Matthew Cory's Blog

Best Non-Fiction books of 2024

1) Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI - Yuval Noah Harari
2) Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering - Malcolm Gladwell
3) Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV - Emily Nussbaum
4) On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything - Nate Silver
5) McMillions: The Absolutely True Story of How an Unlikely Pair of FBI Agents Brought Down the Most Supersized Fraud in Fast Food History - James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte
6) The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI - Ray Kurzweil
7) Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch - Emily C. Hughes
8) Sociopath: A Memoir - Patric Gagne
9) The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982 - Chris Nashawaty
10) Coming Home - Brittney Griner

Best Non-Fiction books of 2023

The best non-fiction book of 2023 is the winner by a mile. I liked Twenge's book iGen but felt that it only had a few original information chapters. This latest book is ALL NEW information, all of it thoroughly researched and endlessly fascinating. My strongest possible recommendation.

1) Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future - Jean M. Twenge
2) The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos - Jaime Green
3) When McKinsey Comes to Town - Walt Bogdanich
4) Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America - Abraham Riesman
5) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder - David Grann

Best Non-Fiction books of 2022

1) The Nineties - Chuck Klosterman
2) Digital Madness: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis--and How to Restore Our Sanity - Nicholas Kardaras
3) Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama - Bob Odenkirk
4) The Psychology of Totalitarianism - Mattias Desmet
5) I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs - Jason Gay
6) They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent - Sarah Kendzior
7) How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion - David McRaney
8) The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward - Daniel H. Pink
9) What We Owe the Future - William MacAskill
10) Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks - Patrick Radden Keefe

Best Non-Fiction books of 2021

For the first time ever, I have a tie for my best non-fiction book of the year. After last year's paltry pickings, this was a good year for books.

1a) Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods - Amelia Pang (Note: there were 2 non-fiction books called Made in China released in 2021. Pang's is the good one)
1b) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Patrick Radden Keefe
3) American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears - Farah Stockman
4) Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives - James Salzman and Michael Heller
5) Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live—and How Their Wealth Harms Us All - Michael Mechanic
6) The Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green
7) Brat: An '80s Story - Andrew McCarthy
8) Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning - Tom Vanderbilt
9) Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer - Harold Schechter
10) An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination - Sheera Frenkel

Matthew Cory Award for Best Book or Musical

For the first time ever, I am publicizing the coveted Matthew Cory Award for Best Book or Musical, which has been given out annually since 2008. In the interest of appearing fair, I am removing the years that I gave myself the award and instead retroactively giving it to the runner-up for that year:

The Matthew Cory Award for Best Book or Musical

2024 - Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI - Yuval Noah Harari
2023 - Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future - Jean M. Twenge
2022 - The Nineties - Chuck Klosterman
2021 - TIE - Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods - Amelia Pang and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Patrick Radden Keefe
2020 - The Populist's Guide to 2020: A New Right and New Left are Rising - Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti
2019 - The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite - Daniel Markovits
2018 - Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think - Hans Rosling
2017 - A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America - Bruce Gibney
2016 - Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble - Daniel Lyons
2015 - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari
2014 - Think Like a Freak - Steven Levitt & Stephen J Dubner
2013 - The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Daniel James Brown
2012 - We Have Confidence! - Cheryl Cory
2011 - Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
2010 - The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home - Dan Ariely
2009 - Columbine - Dave Cullen
2008 - Must've Done Something Good - Cheryl Cory