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Great Reads of 2024

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By Keith Hoodlet
11 min read

It has been said that the only constant in life is change - and 2024 is no exception. I’ve read many ups-and-downs this year, but on the whole this year has provided a number of positives in my life. As such, I hope that you’ll find more positives than negatives in this year’s post.

Similar to last year’s edition there have been many fun, useful, enjoyable, interesting, concerning, and upsetting reads published throughout the year. There’s a veritable smörgåsbord of items for your consideration in this post - and like a buffet, I encourage you to try a little bit of everything. It’s healthy for your mind to experience views that might challenge your beliefs along with the those ideas that reinforce your current way of thinking.

Bon Apétitt!

Table of Contents

Original Content

Books

  • The Way of the Wielder by Sarah J. Hoodlet (Book 2 was just released!)

    My wife independently published her first two books this year, and I couldn’t be more proud of her ❤️ She’s poured her heart-and-soul into this series, with the 3rd book currently in editing and a fourth book in planning. If you enjoy adult romantic fantasy then this series is for you!

  • The Cradle Saga by Will Wight

    I literally could not put this series down (thanks, Aaron!) 😅 Seriously - I read all twelve books in something like 3 months. This saga is now my #2 favorite story of all time. Check it out!

  • 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

    Accepting one’s own mortality is a struggle that many experience at some point in their life. This book manages to bring some humor to that experience by calling out the futility of trying to be “more efficient” with time management - while also offering some wisdom on how to get the most fulfillment out of the time we have.

  • Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari

    As with his work Sapiens, Yuval doesn’t pull any of his punches on the hard truths more people would benefit from reading. He makes hard-to-grasp concepts accessible, and along the way teaches important historical facts. Yuval is truly a master of non-fiction writing.

  • AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor

    As the leader of the AI/ML Assurance team at Trail of Bits I can tell you with certainty that there is a lot of 🐍 AI Snake Oil 🐍 out there. This book provides a nice summary of what’s out there and how to look for it, which I’ll provide some examples of in the next section.

  • The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired and Why We Need to Fight Back Now by Hilke Schellmann

    Think of this as “Exhibit A” for discussion surrounding 🐍 AI Snake Oil 🐍. I found a lot of the things this book talks about when hacking on the U.S. Department of Defense’s AI Bias Bounty contest.

  • The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

    I go back to the Kingkiller Chronicle almost every year without fail - and every year I pickup some small underlying detail that I missed in my previous readings. This is the fifth year in a row that I’ve read this work, and I continue hoping for a release date on book three 🙏

Artificial Intelligence

Career

Climate Change

Economics

Food for Thought

Healthcare

Information Security

Pandemic

Technology

As always, thanks again for picking through another year’s “Great Reads” 😊 While I prepare my next blog post reflecting on my Predictions for 2024, you can git checkout other (usually off-topic) content I’m reading more regularly over at Instapaper.

Until next time, remember to git commit && stay classy!

Cheers,

Keith

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