What I Read in 2024

A Recap of the Year

A Cautious Heron in Maldives

Thanks to Amazon Kindle’s record keeping, I can now review the books I’ve read this year. I wish I could read more. I tried to read them especially during vacation and weekends.

1. Power and Progress, Daron Acemoglu-10/10. I read the book before he was nominated for Nobel Prize. The book is not optimistic about AI opposite to the people he calls them as Techno-optimists. The book mainly focuses on income distribution of public from a historical perspective towards AI.
2. Nudge, Richard Thaler — 9/10. A mind opening book from another Nobel Prize Winner. I suggest this book especially to marketing professionals and product managers.
3. Genesis, Henry Kissinger & Craig Mundle — 9/10. Its also about AI. Like Power and Progress it has a historical perspective too. I felt like reading Rousseau’s Social Contract for AI age. Its optimistic about AI compared to Acemoglu. They developed a new term for humans called homo technicus.
4. Nexus, Yuval Harari — 7/10. Another book on AI and information. Too much repetition from his previous books.
5. AI 2041, Kai-Fuu Lee — 8/10. A futuristic approach for recent developments in AI. I did not find them futuristic since they might happen soon or are already there.
6. Revenge of the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell — 10/10. A perfect book from a journalist and writer. It’s focus is on social engineering and new media.
7. Transformative Marketing, Philip Kotler — 10/10. A perfect book on AI and other new technologies impact on Marketing.
8. Histories, Heredotus — 10/10. I should have read this before. A masterpiece for history lovers.
9. The Chimp Paradox, Steve Peters — 8/10. Good book for self development and create self confidence in communication.
10. Power of Flexing, Susan Ashford — 8/10. A good book to manage stress at workplace.
11. The White Book , Han Kang — 8/10. She was awarded Nobel prize this year. Nice short stories.
12. Fifth Business, Robertson Davis — 8/10. A nice fiction book.
13. The Dispossessed, Ursula Le Guin — 9/10. A science fiction book from one of my favorite authors. I should have read this before.
14. Odysseus, Homer — 10/10. A masterpiece. I should have read this before.
15. Cehenneme Övgü, Günlük Hayatta Totalitarizm, Gündüz Vassaf —9/10 Psikoloji alanında yazılmış güzel denemeler.
16. Dokuz Yüz Katlı İnsan,Mustafa Merter — 9/10. İnsanı tanımak için yazılmış güzel bir psikoloji kitabı.
17. The Construction of Social Reality , John Searle— 9/10. Its a reference book to understand societies and their symbols.
18. Büyülü Dağ, Thomas Mann — 8/10. Tarih severler için güzel bir roman.
19. Red Book, Carl Jung — 10/10. A reference book for psychology.
20. The Critique of Judgment, Emannuel Kant, 10/10. A reference book for philosophy.
21. Marcavoldo ya da Kentte Mevsimler, Italo Calvino — 8/10. Her kitabı okunur.
22. Leonardo’nun Yahudası, Leo Perutz – 10/10. Tarih ve sanat severler için çok güzel bir roman.

23. Khufu’s Wisdom, Naguib Mahfouz – 9/10. Stories on Ancient Egypt.

24. Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way, Lao Tzu– 10/10. Wisdom of China.

25. Yaban Kazı: Ogai Mori – 9/10. Japon edebiyatından güzel bir hikaye.