Coach Laura’s Top 9 Nonfiction Books of 2024

I enjoy reading all sorts of different genres, including nonfiction. This year, I didn’t read as much nonfiction as I have in years past, but I still read a decent amount. (If you’re interested in seeing all of what I read and/or discussing them, I invite you to follow me on Goodreads.) If you’d like to see which fiction books I enjoyed in 2024, you can read my Top 10 Fiction Books of 2024.

If you’re interested in seeing my Top Book Lists from past years, you can check them out:

• 2021 - My Top 10 Fiction books
• 2021 - My Top 10 Nonfiction Books
• 2022 - My Top 10 Fiction Books
• 2022 - My Top 5 Nonfiction Books
• 2023 - My Top 8 Fiction Books
• 2023 - My Top 10 Nonfiction Books

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#1 - Lily’s Promise: Holding On to Hope Through Auschwitz and Beyond

Lily’s Promise: Holding On to Hope Through Auschwitz and Beyond by Lily Ebert and Dov Forman was the best nonfiction book that I read in 2024.  As a side note: This was the first book I read on my Kindle Colorsoft, and it was amazing to have the photos included in this memoir viewable in color on an e-reader.

In 1944, Lily was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau along with her mother and four of her five siblings.  When they arrived, they were split up.  Her mother, brother, and one of her sisters were sorted into one group, while Lily and her other two sisters were sorted into another.  Her mother, brother, and sister were immediately sent to the gas chambers.  Lily and her other two sisters were selected for work in the camp.

Four months later, they were transferred to another work camp.  In 1945, they were on one of the many death marches conducted by the Nazis when they were liberated by Allied forces.  An American soldier who was part of those liberation forces wrote “A start to a new life.  Good luck and happiness.” on a German banknote, which he then gave to Lily.  She never even knew his name, but this was the first measure of kindness and hope anyone had shown her since she had been sent to the ghetto and then the death camps.  To Lily, this banknote was invaluable, and she held onto it for 75 years. 

In 2020, Lily’s great-grandson Dov Forman found the banknote.  He posted a photo of it on Twitter, which went viral.  Within eight hours, they had learned the identity of the American soldier who had given it to Lily - Private Hayman Shulman.  This viral event is what inspired Lily and her great-grandson to co-author this memoir, which she wrote at the age of 98.

Like all memoirs written by Holocaust survivors, this book is horrifying.  But it’s also full of so much hope and love, which makes it beautiful.  I loved absolutely everything about it, and I most especially loved the special relationship that Lily and Dov shared.

Lily died at the age of 100 this year, but her message of hope lives on, as she intended.  This is a heartbreaking, moving, beautiful read.

#2 - The Athlete's Gut: The Inside Science of Digestion, Nutrition, and Stomach Distress by Patrick Wilson, PhD, RD

The Athlete's Gut: The Inside Science of Digestion, Nutrition, and Stomach Distress by Patrick Wilson, PhD, RD was the best book I’ve read in my career thus far about the science of digestion, stomach issues, and nutrition as they specifically pertain to athletes.

Dr. Wilson gives an excellent overview of the physiology of the gut, and he does so in a way that is easy for non-medical professionals (aka people like me) to understand.  He then focused on two main things that impact an athlete’s gut: Nutrition and Psychology.

When athletes are interested in hiring me for coaching services, one of the things that they are most curious about and/or seeking in a coach is education about nutrition and workout fueling.  The reason for this is quite simple: gut issues are extremely prevalent among humans (and therefore athletes), and every athlete is an individual.  Therefore, finding answers and tangible solutions to the gut issues they experience can be challenging on their own, and many athletes accurately recognize that they might need an outside person to help them with this.

While some people claim that they are experts in both coaching and nutrition, I’ve found that it is nearly impossible (if not completely impossible) to be an expert in two fields of study like this.  My professional specialty does lie in coaching (not nutrition), but that being said, I do try to help athletes with broad recommendations, and I base these recommendations both on the limited nutrition education I do have and on the experience I’ve gained from working with hundreds of individual athletes over the years.

‍The Athlete's Gut gave me a lot of education about strategies and interventions I can recommend for athletes, as well as really clear guidance on when it’s time for an athlete to seek a nutrition or medical expert for any gut issues they may be experiencing.

#3 - The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt was such an expected delight to read this year.

Greg Lukianoff is an expert on the First Amendment and Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist, which makes them a good duo to explore how the recent issues on college campuses have their origins in terrible ideas that have been gaining power by being woven into American childhood over the last 30 years: what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker, always trust your feelings, and life is a battle between good people and evil people.  Together, the authors call these ideas The Three Great Untruths.

Throughout the book, Lukianoff and Haidt explore The Three Great Untruths and how they have been intersecting to create a perfect storm for the fear and instability that has been rampant on college campuses for the past decade.  They do a really nice job of breaking down data and science to support their hypotheses, most notably their hypotheses that these parenting and societal trends from the last 30 years are now manifesting badly in big ways across society as a whole now that the children impacted by them are becoming adults.

All in all, The Coddling of the American Mind was one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a long time.

#4 - Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman might be a tough read for many people because the author boldly states many truths that will likely be hard for people to digest.

That being said, I found this book to be thought-provoking.  It was interesting on so many levels, least of all because of the dive into the human psychology side of why we perceive, handle, and attempt to control time the way we do.

I found the author's perspective simultaneously on-point and liberating.  There were sections that made me think deeply and others that echoed threads of thoughts I've had myself over the years.

Overall, I think that this is a good read precisely because it says something that a lot of people might not want to hear, which is - in my humble opinion - one of the things that helps us grow most.

#5 - Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

Unbeknownst to me, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor ended up being a nice read after having read Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind last year.  In Breath, James Nestor blends modern-day research and science with long-standing practices and tenets of yoga and Eastern Medicine to explain why the breath is so important for humans.

Breathing is the only autonomic system we (humans) can control in our bodies.  Why did we evolve to be able to control it, and how can we best harness that ability to help offset preventable conditions such as sleep apnea and dental malocclusion?  Why are we the only species on the entire planet who has misaligned teeth and who has breathing dysfunction?  James Nestor dives into all of this and more in this book.

I found this to be extremely interesting and enlightening.  It is very well-researched and includes a lot of self-experimentation alongside research papers and studies.

A lot of what is shared in the book also aligns with my own anecdotal life experience.  When I was a teenager, asthma literally almost killed me.  Increased doses of bronchodilators (inhalers), oral medications, and other "conventional" and "modern" treatments did not work to reduce the severity of my symptoms and the frequency of my attacks.  But I did get my asthma under control, and I have only had one attack in my adult life.  How did this happen?  By getting breathing therapy from a forward/alternative thinking medical doctor (Dr. Nick) and learning to harness the power of controlling my breath.  My 12+ year yoga practice as an adult has extended my practice of breathing techniques I learned as a teenager.

I saw so many ways to apply what I learned in this book in both my personal life and my work as an endurance sports coach, which has been very exciting for me.

#6 - Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

After reading Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, I knew I loved Katherine May's style of writing and way of seeing the world. I was excited to read Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age for these reasons, and I loved it.

Much like Wintering, Enchantment is a beautiful book. It did a really nice job of sharing different stories and weaving a narrative that enticed me to desire to see more enchantment in my own world.

This is not a “how to” book in terms of how to manage and deal with anxiety.  Rather, it offers a way of looking at the world that can help us see some of the everyday magic that always exists around us.  It's well-known and documented that experiencing awe can be a powerful tool to help manage anxiety and depression.  This book encourages the reader to do just that and shows us that we don't need to go on a grand vacation to the middle of the forest or to an island paradise to be able to be enchanted.

#7 - Strength and Conditioning for Cyclists: Off the Bike Conditioning for Performance and Life

I chose to read Strength and Conditioning for Cyclists: Off the Bike Conditioning for Performance and Life by Phil Burt & Martin Evans because I have followed Phil Burt’s work for many years.  

He’s a physiotherapist in Great Britain (we call them physical therapists here in the United States) and worked with the Great Britain Cycling Team for 12 years through three Olympic cycles.  He’s also a bike fitter, and I’ve read this work on bike fitting, to include his book Bike Fit 2nd Edition: Optimize Your Bike Position for High Performance and Injury Avoidance.  I thought that both that book and this one were well laid-out and had really nice explanations for why he was making the recommendations that he did.

It’s hard for me to actually accurately judge this since I’m a coach and I’ve been receiving education on this topic for more than a decade now, but I think that even someone who has less experience and education than me would be able to understand this and be able to implement the principles shared in the book.  Strength training is really important for all endurance athletes.  That is true, and it’s also true that it is extremely easy to get injured when doing strength training.

Unfortunately, many athletes think that strength training seems easy or “should” be simple enough that they can do it on their own.  In many cases, this is how injuries and lack of progress occur.  Both of these things happen because it is extremely common for athletes to want to get to “real” strength training (lifting things up and putting them down and feeling the exertion that comes from it) and to bypass the mobilization and stabilization framework that needs to be put in place first.  

Athletes need to ensure that their ranges of motion and movement patterns are solid before they can progress to loaded movements.  This means that things like stretching, self-myofascial release (SMR) (foam rolling is an example of this), and bodyweight movements need to come first. 

There has been a lot of research that has come out recently (in the last 5-8 years) that (correctly) states that heavy lifting is the stimulus needed for athletes to see strength gains, especially female athletes.  This is true.  It is also true that it is completely unsafe and irresponsible to do heavy lifting without the proper foundation/chassis in place to support it.

This book does not go into detail about advanced levels of strength training or weightlifting.  It’s deliberately designed to explain the foundational principles of strength training and how everyday, age-group athletes can implement them successfully to see gains in their training.  

Again, because it’s “basic”, some might not find it valuable.  However, almost every injury I see in endurance sports is because an athlete didn’t respect the foundational, basic elements.  Unless you’re a full-time athlete or weightlifting is your full-time sport, you likely will not be able to safely progress beyond what this book offers.  Most age-group athletes don’t strength train enough to get to that point and/or that level of strength training would too adversely impact their primary endurance sport training.

Overall, I found this book to be really useful in my work as a coach, and a nice dive into strength training as it specifically pertains to endurance athletes.

#8 - Training and Racing with a Power Meter: Third Edition

Training and Racing with a Power Meter: Third Edition by Hunter Allen + Andrew Coggan, PhD + Stephen McGregor, PhD was originally published in 2006; a second edition was published in 2015.  This third edition was published in 2019.  The updates have been to outline evolutions in power meter technology and power meter software technology.

I thought that this book was laid out well and that it did a nice job of introducing the concept of training and racing with a power meter in cycling.

Having used a power meter myself for over ten years and having also coached athletes using power meters for the same amount of time, I came into reading this book with a decent amount of knowledge about these concepts. That being said, there were definitely important things that I gleaned from the book and that I'll put to use to enhance how I coach cycling for athletes who choose to train with power.

The authors use case studies to illustrate (sometimes literally since there are a ton of graphs/illustrations in the book) their points and to give evidence for what they were saying, and the book includes an appendix with power-based workouts, which would be really useful for self-coached athletes or even coaches who haven’t built up their own workout libraries yet.

It’s important to note that there is a very heavy focus on WKO Software and its features, which was developed by the authors and is part of TrainingPeaks (an online training platform; I use Final Surge instead).  The book references WKO4 and is already outdated since WKO5 is the current version of the software.  Many of the terms that they discuss are proprietary and can only be utilized in WKO software.

While this book is comprehensive and long, it's important to note that it is absolutely impossible to write out all of the nuances that go along with training and racing with power. This book would provide a nice starting point for an athlete or coach who is new to using power, but it truly takes time and experience to fully leverage this tool effectively.

#9 - Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney was recommended to me by a client of mine, and it was a great recommendation.

Baumeister is a psychologist and Tierney is a science writer for the New York Times.  Willpower contains a lot of science, but the authors present it in a way that is easy to understand and digestible.  

Willpower and self-control are important concepts for all humans, and in my work as a coach, they are important themes that pop up all the time with my clients.  The athletes who I work with set goals, and goals require a certain amount of willpower and self-control to hit.  

Some of the key things that I gleaned from reading this book are:

• Willpower has finite reserves, much like fatigue
• You get fatigued from using willpower and self-control, and therefore have less of it to use once you have used up some of your reserves
• Willpower depletion actually results in slower brain circuitry
• Changes in the overall intensity of your feelings are a sign of willpower depletion
• You will feel all feelings - whether they are positive or negative - more profoundly when your willpower is depleted

I’ve talked about how glucose is so important for athletes and that the current cultural resistance to consuming carbohydrates is not a good thing for humans, and it’s especially not good for athletes.  The brain only accounts for 2% of a human’s body weight, but it consumes 20% of glucose-derived energy, which makes it the main consumer of glucose in the entire human body.  Glucose (sugar, aka carbohydrate) is converted into neurotransmitters for the brain to use.  Glucose and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) impact self-control.  

Simply put: If you don’t consume enough fuel, and especially if you do not consume an appropriate amount of carbohydrate, among other things, you will experience a decrease in self-control and willpower.  This will always impact performance, in training and in racing.  But it’s particularly dangerous in a race, especially a long-course race, because you will lose your willpower, self-control, and drive to continue well if you are under-fueled.

I talk about self-awareness all.the.time.  Increasing your self-awareness increases your willpower.  Self-awareness as it pertains to this discussion can be defined as “Comparing ourselves to the standards set by ourselves and by our neighbors/peers.”  Self-awareness is knowing where things are relative to where they should be, and changing personal behaviors to meet these standards set by ourselves and by others requires willpower.  Willpower without self-awareness can be quite useless.

Perhaps paradoxically, people with high degrees of self-control use willpower less frequently than people who have less self-control.  That’s because people with high degrees of self-control play offense instead of defense.  They are more organized and arrange their lives so they have less temptation.  As a result, they need to engage willpower less frequently.

Procrastination depletes willpower.  The research conducted by the authors shows that people who say that procrastination is a defining personal characteristic of theirs have less willpower.

Overall, this book gave me some really great insights to consider that will help guide some of those future conversations I have with clients as well as good perspectives to have when recognizing that someone is lacking in self-control or willpower in a given situation.

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Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.  Thank you for your support!

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