Continuing the trend of the last few years, this is a “books I managed to read” list rather than a curated selection of favorites as my reading hit an all-time low. I could blame any number of attention grabbers in my life, but ultimately I’m just not In My Reading Era like I used to be.

Still, here are the titles that tickled my fancy in 2025, with links to anything I wrote about them.

Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

Lost in the Stream: How Algorithms Redefined the Way Movies Are Made and Watched by Jeff Rauseo

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession by Craig Childs

The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads by Ammon Shea

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff

Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive by Eliot Stein

Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker