Continuing the annual tradition, here are my utterly subjective and eccentric selections for the top 5 books I read in 2024.
Following the Equator Review
He at times writes of significant matters, but too many chapters are filled by inane diary entries and games played aboard the ship. There just isn’t enough substance to the book to make it worthwhile, especially at some seven hundred pages.
The Light Ages Review
We continue to use insights developed during the middle ages, sometimes without even realizing it. If Falk spent more time examining ideas like that, rather than diverting into historical fiction, The Light Ages would be a far stronger book.
The Invisible Man Review
A useful metaphor it might provide, but that doesn’t absolve the author of the need for plausible impossibility.
A Treatise of Human Nature Review
A Treatise of Human Nature, despite its lofty title, simply does not possess that eternal wisdom and insight that peers at the heart of the human experience.
The Fires of Heaven Review
The fifth book in Wheel of Time starts Rand al’Thor on a leadership arc that will take many books to resolve, as he wrestles with a question that few of us will ever have to confront, but which bedevils theories of leadership, especially in other periods of history: how much can a leader allow himself or herself to care, on the individual level, about the people around her or him?
Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie Review
The core of Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie is what it means to be a good king, conveyed through a series of parables delivered by the titular mythological figure.
Around the World in 80 Days (PBS Masterpiece) Review
Above all, Verne’s stories, to me, capture a sense of vast potential.
Charge Review
It is a pleasant change to find a nonfiction book which is heavy on nonfiction and light on narrative.
The First Men in the Moon Review
The First Men in the Moon can barely be considered science fiction at all. It is better thought of as adventure/horror with science fiction elements. If you read it in that guise, perhaps you will enjoy it more than I did when I was seeking a classic science fiction book.
IGC Publishing 