The Book Episode: Our Top Reads in 2024

Podcasts – Marathon Training Academy

In this episode Angie and Trevor share their favorite books from 2024 (both running and non-running related).

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The Book Episode: Our Top Reads in 2024

Angie read a total of 201 books in 2024 (59 fiction and 142 non fiction; ebook= 3, audio= 115, hardcopy= 92).

Authors We Interviewed on the Podcast

In addition to reading these books we spoke with the authors!

• Dr. Michael Greger, author of the book ‘How Not to Age -The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older’
• Dave Proctor, author of the book ‘Untethered: The Comeback Story of One of the Longest Fastest Runs in History’
• Dr. Matthew Silver, author of the book ‘Built to Run -The Runner’s Guide to Fixing Common Injuries, Resolving Pain, and Optimizing Running Performance Now and For Life’
• Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps and author of ‘Run the Alps Switzerland: 30 Must-Do Trail Runs’ and ‘The Race that Changed Running’.
• Alden Mills, former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur and author of the book ‘Unstoppable Mindset -How to Use What You Have to Get What you Want’
• Marc Pollina, author of the ‘The Boston Marathon Handbook -An Insider’s Guide to Training for and Succeeding in the Ultimate Road Race’
• Tina Muir, co-author of the book ‘Becoming a Sustainable Runner -A Guide to Running for Life, Community, and Planet’

Angie’s Top 10 Non-Fiction Reads

1. Outlive- The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, M.D.
This book explores the factors that affect longevity and aging. It covers a range of topics, including:

1. Healthspan- the amount of time a person spends in good health.
2. Medicine 3.0- making a shift from reactive to proactive medicine that focuses on prevention.
3. The four horsemen- the four major chronic diseases that are vital to prevent for ultimate health span. They are heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and Type 2 diabetes.
4. Exercise- the most potent tool for enhancing health span. He recommends building strength and stamina to help combat the decline that comes with aging.
5. Sleep- poor sleep can trigger a number of negative consequences including insulin resistance, cognitive decline, and mental health issues.
6. Diet- he recommends avoiding fads diets and instead following either a Keto or Mediterranean diet.
7. Emotional health- poor emotional health issues is one of the biggest roadblocks to longevity. Attia’s approach is to focus on maintaining healthspan rather than just longevity.

2. How to Stay Married- The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key
This memoir covers tough subject matter in a humorous manner. This is the author’s journey to reconcile with his wife after discovering she is having an affair with a family friend. It details his struggles to understand the betrayal, navigate the complexities of their relationship, and ultimately fight to save his marriage through a series of absurd and often darkly comical situations. I think that anyone who is married or has been married will relate because of the challenges of relationships.

3. It.Goes.So.Fast: The Year of No Do-Overs by Mary Louise Kelly
This is an honest and compelling memoir that grapples with the choices we make surrounding time and relationships. I think it really resonated with me because my kids are growing up so fast (our middle son is a senior and just turned 18).

4. Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicolas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn
The authors are journalists who chronicle the individual impact of the American approach to poverty and offers prescriptions for how the United States can adopt a more human approach to those who are struggling with deprivation, addiction, and despair.

5. The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver, M.D.
This book provides a comprehensive guide to navigating perimenopause and menopause. It offers science-backed information on all aspects of the experience, including physical changes, psychological impacts, treatment options, with a focus on addressing the often-overlooked symptoms and highlighting the need for more open discussion about menopause and its effects on women’s health. It particularly emphasizes the importance of understanding the biology behind declining estrogen levels and how to manage associated issues like hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and bone density loss. This book came at a helpful time for me as I was struggling with multiple symptoms of perimenopause and researching options.

6. How to Know a Person by David Brooks
This book explores the concept of deeply seeing and understanding others, arguing that by actively paying attention to a person’s story, experiences, and perspectives, we can foster meaningful connections and combat societal fragmentation. This comes about by truly acknowledging and valuing individuals beyond superficial interactions. This book is a guide on how to engage with others with empathy and genuine curiosity to build deeper relationships.

7. Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner
This book explores the emotion of awe through a combination of research, personal anecdotes, and cultural observations. He defines awe as the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends one’s current understanding of the world. The author offers a framework for cultivating awe in everyday life arguing that brief doses of awe can help with stress, relationships, reasoning, the immune system, and the heart. Keltner believes that awe is a vital force in human life and that it’s what spurs cooperation, community formation, and cultural creation.

8. Built to Move by Kelly and Juliet Starrett
The authors provide practical ways to improve your body’s health, mobility and extend your life. The book includes quick and simple assessments to gauge progress and what needs improvement. Built to Move is a collection of 10 simple tests and practices you can use to instantly improve your mobility, fitness, breathing, eating, and sleeping and increase your freedom and overall quality of life.

9. Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
This is a guide to connecting more genuinely and efficiently with other people thanks to identifying three kinds of recurring conversations, and then aligning with others to help everyone feel heard, validated, and get what they want. 1) Practical Conversations: focused on solving problems, making plans, or discussing concrete details about a situation. 2) Emotional Conversations: center around expressing feelings, validating emotions, and showing empathy. 3) Social Conversations: explore how people relate to each other, their shared identities, and their sense of belonging. One of my favorite quotes from the book says, “The right conversation, at the right moment can change anything.”

10. Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter
This book explores how our brains are wired to constantly seek more, even when we have enough, due to an evolutionary adaptation to scarcity, leading to behaviors like overconsumption and dissatisfaction. The book aims to help readers understand this “scarcity loop” and develop strategies to break free from it by making conscious choices and re-framing their mindset towards abundance.

Honorable Mentions (non-fiction)

The Gift of Adversity by Norman E Rosenthal
The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory by Tim Alberta
Imagine Heaven by John Burke
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos
Rethinking Life by Shane Claiborne
The Psychology of Money by Morgan House
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos
Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Still Possible by David Whyte
Somehow by Anne Lamont
Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell

Angie’s Top 5 Fiction Reads

1. River of Stars by Guy Gavviel Kay is a philosophical romance set in the Song Dynasty that follows the stories of two main characters, Ren Daiyan and Lin Shan, and the complex political and personal dynamics of the Kitai empire. The author paints a very vivid world.

2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi tells the story of seven generations of a family split in two. One side remains in Africa while the other is brought to America on a slave ship. The novel begins from the perspective of two sisters who are unaware of each other, yet their lives are largely similar until a twist of fate intervenes.

3. The Women by Kristin Hannah is a historical fiction novel about a young woman who joins the Army Nurse Corps and serves in Vietnam during the 1960s.

4. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss tells the story of Kvothe, a young man with extraordinary magical abilities, as he recounts his life story. The narrative is framed around his quest to discover the “Name of the Wind,” a powerful magical concept that could grant him ultimate control over the element of wind. Warning before you start– this book is over 700 pages long and the second book in the series is 1,100 pages.

5. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver is a novel that tells the story of three intertwined love stories that take place in a small town in Appalachia during a single summer. The story is set against the backdrop of the Virginia mountains and is full of ecological concepts and biological facts.

Trevor’s Top Reads in 2024

Here are Trev’s top picks mentioned on the podcast . . .

1. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
2. Untethered: The Comeback Story of One of The Longest Fastest Runs In History by Dave Proctor
3. Unstoppable Mindset by Alden Mills
4. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari.
5. The Shortest History of Japan by Lesley Downer
6. The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture -by Roger J Davies

THANKS FOR READING!