These are a few of my favorite books that I read in 2024:
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend
I picked up this book after a trip to Mexico city that left me curious about Aztec history. It offers a fascinating overview of Aztec history from their early migrations around the 13th century CE through the post-colonial period. This book is particularly enlightening because it primarily draws from Nahuatl-language sources written by Indigenous Aztec scribes in the decades following the Spanish conquest, offering a more informed perspective compared to other histories written by Spanish colonists.
The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut
Benjamin Labatut wrote one of my all time favorite books, When We Cease To Understand the World, in 2020, so I was very excited to read his latest book, which is a biography of John Von Neumann. As in his other books, Labatut blends historical fact with his own imagination to tell the story of Von Neumann's life and work through the perspective of his friends, colleagues, and family.
The Abundance by Annie Dillard
This a collection of essays by my favorite essayist, Annie Dillard. It is filled with Dillard's trademark elegant prose, wit, and brilliant mediations on life, nature, and the search for meaning.
Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die by Stephen Nadler
The philosophy of Spinoza has, for a long time now, seemed appealing to me, but I never took the time to delve into it very deeply unitl I came across this book at a small bookstore in Paris. In this book, Stephen Nadler provides an accessible but fairly comprehensive summary of Spinoza's Ethics, in which Spinoza offers a compelling guide to living a good life.
The Song of the Cell by Siddartha Mukherjee
The Song of the Cell explores the discovery, understanding, and manipulation of cells in modern medicine. Mukherjee provides a detailed history of cellular science from early microscope observations through contemporary developments in immunotherapy and stem cell research, and manages to keep the reader engaged with anectodes about all the researchers involved.
The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks
I've never read an Oliver Sacks book I didn't love, and The River of Consiousness, his final book, is no exception. Sacks was a true polymath, with interests ranging from Neurology to Botany, and the breadth of his knowledge and passion is on full display in this collection of essays.