What I Read in 2025

31 December 2025

Not all are new books, most for research, several for my podcast with Joel, a handful of fiction and at least one cookbook. I’ll do better next year. I didn’t enjoy all of them, obviously.

Political Economy & Labor

• Our Lives in Their Portfolios, Brett Christophers
  
• Fictions of Financialization, Nick Bernards
  
• Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work, Craig Gent
  
• Crack-Up Capitalism, Quinn Slobodian
  
• Taking Back Control?, Wolfgang Streeck
  
• Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Benjamin M. Friedman
  
• The Last Human Job, Allison Pugh
  
• What’s Left, Malcolm Harris
  
• The Ordinal Society, Marion Fourcade; Kieran Healy
  
• Virtue Hoarders, Catherine Liu
  
• Very Important People, Ashley Mears
  
• Producing Politics, Daniel Laurison
  
• Cobalt Red, Siddharth Kara

Technology & Digital Culture

• Systems Ultra, Georgina Voss
  
• Other Networks, Lori Emerson
  
• Interfaces and Us, Zachary Kaiser
  
• Enshittification, Cory Doctorow
  
• The End of Reality, Jonathan Taplin
  
• The Twittering Machine, Richard Seymour
  
• 24/7, Jonathan Crary
  
• Immediacy, or The Style of Too-Late Capitalism, Anna Kornbluh
  
• Mood Machine, Liz Pelly
  
• Technocreep and the Politics of Things Not Seen, Neda Atanasoski; Nassim Parvin
  
• The Extinction of Experience, Christine Rosen
  
• Superstorm, Noemi Biasetton
  
• The Automated State: Computer Systems as a New Force in Society, Robert MacBride

American History & Politics

• What Hath God Wrought, Daniel Walker Howe
  
• Reaganland, Rick Perlstein
  
• A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland, Troy Senik
  
• Religion and the Decline of Magic, Keith Thomas
  
• Collapse, Vladislav M. Zubok
  
• End Times, Peter Turchin
  
• Autocracy, Inc., Anne Applebaum
  
• The Undertow, Jeff Sharlet
  
• Awakening the Spirit of America, Paul M. Sparrow
  
• The Sirens’ Call, Chris Hayes
  
• The Right of the People, Osita Nwanevu
  
• Careless People, Sarah Churchwell

Design & Built Environment

• The Invention of Design, Steven Heller; Karen Pomeroy
  
• Conspiratorial Design, Carlo Bramanti
  
• Universal Methods of Ethical Design, Sai Shruthi Chivukula; Colin M. Gray
  
• Sociality, Paolo Cirio
  
• Assembling Tomorrow, Scott Doorley; Carissa Carter
  
• Research for People Who Would Rather Create, Dirk Vis
  
• Meet Me by the Fountain, Alexandra Lange
  
• On Making Less, Rirkrit Tiravanija
  
• Why Public Space Matters, Setha Low
  
• Carmageddon, Daniel Knowles
  
• Rooted, Brea Baker

Management & Organizations

• Scaling People, Claire Hughes Johnson
  
• Bad Company, Megan Greenwell
  
• Wicked Problems, Guru Madhavan
  
• The Crux, Richard Rumelt
  
• Surviving Change at Work, Vanessa Gennarelli
  
• Mistakes Were Made, Carol Tavris; Elliot Aronson

• Original Sins, Eve L. Ewing
  
• The Myth of Making It, Samhita Mukhopadhyay
  
• Girl on Girl, Sophie Gilbert
  
• Wild Faith, Talia Lavin
  
• The New Age of Sexism, Laura Bates

Philosophy, Science & Policy

• More Everything Forever, Adam Becker
  
• Life Is Short, Dean Rickles
  
• The Revolt Against Humanity, Adam Kirsch
  
• Abundance, Ezra Klein; Derek Thompson
  
• The Technological Republic, Alexander C. Karp; Nicholas W. Zamiska

Food & Culture

• Red Sauce, Ian MacAllen
  
• The Contemporary African Kitchen, Alexander Smalls

Sports

• A Constraints-Led Approach to Coaching Tennis, Isaac McBroom; Rob Gray

Fiction

• Imaginary Magnitude, Stanisław Lem
  
• The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Neal Stephenson; Nicole Galland
  
• Please Report Your Bug Here, Josh Riedel

Poetry & Memoir

• On Writing, Charles Bukowski
  
• Lessons in Birdwatching, Honey Watson
  
• Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, Bob the Drag Queen