I like reading the long form of books: Sitting with someone’s big idea that took them years.
I surprised myself by staying up later, and getting up earlier, in 2025 to read nearly as much as I ever have before. Below I share the list.
The five that most taught me something new: Navalny, In Covid’s Wake, Technological Republic, Careless People and Pronoun Trouble.
That list:
- Meritocracy Trap Daniel Markovits
- The Message Ta Nehisi Coates
- Hum Helen Phillips
- Nexus Yuval Noah Harari
- The Horse Timothy Winegard
- Holding it together Jessica Calarco
- How Economics Explains the World Andrew Leigh
- Revenge of the tipping point Malcolm Gladwell
- Tits Up Sarah Thornton
- Slow productivity Cal Newport
- Story proof Kendall haven
- Patriot Alexi Navalny
- Book of the dead Richard Dawkins
- How to hide an empire Daniel Immerwahr
- Party of the people Patrick Ruffini
- Troublemaker: Jimmy Lai Mark L Clifford
- Collective Illusions Todd Rose
- Righting Wrongs Kenneth Roth
- Superbloom Nicholas Carr
- Fascism Roger Griffen
- Rise and Decline of Nations Mancur Olson
- Storytelling Animal Jonathan Gottschall
- Technological Republic Alex Karp
- Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity Peter Attia
- Story Paradox Jonathan Gottachall
- Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It Andre Perry
- Black Butterfly Lawrence T. Brown
- How to stand up to a dictator Maria Ressa
- Abundance Ezra Klein
- Free Will Sam Harris
- Careless People Sarah Wynn Williams
- We’re all journalists now Scott E. Gantt
- The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature Charlie English
- The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes
- Pronoun Trouble John McWhorter
- Of Boys and Men Richard V. Reeves
- Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke Yoni Applebaum
- How Not to Invest Barry Ritholtz
- The Gulf War Did Not Exist Jean Baudrillard
- How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle Ray Dalio
- Breaking Through Katalin Kariko
- Empire of AI Karen Hao
- Algospeak Adam Aleksic
- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Hans Rosling, and Ola Rosling
- In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee
- How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times Roy Peter Clark
- Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home Kate Mangino
- What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate Ellen Klegg and Dan Kennedy
- Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now Douglas Rushkoff
- Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane
- Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected Rory Miller
- Simulacra and Simulation Jean Baudrillard
- How to Blow Up a Pipeline Andreas Malm