It’s time for the 12th edition of my annual reading list. I like to put together the list as way to document my reading goals for the year and to collect any suggestions or recommendations you might have based on the types of books I read.
Similar to recent years, I’m maintaining two lists. The first list is my fun reads, which are generally fictional works from the science fiction genre. I read these books for entertainment, although there are distinct reasons why the list leans towards science fiction that you can read about here. My morning reads is the list that I use for learning. The themes are primarily personal development, health and wellness, and business. The guidelines I use to comprise each of these lists are included at the end of this post.
My ‘Want to Read’ list on Goodreads had 205 books on it to start the year which, believe it or not, is an improvement from last year when there over 220 books on it. I generally read about 30 books in a year – 20 from my fun reads and 10 from my morning reads. I’ve trimmed the overall number of books in my queue by being more selective in what I add to it.
While I create and use the lists to guide my reading, I’m don’t rigidly adhere to them. If a strong recommendation or new title comes up, it could jump the queue if I find it interesting.
And now, for this year’s lists.
The fun reads
- Eversion – Alistair Reynolds
- Quantum Radio – A.G. Riddle
- Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
- Silicon Man – William Massa
- Foundry – Eliot Peper
- Calypso – David Sedaris
- Hyperion – Dan Simmons
- Please Report Your Bug Here – Josh Reidel
- The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
- Upload – Mark McClelland
- How to Stop Time – Matt Haig
- The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C. Clarke
- Slick – Daniel Price
- The Measure – Niki Erlick
- Startup – Doree Shafrif
- The Warehouse – Rob Hart
- The Balloon Hunter – Hugh Howey
- The Fury – Alex Michaelides
- The Genius Plague – David Walton
- Antarctica Station – A.G. Riddle
- Providence – Max Barry
- The Immortality Code – Douglas E. Richards
- vN -Madeline Ashby
- The Big Disruption – Jessica Powell
- Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor
- Returning to Zero – Alan B. Johnston
- The Premonition: A Pandemic Story – Michael Lewis
- Machinehood – S.B. Divya
- Firebreak – Nicole Kornher-Stace
- Pillar to the Sky – William R. Forstchen
The morning reads
- Hell Yeah or No – Derek Sivers
- Good Energy – Casy Means, MD
- Stoicism and the Art of Happiness – Donald J. Robertson
- Way of the Turtle – Curtis Faith
- The Spiritual Brain – Mario Beauregard
- The Body – Bill Bryson
- The Expectation Gap – Steve Cuss
- Reality is Not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli
- Company of One – Paul Jarvis
- Thinner This Year – Chris Crowley
- Neurofitness – Rahul Jandial
- Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey
- Cholesterol Clarity – Jimmy Moore
- Die with Zero – Bill Perkins
- The Brain – David Eagleman
The revisit list
Each year, there are a couple of titles that I like to try and revisit. It’s a good way to reinforce the key concepts I took away the first (or last) time I read it. I didn’t do a good job of this last year, but I’d like to revisit at least one or two off this list in 2025.
- Ego Is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday
- Mastery – George Leonard
- The Power of Positive Thinking – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
Even though I spend considerable effort arranging my reading list, there’s always room for more. Every year, a few books find a way to jump the queue. Feel free to leave recommendations in the comments as I’m always on the lookout for new additions, and if they’re compelling enough, they may find their way onto this year’s list!
If you’re interested in the lists from years past, you can find them here.
The reading list guidelines
To make the curation process a little easier, I’ve come up with a set of guidelines that help me build the reading list.
- I read multiple books at once. I have a couple of daily readers/devotionals, a non-fiction book about personal development, business, or health that I read in the morning, and a recreational book that I like to read in the evening. Therefore, my first task is to split the list into two, my fun reads and my morning reads.
- I keep a third, short list of personal development books to reread. The goal is to revisit and reinforce concepts that I want to incorporate into my day-to-day living.
- Recommendations from trusted sources get highest priority.
- Books from authors I like receive preferential treatment. A few of my current favorites are Blake Crouch, A.G. Riddle, Eliot Peper, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Holiday.
- If I’ve already purchased a book, I make an effort to prioritize it. In the past, this list was rather lengthy. There are just a handful of books on this list heading into 2025.
- I like to include a few books by new authors. It’s fun reading books by authors I’m not familiar with and discovering up-and coming talents.
- Books still on the 2024 list got moved to the 2025 list. If it was on last year’s list, it belongs on this year’s list. I do my best to put higher priority on books from the prior year’s list, and I made good progress closing out my reading lists from 2021 and 2022.
- My fictional preference is primarily science fiction, but I will venture outside of this genre if provided with a good recommendation. My science fiction books tend more towards books that explore hard science fiction or plausible ideas such as artificial intelligence, human augmentation, or robotics. I’m not one for space operas, although I will dabble here and there if the first book in a series looks interesting.
- I always save room on my list for “classic” science fiction. It fascinates me how authors have foreshadowed or predicted the future in their books, some which were written well over 50 years ago.
- My non-fiction reads center around self-learning, business learning, founder/company stories, neuroscience, and health and nutrition. I do my best to include books from each of these categories every year to stay current on the latest findings.