This article mainly sorts out my 2024 book list, among which professional books are not listed in this article.
1. Book list for 2024
1. "The Biography of Elon Musk"
The reason for reading this book is:
1) In 2019, a colleague recommended a book called "Iron Man of Silicon Valley: Elon Musk's Adventure Life". At that time, new energy vehicles were not popular yet, Space X was not that popular, and everyone didn’t know what Neuralink was. The x website was called Twitter. When my colleague recommended this book, he told me that this person will definitely be a person who will change the world in the future, which aroused my interest and read it through.
2) The author of "The Biography of Elon Musk" is Walter Isaacson. He once read the Biography of Jobs in college. The strokes are detailed and profound. More importantly, they are explained from an objective and calm perspective from beginning to end. He was able to interview more than 100 people to write about one person and had a lot of first-hand information. His persistence and insight also made me look forward to "The Legend of Elon Musk", so I came here to see it.
3) The content of the book "Iron Man of Silicon Valley: Elon Musk's Adventure Life" was written until 2014, and "The Legend of Elon Musk" was in April 2023. In the past decade, Musk's career has reached its peak, and the products built with him as the core are changing the world. Such a span means that the owner can present a more complete and three-dimensional image.
This book deeply describes Musk's growth process and deeply analyzes how his unique personality has shaped his career, including the process of building companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter.
He stepped out of a complex growth background and created a unique personality. His desire for adventure, he will not hesitate to create conflicts, and the extreme work intensity will make people around him often collapse. He has a changeable mood and his life is never smooth, but it is precisely because of this that he can promote the development of disruptive companies such as SpaceX and Tesla.
2. "Plane Country"
This book is a fable novel that deeply reveals the limitations of human cognition and social problems by describing a graphic country in a two-dimensional world.
The book sets social class to determine by shape: the more sides, the higher the status, the circle is the vertex, while women are only line segments.
The protagonist Square accidentally encounters a sphere from the three-dimensional world and experiences a breakthrough in thinking from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. However, when he tried to spread the truth of the new dimension to the residents of the planet, he was rejected and im*ed. Novels are not only an interesting interpretation of geometry, but also use metaphors to criticize the class solidification, gender discrimination and ideological confinement of society, encouraging people to break through cognitive limitations.
This book uses a fable of a two-dimensional world that reveals the limitations of human cognition and social problems. Two-dimensional residents cannot imagine three-dimensional existence, just like our perception of higher dimensions is full of unknowns and fears. This book reminds us that the world is far more complex than the reality in front of us. Only by breaking through cognitive boundaries can we welcome broader possibilities.
3. "Soldiers are established by deception"
Needless to say, the classic "The Art of War" is a classic. In the past, I could only understand the above words, but I didn't understand the meaning. As my experience grows, I can increasingly feel that the value of this book is increasing, and the deep meaning and wisdom contained in it cannot be expressed by just a few numbers.
The book "Soldiers and Fraud" is a course lecture notes for Peking University teacher Li Ling, who is an expert in studying "The Art of War".
This book is rich in content, with word by word analysis and overall introduction and confidence. At the same time, it also interspersed with content such as "On War" for comparison, with a unique perspective and thought-provoking.
4. "Three-Body Body", "Three-Body Body 2 Dark Forest", "Three-Body Body 3 Death Eternal Life"
The "Three-Body Problem" series can be said to be "before you see someone, you will hear his voice first". Its reputation is as well-known as thunder, so it comes to you.
"The Three-Body Problem" deeply reflects on the limitations of human beings and the complexity of the universe through the story of the Three-Body Problem civilization. The book uses the "Law of Dark Forest" to reveal the cruel truth of survival in the universe: every civilization hides itself like a hunter, while being alert to others. This philosophical shocking feeling hits people's hearts.
I think the "Plane Country" I read this year is in a certain way, and the "Plane Country" focuses on cognitive boundaries, and the same is true for the "Three-Body". In "Plane Country", two-dimensional residents cannot understand three-dimensionality, and when humans in "Three-Body Problem" face higher civilizations, they can only struggle in the cracks of cognition.
This book also made me realize the limitations of human cognition.
5. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", "Harry Potter and the *er of Azkaban"
"Harry Potter" is a magical literary novel that is popular all over the world, and it needs no need to say much about its popularity. I watched this novel adaptation very early (the movie is eight, and the last Harry Potter series "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" movie was split into two movies).
In addition to some details, the movie version of "Harry Potter" is actually quite restored. I will continue to watch the remaining three later.
6. "Sugar Control Revolution"
This book is my first book about health that I read carefully, read repeatedly, and take notes carefully. If this book looks at it from a literary perspective, its writing style is mediocre, the content is repeated, scattered, and the overall layout is not very reasonable.
But it doesn't affect it's a good book. Because from the perspective of scientific diet and health, the book has rigorous views. It has referenced a large amount of scientific literature, accumulated a large amount of data for analysis and summary, and used a large amount of experiments or practical experience for verification.
This book mainly analyzes the harm of sugar to the human body and gives a lot of experience in controlling sugar. What I remember most is the dietary order, exercise after meals, and controlling sugar food intake. Personal experience can prove that these sugar control techniques are indeed effective, and the most direct feeling is the weight change.
7. "Naval Book"
I think this is a book that has been delayed by its name.
The very views in the book cannot be exposed to other places in reality, and are even contrary to some ideas and concepts promoted in reality. For example, the book says that the most important thing in the accumulation of wealth is leverage, rather than accumulation by selling time or physical strength. The concept of "work can get rich" is abandoned in the book.
This book also reveals the connection and underlying logic of finance, freedom, and happiness, which even subverts my traditional perception of what I pursue.
So far, I have read this book twice. If I have time, I will read it a few more times.
Books being read:
1. The last four parts of "Harry Potter": "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", "Harry Potter and the Mixed Race Prince", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
2. "Clear Thinking"
3. "Connecting: From the Stone Age to the AI Age" (Uncut version of "Over Homo sapiens")
4. "Dark Time"
5. Operational books
Books to read:
1. "Cancer: The Truth"
2. "Avoid sugar: A diet that changes your life"
3. "Entertainment to Death"
2. Summary
In general, there are not many books I read in 2024, which is a certain gap compared with the plan at the beginning of the year. Most of the books are recommended by others, so I have relatively few proactive choices.
I hope that in 2025, we can add more initiative on the basis of extensive reading, and at the same time focus on in-depth thinking, so that reading is not only a quantitative accumulation, but also a qualitative leap.