I read less this year than last — 36 books in 2025, versus 53 in 2024. That’s a combination of less time with my nose poked into bound paper plus choosing longer books, including more longish novels, than in previous years. The current-events tornado blew my usual fidelity to non-fiction away.
Here are my highlights from the last twelve months.
#bookstodon #2025
1/
Richard Munson’s “Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist” was just wonderful. The Founding Fathers were more complicated and interesting than portrayed by the popular mythology. Munson does an excellent job of looking closely at Franklin, his family and peers, and the events that shaped him.
2/
Bill Gates, “Source Code: My Beginnings” is the first in a (three-part?) biography of an early innovator whose late-career integrity stands out, in contrast to many of his billionaire peers. Family dynamics were super interesting. I was about ten years younger, professionally, but his tales of misusing DoD hardware at Harvard recall the excitement and joy of me and my friends, using the research computers at Berkeley for stuff that appealed to us.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/source-code-my-beginnings-bill-gates/3d0c8d04a23c2e79
3/
Adam Savage, “Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It” is one of the best explorations of the motivations of the Maker movement that I’ve read. I loved especially the opinionated shop design, tuned to his working style, and how it compared to those of his friends. No myths busted in this one, but it made me want to build more stuff.
4/
Cory Doctorow, @pluralistic, “Picks and Shovels.” The third book in the Marty Hench series. If you’re a Homebrew Computer Club wannabe with a fascination for forensic accounting, you won’t find a better character or story arc than this collection. Episode three lives up to its predecessors.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-cory-doctorow/c61cac2a169d7bfe
5/
Jack Black, “You Can’t Win” is a memoir by a small-time criminal and rail-rider from the 1920s. Claims to be non-fiction; I’m inclined to believe it. Enjoyed immensely. I like to think I’m a Johnson.
I think this was the book that surprised me the most this year. Found it while killing time at City Lights Books in SF. Didn't expect much. It delivered plenty.
6/
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, “Abundance.”
Over Christmas Eve dinner, my brother-in-law and I had a long talk about busted politics and tribalism in the US. We concluded that Democrat/Republican identities are unlikely to survive the Divider-in-Chief, and when he exits the stage, there’ll be an opportunity for centrism to rise — conservatives and liberals agreeing on enough to kick the grifters out. I hope that’s true. I’d work on this stuff for sure.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/abundance-derek-thompson/28c86c47a61a8296
7/
Russell Shorto’s “Taking Manhattan” is a deeply researched work built on new sources and scholarship that documents the transfer of what we now call New York from the Dutch to the British. I’m a sucker for American, Dutch and British history, and this fist pushed all those buttons at once. Lots of interesting characters I’d never heard of. Illuminating, fascinating, enjoyable.
8/
Ed Conway’s “Material World” looks at the processes for mining, refining and distributing physical materials that most folks don’t realize that society depends heavily upon. I’m a sucker for books like this one; years ago, Mark Kurlansky’s “Salt” rocked my world. This one’s a compelling read. I know so, so much about sand!
9/
Thomas D. Seeley, “Honeybee Democracy.” I absolutely loved this book! It is, first of all, an explanation of communication and behavior in honeybee hives. It is, more fundamentally, a delightful exploration of how people get interested in questions, and how collaborative science is done.
I liked this one so much I found the author's email address and sent him a note to say thanks.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/honeybee-democracy-thomas-d-seeley/4b6c9273230b8727
10/
Samuel Hawley’s “Daikon” is a richly-imagined alternative history of WWII — Japanese researchers working to build an atomic bomb of their own come into possession of a US-made weapon. Personal stories, cultural structures and geopolitics all weave together to create a page-turner.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/daikon-a-novel-samuel-hawley/f9c43ad9a5c051b1
11/
Tim Weiner’s “The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century” is a deep dive into the history, successes, failures and dysfunction of the US spy organization beginning with George W. Bush and the aftermath of 9/11 to today. Surprisingly richly-sourced (I’d have thought it was hard to get ex-spies to talk!) and extremely detailed.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-mission-the-cia-in-the-21st-century-tim-weiner/157046d02b25eada
12/
Chris Hadfield, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” is a few years old, but absolutely delightful. You may remember this guy singing “Space Oddity” by David Bowie in the cupola of the International Space Station and going viral on Twitter. The book echoes some of what I loved about Adam Savage’s book, some posts back in this thread: it’s about how to live a thoughtful nerd’s life.
13/
I love books.
Happy New Year!
14/14
Mike Olson