Food for thought 2024

This entry was originally supposed to be titled “Books I read/finished in 2024.” However, as I was writing, I realized that I prefer “Food for Thought” because it allows me to include things that aren’t (or weren’t) books but still had a comparable impact in the end.

I started this year with the resolution to read at least 15 minutes every day. Compared to 2023, I changed my metric because last year I set a fixed goal for the number of books to read. However, midway through the year, I realized that this metric led me to unconsciously choose shorter books just to meet my goal. I didn’t manage to read for 15 minutes every single day, but there were days when I read for several hours. Overall, I’m very satisfied with my reading year 2024.

Books

The language of the title indicates the language (German/English) in which I read a book. Wherever possible, the/an English title can be found in the respective section. Other languages/editions can be found via the corresponding Goodreads link.

This year, I finished reading a total of 24 books. That’s more than I’ve ever read in a single year in my life. So, I’m a little proud of myself, even though the number itself doesn’t hold much significance on its own.

If I were to pick recommendations from the books, they would be Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Social Architecture: Building On-line Communities, and Fleishman steckt in Schwierigkeiten.

Non-Fiction

Eiscafé Europa

Goodreads: Eiscafé Europa by Enis Maci
engl. title: n/a

Zen-Geist Anfänger-Geist

Goodreads: Zen Geist, Anfänger Geist by Shunryu Suzuki
engl. title: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Denken hilft zwar, nützt aber nichts

Goodreads: Denken hilft zwar, nützt aber nichts by Dan Ariely
engl. title: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

Das gesellschaftliche Problem

Goodreads: Das gesellschaftliche Problem: Emergenz, Evolution, Bewusstsein, Kontrolle, Macht und Hierarchie by Moritz Q. Flink
engl. title: n/a

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

Goodreads: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

Tao Te Puh. Das Buch vom Tao und von Puh dem Bären

Goodreads: Tao Te Puh. by Benjamin Hoff
engl. title: The Tao of Pooh

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

Goodreads: Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Systemsturz: Der Sieg der Natur über den Kapitalismus

Goodreads: Systemsturz: Der Sieg der Natur über den Kapitalismus by Kōhei Saitō
engl. title: Slow Down: How Degrowth Communism Can Save the Earth

Social Architecture: Building On-line Communities

Goodreads: Social Architecture: Building On-line Communities by Pieter Hintjens | Goodreads

Fiction

Old Man’s War

Goodreads: Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

The Ghost Brigade

Goodreads: The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2) by John Scalzi

Fleishman steckt in Schwierigkeiten

Goodreads: Fleishman steckt in Schwierigkeiten by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
engl. title: Fleishman Is in Trouble

The Last Colony

Goodreads: The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, #3) by John Scalzi

Zoe’s Tale

Goodreads: Zoe’s Tale (Old Man’s War, #4) by John Scalzi

The Human Division

Goodreads: The Human Division (Old Man’s War, #5) by John Scalzi

The End of all Things

Goodreads: The End of All Things (Old Man’s War, #6) by John Scalzi

Fahrenheit 451

Goodreads: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Bezzle

Goodreads: The Bezzle (Martin Hench #2) by Cory Doctorow

Trisolaris 1 - Die drei Sonnen

Goodreads: Die drei Sonnen by Liu Cixin
engl. title: The Three-Body Problem

Trisolaris 2 - Der dunkle Wald

Goodreads: Der dunkle Wald (Die drei Sonnen, #2) by Liu Cixin
engl. title: The Dark Forest

Trisolaris 3 - Jenseits der Zeit

Goodreads: Jenseits der Zeit (Die drei Sonnen, #3) by Liu Cixin
engl. title: Death’s End

Delta-V

Goodreads: Delta-v (Delta-v, #1) by Daniel Suarez

Critical Mass

Goodreads: Critical Mass (Delta-v, #2) by Daniel Suarez

Meine geniale Freundin

Goodreads: Meine geniale Freundin (L’amica geniale #1) by Elena Ferrante
engl. title: My Brilliant Friend

Blogs/Newsletter

Both of the following authors are on Substack. And yes, I’m well aware of the issues with the platform. However, the content from both so far hasn’t given me any reason to believe they align with the problematic aspects. Yes, they could choose a different platform to explicitly distance themselves from it.
In my view, though, neither of them is currently big enough to easily afford losing paid subscribers. Jared, in particular, only started working full-time as a content creator this year.

• Commonplace Philosophy | Jared Henderson
• Parker’s Ponderings | Parker Settecase

Articles

A highlight that I find particularly interesting managed to make it into my review just before the end of the year.

Casual Viewing | Issue 49 | n+1 | Will Tavlin

In this article, Will Tavlin explains why Netflix looks the way it does and why content is being produced that might no longer resemble the movies we remember. Highly recommended reading.

Outlook 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, I’d like to focus on topics such as social engineering and human interactions. As for novels, I expect my inclination toward sci-fi-inspired books will continue.

Additionally, I’ve realized that I need to approach reviewing reading material as an ongoing process. Gathering all this information was quite a lot of work, especially given the fact that it doesn’t even include any personal reviews of the books I read.

Conclusion

2024 was a great reading year for me. I read more books than ever before in a single year. But even more importantly, I realized that I need to manage my time more consciously. Reading takes time, and the time available is finite. I’m already looking forward to the things I’ll read in 2025 and the insights and food for thought I’ll gain from them.

• reading