My Favorite Books from 2024

Just like I have for a number of years now, here are my favorite books I read in 2024. Unlike Mr. Obama, these are not all written in 2024. They are just 10 books I really enjoyed and can recommend for one reason or another 

The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and A Quest for Glory -- by Thomas Fuller

This book is the story of California School for the Deaf in Riverside's Football teams' pursuit of a State Title in California. When NSCD used to have football, we would occasionally play the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. Schools for the Deaf have had a big influence on the game of football. The huddle was developed at Gallaudet University in Washington DC. As much as this book is an inspiring story about overcoming athletic adversity, to me it was also a great description of the educational history of teaching the deaf and hard of hearing. That history is filled with its own obstacles and misdirections. This book was a fascinating read about a team, a school and a community of people who's potential is limitless when allowed opportunities. 

Dominion - How the Christian Revolution Remade the World  - by Tom Holland

My list always includes history books and this book was recommended to me several years ago. 

My favorite podcast this year became The Rest is History  which has been named the most popular history podcast in the world by the Wall Street Journal. Cohosted by Brits Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, it is in part an odd couple like historical discussion.  Tom Holland is an historian best known for his research into the Classical World - Ancient History. Dominic Sandbrook is an historian best known for his research into the modern world -- especially 60s and 70s British and American political history. I enjoy it immensely and was reminded of this book through listening to it. 

Dominion is an historical account of the influence of Christian thought on just about everything we do today -- regardless of if you are a believer or not. Even some of the great cultural disagreements of our time have roots in Christian teachings and values. A fascinating and approachable historical work. 

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman 

I enjoyed this book so much I bought four copies to give to friends. The thesis is to encourage us to give up the fantasy that one day we will get ahead on everything. Life will never be perfect. However, we can take action on what counts. In a world filled with anxiety, I found Burkeman's thoughts and advice very helpful. 

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak and Heroism at the Beginning of the Civil War by Erik Larson 

Larson's The Splendid and the Vile was on my Favorite Reads from my 2022 list. I enjoy his accounts of history and this is one of the best accounts of the events leading up to the shelling of Ft. Sumter. He explains it through the eyes and writings of the people directly involved and their families. 

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

Captain James Cook was one of the great explorers of the late 18th century. He took three voyages into the Pacific. This is a chronicle of his last one - a voyage on which he dies on the Hawaiian Islands. He was loved by his crews as a leader, very interested in science and respectful of indigenous peoples. However, something goes wrong on this final voyage. A great read about a fascinating time. 

Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn by James Walvin

In the right moment, the hymn Amazing Grace will make you cry. The history and legend behind the hymn is fascinating as the composer John Newton was a former British slave trader who became a minister. The hymn took on new meaning when it came to America, first with the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and later in the century by both anti slavery forces and confederate soldiers. In the late 20th and 21st century, the hymn took on even greater meaning. The book traces all of that history culminating with President Obama's singing of it during his eulogy of Clementa Pinckney one of the victims of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston SC. 

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

For some reason 2024 has been a big year for books on exploration. This story is about a group of British explorers in the 1740s who survive a ship wreck and a variety of other terrible events including mutiny and murder to make it back to England. Its a survival story like the Endurance both also involves a court martial case. Grann also wrote Killers of the Flower Moon which became a movie in 2023. 

The Real Hoosiers: Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar Robertson, and the Hidden History of Hoops by Jack McCallum 

Every year a sports book on basketball seems to make my top read list. Its curious to me how much I enjoy writing about basketball. 

My teaching and coaching career started in Indiana in the mid 1980s. So I was familiar with some of the history of Indiana High School sports. I was encouraged to assist the basketball program at Culver Academies and learned a lot about the traditions of high school basketball in the state. Culver is down the road from Plymouth High School who had won the Indiana State Basketball three years before I arrived. Plymouth High Schools claim to fame was they were the smallest High School to win the Indiana State Boys Basketball title since Milan High School did in the early 1950s. Plymouth had been led by future NBA player and coach Scott Skiles. 

This book, though, is about the history of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis who won the State Title two years in a row -- 1955 and 56 -- led by future NBA great Oscar Robertson. Their social challenges to winning it all in a racially divided state is a story that has not been widely told until now. A fascinating history of our countries struggle for civil rights on the high school basketball courts of Indiana. 

The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh

I have read a lot of books written by coaches about their thoughts on leadership. I loved this one. When Walsh became coach of the 49ers, he was unknown. However, he had a great pedigree having coached under Paul Brown and other legends. Walsh, though, had his own ideas and just needed a chance. He got that with a job no one else really wanted. Many of his lessons on coaching and leadership are simple, but they are not easy to apply. I loved the section on "Keep Your Eye On the Ball". An obvious sentiment but he defines that with 12 reminders of what that meant to him. Walsh has now been gone for 18 years, but his philosophy on leadership and coaching is worth considering especially if you are trying to turn an organization around. 

26 Marathons: What I Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, And Life From My Marathon Career by Meb Keflezighi

Meb Keflezighi will always be in the debate as America's greatest marathon runner. He was the 2004 silver medalist at the Olympics. He also won the 2009 New York City Marathon. However, his greatest accomplishment may have been his victory in the 2014 Boston Marathon. That victory was the first US win for a man since 1983 and the year after the Boston Marathon bombing. His personal family story has always been amazing. But as an athlete, the length of his competitive career has been impressive. How he did all of this is nicely summed up in 26 inspiring lessons from his professional marathon career. I have completed 25 marathons so I am inspired by Meb's 26 to try to complete maybe one more in my lifetime.