My favorite books of 2024

As 2024 comes to a close, I would like to rank the books that I read this year. As I read this year, I tracked my books and gave them a rating from one to five stars. Generally speaking, I’m an enjoyer of media, or at least I won’t finish a book I really didn’t enjoy, so there were no one star books. The order also matters within the star ratings, best to worst, though these are not as strongly held opinions. Also, you’ll note that this runs the gamut within genre and form. A play, two trade paperbacks, and a graphic novel make the list, so forget about apples to apples. Without further ado, here are my favorite to least favorite books I read this year. I will explain my choices further below.

Five Stars

Five stars doesn’t mean “this is the best book I’ve ever read,” but rather that I considered the book to be extraordinarily good, and I had very few, if any, complaints. 

Aramis, or The Love of Technology by Bruno Latour

Aramis is perhaps a strange pick for my favorite book of the year. Ostensibly, it’s about a failed attempt to put a personalized rapid transit system in Paris. In actuality, it’s about how we shape technology, and how technology shapes us. The narration shifts between a graduate student trying to unravel the history of Aramis, documents and interviews, an extended Frankenstein allegory, and pleas from the Aramis system itself. The book is unlike anything I’ve read (the foreword notes it may be closest to Galatea 2.2, but I’ve not read that); the closest analogy I can think of is a detective story. It’s a weird one for sure, but every choice about it that was weird worked for me. I should read Latour’s more popular work, but I’m a little afraid I’d be let down. 

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn

This one is more of a classic in the sociology of science, and for good reason. The examples are fascinating and well-detailed, and the conclusions are generally quite good. My partner has argued that perhaps why scientists like Kuhn’s theories is from the idea that most scientists are engaged in the puzzle-solving “normal science”; we do love puzzles. Kuhn was the first philosopher I read who cared about those little puzzles. The only minor problem is that the book is less groundbreaking today just from how pervasive Kuhn’s theories are among scientists today, but that’s hardly his fault. One could, and some have, including Kuhn himself, argue that the concept of a “paradigm shift” has taken on a life of its own and perhaps been overused.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Much ink has been spilled about this book, and I agree with all of it. I’m not a huge fiction reader, as this list will attest, but this was incredibly gripping. I also found the plot to be incredibly clever, which is maybe the best attribute a science fiction book can have.

The Compton Effect: Turning Point in Physics by Roger H. Stuewer

This is the first of many books on this list that I read because they’re cited in Structure and caught my interest. That strategy has been hit or miss, but this was a hit; ironic considering Kuhn’s review is fairly scathing. Kuhn argues that you can tell too much that this was a lightly edited thesis-turned-book; I like the precision at the expense of narrative flourishes that it provides. The history of understanding X-rays during this time period is somewhat complex, and that’s okay. I found Stuewer’s account to be about as clear as can be expected under the circumstances and found it to be quite gripping. I wish Stuewer had written more such books, or that there were more good books on this kind of history of X-rays. 

The Scientist’s Role in Society: A Comparative Study by Joseph Ben-David

This, another Kuhn reference, is one of the broadest science history books in terms of the covered time period. That breadth may have been to its detriment if I were well-versed in a particular time period, but as I am not, I found it to be a good general overview. The only thing I would wish for is a modern addendum, because I think that we may be in a different era in this book’s classification.

The New Scientific Spirit by Gaston Bachelard

This is a short book, with a flowery approach to the language of scientific topics that, for whatever reason, I didn’t find to be a problem as in other books, where that gets in the way of precision. I tore through this in one afternoon and eagerly wanted more of Bachelard’s work. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite work out (as will be discussed later), but this book I loved. 

Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

I am an avid listener of the Lingthusiasm podcast, so of course I had to read this book. I found it to be wonderful and chock full of detail that I didn’t know, despite being an Internet Person myself. I would expect nothing less from McCulloch, but I appreciated the insistence this book had that linguistic changes aren’t inherently good or bad, and not personally following those linguistic changes isn’t necessarily good or bad. How our language changes, and that the internet has affected that as much as it did, is fascinating. The book is also replete with studies of clever linguists who have tried to make sense of these changes, which I appreciated greatly.

Shaping Written Knowledge: The Genre and Activity of the Experimental Article in Science by Charles Bazerman

You might not know it from the title, but this book is not really about how to write an experimental scientific article. Rather, it’s about what an experimental scientific article is and its history. As someone who reads many of these but had never thought to ask those questions, this was a fascinating glimpse. It helps also that this is officially available online for free, though I read a paper version.

Superman: The Harvest of Youth by Sina Grace, Cris Peter, and D.C. Hopkins

We have arrived at the graphic novel on this list. You may be able to tell from the cover of this one that this is an adolescent Superman story, which is my favorite, as Clark is a sweet Midwestern boy first and foremost, despite what anyone says. You may also be able to tell that the art style is fantastic. What is a bit less apparent is how much this deals with heavy themes, in particular responses to suicide and radicalization. How you feel about the handling of these topics is quite subjective, but for me, I think they handled them amazingly well, telling a modern Superman story without sacrificing what makes him Superman. 

Local Man Vol. 1 by Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs

This trade paperback follows in the same vein, as it is a distinctly Midwestern setting. I heard of this series from the Reading Glasses podcast and knew instantly that I had to read it. It is not only distinctly Midwestern (such as with a character named Hodag), but it is also a tribute and occasional parody of 90s superhero comics, an era I love. The mystery inherent is also compelling, so I am eagerly awaiting reading volumes two and three.

Four Stars

Four stars indicates that I generally rather enjoyed the book and would recommend it, but it was missing something, or that I had a complaint. 

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

I heard of this book from Jacob Geller’s list of favorite books he read in 2024, and I knew I had to read it. Luckily, I got it in under the wire. One thing I think you should know going in is that it’s largely fiction but telling real events. I appreciate, in that sense, that it’s upfront about that (science is rarely a neat narrative, but sometimes you do want to tell stories with it). That said, it was classified as nonfiction in my local library, and nowhere in the book itself does it clarify that it is fictional. That’s not my chief complaint, though. The theme is how genius is close to madness, and maybe that, societally, we’ve crossed that line. A fine theme and all, but it presupposes that the mythological class of genius, as opposed to quite smart, exists. I disagree, which kept it from landing perfectly for me. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable book. 

The Virtuoso by Thomas Shadwell

The Virtuoso is an interesting thing to read in 2024. It is a 1676 play whose humor around the virtuoso (a grandiose term scientists claimed for themselves at the time) character lands today, for the most part. The play was written a little more than ten years after the establishment of what is arguably (though not necessarily, as Bazerman’s book above notes) the first scientific journal. It comes down particularly hard against blood transfusion, which was far more understandable at the time (it was still in its infancy; we didn’t even know about blood types). Not all of the humor lands, and there are some islands between interesting parts, hence it not being ranked higher for me. Still, not bad for 1676.

How to Take Over the World by Ryan North

Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics are a treat, so I was excited to read his book. It contains the humor you would expect, as well as a surprising amount of research into each of the topics, but frankly I could have used more research into any of them as a separate book. Understandably, the humor probably wouldn’t work in such a book. For what it is, I rather enjoyed it. 

Broad Band by Claire L. Evans

A different kind of history of computers and the internet, Broad Band focuses on the women who made it possible. Each chapter is a well-chosen person or set of people, and there were some unexpected inclusions in there as well. 

Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Theory and Reality is a good introductory book to much of what I read this year and last year. It probably would have rated higher if I hadn’t read many of the books it references, as well as another similar book in Hacking’s Representing and Intervening, before I got to it. This limited what I was able to get out of it, but it did have some unique insights. Introductory books like this are good for getting a bird’s-eye view of the field, as well as what books to check out next. 

The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought by Thomas S. Kuhn

If you liked Kuhn’s theories and wished he focused on one particular paradigm shift, this is the book for you. Much is left out from the standard narrative of the Copernican Revolution you’re taught in schools for the sake of being concise. Every statistician I’ve read seems to have a different opinion on Copernicus’ model as presented and whether it’s simpler or more accurate than the previous one (note: ellipses weren’t used yet, so both had epicycles). Kuhn lays out much of the historical evidence, as well as detailed explanations of various models proposed.

Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact by Ludwik Fleck

In a similar vein as The Copernican Revolution, Genesis and Development concerns one particular scientific discovery and what that can tell us about science more generally. In this case, the book is about the discovery of syphilis and its cause. Many of Fleck’s theories informed Kuhn, which is how I learned of this book. To hear people talk of Genesis and its theories, you wouldn’t think it only uses the one case of syphilis, but it does.

The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century by David Salsburg

The Lady Tasting Tea largely examines anecdotes from throughout the history of statistics. Unfortunately, it feels like this framing makes the history more disjoint. Nonetheless, each individual chapter is a good story, and it’s always interesting to hear of how ideas you use regularly were discovered.

Towards a Historiography of Science by Joseph Agassi

Towards a Historiography of Science is another Kuhn reference and suffers a bit from that association. The concept that the history of science should not be inductive, that the people of the past weren’t obviously wrong and the people of today aren’t obviously right, that old theories still may have merit in the scientific process even if we think they’re incorrect, these are good ideas. They’ve just been accepted so much that it hardly seems that revolutionary. When I got to the end, I wished it had something more to the thesis. But it made the case for what it did quite compellingly.

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow by Kenny Porter and Jahnoy Linday

Another trade paperback, here the first Superboy feature after the universe reset, which seeks to answer, who is Superboy among the many Superman family members? Superboy is my favorite of these members, and this book is an interesting read. One of the things I love the most about Superboy is his design, featured prominently on the covers, which are excellent. Unfortunately, in the course of this series, he gets a new jacket that is less distinctive, which was the whole point of the jacket.

The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change by Thomas S. Kuhn

This is a good read for people who like Kuhn’s theories, but it should be noted that it really is a collection of his papers. Which means it can go into a bit more detail, but it also means that there’s no connective tissue between “chapters,” and some of the papers are better than others. Still, The Essential Tension helped to flesh out my understanding of Kuhn’s ideas. 

The Concept of Model: An Introduction to the Materialist Epistemology of Mathematics by Alain Badiou

This one is an interesting read, very different from modern understanding, though not necessarily in a way I agree. I will always appreciate an application of group theory where maybe it doesn’t quite belong. 

Three Stars

Three stars means a book didn’t really speak to me, but I don’t necessarily dislike it either. As this is a narrow definition, it makes sense that there are few books that are in this category.

The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper

Perhaps the most well-known (but not necessarily most well-read) book on the philosophy of science, Logic can be very hit or miss. It also falls into the classic trap of trying to apply a philosophy to a modern scientific debate (instead of, say, experimental scientific inquiry). Although in this case, Popper got to include a letter from Einstein, so maybe that worked out in his favor. Falsificationism is very popular, at least in name, among scientists. However, the specifics are a bit less convincing. To Popper’s credit, he does not shy away from these details. He’s just entirely unconvincing. It is also at least twice as long as it really needs to be, in my opinion.

Winning the Games Scientists Play by Carl J. Sindermann

This book is only hurt by one fact: it’s a career advice book for a rapidly changing field written in the 80s that I read in 2024. Some of it still applies today, I think, but a lot of it doesn’t. Were there a modern successor, I think I would rate that significantly higher. 

Formation of the Scientific Mind by Gaston Bachelard

Bachelard’s Formation is more specific than The New Scientific Spirit, to its credit. Unfortunately, I don’t necessarily like those specifics. This book focuses mostly on Bachelard’s opinions on science education, where he was apparently most influential. However, I found it to be overly negative about treating science education as fun, which has been more accepted in modern teaching. I have further thoughts on this one in particular, but that’s a post for another day.

Betrayers of the Truth by William J. Borad and Nicholas Wade

Betrayers is fairly low on my list of science books, not because of its accusations of scientific giants manipulating data, but because their suggested solutions to problems presented seem more designed to stir up controversy than to actually fix anything. In other words, it has Against Method-itis. If you get rid of the final chapter and hope that other people will come up with better solutions, it’s significantly better.

The Philosophy of No: A Philosophy of the New Scientific Mind by Gaston Bachelard

This one is a bit more difficult to review, as my memory of it is pretty faint. I’m pretty sure this one has some wild anecdotes in it, but overall it doesn’t contribute much more than The New Scientific Spirit.

Two Stars

Two stars are given to books that I didn’t particularly like. I can imagine perhaps a type of book that I would give one star to, but I did not finish any such books this year. Many of these are because I came in with my expectations set fairly high, which is maybe unfair, but this list is clearly subjective. 

Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy by Michael Polanyi

I was excited for this one, as it’s a philosophy of science written by an actual scientist, and better yet, a physicist and chemist. Unfortunately, Polanyi makes the same error Popper does (applying his philosophy to whether or not we should accept a scientific theory, instead of experimental evidence). Unfortunately for Polanyi, the theory he went after was not an interpretation of quantum physics but rather evolution. There’s a little bit of “reading this in 2024” bias with this one, but it was still probably not great at the time it was written. I don’t think his philosophy otherwise holds water either, but it was novel. 

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

I found that fitting the studies into a narrative and having florid prose were more the focus of The Gene than being scientifically accurate. Conclusions are drawn from case reports or presented with no evidence whatsoever. When evidence is presented, it seems Mukherjee has little care for whether it’s high quality before fitting it into the story. Twice there are serious questions raised about a study’s legitimacy (as in, was this data fabricated?)… in footnotes only. It struck me as untrustworthy, which I don’t necessarily want to be an attribute of a nonfiction scientific book. 

Scientific Explanation: A Study of the Function of Theory, Probability and Law in Science by R. B. Braithwaite

This is another victim of expectations. This is cited in Structure, which is usually a good sign, and you could hardly do better cooking up a book title to entice me in a lab. Unfortunately, the reality is that this book tries, unconvincingly, to map scientific claims into logical equations. There are some good sections in this, but you have to go digging. 

Farewell to Reason by Paul Feyerabend

Ah, finally we come to Feyerabend. You may notice a lack of Against Method on this list; I read it last year. Both of these Feyerabend titles are substantially worse, an opinion generally shared even among his most ardent supporters. Farewell to Reason is rated slightly higher in my opinion because the only argument made in these two that I remember sympathy for is that we shouldn’t force “Western” traditions on the whole of the Earth, and that includes taking a hard look at when science is appropriate (that’s a watered-down version to be more palatable, but notably Popper appears to disagree with even this). Farewell also contains the most infuriating paragraph I’ve ever read, which is impressive, but that’s perhaps the subject of another blog post. 

Science in a Free Society by Paul Feyerabend

If, after reading Against Method, and in particular its surprising final chapter, you wonder if Feyerabend may be against science, you should read Science in a Free Society (Farewell to Reason would also work fine for this purpose). Of course, Feyerabend’s defenders will argue that he’s not against science per se, but they will also tell you to ignore Science in a Free Society. I have read a paper on Feyerabend’s “anything goes” slogan that acknowledges that the opposite of one of its central theses is said in Science in a Free Society, but appears contradictory to Feyerabend’s other body of work. In the anti-science’s most appalling form, Feyerabend brags about telling people to ignore their doctor’s medical advice in treating serious illnesses. For perhaps different reasons, Feyerabend’s followers and I agree, maybe not his best work. 

Conclusion

I don’t necessarily want to end on a negative note, though that is the nature of such lists. So I will just note that most of the books that I read were quite good, and my favorites were very excellent. Even when I ultimately didn’t like a book, I still enjoyed dedicating time to reading and hope to continue to do so in 2025. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me to read in 2025, and I’ll add it to the list!

Insofar as this is a creative work created while I am on an NSF fellowship,

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-2039655

Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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