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My favorite audiobooks of 2024 (and also 2017 through 2023)

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I listen to many audiobooks every year. I wrote recaps of my favorites in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and then I stopped doing annual recaps.

After a 7 year hiatus, I’m attempting to start this annual habit again, starting with audiobooks I read in 2024. But first, I’ll reflect on some of the books that have stuck with me from 2017 through 2023.

Books that have stuck with me from 2017 to 2023

Of the 206 books I read over the 7 years of 2017 through 2023, about 35 books really stuck with me and I would recommend reading all of them.

Each section in ordered roughly by how much I would generally recommend the book (the first book in each section I usually recommend more than the last). I enjoyed all these books, but I didn’t write a review for all of them. I’ve included links when I did write a review.

Really enjoyable Sci-Fi (and a bit of Fantasy) that’s stuck with me:

Books on human progress (to extinguish your cynicism):

The book that has most shaped my charitable giving habits:

My favorite self-improvement books:

Books on economics, government, and public policy that aren’t about housing and city planning:

Books on housing and city planning that have shaped my YIMBY-ish views:

Books on xenophobia and other-ing that have particularly stuck with me:

  • Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
  • The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

Books that have impacted my very gradual journey toward veganism:

TV shows I’ve (so far) liked more than the books they’re based on:

  • Silo (Apple TV)
  • The Power (Amazon Prime)
  • The Three-Body Problem (Netflix, though Amazon Prime has a much slower Chinese version)

Note that the above books do not include books I listened to in 2014, 2015, and 2016. See my other audiobook posts here. Of those 3 years of books, the ones that I’d recommend most are Success and Luck by Robert H. Frank (2016), Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (2014), Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele (2015), and Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel (2016).

Also note that all the links above point to Goodreads, which I don’t recommend despite the fact that I use it. I plan to eventually switch to The Story Graph for recording my reading activity, but I’m awaiting an API so I can update my current reading-tracking system (which is based around a Google Sheet totaling hours read and other stats) to use it instead of Goodreads.

My favorite audiobooks of 2024

I read 41 audiobooks this year.

These are the ones I would most recommend listening to.

  • Best self-help book:
    • Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating
  • Best page-turners:
    • Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words
    • A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
  • Most thought-provoking:
    • Land is a Big Deal: Why rent is too high, wages too low, and what we can do about it
    • The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America
    • Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn
  • Validated my current world view and I recommend read to challenge themselves:
    • Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
    • Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will
    • Eating Animals

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating

This is the best book I’ve read about nutrition. This book contains no silver bullets; just evidence-backed advice.

If you’re reading this in audiobook-form, note that the last portion of the book contains recipes, read out-loud for many minutes… so I would stop listening once the recipes start. I’m considering buying a hard copy for some of the recipes.

Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words

This book pleased my inner wordy and challenged my inner grammando (those terms are explained in the book).

If you enjoy poking at the English language, I think you’ll find this a fun listen.

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

This is a beautifully written book.

If you enjoy writing that’s thought-provoking, emotional, and engrossing, read/listen to this.

Land is a Big Deal: Why rent is too high, wages too low, and what we can do about it

This book is all about implementing a “land value tax” and it does a good job of explaining what that means and what the consequences might be. A land value tax feels like an extreme marriage of capitalism and socialism, as it would (sort of) abolish private ownership of land while encouraging the market to make the best use of each piece of land. The subject of this book is very wonky so this book was a bit challenging at times, but I found it fairly accessible overall.

For the sake of affordable housing, loosening or removing zoning restrictions (see the book Arbitrary Lines mentioned above) and reducing regulatory requirements around construction seem more important than a land value tax. But as far as taxes go, a land value tax does seem like the most justice-oriented and efficiency-oriented tax.

The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America

I prefer a good short book to a good long book and this audiobook very much justifies the time it took to read (4 hours).

If you frequently talk about or think about US politics, I would recommend reading this book. The authors make a solid case that we do a disservice to political discourse when we use the words “left”, “right”, “liberal”, and “conservative”.

Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn

Much of this book was review for me: namely interleaved versus blocked practice, active versus passive learning, elaboration, and spaced repetition. Even the parts that were review were helpful to hear again. I also took notes from this book about “learn it, link it”, dopamine hits, comprehension checks, and pauses to consolidate.

This book included quite a bit more discussion about how the brain actually works than I remember hearing in previous books I’ve read on learning and teaching. It could be that these sections were simply more memorable than previous explanations I’ve heard, as the explanations in this book heavily relied on memorable analogies and stories.

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

This book discusses what we focus on too much and too little when it comes to the problems and the solutions around climate change. Hannah Ritchie calls out falsehoods and misconceptions, but she doesn’t berate believers of these misconceptions.

We all care about solving global warming and sustainability. Knowing more of the facts behind these concepts is the first step to working solutions.

This book definitely falls into the “skepticism over cynicism” category that I very much appreciate, as it inspires action instead of of encouraging inaction.

If you enjoy a Scottish accent, listen to the audiobook (Hannah Ritchie self-narrates).

Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will

Before reading this book, I hadn’t considered that free will comes in shades and that as a society we have been gradually chipping away at the magnitude of free will we collectively believe in.

The first 9 chapters (especially 5 through 9) are a bit of a slog, as each focuses on disputing a different argument for free will. I found the final 5 chapters (which focus on “what do we do if there’s no free will”) the most interesting.

Eating Animals

This book was memorable in a somewhat brutal way. I do not recommend reading this book while eating animal products, but I would recommend reading it.

There’s quite a bit of navel-gazing, but also quite a few interviews with many a number of folks in and around the animal farming industry.

For a more hopeful take on animal welfare, see the book The End of Animal Farming (mentioned above). Also see the book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows (also mentioned above)

Where to buy audiobooks (not Audible)

Interested in listening to these in audiobook form?

Don’t buy them from Audible.

Whenever possible, I recommend avoiding Audible because:

  1. Audible doesn’t sell audiobooks; they sell the ability to play audiobooks through their app
  2. Audible credits expire and also disappear upon cancellation, which is an awful dark pattern

Cory Doctorow has written about his dislike of Audible and has recorded an audiobook against Audible (which is ironically also on Audible).

If you enjoy audiobooks and pro-consumer practices, I recommend trying out Libro.fm (that’s a referral link which will give me one free audiobook if you subscribe).

Unfortunately, a few of my favorite audiobooks noted above are only available on Audible.

You can purchase all of the above books on Libro.fm except for Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, Recoding America, and Walkable City. The book Land is a Big Deal is technically available outside of Audible, but I’ve only found it available for direct purchase from the publisher and it’s much more expensive that way.

For most of my audiobook-listening, I subscribe to Libro.fm, checkout books from my local library with Libby, and I’ve also used Spotify to listen to a few shorter books. For Audible-only books, I sign up for a subscription, buy licenses until my credit balance is 0, and then cancel.

Have a recommendation?

Have a question? Have an audiobook recommendation for me?

Comment below.

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