2025 Reading List

#Reading #Books #Podcasts
Books read in 2025: 34
  1. Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet [1]Author(s):
    • Marian Tupy
    • Gale Pooley
    Notes:
    • Paradigm shifting book
    • Basic thesis: resources get more abundant as population grows and human ingenuity will solve any problems that come up along the way

  2. The New Gardener [10]Author(s):
    • Pippa Greenwood
    Notes:
    • Helpful reference

  3. Domestic Science: Seasons 1 and 2 [10]Author(s):
    • Matt Parker
    • Steve Mould
    • Helen Arney
    Notes:
  4. Cryptography: The Science of Secret Writing [10]Author(s):
    • Laurence Dwight Smith
    Notes:
    • Fun read
    • Has some good insights and examples
    • Fascinating to read a book on cryptography from 1943 - before the ubiquity of computers

  5. Cryptography: An Introduction to Computer Security [10]Author(s):
    • Jennifer Seberry
    • Josef Pieprzyk
    Notes:
    • Helpful read
    • Very technical at points, but a helpful intro to the subject nonetheless

  6. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [10]Author(s):
    • C.S. Lewis
    Notes:
    • Great read
    • One thing that jumped out to me on this reading: the emphasis on the wisdom of not shutting a wardrobe door behind onself - he definitely knew that his book may provoke some kids to try to find Narnia and wanted to make sure they didn’t get stuck in the wardrobe
    • One thing that jumped out to me on this reading: after resurrection, Aslan first goes to the Witch’s castle to free the prisoners

  7. How to Be a Responsible Man [10]Author(s):
    • Jim Wilson
    Notes:
    • Great read that is short and practical on a valuable subject

  8. Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea [10]Author(s):
    • Dr. Edith Widder
    Notes:
    • Fascinating read on a subject that was largely new to me

  9. Life on Svalbard: Finding Home on a Remote Island Near the North Pole [10]Author(s):
    • Cecilia Blomdahl
    Notes:
    • Fun read, beautiful pictures and a fascinating place

  10. Keep Your Kids: How to Raise Strong Kids in an Age of Therapeutic Sentimentalism [10]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Practical and helpful book on parenting

  11. Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI [10]Author(s):
    • Anil Ananthaswamy
    Notes:
    • Fascinating book
    • One of the most Fascinating aspects was why modern neural nets don’t overfit the training data

  12. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs [100]Author(s):
    • Harold Abelson
    • Gerald Jay Sussman
    • Julie Sussman
    Notes:
    • Good read - loved the examples that teach you about programming and mathematical/computer science topics
    • Sometimes the examples get pretty far afield
    • Fun to build a metacircular interpreter from the ground up :)

  13. Basic Laws of Human Stupidity [1]Author(s):
    • Carlo M. Cipolla
    Notes:
    • Very interesting and funny read
    • Honestly, surprisingly powerful explanatory power

  14. Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood [10]Author(s):
    • James Gleick
    Notes:
    • Intriguing history of information/computation theory

  15. Opt-Out Family: The Case for Independence in an Interdependent World [100]Author(s):
    • Kerry McDonald
    Notes:
    • Unimpressed by this book… some helpful practical advice, but a lot of fear-mongering based on extreme examples

  16. Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter [10]Author(s):
    • Steven Johnson
    Notes:
    • Fascinating theory that there’s a ‘sleeper curve’ of increasing complexity in popular culture is making us smarter
    • Basically, there’s a market for culture today to be re-watchable, re-playable, and re-read-able, which means it has to have more complexity and depth to it
    • Aligns w/ my sentiment that video/computer games are underrated (esp. relative to reading)

  17. Prince Caspian [10]Author(s):
    • C.S. Lewis
    Notes:
    • Not one of the better Narnia books, IMO, but still good

  18. Fidelity: How to be a One-Woman Man [1]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Great book dealing with various aspects of Biblical sexuality w/ a lot of solid, practical advice

  19. Reforming Marriage: Gospel Living for Couples [0]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Fantastic book! Practical, insightful, and rooted firmly in God’s word

  20. Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing [10]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • A good book w/ some helpful advice. Not as good as some other resources (‘future men’), but still good

  21. Biblical Finances [10]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Helpful overview w/ some practical insights

  22. Federal Husband [1]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Really good book
    • Practical and theologically rich

  23. Future Men [1]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Fantastic book on raising boys (future men)

  24. Modern Martyr [1]Author(s):
    • G. K. Chesterton
    Notes:
    • Very short, but insightful book contrasting modern ‘martyrs’ w/ the martyrs of old

  25. Public School Rehab [-1]Author(s):
    • Doug Wilson
    Notes:
    • Not great, there’s better resources elsewhere

  26. God the Best Portion of the Christian [10]Author(s):
    • Jonathan Edwards
    Notes:
    • Excellent sermon by Edwards on the blessing and delight of knowing God Himself

  27. How George Müller Started His Days [10]Author(s):
    • George Müller
    Notes:
    • Interesting read in which George Müller describes his need to be satisfied in God more than anything else (e.g. more than reading content to help prepare a sermon or to help address needs he was facing)

  28. Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God [1]Author(s):
    • C. S. Lewis
    Notes:
    • Very good read w/ a number of fantastic points and quotes
    • He does cover the nature of God a bit, but not as much or in the ways I had hoped

  29. An Infinite Journey: Growing Toward Christlikeness [100]Author(s):
    • Andrew M. Davis
    Notes:
    • Very practical and biblically rooted work on sanctification
    • Some helpful points

  30. Love Among the Chickens [1000]Author(s):
    • P.G. Wodehouse
    Notes:
    • Mildly humorous, but not something I’d recommend

  31. Disciplines of Grace [-1]Author(s):
    • Jerry Bridges
    Notes:
    • Very disappointed w/ this book and wouldn’t recommend it
    • Two main issues were (1) that he doesn’t mention the resurrection in his presentation of the gospel which we are supposed to preach to ourselves and (2) he fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between believers’ works and God’s blessing - he argues there’s no connection, but Scripture is clear that there is

  32. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life [1]Author(s):
    • Donald S. Whitney
    Notes:
    • Fantastic book on spiritual disciplines
    • Practical and well-founded in Scripture

  33. Till We Have Faces [0]Author(s):
    • C. S. Lewis
    Notes:
    • AMAZING book that gets better w/ each reading

  34. The Spirit and The Church: Priorities from 1 Corinthians 12-14 [10]Author(s):
    • Jeff Purswell
    Notes:
    • Helpful book noting Paul’s priorities in 1 Corinthians 12-14 especially around spiritual gifts

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