Books Mitch enjoyed in 2024

Books Mitch enjoyed in 2024

Inspired by my friends who write end-of-year book lists, I wrote a list last year and hope to continue every year.  In 2024 I read 115 books, down from 170  in 2023.

Fiction

	Using many of the same story elements as the last two books in their "Expanse" series, the authors have created a new space opera and built a new world for this series.  The Hero, Dafyd Alkhor, is our plucky, "awe shucks," reluctant everyman, much like "Jim Holden" from the Expanse series.  It's a good story with fun themes.
	This new installment in the series is fantastic!  The story and character arcs are much more aligned to the overall saga than the last volume.  The action and combat are cool and exciting. The new magic system components are great.  I can't wait for the next one.
	Remember the Honor Harrington stories David Weber wrote in the early 1990's? This new series he is writing with Richard Fox is just as much fun.  The detailed space fleet engagements and sophisticated, consistent magic system is fun, and the vector math as explained enables the reader to visualize the engagements clearly.  The politics are intentionally similar to the Honor Harrington universe, with wicked Oligarchs and oppressed colonies.
	Best book I read in 2024.  I have gifted three copies to relatives. It's even more enjoyable when you look up the historical events and characters in wikipedia on the exact dates of the events in the book because the descriptions are so perfectly accurate.
	The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now.

Non-Fiction

	Wow! The book has many deep biographical sketches of the curious characters who are the real heroes behind Space-X's unbelievable accomplishments. The stories of their adventures, set-backs, and ultimate successful accomplishments are gripping and inspiring. Recommended even if you are not a space nerd.
	I wrote a book summary on here if you are impatient or want a preview. The key points are pretty good and the ideas are worthwhile.  It's a little painful to wade through the writing style (pithy aphorisms & slogans).
	This book is the foundation of amateur and professional understanding of the early roman empire. Mary Beard uses wonderful examples and anecdotes to illuminate the complex ideas, opinions, and daily lives of the people of ancient Rome, their moires, customs, social interactions, and international relations.  The book explains in wonderful prose the evolving attitudes of the ancient people in all stations of life. She gives frequent reminders of how differently the Romans projected back different versions of their own history as their language, culture, governance, and relationship to their society changed.
	The Wuhan Lab's "gain of function" (bio-weapons) research, including the cover-ups, deception, and the people behind the odd policies of that era are brightly illuminated in this interesting book.  The silly politics are distracting and boring, but new information about the corruption, censorship, and the conflicts of interest within government funding agencies and EcoHealth Alliance are interesting.
	This book exceeded my expectations. The author, a journalist, skillfully presents the science by incorporating interviews and insights directly from leading scientists in the field. While I didn't particularly enjoy some of the social commentary and political perspectives, I think her observations are both highly relevant and perceptive.

At War With Ourselves by H. R. McMaster (2024)

Extremely well-written, well-organized, and well-edited account of a fantastically bright, competent, selfless person's attempt to navigate the "nest of vipers" in the senior leadership of the executive branch. I enjoyed this one and recommend it. 5/5 Stars.

Blood Money by Peter Schweizer (2024)

Some of the data and Chinese publications mentioned in this book were new to me, so I did learn a bit about  the diplomacy and politics of Sino-US relations.  However, the book spends most of the content speculating about motivations and building conspiracy theories around circumstantial evidence.  I do not recommend this one. 2/5 Stars.

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1953)

During my "golden age" of science fiction (14 - 17 years old), I missed out on some of the great authors of the golden age of science fiction. This adventure story is not terrible but the plot is an obvious thin shell to explain the odd gas giant planet and its local chemistry. Some of the politics are interesting and clever.  However, the 1940's tech projected into the future does not age well. 3/5 Stars.

One False Move by Harlan Coben (2014)

I like the Myron Bolitar stories. This one is somewhat grittier and more brutish than my preference. 4/5 Stars.

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter (2021)

The characters and story are well crafted.  However, the science is so terrible I could not suspend disbelief. I don't understand why good authors who want to write SCIENCE fiction don't ask a scientist for help with celestial mechanics or brainstorming better excuses for drama in the Jovian system than "energy" generation. C'mon.  2/5 Stars.

L'Île mystérieuse (1875)

I loved this book! The French is at a 3rd or 4th grade level and easy to read. The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique  in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now. 5/5 Stars. (I started writing this review in French but realized I could not express myself well.)

To Challenge Heaven (2024)

Fun series. This one rambles a bit. 4/5 Stars.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1875 - 1878)

Another book from one of my kids' bookshelves that I added to my backlog because I had never read any major Russian literature and was curious.  My preconception of the story was that the main character was a charismatic, beautiful, good-hearted person (Anna) who was ostracized and destroyed by the evil oligarchical 19th century Russian society.  And I thought that the book covered  themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire and passion, along with the agrarian connection to land in contrast to the lifestyles of the elites in the city.  After riding along the 1,000-page slow, rambling roller coaster, I now think the story is almost completely psychological. The main characters experience acute schizophrenic episodes, triggered by the "trauma" of silly expressions and "feelings" or thoughts they project onto other people.  The details of farming, the social norms, and some of the philosophy is mildly interesting but not worth the slog. 3/5 Stars. I don't recommend this one.

The last dangerous visions by Harlan Ellison (2024)

Some of these stories are good; none of them is as "dangerous" or controversial as the critics claim. 3/5 Stars.