My Favorite Reads of 2024

I read 27 books this year. I have been working at an early-stage startup for three years, and I wanted to learn more about business. Here are the five books that stood out the most this year.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack

Poor Charlie’s Almanack has been on my reading list for 11 years, unfortunately it was difficult to get a copy. Stripe Press got it republished in 2023 and I finally got to read it this year.

The book changed my thinking about investing and what it takes to succeed in business. Charles Munger advocates the acquisition of broad knowledge, and this really resonates with me. Munger cured me of my efficient market ideology and got me to think deeper about the world and made me want to learn more about topics I have never approached.

It’s a book that covers more than investment and business—it’s a blueprint on how to become wiser. Read my full review.

Zero to One

Peter Thiel’s perspective is similar to Charles Munger’s: he is skeptical about the efficient market hypothesis, and he’s upbeat about the future compared to today’s mainstream thinking dominated by doomers.

His take on startups, innovation, and business is sharp and optimistic. One of his most provocative ideas is that the best companies are de-facto monopolies: they are so dominant that they don’t have real competitors.

I wished I had read the book when it came out in 2014. It would have helped me with my startup journey—I would have been thinking more extensively about distribution and innovation. Read my full review.

Pimp: The Story of My Life

Iceberg Slim’s biography is the intense journey of a young black man who came of age between the two world wars. It’s a harrowing exploration of the underground universe from a time that shaped much of what America is today. Before funk, blaxploitation, hip hop, and rap music, there was Iceberg Slim.

The writing is spectacular; it’s all old-school slang from the 1930s, and yet it is oddly familiar and understandable. It reminded me of Vladimir Nabokov, with his quirky and ecstatic prose. “Pimp” isn’t only a great story—it’s a masterpiece of composition and ambiance. The book’s first page shocked me more than anything I have read.

The book’s universe is brutish, vile, and abusive; all the characters have a streak of evil. Iceberg Slim thrived in hell, and lived to tell the tale.

48 Laws of Power

This is Robert Greene’s masterpiece about how to acquire, use, and abuse power. He combines history, psychology, and politics to explore topics that are sure to trouble and anger ideologues and moralizers alike. Power doesn’t care about ethics and virtue. In politics and war the winners aren’t saints. Deception and psychology loom large in the game of power.

Each law is a lesson on how to obtain or exercise power, usually with historical and political anecdotes to illustrate the principle. This book isn’t only for power brokers and ambitious hustlers—it’s also for those who don’t want to be used and crushed by them.

The 48 Laws of Power is a potent remedy for naïve cardor.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Jane Jacobs was a Canadian urbanist. She published “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” after decades of campaigning and organizing to save Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan from the ruinous plans of New York City’s grand planners.

Ms. Jacobs makes astute observations about city diversity, management, subsidies, funding, traffic, and planning. The book is extensive, she knows American cities well and supports each hypothesis with countless examples. She’s a bottom-up advocate and favors an iterative approach to city-building. Her work isn’t written as well as the previous four books in this list, the tone is a bit academic and old fashioned at times, but the insights and sharp comments about city life more than make up for it.

The book was published 64 years ago, it’s a classic work on urbanism and many of her ideas are still significant in our age of NIMBYism and out-of-touch top-down planning.

Onto 2025

2024 was a great year for learning. I did less random reading and I was more deliberate and focused. These five books challenged my thinking about business, society, and human nature, and I could have easily added five more to the list.

Next year I’m going to dive into photography and art, I’ll keep growing my business and technical expertise, and I’ll pick up a few books about management.

Happy 2025!