This year, I completed 25 books and started but abandoned three. Bolded books were my favorites of the year.
- The Power of Geography, Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World, Tim Marshall, 02 JAN 25
- The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas, 02 FEB 25 - Read this at the same time as a friend (It wasn't a book club!!). Such an amazing book that still holds up after so many years.
- High Growth Handbook, Elad Gil, 20 APR 25
- Over Ruled, The Human Toll of Too Much Law, Neil Gorsuch, APR 25
- High Flyers, Developing the Next Generation of Leaders, Morgan McCall, [abandoned] - I read a lot of management books and struggle through the ones that feel like academic studies vs. real world experience. The studies are lacking actionability for me. Maybe I'll get back to this one in 2026.
- Dead in the Water, A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy, Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel, 24 FEB 25
- Prisoners of Geography, Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics, Tim Marshall, 06 MAR 25
- Traction, Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman, 08 MAY 25 - A client was implementing this within her business, so I read it to gain insights into how they are approaching business and how my team can best support their growth. As with much management advice, there is no one right system to use. However having a system and sticking with it can be helpful. This is one such system and thankfully Gino has the awareness to acknowledge such.
- The Wager, A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, David Grann, 01 MAY 25 - it's incredible the conditions that humans are capable of surviving. See: Comfort Crisis from 2023's list.
- Food for Thought, Essays & Ruminations, Alton Brown, 18 MAY 25 - great Martini advice!
- Co-Intelligence, Living and Working with AI, Ethan Mollick, 13 JUL 25 - the problem with books about AI is that they are stale the moment they are published.
- Cork Dork, A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste, Bianca Bosker, 8 JUL 25 - Fun look at the wine world!
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, 21 JUL 25
- Capital Returns, Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002–15, Edward Chancellor, 27 JUL 25
- Everest, Inc., The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World, Will Cockrell, 03 AUG 25
- Focus: The ASML Way, Inside the Power Struggle Over the Most Complex Machine on Earth, Marc Hijink, 11 AUG 25 - deploy early and learn with your customers. They will get value during the learning phase. If you wait to deploy until it's perfect you are robbing your customers of that early value.
- The Lobster Chronicles, Life on a Very Small Island, Linda Greenlaw, 13 AUG 25
- Reshuffle, Who wins when AI restacks the knowledge economy, Sangeet Paul Choudary, [abandoned] - Chaudary writes a good blog, but desperately needs an editor for this seemingly self-published book.
- The Magpie’s Guide to Montalcino, Laura R Gray, 05 SEP 25 - a fun read to prepare for what was an amazing trip to Montalcino. What's the point of living forever if you aren't having fun doing it?
- Breakneck, China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, Dan Wang, 10 SEP 25 - Fantastic book. However, when reading this book and fawning all over how much china can "get done" don't forget to learn the lesson of their One-Child Policy. America needs to swing the pendulum back toward getting things done without completely abandoning protecting individuals and society.
- A really big lunch, Jim Harrison, [Abandoned] - some great stories but became very repetitive very quickly.
- The Price of Tomorrow, Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future, Jeff Booth, 18 NOV 25 - was not expecting the book to conclude with a call for bitcoin maximalism. Was not convincing.
- Thinking in Systems, A Primer, Donella H. Meadows, 24 NOV 25 - a classic
- The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall, Christopher Hibbert, 09 NOV 2025 - This is one of those history books that feels like just a listing of hundreds of names over thousands of years without a compelling narrative or through line. I was hoping for more about the rise of the Medici, but it's mostly about the long decline.
- The First Salute, A View of the American Revolution, Barbara W. Tuchman, 12 DEC 25 - In school they didn't teach us how interconnected the revolutionary war was to so many other geopolitical happenings. The world would be a vastly different place if Britain had actually concentrated on our uprising.
- Deep Thinking, Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins, Garry Kasparov, 30 NOV 25 - written in 2018 but still feels relevant.
- Who, The A Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart and Randy Street, 02 DEC 25 - see notes on Traction above, but for hiring systems.
- The Origins of Efficiency, Brian Potter, 31 DEC 25 - great book to cap off the year.