2021 · read Jun 2024The Sackler name hung on museum galleries until institutions started taking it down. Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic---and Prevented Economic Disaster by Nick Timiraos Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic---and Prevented Economic Disaster Nick Timiraos · 2022 · read Jun 2024In February 2020 unemployment sat at a 50-year low, and then lockdowns wiped out more than 22 million jobs as markets plunged. Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam M. Grant Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things Adam M. Grant · 2023 · read Jun 2024Potential shows in how far you've climbed, not in how high you end up. Sandy Hook by Elizabeth Williamson Sandy Hook Elizabeth Williamson · 2022 · read Jun 2024For the families of the twenty first-graders and six educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012, the shooting was… World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century by Dmitri Alperovitch World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century Dmitri Alperovitch · 2024 · read Jun 2024Picture a Chinese invasion of Taiwan just after the 2028 US presidential election, which is where the book begins.

May 2024

6 books · 2,868 pages
First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance by Annie Jacobsen First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance Annie Jacobsen · 2021 · read May 2024In 2012, 82nd Airborne paratroopers in Afghanistan were collecting fingerprints, iris scans and DNA from civilians and dead… Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America Annie Jacobsen · 2014 · read May 2024Which Germans do you hire after World War II, and which do you try and hang? Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base Annie Jacobsen · 2011 · read May 2024About 75 miles from Las Vegas sits a base whose Cold War history, from nuclear testing to the U-2 and A-12 Oxcart, outstrips the… Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History Of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, And Assassins by Annie Jacobsen Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History Of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, And Assassins Annie Jacobsen · 2019 · read May 2024Covert paramilitary action is the president's third option, the hidden hand, if you will, between diplomacy and war. The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Brianna Wiest · 2020 · read May 2024Wiest's argument is that self-sabotage comes from needs that conflict, which is why you can resist the very change you say you… Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis by Annie Jacobsen Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis Annie Jacobsen · 2017 · read May 2024Why would the CIA, the DIA and the Army spend decades funding research into ESP and psychokinesis?

April 2024

4 books · 1,449 pages
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency Annie Jacobsen · 2015 · read Apr 2024DARPA was a Cold War answer to Soviet technological advances, created under Eisenhower in 1958. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen Nuclear War: A Scenario Annie Jacobsen · 2024 · read Apr 2024It starts with a North Korean thermonuclear strike on the Pentagon, a submarine-launched missile into California's Diablo Canyon… Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G. Lafley Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works A.G. Lafley · 2013 · read Apr 2024Strategy is choice, and if you're trying to serve everyone, you haven't made one. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout Cal Newport · 2024 · read Apr 2024If your job rewards looking busy, Cal Newport has a name for it: pseudo-productivity.

March 2024

4 books · 1,461 pages
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden Permanent Record Edward Snowden · 2019 · read Mar 2024What Snowden found inside American intelligence was phone, email, text and internet data collected at scale without public… Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Cal Newport · 2016 · read Mar 2024Newport's argument is that your ability to concentrate on demanding work without distraction is getting rarer just as it gets… Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism Jeffrey Toobin · 2023 · read Mar 2024On April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the end of the Waco siege, Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma… How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities John Cassidy · 2009 · read Mar 2024At their best, markets let people trade to mutual benefit, the ideal economists call Pareto efficiency.

February 2024

1 book · 256 pages
A Little History of Economics by Niall Kishtainy A Little History of Economics Niall Kishtainy · 2017 · read Feb 2024From Plato and Aristotle to Piketty, Stiglitz and Sen, in about 40 short chapters, each built around a thinker or a concept.

January 2024

2 books · 732 pages
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence Anna Lembke · 2021 · read Jan 2024When you keep chasing easy pleasure, your brain pushes back with pain to restore its balance. Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy by Jamie Raskin Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy Jamie Raskin · 2022 · read Jan 2024A family's grief and a country's crisis, in about forty-five days.

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