40 mini book reviews from 2024

1-3 sentence book reviews

As mentioned in the yearly productivity post, I managed to read 40 books in 2024 on top of my other work. Here they are in a picture:

It's absurdly long, so here's a summary of my ratings with brief commentary, which you might consider a crude guide:

1. stars:

2. stars:

   1. 'The Bell Curve' in Perspective: Race, Meritocracy, Inequality and Politics, Tucker, William H.

      • Basically a ranting blogpost. I was expecting more from the kinda famous historian who caused a lot of the Bell Curve wars noise from the left.

3. stars:

   1. Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions, #523), Echevarria, Antulio J. II

      • Nothing insightful, but I love reading about warfare, so thought maybe I needed to know some more background.

   2. The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World, Norberg, Johan

      • Expected more from this. Missing lots of pieces of explaining why capitalism is great.

   3. Geophysics: A Very Short Introduction, Lowrie, William

      • I felt geology was sorely missing from my general science knowledge, and it was interesting enough, but nothing too interesting either.

   4. Kant: A Very Short Introduction, Scruton, Roger

      • Given his popularity among British conservatives, I thought maybe he could make sense of Kant. No.

   5. The Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies, MacIntyre, Auron

      • I read some terrible review of this, so decided to look myself. It's nothing too interesting, but not what it was portrayed as either.

   6. A Prescription for Psychiatry: Why We Need a Whole New Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing, Kinderman, Peter

      • When I wrote about psychiatry, someone recommended this in the comments. I plan on writing a critical review, because it was very wrong. I recognize the good faith effort by the author though.

   7. World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction, Leeming, David A.

      • Honestly, I don't recall reading this book, but apparently, I didn't learn much of interest.

   8. Technology in World Civilization, revised and expanded edition: A Thousand-Year History, Pacey, Arnold

      • Author tries a lot to bend over backwards to emphasize inventions by non-Europeans, mostly Arabs.

   9. The future of intellectuals and the rise of the new class, Gouldner, Alvin Ward

      • Someone recommended it in a comment. It has some insights, but it's all speculation and too wordy.

   10. Will We Ever Speak Dolphin? And 130 Other Science Questions Answered, New Scientist

       • I was interesting in dolphin language, and this was one of the only books that popped up in my search. It's nothing too interesting.

   11. Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, Bloom, Paul

       • Expected more from this than 'empathy makes you overvalue people you are familiar with', kind of utilitarian argument.

   12. The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies, Legutko, Ryszard

       • I thought maybe people who had real Iron Curtain experience would have more interesting things to say about it, but it's not that interesting.

   13. The Bible: A Very Short Introduction, Riches, John

       • I was hoping this had less on the composition of the bible, and more about the stories and their interpretations. I am too lazy to read the bible.

   14. A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science, Oakley, Barbara

       • Saw it recommended somewhere, and thought it was probably bland, which it was.

4. stars:

   1. Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction, Wood, Bernard

      • Given all the ancient genomics coming out, I thought it was a good idea to get a more firm idea of human history from the split from primates. It's decent.

   2. The U.S. Constitution: A Very Short Introduction, Bodenhamer, David J.

      • The US constitution has extreme importance in the world given America's leading role, and this was a useful book.

   3. The Gulag: A Very Short Introduction, Barenberg, Alan

      • I knew gulags were bad, but I didn't know about how extensive the system was or its history.

   4. The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction, Allen, Robert C.

      • Mainly about British history. It's a familiar story, but good to brush up on.

   5. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction, Doyle, William

      • Same as above.

   6. World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Chua, Amy

      • This was good, and made me think, but it is missing so many key HBD insights that it is hard to rate it 5.

   7. Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up, Shrier, Abigail

      • Shrier asked me to look up some numbers for her, so I thought it was a good idea to do some background reading. It's a pop science book that delivers what it set out to do.

   8. Left and Right: The Psychological Significance of a Political Distinction, Jost, John T.

      • This is perhaps the most politically biased book I've ever read, which is an amazing achievement. Basically, it cites every piece of research the author can find why conservatives suck, and omits almost all the research showing the opposite. Useful for quoting and references.

   9. Why Not Capitalism?, Brennan, Jason

      • An odd philosophical book that's a rebuttal to some socialism book. Amusing and short.

   10. It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States, Lipset, Seymour Martin

       • Why didn't America have a substantial communist infestation? This book provides the answer: it was too fragmented and they refused to compromise, unlike the European socialist parties.

   11. Education, Social Background and Cognitive Ability, Marks, Gary N.

       • This is more of a research compilation in the style of Richard Lynn. Useful for references, but not a compelling read.

   12. How to Think Better About Social Justice: Why Good Sociology Matters, Campbell, Bradley

       • I read this because of another good book by the same author. It's a decent book about non-socialist sociology.

   13. Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony s Long Romance with the Left, Radosh, Ronald

       • A useful history of communists in Hollywood.

   14. The Gene's-Eye View of Evolution, Ågren, J Arvid

       • What is the academic debate about gene-centric vs. individual-centric evolution? If you are in my sphere, you might think this is settled stuff, but it's more complicated.

5. stars:

   1. A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains, Bennett, Max Solomon

      • A book about intelligence that never mentioned IQ research. Intriguing? It's about the evolution of intelligence from bacteria to humans and the key steps involved, and how these are parallelized in AI development. Great book.

   2. Progressive Myths, Huemer, Michael.

      • I reviewed this. An on point and needed debunking book.

   3. From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Yew, Lee Kuan

      • An awesome tale of rags to riches for Singapore. I was in Singapore last year, so decided to read this on my various plane trips. It didn't disappoint. I see why everybody loves it.

   4. The Case for Colonialism, Gilley, Bruce

      • A bold take, which mostly succeeds.

   5. Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media, Mchangama, Jacob

      • Great history of free speech, and all the hypocrites.

   6. Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America, Gilens, Martin

      • Book length summary of an amazing study of the influence of money in American politics. Shame it didn't look at other groups!

   7. Why It's OK to Speak Your Mind, Joshi, Hrishikesh

      • I reviewed this. A refreshing and short case for not being a belief coward.

   8. Political Beliefs, Traldi, Oliver

      • I mentioned this. How should we think about political opinions and disagreements, philosophically? Who is an expert? How do we know?

   9. The Populist Delusion, Parvini, Neema

      • Given the poor behavior of the author online and his cult following, the book was surprising good insight into the sort of shame nature of democracy.

   10. The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History, Rindsberg, Ashley

       • The New York Times has a lot of clout, but it made insanely stupid reported many times in the past, so don't expect much better now.

   11. The Geometry of Genocide: A Study in Pure Sociology, Campbell, Bradley

       • A very interesting take on the mechanisms of genocide.

That's it! Probably, you should consider the 5-star books, and maybe World on Fire. If you are into legal politics, then the US constitution book. If you are into the psychology of politics, then Left and Right is amusing and provides material to attack. And so on!

In general, I like picking up the Very Short Introductions books, as they are fairly reliable in quality, always brief and decently written. Rarely are they bad, but usually don't provide novel insights either. Maybe it would be better to read longer, more potentially novel books.