This was a very fulfilling year of reading. Most books I read were non-fiction. I read very slowly, at around 15 pages per hour, and I take a ton of notes. My bogey was 68 pages per day. I hit 25,590 which is 70 pages per day, which was a major grind. I read from 4am-9am every day. I also did a full review of all 66 books on my YouTube channel but have to make an edit and I’ll post it soon.
My main subjects of study were evolutionary science and kinship in 2024 so I could finish my first book.
Top 5 books:
– Miller, For Your Own Good
– Lévi-Strauss, Elementary Structures of Kinship
– Halloran, The Song of the Ape
– Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants
– Berlin & Kay, Basic Color Terms
Close 6th place was Liu, The Three-Body Problem
In 2025 I’m going to read more mythology in preparation for writing my next book on myths of violence.
Here’s a photo of the madness (right stack is books I started in 2024 but haven’t finished):
Here’s a list of the books (note that the total page count does not include the pages of books I started in 2024 but haven’t finished yet, nor does it include pages I read in 2023 for books I finished in 2024).
| Name | Title | Year | Page Count |
| Tedesche, Sidney | First Book of Maccabees, The | 1950 | 278 |
| Brauch, Manfred T. | Hard Sayings of Paul | 1989 | 275 |
| Fisher, Ronald A. | The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection | 1930 / 1948 | 291 |
| Sophocles | Oedipus Cycle, The | 1939 / 1977 | 257 |
| Bruce, F.F. | Paul & His Converts | 1962 / 1985 | 155 |
| Asimov, Isaac | Foundation 1 | 1951 / 2018 | 244 |
| Phillips, Scott Park | Possible Origins: A Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion | 2016 | 191 |
| Humboldt, Wilhelm | On Language: The Diversity of Human | 1836 / 1988 | 350 |
| Darwin, Charles | Variation Of Animals & Plants Under Domestication, The – Vol 1 | 1905 | 566 |
| Liu, Cixin | Death’s End | 2010 / 2016 | 604 |
| Liu, Cixin | Dark Forest, The | 2008 | 512 |
| Diamond, Jared | Guns, Germs, and Steel | 1997/2005 | 427 |
| Lamarck, J B | Zoological Philosophy: An Exposition with Regard to the Natural History of Animals | 1809/1984 | 517 |
| Liu, Cixin | The Three Body Problem 1 | 2006 / 2019 | 416 |
| Harari, Yuval | Sapiens | 2015 | 449 |
| Burkert, Walter, Smith, Jonathan Z., Girard, René | Violent Origins : Walter Burkert, Renà Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation | 1987 | 256 |
| Witherspoon, Gary | Navajo Kinship and Marriage | 1975/1977 | 129 |
| Levi-Strauss, Claude | Elementary Structures of Kinship, The | 1949 / 1969 | 500 |
| Keegan, John | History of Warfare | 2012 | 392 |
| Arendt, Hannah | Eichmann in Jerusalem | 1994 | 298 |
| Gallagher, Richard M.D. | Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years as a Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks, and the Paranormal | 2022 | 257 |
| Grotius | Law of War and Peace | 1625 | 420 |
| Miller, Alice | For Your Own Good | 1980/2002 | 280 |
| Chomsky, Noam | Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact and Propaganda | 1973 | 71 |
| Stockwell, Shelly Lessin | Automatic Writing & Hieroscoping – Tap Unlimited Creatvity & Guidance | 1995 | 79 |
| Buford, Bill | Among the Thugs | 1993 | 319 |
| Thorndike, Lynn | History of Magic and Experimental Science, Vol 8 | 1958 | 636 |
| Perrin, Noel | Giving Up the Gun: Japan’s Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879 | 1979 | 112 |
| Oakeshott, Ewart | Archaeology of Weapons : Arms and Armor From Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry | 1996 | 340 |
| Fustel De Coulanges, Numa Denis | The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome | 1864/1916/2020 | 529 |
| Drake, Frank | Is Anyone Out There? | 1992 | 236 |
| Andersen, Richard | Writing That Works: A Practical Guide for Business and Creative People (CLS.EDUCATION) | 1989 | 238 |
| Freedman, Maurice | Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung | 1966 | 190 |
| Stranges, Dr. Frank E. | New Flying Saucerama | 1959/1962 | 117 |
| McLennan, John Ferguson | Studies in Ancient History 2: Comprising an inquiry into the origin of exogamy, (Gerritsen women’s history) | 1896 | 605 |
| Fox, Robin | Red Lamp of Incest, The | 1980 | 259 |
| Leman, Dr. Kevin | Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours | 1984 / 2017 | 318 |
| Hubbard, L Ron | Fundamentals of Thought, The | 1988 / 1997 | 169 |
| Rubin, Rick | Creative Act, The: A Way of Being | 2023 | 405 |
| Berlin, Brent | Basic color terms;: Their universality and evolution | 1969 | 158 |
| McLennan, John Ferguson | Studies In Ancient History 1 comprising a reprint of Primitive marriage, an inquiry into the origin of the form of capture in marriage ceremonies | 1886 | 404 |
| Miller, Alice | The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Revised Edition | 1979 | 131 |
| Sahlins, Marshall | What Kinship Is-And Is Not | 2013/2014 | 90 |
| Burling, Robbins | Talking Ape, The: How Language Evolved | 2005 | 233 |
| Smith, Michael E. | Aztecs, The | 1996 | 302 |
| Anderson, Laura E PhD | When Religion Hurts You | 2023 | 212 |
| Mumford, Lewis | Technics and Civilization – Illustrated, with a New Introduction | 1934/1963 | 446 |
| Nee, Watchman | Spiritual Man, The | 1968 | 696 |
| Brown, Donald | Human Universals | 1991 | 156 |
| Del Castillo, Bernal Diaz | The Discovery & Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521 | 1928 | 472 |
| Deacon, Terrence W. | Symbolic Species, The: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain | 1997 | 464 |
| Tomasello, Michael | Cultural Origins of Human Cognition, The | 2001 | 218 |
| McNeill, William | Pursuit of Power, The | 1982 | 387 |
| Morgan, Lewis H. | Ancient Society or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery Through Barbarism to Civilization. | 1877 | 563 |
| Pinker, Steven | Language Instinct, The | 1994/2000 | 448 |
| Dunbar, Robin | Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language | 1996/1997 | 207 |
| Howard, George Elliott | History Of Matrimonial Institutions Vol. 2 | 1904 | 497 |
| Dawkins, Richard | Blind Watchmaker, The: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design | 1986/1996 | 453 |
| Halloran, Andrew R. | Song of the Ape, The: Understanding the Languages of Chimpanzees | 2012 | 262 |
| Bickerton, Derek | More Than Nature Needs : Language, Mind, and Evolution | 2014 | 278 |
| De Waal, Frans | Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves | 2020 | 278 |
| Bell, Sir Charles | Hand Its Mechanism And Vital Endowments As Evincing Design, The | 1860 | 260 |
| White, Mark J. | Global History of The Earlier Palaeolithic: Assembling the Acheulean World, 1673–2020s | 2023 | 468 |
| Pirsig, Robert M. | Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals | 1991/1992 | 468 |
| Howard, George Elliott | History Of Matrimonial Institutions Vol. 1 | 1904 | 473 |
| Morgan, Lewis H. | Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family | 1871 | 583 |
| Total: | 25,590 |
Happy new year!