Best reads of the year: 2024

?? January is here again, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to share some of my favourite books that I've read this year.

I try to post these lists annually (see previous editions here) with just a few highlights of the books that have captured my attention over the year. To see my full year's reading, my list is on Goodreads and please do follow me if you use it - I always enjoy seeing what other readers are enjoying.

Thanks to everyone who has provided great recommendations this year and please do share suggestions in the comments here or over the course of 2025!

Non-fiction reads of the year

Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World's Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son | Lionel Barber

It's two years since I left SoftBank, and I look back with huge fondness on the incredible five years I spent there and with enormous gratitude for the opportunity. It's been quite the surreal experience reading two books this year (this is the second) which cover the story of the Vision Fund and the years I spent there.

This book takes you on Son’s wild ride, from his birthplace in a Korean slum in post-war Japan to the modern-day temples of power. It speeds through Donald Trump’s golden skyscraper in Manhattan, the royal palaces of Riyadh and the throne rooms of China’s Marxist rulers; all places where Son has deployed his unique blend of financial engineering and crazy risk-taking.

Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World | Jennifer Garvey Berger

The leaders we need to solve our complex, unprecedented problems can only be developed in the workplace, and they require personal transformation, not just some new leadership skills.

As I continue my development as a leader, a team-mate, and a coach, Changing on the Job has been enormously important to me this year in deepening my understanding of adult growth and development theory, and as a practical influence on how I relate to complexity within and outside of the workplace.

Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century | Simon Kuper

Simon Kuper moved to Paris around the same time as Jonathan and I did. Unlike us, he stayed and built his life there. For me, this was a fascinating 'sliding doors' take on the city that we grew to love during our brief stay there, and a much more nuanced take on its (very real) challenges than we often read.

This century, it has globalized, gentrified, and been shocked into realizing its role as the crucible of civilizational conflict. Sometimes it's a multicultural paradise, and sometimes it isn't.

The Genius of Israel | Dan Senor and Saul Singer

How has a small nation of 9 million people, forced to fight for its existence and security since its founding and riven by ethnic, religious, and economic divides, proven resistant to so many of the societal ills plaguing other wealthy democracies? Why do Israelis have among the world’s highest life expectancies and lowest rates of “deaths of despair” from suicide and substance abuse? Why is Israel’s population young and growing while all other wealthy democracies are aging and shrinking? How can it be that Israel, according to a United Nations ranking, is the fourth happiest nation in the world? Why do Israelis tend to look to the future with hope, optimism, and purpose while the rest of the West struggles with an epidemic of loneliness, teen depression, and social decline?

Written before October 2023, but no less relevant and prescient for it. Thanks to Saul Singer for making time to discuss by Zoom this year and looking forward to continuing those conversations in person in 2025.

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity | Dr Peter Attia

A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a physician and longevity expert.

To lift that twenty-pound suitcase overhead when you are older means doing so with forty or fifty pounds now. To be able to climb four flights of stairs in your eighties means you should be able to pretty much sprint up those same stairs today. In every case, you need to be doing much more now, to armor yourself against the natural and precipitous decline in strength and aerobic capacity that you will undergo as you age.”

Ultra Processed People | Chris van Tulleken

It’s not you, it’s the food. We have entered a new age of eating. For the first time in human history, most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food. There’s a long, formal scientific definition, but it can be boiled down to this: if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t find in your kitchen, it’s UPF.

These products are specifically engineered to behave as addictive substances, driving excess consumption. They are now linked to the leading cause of early death globally and the number one cause of environmental destruction. Yet almost all our staple foods are ultra-processed. UPF is our food culture and for many people it is the only available and affordable food.

Fiction reads of the year

Romantic Comedy | Curtis Sittenfeld

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?

The Violin Conspiracy | Brendan Slocumb

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music.??When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly?seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself.?As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

(Final note: credit owed to Amazon for borrowing some of their blurbs - shown in quotes and italics above where relevant.)