My Top 10 Books of 2024

Fraternity hazing, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Burning Man were some of the subjects of a my favorite reads this year

I don’t listen to Spotify, robbing me of the yearly Spotify Wrapped many of my peers enjoy. I’m not on Letterboxd enough to get end-of-year personal stats based on my reviews and viewing habits. I have never watched yet alone heard of any of the best films of 2024, as chosen by The Economist.¹

But I do have this Substack, which is coming up on its one-year anniversary.² One of the first posts I ever published was a Top 10 from the previous year and so I plan to continue that tradition this year.

Here are my Top 10 Books of 2024:

“GOAT” by Brad Land

I read most of this book in one sitting. It was arresting. This memoir tells of how Land decided to pledge a fraternity in the mid-90s and the brutal experiences that wrought. What makes Land’s experience all the more harrowing is that he was assaulted in a carjacking several months before, making his experience with hazing all the more traumatic. This story is not for the faint of heart. But it’s very well written.

When I was in college I pledged a social club (the equivalent of a fraternity at Christian Colleges) and depledged after several days because of what I saw and experienced. While my experience was nowhere near what Land describes in his memoir, I deeply resonated with his story. I plan to write a fuller review and about my personal experiences soon.

The book was turned into a movie, which starred James Franco, Nick Jonas and an excellent cast. I have mixed feelings about that movie (which had a limited release) but I’ll share more about that in my review.

“Subculture Vulture” by Moshe Kasher

Moshe Kasher is not only one of the funniest comedy personalities but also one of the smartest. His first book, “Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16” is also on my reading list. I think the title says it all. In “Subculture Vulture,” Kasher writes about the six subcultures that formed him: Alcoholics Anonymous, techno raves, the deaf community, Burning Man, the Jewish faith and comedy.

Kasher is one of my favorite podcast guests, especially when he makes an appearance on Pete Holmes’ “You Made It Weird.” I would share what my favorite bit of his is, but my mom reads these posts.

“Rocket Boys” by Homer Hickam

When I saw the movie based on this book, October Sky, I was too young to fully grasp what this story was about. I thought it was a true story about some boys that liked building rockets. It’s about that, sure. But it’s really a story about a community that rallies behind young men in the town who have a real chance of a better life. The boys are trying not just to evade the gravitational pull of the Earth with their rockets, but also the strong gravitational pull of the coal mines.

The coal mines are drudgery. The blackened lungs and workplace hazards are part of life in this small West Virginia town, Coalwood, as this passage illustrates:

Pooky Suggs’s history was common knowledge in Coalwood. His father had been crushed by a slate fall about a dozen years back on a section where Dad was the foreman. To stay in Coalwood, Pooky had to quit the sixth grade and gone into the mine. [He had failed sixth grade multiple times, but was a young teenager when he started shoveling coal.]

“Stories I Only Tell My Friends” by Rob Lowe

I recently became interested in “The Brat Pack” thanks to the excellent documentary by Andrew McCarthy, “Brats.” He’s been part of some of my favorite movies and television shows: Parks and Recreation, The West Wing, Austin Powers and The Grinder (oh, you don’t remember The Grinder? The one-season Fox series starring Lowe, Fred Savage, Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Aziz Ansari’s love interest from Parks and Rec?)

His early rise from teen star to leading man is interesting enough but his vulnerability about his struggles with alcohol, drugs and other destructive behaviors is worth the read, too. He’s been married to his wife, Sheryl Berkoff, for 33 years—very admirable for Hollywood. Being Rob Lowe, he name drops his experiences with Tom Cruise, JFK Jr, Liza Minelli, Andy Warhol, Francis Ford Coppola and his close friendship with Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen, among many others.

“So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson

This is another book I’d heard referenced multiple times over the years but only recently decided to read. I wasn’t disappointed. From the woman who tweeted a terrible AIDS joke before hopping on a plane to Mike Daisy’s questionable This American Life episode, there’s plenty of fascinating stories. Jonson takes the next step and analyzes these stories from multiple angles to better understand shame and how it functions in society.

“Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” by J. Randy Taraborelli

I picked up this book because I am fascinated by the Kennedys. Please do not confuse that with reverence—many were/are terrible. RFK Jr. fits the mold more than his relatives would like to admit.

I had ambivalent but relatively positive feelings about Jackie Kennedy Onassis when I started reading this book. By the end, I thought she was appalling. She was bribed into staying in an awful marriage with JFK. She married Aristotle Onassis for what seemed purely monetary reasons. She was incredibly materialistic and self-absorbed. A friend recently told me my review made him rethink his opinion of the Kennedys, and I feel like I’ve done a public service.

As Robert F. Kennedy Sr. once said:

Each time a man stands up for an ideal… he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

In this metaphor, my Substack posts are ripples of hope that, combined with the shares and restacks of other like-minded citizens, gather and grow until the myth of Camelot is swept away. Read the review.

“Morning after the Revolution” by Nellie Bowles

Nellie Bowles is a joy and a treasure and if you are not subscribed to her weekly TGIF news roundup you need to change that right away. Bowles is a sixth-generation San Francisco native who watched the world around her collectively lose its mind in 2020. As a reporter for The New York Times at the time, she struggled to garner the attention of her editors while pitching stories about the autonomous zones of Seattle, Antifa rallies, police abolition and other causes. Her hometown of San Francisco also provided plenty of fodder. Much of the stories left on the cutting room floor formed the basis of this book, which provides real reporting with some of Bowles’ classic snark.

“The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt

This was a book I had only skimmed in the past. But I hear the book referenced frequently so I decided to dive into it again. Post Election 2024, the insights are more relevant than ever. Why do people seem unable to hear evidence that contradicts their worldview? Why are people so tribal? How do we reach moral conclusions—compared to how we think we reason through moral questions? These are some of the important questions Haidt seeks to answer in this book.

If you are left struggling to understand those with different worldviews, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. If you’re looking for more reading material, I also highly recommend a sermon my friend and pastor Zach Lambert gave during the lead-up to the election (and not just because he gave my Substack a shoutout). Read the review.

“Learning to Speak God from Scratch” by Jonathan Merritt

A dear pastor friend sent me a signed copy of this book because he knew how much I enjoyed Jonathan Merritt’s writing (you should subscribe to his newsletter). Merritt’s background as the gay son of the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention helps him discuss faith and religion from a unique perspective. This book makes a compelling case for why we need to rescue sacred words and rediscover their true meaning. He also shares reflections on some of those sacred words: grace, blessed, neighbor, family, lost, etc.

I got to meet Merritt earlier this year when he visited my church and he could not have been more gracious. I got to thank him for the signed copy of the book, which he had to ship multiple times due to various obstacles. I’m glad I was finally able to get a copy because this book is a great read.

“Going Infinite” by Michael Lewis

In 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was named #41 on the Forbes’ 400 Wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $22.5 billion. Within the span of one week in November of that same year, his net worth dropped to $0.

He once paid $155 million for naming rights of the Miami Heat’s stadium. Now, SBF is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of seven criminal charges, including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations.

How he got to that point is the topic of Michael Lewis’ “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.” Lewis had the fortune of interviewing SBF before, during and after his downfall, which makes for a fascinating read. Read the review.

1. If someone has watched even one of these films, please let me know. Fall Guy was noticeably absent from the list.

2. My next post will likely be some reflections on my first year.