My 2024 Books:

What to skip and what to read!

These are the books I read in 2024 in the approximate order I read them: I wish I read more (its less than previous year) But I did listen to a lot of podcasts and watched Instagram and I did learn some tik tok dances... I am looking for some good books for 2025 on all kinds of stuff: technology, history, business, and good bios. Please send me your lists!

The Song of the Cell By Siddharta Mukherjee.

This is a smart Pulitzer winning Harvard oncologist who is a master storyteller: his book on the story of cancer actually changed how I see and treat cancer. This book is also fairly good. I read it as a refresher on cell biology and the history behind the research. Although it is very biology heavy, it is still a compelling story on how far we have come to understanding the building blocks of life. And I have a crush on Desi oncologists (IYKYK)

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson.

A great biography of one of the most intriguing humans of this era. Walter does great bios on movers and shakers, and he spent over a year shadowing Elon every day. He helps us understand his upbringing, lifestyle, motivations and his values. I love his work ethic and quirks, and agree that he has done some amazing things. But his lack of empathy for others combined with his wealth has the potential for causing great harm. He might just create invincible robotic arms and fuse them to his back and try to take over the world, only to be stopped by the amazing spiderman!

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk.

I read this book by this Nobel Prize winning Turkish author because… he won the Nobel prize a bunch of years ago and the first dozen pages were compelling. However, this book later felt like I was eating broccoli. I kept telling myself I will be smart for reading it but it tasted awful. It was cool in its asynchronous story lines from multiple perspectives and I kind of liked the Red character, who is a painter of miniatures… but it was painful to read through the details and all the whining characters jealous about each other and killing each other. Why can't we just appreciate each other and get along? Its not that hard. Live and let live dude. You have no plot!

The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins:

This dry book, although sobering, describes how corporate interests economically exploit other countries and how this exploitation now extends to the United States. It’s a sordid history of corruption and legal kickbacks making the rich richer at the expense of taxpayers over the past few decades without a good solution. Don’t read this unless you have a puppy (or appropriate substitute) to hug at home. Its a downer.

Better Not Bitter By Yusef Salaam.

Another great personal narrative by the NYC councilman who became infamous for his false arrest as a teenager for the horrific assault on the Central Park jogger many years ago. After spending over a decade in prison, he was exonerated and released. How does one survive such an ordeal and maintain hope and purpose in life? Read it and find out. He now oversees the very police that falsely arrested him and locked him up. Its an upper. Here is a ted talk he gave.

How We Win the Civil War by Steve Phillips.

How do we prevent our country from becoming increasingly divided and address the racial and economic inequities prevalent today? This political analyst proposes the creation of multiracial coalitions to advocate for basic human issues like livable wages, affordable housing, good education and access to health care. This book came out in 2022: Failure of the democrats to create this coalition led to their colossal failure in 2024.

Surrender by Bono.

Actually I think I finished this in 2023, but listened to portions again this year so it counts for a 2024 book. A fantastic journey into the mind of the lead singer of U2, a band that captured the unbridled idealism and hope during my high school and college years. U2 was disliked by grumpy people and realists, and admittedly, the idealism and hope can be like cologne: it's annoying when laid on thick. Hearing this audible version of his autobiography with the strumming and humming kept giving me flashbacks to the years when we were young and inspired to make the world better. The stories of his father’s passing and struggles of his family with addiction and cancer give insights into life that anyone can relate to. This book is a must read for anyone who has been inspired by U2 music.

AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee:

A bunch of Sci FI short stories about a future with AI and other new technology. Some of the stories, for example, conducting war with drones, practicing medicine in the future and caring for the elderly, were particularly insightful. As computing speeds reach quantum levels and much of what we do can be offloaded to machines, what is the purpose of our own lives? I could have chat GPT write book summaries (like this) so I don't have to read or listen to any of these books, or wear VR glasses to visit anyplace in the world, but does it really replace the real thing? Should it?

Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Muller.

Decent book, one of several in the genre, which argue that quantitative metrics and KPIs really are not that helpful and often manipulated. For e.g., at most hospitals, getting a catheter related infection is monitored and reported as a key quality indicator. So one solution (among several) that hospitals adopt to reduce these infections is to require special authorization and hence make it difficult to order the test that makes the diagnosis. If there is no test, there is no diagnosis, and hence no impact on the hospital’s quality, and therefore its payment from Medicare. YAY for the hospital's great metrics, not so YAY for the patients…

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

An incredible personal narrative about the racism in the American South, his travels in West Africa, and the apartheid he experienced in the Occupied Territories. One of the leading African American thinkers today who continues to shake the establishment with his biting analysis and uncomfortable simple moral truths. Can you morally justify killing innocent children and their families simply because they live in the wrong "zip code"? Coates does not sugar coat facts. Here is a clip of an interview

Loot by Tania James:

Just started this historical fiction, so far, pretty interesting, about an teen aged artisan apprentice in the court of Tipu Sultan as they are threatened by English and rival sultans in 18th century India.

Quran: I read this every year. Pretty solid, doesn't need a sequel.