2024 Wrapped!
Book Recommendations, Surprising Milestones, and a Big Goal for 2025
What a year it’s been… and it just got a little more special. This week, I married my best friend in Mumbai!
While I could fill this newsletter with wedding stories, instead, let’s dive into something else that’s become a tradition around here.
It’s the holiday season, which also means it’s time for the Monthly Mulling Wrapped! 🥳
Every year, in the last issue of the newsletter, I take a detour from the usual actionable thinking tools to look back on the year—what I read, reflect on the past year, and set goals for next year.
It’s a tradition I have followed since 2021. Feel free to revisit 2021, 2022, and 2023 Wrapped!
While writing this newsletter, I spent some time revisiting my past goals, which, in hindsight, are comedy gold. The naive optimism.
So, let’s dive into book recommendations and set more ridiculous goals to laugh about next year. The tradition should continue!
But before we move on, firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who's been following this newsletter and to all the new subscribers who have joined along the way! ❤️
📚 A Year In Books
This year, my reading list was... underwhelming. Usually, picking my top three books is a challenge, but not this time.
The books I read just weren’t as interesting as I had hoped. Also, I halved my reading time to focus on growing this newsletter (more on that below in this newsletter!).
If you’re new here, check out my favourite books on my bookshelf below:
Got a recommendation? Please add your suggestions in the comments as they often lead me to my best reads.
🤔 Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish: This one reshaped my approach to decision-making.
We often obsess over "big decisions", but Parrish argues that it's the tiny, everyday choices, the ones we barely notice, that define success.
The book teaches two essential practices:
Creating space to reason through your thoughts and emotions.
Using that space to think clearly.
Good decision-making comes down to two things: 1. Knowing how to get what you want, 2. Knowing what’s worth wanting. The first point is about making effective decisions. The second is about making good ones. You might think they’re the same, but they are not.
🧐 Invent and Wander by Walter Isaacson, Jeff Bezos: I find Jeff Bezos fascinating, especially his insights on decision-making.
Invent and Wander compiles Bezos’s Amazon shareholder letters, offering a glimpse into the principles and mindset that built Amazon into a juggernaut.
Walter Isaacson, the famed biographer of legends like Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs, places Jeff Bezos in the same league.
Why? Not just because he’s smart—smart people are everywhere. Isaacson says Bezos stands out for his creativity and imagination, the hallmarks of true innovation.
💡 The Shape of Ideas by Grant Snider: As someone who loves sketching and simplifying complex ideas, this book was a gem.
Snider explores questions like: What do ideas look like? Where do they come from? It’s a visual treat, filled with illustrations that make abstract concepts surprisingly tangible.
If you’re a visual thinker or someone who loves creative metaphors, add this to your list.
🤓 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: Here’s the introduction from the book:
Between life and death, there is a library and within that library, the shelves go on forever.
Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived.
To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?
Intriguing, right? I finished this in one lazy Sunday sitting.
‘So, you see? Sometimes regrets aren’t based on fact at all. Sometimes regrets are just...’ She searched for the appropriate term and found it. ‘A load of bullshit.’
👏🏽 Honorary Mentions:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin: A bit heavy-handed on pseudo-philosophy but some good lessons. Submerge was my favourite chapter.
Smart Brevity by Jim Vandehei: Brevity is confidence. Length is fear. The book teaches how to clearly articulate the message, concisely. Though, the lessons don’t apply for storytelling.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods: Two parallel timelines, magical realism, and a bookshop.
Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami: A short story from Murakami, containing most of the elements of a Murakami story, minus the cats 🐈.
🚨 Quick sidebar: If you've been enjoying this newsletter, chances are your friends, family, or colleagues will too. Share it with them and help me grow this community!
Pssttt… they will also get a free copy of my ebook, Framework for Thoughts, when they sign up!
✨ 2024 in the Rearview
As I looked back on the past year, I felt a mix of amazement and gratitude.
This newsletter, which started as something small for a few curious friends, has grown by 102% in subscribers 🥳.
It also saw over 9,659 views, an increase of 29%, while my blog had 22,000 views, up by 5%.
That’s a total of 31,659 views for the things I have typed out, often unsure who might read them. It’s unreal!
The following newsletter issue topped the charts as the most-read this year:
🪒 Too Many Decisions? Time to Sharpen Your Razors
🧩 Restaurant Servers Know a Focus Hack You Don’t
🔦 Are We Dining in the Dark?: Shining the 'Streetlight' on Michelin Restaurants
🎯 Goal for 2025: Sell Out Central Hall
This is the Central Hall Westminster. Seats 2,300 people. My goal for the next six months is to sell out this venue.
Metaphorically.
For the past three years, I have poured my thoughts into this newsletter and I have loved every moment of it. So, obviously, I want to keep growing it!
Every so often, I get a message—“Keep it up” or “Loved this idea”—and it makes my day!
I even have a folder called “Read This When You’re Feeling Low” filled with such notes. So, all your messages and gestures, make a huge difference!
The mission for this newsletter hasn’t changed:
To share thinking tools and decision-making frameworks that will help you grow
And simplify them with stories, sketches, and actionable tips.
Thank you for being part of this journey!♥️
Happy holidays,
Tapan
Thank you for reading! 🙏🏽 Help me reach my goal of 2,300 readers in 2025 by sharing this post with friends, family, and colleagues! ♥️
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Great stuff Tapan. Added these books to my list. Congrats on a successful 2024 and congrats to you and your spouse!
My favorite read of the year was The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe. It's a true story about a grandmother who runs a people smuggling operation from NYC's Chinatown. It covers the running aground of the Golden Venture ship off of Queens in 1993. The ship was carrying 286 undocumented immigrants from China. It's a fascinating read, especially since it covers a piece of NYC history that isn't often discussed. Highly recommend!
Congratulations to you and your spouse 🎉🎉. Thanks for sharing your insights with humour and clarity! Enjoy the year ending and the one soon to come!