By my own standards I read a lot of books in 2024. Easily my biggest standout year since University I would argue. It was an incredible journey and one I can’t wait to better in 2025 (all this is thanks to the Toronto Public Library system which is magnificent).

Micro.blog played a very helpful role in cataloguing this transition as well. The bookshelf feature while not necessarily a core feature is one that I love to use and engage with.

Personal Finance

The Simple Path to Wealth was easily the most important book I read in 2024. It went straight to the top of my financial books that if you’ve not read you should absolutely do. It was an eye opener and something that I wish I had read 25 years ago. Having said that, some of the necessary financial plumbing to achieve some of the advice in the book wasn’t always easily accessible to those outside North America. Regardless, there is a way now and you should totally make the painful steps to get your finances in order. It took me over 5 months of wrangling and I am still working through a few things, but it is super important that you do this and this book is the easiest way to get you there.

Graphic Novels

Shubeik Lubeik was easily one of my favourite comics this year. It had some stiff competition, as I caught up with Saga which is immense and one of BKV’s best work (which is saying a lot as the man does not write anything that isn’t an 8/10). A Distant Neighbourhood was easily one of the best manga’s I have ever read. For someone like me in my 40s it totally hit the right notes, even though it was set in Japan.

Personal Growth and Hobbies

The Art and Business of Online Writing was incredibly instrumental in how I am looking to continue with my more considered writing on the web. I still believe in what I am doing at Stet, but clearly I am not using the various online platforms to the fullest extent. I read Slow Productivity by Cal Newport. There were some good concepts in there. Seasonality of work and getting a matinee in the work month being two important ideas I will hopefully look to implement. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman was the book I think I needed the most. 2024 was not a year of major production and creativity. Work played a major role in destroying my mental health for a while, the wars in Gaza and Lebanon destroyed my drive because these side hobbies felt frivolous. This book framed things in a way to help me get over all of that. I did a ton of reading instead. I let ideas percolate in my head. It reminded me that it’s ok to have a seemingly less productive ‘season’ if that season was 8 months or more.

Cookbooks

One of the things that I didn’t catalogue are the plethora of cook books I checked out. Ottolenghi’s books Simple and Plenty More were great, Falastin being my favourite. I also bought Chef Jack’s Dig In and looking forward to trying a bunch of recipes in there. I also thought Joshua Weismann’s An Unapologetic Cookbook was excellent (his second book was less important to me).