2024 Consumption Guide: Favorites Books, Products, Apps, Follows, Watches

Merry Christmas Eve to you all. I hope you are enjoying some time with family and friends or simply spending some time doing anything but work :-)

For me this is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I get to enjoy some family time, no meetings on the calendar, and some free time to spend on side projects I’ve been putting off.

One thing I’ve been looking forward to as the year winds down is finally publish a list of some of my favorite books, products, apps, follows, and shows that I found this year.

My hope is that at least one of them will be a helpful resource for someone reading this, and I’d encourage you to reply with any of your personal favorite things worth sharing so we can help each other.

Without further ado, here are my 2024 fav’s:

5 Favorite Books:

1. The 4 Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss ^[1] — one of my most recommended books, it’s changed everything about how I think about diet and nutrition (which was pretty much null before this book). It inspired me to try slow carb diets and make good coffee

2. Sum by David Eagleman ^[2] — the book I’ve gifted most, this is one of those fun easy books to read before you fall asleep. A dozen or so thought-provoking short stories and musings about the afterlife, I was hooked by the first chapter. Recommended by Matt Mullenweg on a podcast.

3. Endurance by Alfrid Lansing ^[3] — a historical retelling about Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. A book that has inspired so much hope and admiration for humanity in myself. One of those “born too late to explore the world, too early to explore the universe” books.

4. Traction by Gino Wickman ^[4] — the book outlining the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). Many of my most successful startup friends are borderline religious about this book, so I finally decided to read it. It’s completely transformed how I run my business.

5. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson ^[5] — Naval has long been one of my favorite Twitter follows / podcast listens. He expounds some of the most economical life-advice-per-word of anyone I’ve come across, this should be required post-grad reading. When I realized he had a book I ordered it immediately and read the whole thing on a single flight.

5 Favorite Products:

1. AeroPress Coffeemaker ^[6] + Porlex Coffee grinder ^[7] — this year I realized how much a good coffee experience can improve your daily life. These were two recommendations straight out of Tim Ferriss’ 4-hour Chef, and I use them pretty much daily. Best part is they’re portable, great for camping or traveling.

2. Classic Grid Rule 5×8.25” Notebook ^[8] — I’ve been on a 5+ year journey to find the perfect daily to-do list, tried planners, apps, and everything in between. This is my favorite, simple, cheap notebook for keeping my day-to-day life in order without friction.

3. 50-lb Kettlebell ^[9] — in terms of staying in shape this has made the biggest impact for me. I’ve tried, gyms, classes, etc. and simply having a nice kettlebell next to my desk in my apartment is the most efficient, effective way to exercise for me. 25 KB swings daily (esp for anyone who works from home) is the most economical exercise routine you can possible implement. More in this book. ^[10]

4. GearLight LED Headlamp ^[11] — one of those gifts I didn’t realize I needed until I got it. Has reduced friction for some of my most productive habits: reading before bed (so I don’t bother my wife as much), jogging after it gets dark at 4pm in Chicago, and going camping / hiking. Talk about enablement.

5. 6qt Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven ^[12] — another one that came out of reading the 4-hour Chef, this has been one of the most versatile kitchen things I’ve ever bought. Put it on the stovetop and make a nice soup or stir-fry (great for bacon), put it in the oven for osso buco (have done steak in this bad boy). Once you have one you just feel more powerful and more grown up.

5 Favorite Apps:

1. Granola AI ^[13] — I never really bought into the AI meeting note-taker app hype until I came across this app, now it’s my favorite app. You take notes while you’re in meetings, it transcribes and enhances your notes with AI, maps to specialized templates, has awesome features like Q/A, email and slack integrations, and doesn’t join the Zoom meetings creepily like Otter. 10/10.

2. Perplexity AI ^[14] — I actually found this in 2022, but in 2024 it became my default “search engine”. I seriously can’t remember the last time I used Google because whenever I have a question I just voice-ask Perplexity. The results are just so much higher-fidelity and more useful. Bonus tip: download the desktop app for mac and turn on keyboard shortcut → it’s always only a click away.

3. Superhuman ^[15] — my most-referred app ever, the best way to use email. After using it for almost a year now I simply can’t comprehend going into Gmail or Outlook daily ever again. Keyboard shortcuts + the default snippets features alone make it extremely powerful. I now spend less than ~15min in my inbox each day (Here is my referral code for 2 free months)

4. ClearSpace ^[16] — app to limit your screen-time on addicting apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. One of my most-recent downloads, it’s a truly delightful app. Screen addiction is real, this is by far the most elegant, fool-proof solution I’ve come across. Shoutout to the founder Royce!

5. Marco Polo ^[17] — app to connect with friend groups in short video messages. After moving to Chicago I was sad I couldn’t connect with my MN startup friends for casual drinks. Then my friend Clare Richards showed us this, and it’s my new favorite way to keep in touch with friends. Short, sweet, video-first is the best way to connect :-)

5 Favorite Follows:

1. John Rush ^[18] — startup life advice, John is by far the most transparent, the most advice-forward follow I’ve ever come across. He also has a few of my favorite startup projects: seebotai, indexrusher, and unicornplatform. Must follow for anyone launching an internet business.

2. Greg Isenberg ^[19] — another amazing startup resource, Greg has completely hacked the system to pump out straight start-up value incredibly consistently. Especially when it comes to growing a following and content, I’ve probably bookmarked 30 of his tweets

3. Nikita Bier ^[20] — an expert in the realm of growing consumer apps. Nikita has some extremely off-the-wall takes, isn’t afraid to argue the opposite of the mainstream. I don’t always agree but I appreciate the honesty.

4. WeHaveTheData ^[21] — one of my favorite instagram follows. I am a simple man, I see charts or maps or graphs, I like. This account is one of the best at curating interesting data, honestly one of those I appreciate more and more the more I follow.

5. Harry Dry ^[22] — incredibly high-value, actionable marketing and copy insights. Harry was recommended by a good friend Shelisa Demuth, he has a wonderful weekly newsletter that highlights marketing examples, one of the few newsletters I read (and take notes on) pretty much every single week.

5 Favorite Watches/Listens:

1. 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible ^[23] — a Netflix adventure documentary following Nims Purja’s journey to summit the world’s top 14 tallest peaks in under a year. One of those records that seemed so far outside the scope of human achievement it would have been forever deemed impossible until some crazy person like Nims went and did it. Another story that strongly inspired my hope and admiration for humanity

2. Expedition Overland ^[24] — available on YouTube and Amazon, this is another adventure documentary, albeit a bit more casual. Follows a group of average-joe guys who drive from the tip of North America to the bottom of South America. Something about the ‘amateur’ nature makes it feel so much cooler, like something I’d love to go do. My buddy Steve and I binge watched the first 3 seasons in a week and afterwards he went out and bought max-trax for his truck.

3. Triangle of Sadness ^[25] — the only fiction movie on the list, this was just one of my favorite movies of the year. A story about a series on unfortunate events affecting rich, handsome people on a cruise ship, and a bit about the fragility of the social hierarchy. I thought it was extremely well-done, at times uncannily hilarious — also featuring Woody Harrelson. FWIW, my parents really did not like it.

4. Greg Isenberg x Riley Green on AI Coding ^[26] — more on the tactical side, this YouTube video/podcast felt like a watershed moment for the AI revolution in my opinion. It’s Greg and Riley Green showing step-by-step how to make an entire, functional app in under an hour using AI coding tools. This was when it became a reality, and immediately after watching I went out and built SlawNearMe.com 

5. The Living Room by RadioLab ^[27] — the only podcast-only story featured on the list. RadioLab has always been one of my favorite non-serial audio shows, there stories are always incredibly well-told and well-done sonically, and this one was particularly so. It’s just say it was an extremely powerful 25-min true story and it made me cry a little bit in the sauna at the gym (no you guys I swear my eyes are just sweating like, extra hard). Lovely story.

So there you have it, 25-ish things that I really, thoroughly enjoyed this year. They made my life better and perhaps one or two might make yours too.

This probably paints an embarrassingly accurate picture of the fact that I’m a 27-year old recently married startup guy living in the Midwest US, but that’s okay.

I think it’ll be fun to look back on this next year to see how my list evolves over time. In the meantime, let me know one or two of your suggestions from any of these categories, I’d love to share :-)

Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!
Ramsey