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Aint No Way In Hell A Book-Accurate Movie Of This Tale Is Ever Made. There's just too much that would cause people of most any era - even 1969 when this book was written - to walk out of the theater on. A few certain words beg

I wound up reading 208 books this year, so culling those down to even 46 was a bit of a challenge. I really do encourage you to check out them all, even the ones I rated as 1* are ones that you may enjoy, should you disagree with my thoughts on the books at hand.

With that noted, here are the 24 nonfiction books that stuck out the most to me this year, listed in publication order. Note that all of these books released in 2024, as this year I decided to limit the lists to exclusively books both read and released in the year in question. Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling by Nijay K. Gupta (⭐⭐⭐) From my review on BookHype.com:

Fascinating History Marred By Prooftexting And Dearth Of Bibliography. This was an utterly fascinating look at the first few hundred years of the Christian Church as it related to its world's dominant government - and religion. I genuinely learned quite a bit from reading this book, and Gupta kept the overall tone scholarly enough to be sufficiently serious without going into pretentiousness. Indeed, the *only* problems I had here, that are automatic star deductions when I encounter them, are the rampant prooftexting - the practice of citing Bible verses out of context in order to "prove" a particular point - and the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at just 12% or so of the overall text when 20-30% is more normal in my experience across hundreds of nonfiction titles over the last several years. Even with being more willing to at least *slightly* lower that given more recent experiences, 12% is still simply too low.

The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives by Ernest Scheyder (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) From my review on BookHype.com:

This book isn't the call to arms that Siddarth Kara's Cobalt Red, released almost exactly one year earlier and describing the outright horrors and abuses rampant throughout much of the cobalt industry specifically, was. Instead, as noted, it is more of a balanced and even nuanced look at the competing interests surrounding how and even if certain materials can be obtained in certain locations, and how these sm

I don't really do "worst" books, because even when I may disagree with a book or may not like a book, *someone* out there is going to love it for *exactly* the reasons I didn't like - or even outright hated - it.

So the "worst" books here are instead that just-over-10% of the books I read in 2024 that also released in 2024 that I rated as anything less than 5*.

Here they are for your perusal, sorted by release date. Hollywood Hustle by Jon Lindstrom (⭐⭐⭐⭐) From my review on BookHype.com:

Still, for those who simply want an almost "Expendables" type action/ thriller with a cast of "seasoned" Hollywood dwellers trying to resolve a kidnapping of a family member of one of their own on their own... this really is quite a strong tale in that particular vein, and as long as you approach it as just that type of Hollywood action movie and check your brains at the door, you'll find a quite strong and enjoyable tale.

Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling by Nijay K. Gupta (⭐⭐⭐) From my review on BookHype.com:

Fascinating History Marred By Prooftexting And Dearth Of Bibliography. This was an utterly fascinating look at the first few hundred years of the Christian Church as it related to its world's dominant government - and religion. I genuinely learned quite a bit from reading this book, and Gupta kept the overall tone scholarly enough to be sufficiently serious without going into pretentiousness. Indeed, the *only* problems I had here, that are automatic star deductions when I encounter them, are the rampant prooftexting - the practice of citing Bible verses out of context in order to "prove" a particular point - and the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at just 12% or so of the overall text when 20-30% is more normal in my experience across hundreds of nonfiction titles over the last several years. Even with being more willing to at least *slightly* lower that given more recent experiences, 12% is still simply too low.

For Love of Country: Common Sense 2.0 by Norman W. Holden (⭐⭐⭐⭐) From my review on

Not As Much Of A Hit Piece As One Might Expect. If you see that a self-proclaimed "environmentalist" is writing a book about nuclear energy and specifically the Diablo Canyon Power Plant along Central California's coast, many would likely assume this is going to be little more than a thinly ve

Excellent Series Introduction For New Series Perfect For Dog Lovers. This is yet another of the multi-author series that have seemingly sprung up in the last few years, mostly in the romance and/ or women's fiction realms, where multiple authors come

"New" (Yet Also Obvious, At Least For This Reader) Research Marred By Lack Of Bibliography. As I noted in the title just now, really the only objective flaw in this text, at least the Advance Review Copy of it I read in December 2024 months before actual publication, is the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at an almost non-existent 2%. Given the particularly strong cl

Nothing Technically Wrong - Yet Your Mileage Will Absolutely Vary. This is one of those books where there is nothing technically wrong - even the bibliography clocks in at a healthy 30% or so - and yet with the way Upholdt chooses to write this book... eh, a lot of people are going to have a lot of problems with it.

The book does a decent eno

Wherein Academia Catches Up To Eminem And Dr. Dre. First up, I gotta give Ludwig credit here, the text is 41% bibliography, which is truly remarkable - on the higher end of any book I've ever read. So, truly, kudos. No matter what those sources may say, the fact that they were so prevalent throughout

Christian Fiction Done (Mostly) Right. To know where I'm coming from, know that I grew up primarily reading Christian Fiction. I'm talking Frank Peretti, Bill Myers, Josh McDowell type stuff in the 90s Christian Fiction market. Hyper, *hyper* preachy... less focus on the actual action at times. As I mature

Solid Depression-Era Almost Dickensian Christmas Tale. This is one of those tales that effortlessly blends elements of A Christmas Carol, A Tale Of Two Cities, and The Parent Trap into