Books I Read in 2025

Another great one by Chuck Wendig. Just the right mix of thriller and horror to leave you on the edge of your seat wanting to read more.

An interesting look at how the NFL and the owners took every advantage to build the league and make it the power house it is today

An interesting look at the central bankers that controlled the US, Britain, France, & Germany between WWI and WWII and the economic challenges they faced.

I enjoyed Alton Brown’s wit and thoughts as he wrote about his experiences of life, food, cooking and more.

This was a great, in-depth look at the horror that was the final battle for Germany in WWII.

A rather depressing look at how our farming methods and incentives are helping contribute to climate change when there are ways out of this mess without giving up things like meat.

A thoughtful look at the issues related to AI and all the hype and doom its backers are pushing.

Fantastic book on World War II. Hastings goes through the different fronts and happenings in Asia, the Pacific, and of course Britain and Western Europe.

This was a fun story.

A thoughtful take on the power of teachers and multitude of ways the right is trying to undermine them. It did a good job putting into words how the attacks work and why it’s more important now, more than ever to push back for good education.

A interesting, if not depressing look at the different ways we’re going to have to combat misinformation and disinformation in the coming years.

A creepy book that fits in well with the current political climate.

A creepy story that fits well in the Halloween season.

A fast read. Creepy with a whole lot of twists and turns. I enjoyed it.

Thoughtful advice when planning for retirement and other investment goals.

A fascinating deep dive into the 1MDB scandal and the characters involved. It still amazes me how many people will ignore giant red flags for a quick buck.

This was a fascinating look at the Apple's manufacturing history and how China has captured so much of it, and in turn, Apple itself.

An interesting look at the US Dollar and how it has maintained its place as the “global currency”. Some of the warnings have proven rather indicative of our current economic situation.

A bit of a look and some help for investing and increasing your wealth.

A good look back at the history of Blizzard as well as the struggles and trouble they got into. Made me reminisce about my time playing WoW.

A good ending to a fantastic trilogy. Action, suspense, drama, and most importantly, a fitting conclusion.

This inspired me to focus again on lifting. Would recommend.

Another good book in the trilogy that definitely makes me want to finish it.

This was my first Brandon Sanderson novel and I really enjoyed it. Good characters and a gripping story.

An interesting look at the System of a Down's frontman. He talked about his music, his life, his Armenian heritage and political activism.

This was an incredibly fascinating look at how America and its allies used economic weapons as a way to wage war, not with troops, but by going after our adversary’s economies.

This was an in-depth look at how the police have started to use SWAT teams far more often through various administrations.

This was a good look at how private equity has been destroying retail, hospitals & healthcare, the journalism industry, and residential housing. It balances the overarching problem with personal stories in a way that makes you realize the scope of the problem.

Whenever I read about space, I always feel so small. Philip does a fantastic job talking about the various planets, moons, and other environments in space and what they would look like. It was informative and incredibly fascinating.

An interesting look at the Evangelical and former Evangelical community from someone who lived through it.

Another good one by Scalzi. It was playful, funny and enjoyable.

I knew the Soviet space program was never as good as they claimed it to be. I never realized how shoe-string it really was. This was a great read and look at how the Soviet space program got off the ground and operated through and beyond the USSR’s collapse.

An interesting look at how we interact and train AI and LLMs. Sometimes dry, but still insightful.

This was an interesting look at the minor leagues and how players, managers, umpires, and even broadcasters handle being in a competitive league where almost everyone wants to move up.

This was a good ending to the series. It was enjoyable with some good twists and a solid finish.

I loved DOOM and this was a great read (listen?) to John Romero's history of getting into game development. It's amazing to hear how they pushed the needle for video games with fantastic games wringing maximum performance from early computers.

This was an incredibly detailed look into what was and impressive sting operation by the FBI.

I loved blink-182 in high school and college (still do), they headlined my first concert. It was fun memoir to read about Mark and his journey from a kid to one of the biggest stars of the pop punk genre.

I enjoyed this, I felt it was better and more suspenseful than Ancillary Justice in all the right ways. Makes me look forward to finishing the trilogy.

This was a good read looking at the history of libel law in the US. It did a good job talking about how we got the law we have as well as how the rich and powerful are trying to overturn the rules and laws in place. For those who want to make sure we have the ability to hold the rich and powerful to account, this is a good book to understand why NYT v Sullivan is so important.

This was an interesting dive into the 2017 Houston Astros as well as how they dove into analytics after Jim Crane bought the team in 2011.

An interesting story. Parts of it felt a little too close to home in the current political climate. A little too dystopian in some aspects, but enjoyable.

Started off a little slow. Other than its pacing, it was enjoyable.

This was a fascinating, but somber read. It is shameful how much the US Government was willing to look past, or actively hide with regards to the scientists brought over from Nazi Germany.

I know Twitter could be a hellhole, but I enjoyed it. This book did a good job talking about and documenting how Elon purchased and ruined the social network.

This was a scary look at the autocratic world, and how so many of the things happening in America. It's a short book and I'd recommend it. It puts the current situation in the US even more frightening.

This was an interesting look at the largest ponzi scheme in history and the characters involved. It provided a look at Madoff and what he did and how he got it to last as long as it did.

Another good one from Cory Doctorow. Had some good twists and kept me on the edge of my seat.

This provided some good insight into McKinsey which made me angrier the more I read. Their callous disregard for how their work affects people is just cruel. It was enlightening and I feel important to understand how much McKinsey and companies like McKinsey cause the harm that they do.

Another interesting read by Erik Larson. It was interesting reading about Churchill and the challenges he faced with the Blitz. I knew it was bad, but this provided some insight into it and the UK government’s handling of it. The only thing I wasn’t sure of was the sidebars into his family’s love affairs.

An interesting look at the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany through the career of the US’ ambassador to Germany. Larson does a good job of documenting Dodd’s challenges and mindset while navigating the rise of Hitler.

I enjoyed the book and the twists and turns. It was a good ending to the series.

A good continuation to the story and the world she built into the first book. This had some good twists as well.

This was an interesting and in depth look at the history of Ukraine as far back as the Greek and Roman Empires. It was written in 2015 so the current war is not included, but the run up to it was. It was captivating and gave me an idea of what Ukraine has been through as well as how we got to where we are today.

Some useful tips on helping you improve yourself and your habits.

Another good book by Cal Newport with some thoughts about how to regain focus and do good work.

Another interesting book by Cal Newport that proposes some ideas for helping you stay productive without killing yourself.

I enjoyed this. It’s a fascinating world with a good story set up for the trilogy.

This was a detailed, but depressing look at how we as a society have scorned experts and mistaken our own knowledge as expertise. It explains a lot about where we are as a society.

I enjoyed this. It was an interesting story with some good twists.

Cal Newport makes some good points in this book how technology and social media can overcrowd our lives. While I’m not sure about everything, there’s some helpful tips and advice for getting a better hold of our time and attention in this distracting digital world.

I found a lot of the stories in this to be weird. Maybe it just wasn’t for me.

I've been considering meditation and this was one of the recommendations. I'm not sure how much I really got out of this.

It was a little dry and felt a little disorganized.

The book was kind of dry but provided an interesting look at the history of index funds with a good comparison to investment banks.

Some interesting thoughts about how companies and people try to capture our attention. Most of it felt pretty obvious to me and didn’t think anything here was all that revealing.

This was an interesting, albeit non-in-depth look at how various systems work and some of the traps involved, as well as how to overcome them.