“Read not that you may contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider.”
— Francis Bacon
Today’s NIV is a list of lists. I am a huge fan of this format - partly because it helps me discover new things to read and partly because it delights me to see the breadth of work created by humanity.
1. The Best (and Worst) Books I Read in 2023-24
Historian Paul Christiano (writing at Fantastic Anachronism) zips through 80-odd titles, ranking everything from Ursula Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven (“still electric”) to a brutally honest pan of a trendy business manifesto. It’s a master-class in how to drop a book the minute the marginal page stops paying rent and why that frees you to read more widely. (fantasticanachronism.com)
2. Tyler Cowen’s Best Non-Fiction of 2024
Tyler’s annual list is so influential that publishers now jockey for a mid-November release just to qualify. This year’s pick-of-the-litter spans a biography of Roger Penrose, an inside account of how nuclear war might play out, and a slim meditation on self-help. Tyler might well be the most voracious reader in the world right now. (marginalrevolution.com)
3. Dan Schulz’s Lifetime Reading Ledger
Software-engineer-turned-librarian Dan Schulz keeps a public, searchable log of every book he finishes, tagged by date, mood, and whether it “changed his mind.” The database now covers 1,700 titles and doubles as a practical demo of spaced repetition: Schulz revisits notes 30-, 90- and 365-days out, so the take-aways actually stick. (danschulz.net)
4. “No One Told Me About Proust”
Blogger Aurora Corrigan describes stumbling into À la recherche… after a bad breakup and discovering that Proust is less a slog than “the original binge-watch.” Her essay is equal parts reading diary and pep talk for the current age. (personalcanon.com)
5. “We All Read Like Hell!” - Ireland as a Literary Powerhouse
How does a nation of five million keep churning out Booker winners? The Guardian’s Kate McCusker credits inter-generational mentorship, a well-funded Arts Council, and the fine Irish art of storytelling over pints. If you need proof that scene-building still matters in the Kindle age, look no further than Dublin. (theguardian.com)
Happy (re)reading!