It’s time again for our annual Best Books episode, where we sift through a year’s worth of reading (and in some cases listening) and surface the works that actually mattered. Not necessarily the buzziest, the newest, or the most performatively “important,” but the books that made us pause, argue back, reread passages, and rethink assumptions we thought were settled.
As is our custom, we don’t just name titles and move on. We talk about why these books stuck: the questions they asked, the frameworks they offered, and the quiet ways they reshaped how we see the world of business, economics, culture, and human behavior. Some selections clarified things; others productively complicated them. All earned a place in the conversation.
If you’re looking for a thoughtful recap of the ideas that animated our year—or you’re hunting for your next great read—this episode is equal parts reflection, recommendation, and mild intellectual provocation. Consider it our annual reading ledger, balanced not in pages consumed, but in insight accrued.
SHOW NOTES
Segment one:
Number 5 best book of the year from Ron: Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich https://amzn.to/49ClJrX
Number 5 best book of the year from Ed: Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion – How Emotion Undermines Morality, Justice, and Good Policy by Paul Bloom https://amzn.to/3LQVF3c
Number 4 best book of the year from Ed: The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas by Jonah Goldberg https://amzn.to/4qwfoEm
Number 4 best book of the year from Ron: SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE by John Gall https://amzn.to/45mLbPK
Segment two:
Number 3 best book of the year from Ron: Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout Hardcover by Cal Newport https://amzn.to/3NzoLEM
Number 3 best book of the year from Ed: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor by Flannery O'Connor https://amzn.to/3NIYhk8
Number 2 best book of the year from Ron: Taking Religion Seriously by Charles Murray https://amzn.to/4qGY0wT
Segment three:
Also the number 2 best book of the year from Ron (yes, he picked two number twos): The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul by Michael Egnor and Denyse O'Leary https://amzn.to/4pWnjd1
Number 2 best book of the year from Ed: The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder https://amzn.to/4pTQWLS
Segment four:
Number 1 best book of the year from Ed: The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom by James Hankins and Allen C. Guelzo https://amzn.to/3NzMUuW
Number 1 best book of the year from Ron: The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics and Bioethics) by Farr Curlin and Christopher Tollefsen https://amzn.to/4a8zejc
Bonus Content is Available As Well
Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.
Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.