The Best 5 Books I Read In 2024 5 extraordinary books I read this year!

As of now, I’ve read 52 books this year.

Some were disappointing, a few unfinished, but most were absolutely brilliant — making it quite a challenge to narrow down this end-of-year list!

After much thought and deliberation, I’ve finally arrived at a decision of what books to include.

So, here are The Best 5 Books I Read in 2024…

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Endurance is quite possibly one of the greatest survival stories ever told.

In Endurance, Alfred Lansing recalls Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew’s legendary expedition to Antarctica — a mission that famously failed but turned out to be an outrageous story of resilience and leadership.

When their ship, Endurance, is crushed by relentless packs of ice, Shackleton and his men find themselves stranded in one of the harshest and most brutal environments on Earth.

Against all odds, all 28 members of the crew survive. How they managed to do so is beyond belief!

From the first page to the last, this book I was hooked. I couldn’t put it down and I’m sure you’ll feel the same way!

had me utterly captivated. I couldn’t put it down, and I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.

Here are a few quotes from Endurance…

“No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.”

“We had seen God in His splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.”

“Unlike the land, where courage and the simple will to endure can often see a man through, the struggle against the sea is an act of physical combat, and there is no escape. It is a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins; the most that he can hope for is not to be defeated.”

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time, with Crime and Punishment often considered his defining masterpiece.

In Crime and Punishment, we follow Raskolnikov, a desperate man, through the poverty-stricken streets of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Driven by hardship, Raskolnikov murders an old pawnbroker, with no feelings of remorse or guilt.

However, as time progresses a police inspector slowly starts to grow suspicious and Raskolnikov’s conscience begins to unravel, plunging him into crippling internal struggle.

Honestly, Crime and Punishment (alongside Meditations) might be the best book I’ve ever read. How someone can craft a story so perfect is an absolute joke!

I can’t wait to dive into more Dostoyevsky next year!

Here are a few quotes from Crime and Punishment…

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”

“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”

“Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.”

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Oh boy, if only I had read this book a few years ago — I could have saved myself some serious headaches about what I wanted to do with my life!

In So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport challenges the popular yet flawed advice of “follow your passion,” arguing that it can often lead to high levels of dissatisfaction and confusion.

Instead, he makes the case for focusing on building valuable skills that will allow you to do and create work you truly love to do, rather than quitting your job, which is something I’ve been close to doing several times over!

If you’re unsure about your career or what direction to take in life, I’d hand you a copy of this book because it’s a game-changer that could save you from a lot of unnecessary self-inflicted pain!

Here are a few quotes from So Good They Can’t Ignore You…

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

“No one owes you a great career, it argues; you need to earn it — and the process won’t be easy.”

“Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands.”

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian author who has written five New York Times best-selling books, one of which is Outliers.

Success is an interesting subject and many people (including former me)

believe that extreme success and greatness are solely the result of individual genius and raw talent.

But that’s not entirely true and while these factors do play a major role success runs much deeper and is far more complex.

In Outliers, Gladwell explores how success is often shaped by a huge variety of different factors such as your place of birth, luck, cultural background, and timing.

Honestly, I’m not so sure I can ever view success in the same way ever again. A phenomenal book written by a phenomenal author!

Here are a few quotes from Outliers…

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

“Those three things — autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward — are, most people will agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.”

“It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest nine- and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.”

Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Peter D. Kaufmann

Maybe best known for being Warren Buffet’s right-hand man, Charlie Munger was much, much more and he’s probably one of the smartest people who’s lived over this past century or so.

In Poor Charlie’s Alamack, Peter Kaufmann captures and breaks down the unique mental models and guides Munger used to approach learning, life, business, and much, much more.

Packed full of wisdom, wit, and an obscene amount of intelligence, Poor Charlie’s Almanack also perfectly demonstrates exactly what Munger was like as an individual.

It’s the kind of book I’ll be revisiting many times over and is a must-read for any investor or anyone who wants to improve their life.

Here are a few quotes from Poor Charlie’s Almanack…

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads — and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.”

“The best armour of old age is a well spent life perfecting it.”