Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?

Just finished For Blood and Money - Nathan Vardi. Enjoyed the real world characters who drove the developments of cancer research forward and the messy business of pharma.

I enjoyed Ra - more than "There is not anti-mimetics division" which I felt lost itself in the second half.

I greatly enjoyed Anathem - though I have always been a sucker for Stephenson.

I found 2666 to be profound and tragic. Obviously the intention of the book - but given that the crime rate in my country is analogous to Mexico's - the pain of the femicide in the book and casual cover-ups felt tangible to me. I feel it is clear that is is incomplete due to the Author's death, but I don't think that takes away from the book.

In a similar vein, but in completely different genres I finally finished the wheel of time series which I started nearly 15 years ago. After getting to book 11 I pushed through the rest this year. Unfortunately I felt mostly underwhelmed. I think the Sanderson transition did not age as well as initially received. Maybe it's because I have read too much Sanderson before getting to him. His voice is noticeably different to Jordan's.

Finally I really enjoyed both the Wager and Pachinko.

I have started a slew of other books and not completed them but there are pending standouts. I am still halfway through Stalin by Monetfiore, and I enjoy returning when I can stomach the horrible history.

Honorable mention to Apple in China which I did not complete and might eventually. Don't think I will finish Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas though.

In the current growing pending pile I have 1493 - which I know I will enjoy, everything is tuberculosis and now it can be told. We shall see if I make any headway :)

[Data-Oriented Design – Richard Fabian]

DoD is an interesting design philosophy used in game engine design. This book was both quite concrete and quite abstract, so I walked away not exactly sure if I got the message, but the idea of modelling data closer to a SQL database for performance is interesting.

[Never Split the Difference – Chris Voss]

Nightly audiobook. There's a lot more information than it seems on first reading, I'm trying to internalize and practice it in daily life.

[Lost Connections – Johann Hari]

A book about depression, connection, and medication. It was quite good, though I learned later that the author has quite a bit of controversy.

[The Twentysomething Treatment – Meg Jay]

The book was good, her interviews on people's podcasts are even better.

[You Can't Win – Jack Black]

Awesome HN recommendation, an autobiography of an early 1900s criminal.

[The Starship and the Canoe – Kenneth Brower]

Another HN recommendation. A snapshot of the life of Freeman Dyson of project ORION and his son George, who built a giant fiberglass canoe and paddles the west coast of Canada and the States.

> Rivers of London series

Whats nice about the first book is that its a love letter to london. Its not too serious, which a lot of fantasy can be. Its fun.

Its a light fantasy, in that most of the world is "normal" london, and the "silly bollocks" is threaded through reality, rather than the other way around.

At first Kobna kinda grated, but he now is to me, DCI grant, and a whole bunch of other characters.

Its funny, I've tried with Catch-22 a few times. I just can't get on with it.

I think that its all just one ginormous side note, and that Yossarian is a shit, means I can't enjoy it.

I also suspect that I am not american enough to pick up on the satire references.

I suspect I feel what americans feel when they read jeeves and wooster.

I've heard this too but haven't gotten there yet. I'm just waiting for Red God to drop this summer and finish it all off.

Enjoy, Red Rising was pretty darn good.