My top five books of 2024
According to Goodreads, I read 18 books in 2024. That’s just two short of my annual target. This year I’m going to try again, and I’m almost done with my first one. But there is still time to look back and do a retrospective of the top five books of 2024 that I have read. So let’s get started.
5. Storyworthy
Matthew Dick’s book “Storyworthy” teaches you how to write short stories. I never intended to, but I was trying to improve my presentations. In the end, the book helped only a little, but – the author’s narcissistic tendencies aside – it is quite well written. If you are interested in writing better stories, this book could be a start.
Read my full review here
4. The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and the Media in the 21st Century
As I wrote earlier, I have a chapter in this anthology on the history of Indiana Jones video games (excluding the current one, of course). But I also read the other chapters, which are quite well written and interesting. Everything from photography, television, popular culture, journalism or any other media related topic is represented here. If you are into this kind of research, this book is a very recent and up-to-date start.
You can find the book here
3. Data Grab
Data Grab by U.A. Mejias and N. Couldry was an interesting read. It looks at the consequences of the rise of the digital economy and its impact on society, democracy and human autonomy. Sounds heavy? Yes, you’re right, and the implications of the book are heavy as well. I was already moving away from social media before I read the book, but it confirmed what I already thought. This book gives you an idea of what it really means to use social media today.
Read my full review here
2. Archaeology, Nation, and Race
This was the last book I finished in 2024 and it was so good. It is actually a discussion between Yannis Hamilakis and Raphael Greenberg about the intersection of archaeology and their respective nations: Greece and Israel. It is a very open and direct book that I really enjoyed reading and I saw many parallels that Hamilakis articulated with my dissertation. I only wish I had read it two years earlier, when it first came out…
You can find the book here
1. A Man’s Search for Meaning
This was a difficult read, but so worth it. It is about an Austrian neurologist and Holocaust survivor who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy. This book describes what he observed in the concentration camps and what it means psychologically. It is unimaginable what happened in these camps, but this book somehow helps to understand human psychology through one of the most violent events in our history.
