Literature: 25 Interesting Books I Read In 2025

 (Drivebycuriosity) -  As usual at the beginning of a year I  write about my favorite books from the past year. 

 

Nonfiction:

 "A Brief History Of Intelligence" by Max Bennett: How did intelligence develop? The author gives a plausible answer. According to him the long and winding row to intelligence went with 5 breakthroughs:

Breakthrough #1: Steering: the breakthrough of navigating by categorizing stimuli into good and bad, and turning into good things and away from bad things.

Breakthrough #2: Reinforcing: the breakthrough of learning to repeat behaviors that historically have led to positive valence  and inhibit behaviors that have led to negative valence.

Breakthrough #3: Stimulating: the breakthrough of mentally simulating stimuli and actions.

Breakthrough #4: Mentalizing: the  breakthrough of modeling one`s own mind.

Breakthrough #5: Speaking

Each breakthrough was possible only because of the building blocks that came prior. Each breakthrough emerged from new sets of brain modifications and equipped animals with a new portfolio of intellectual abilities. The book is densely filled with valuable information and elegantly written. 

 

 "Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI". Anil Ananthaswamy narrates the evolution of AI, the breakthroughs, the setbacks and the fermentation process of thinking. Scientists have been developing algorithms that can learn to discern patterns in data without being explicitly programmed to do so. "Machines can learn because of the extraordinary confluence of math and computer science, with more than a dash of physics and neuroscience added to the mix". The book is full of information, spiced with mathematics & anecdotes.

 

 "Living On Earth: Forest, Corals, Consciousness, And The Making Of The World". Peter Godfrey-Smith takes the reader on a journey through time and narrates about how human being evolved, based on his own explorations and literature.

 

"The Chicago School: How the University of Chicago Assembled the Thinkers Who Revolutionized Economics and Business". Economics is the science of how to overcome scarcity; economists focus on efficiency, rationality & cost-benefit considerations. The most rigorous economists could be find at the University of Chicago, known as Chicago School of Economics, the most famous of them is Milton Friedman. Johan van Overtveld describes how Chicago`s economists influenced science, politics & economy
 

"The River At The Center Of The World: A Journey Up The Yangtze And Back In Chinese Time". Simon Winchester covers China´s history, the political, cultural and economic developments over the recent 200 years at least and he portraits sheer countless persons, who`s lives have been somewhat related with the river. 

 

"Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid". Vanilla seems to be a very simple and boring product, as the slogan "plain vanilla" claims. But I learned from Tim Escottor`s book that the world of vanilla is anything but boring. The author traveled to Mexico, Tahiti, Madagaskar, Mahé/Seychelles & Réunion, visited plantations, libraries, a historical greenhouse in London and spoke with farmers, historians, traders, speculators and food producers. He dives deep into the history, biology, chemistry and economics of Vanilla, we read about Thomas Jefferson`s cravings and learn about the politics and violence that were sometimes connected with it. 

 

 "IPA Evolution" by Amelia Khatri. Since I live in the US I developed a taste for American IPAs, which are very different from German beers and stronger & tastier and I wanted to know why do some of the IPAs taste much better than the beer I knew from Germany. The book, written by an AI, gives a very good introduction into this subject
 

"The Blazing World - A New History of Revolutionary England". In England the 17th century was a bloody & messy period, shaped by continuing revolutions & wars, much worse than the 16th century. This was caused by the hereditary system: Ruler Elizabeth I was succeeded by the Stuarts, the son and the grandsons of Maria Stuart, Queen of Scotland, her arch enemy. The result was not surprising: The Stuarts pitched England into chaos, contrary to the Tudors, who brought relative stability The book gives a lot insights how the world has changed in the 16th century and what forces have shaped these developments. 

"Medieval Horizons - Why The Middle Ages Matter" The collapse of the Roman Empire destroyed Europe`s civilization and caused about 1,000 years of economical & cultural darkness, known as the Middle Ages. Between around 1400 through 1600 Europe`s civilization started slowly to recover, the period is known as the Renaissance. The term means revival or rebirth of civilization & economy. Ian Mortimer challenges the common view and focuses on the period 1,000 to 1,600. He claims that in this time span a lot changes happened that lifted the living standard of almost everyone. 

Biographies:

"Milton Friedman - The Last Conservative" by Jennifer Burns. Milton Friedman belongs to the most influential economists of the last 100 years. John Maynard Keynes might still have more followers, the Keynesians, but Friedman was more often right.  Jennifer Burns`excellent biography gives an introduction in his life and his work. Burns calls Friedman a "conservative" even though he preferred to call himself  a liberal, a believer in limited government, free trade and individual rights. But in America the term "liberal" is used for left of the middle and includes politicians like Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren. 
Friedman was the leading monetarist, preaching the classic quantity theory of money and the insight that "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon". He declared "too many dollars chasing too few goods cause a general rise of prices". The recent inflation wave, caused by a deluge of money generated by government checks & massive bond purchases by the Federal Reserve, Friedman´s helicopter money, confirms him again.
But he was much more. He had an enormous influence as a classical liberal. He fought (in words) for a philosophy of freedom and was an advocate of individual rights, free markets and trade and limited government. Friedman wanted a political world of maximum individual choice, and an economic system where individuals were likewise free to bargain and to contract at will. As an economist, Friedman tended to see numbers, and as an individualist, he saw people rather than groups.

 
Greg Steinmetz`s Georg Fugger biography "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived" explains the rise of the Renaissance tycoon and describes how he amassed his wealth, cooperated with popes & emperors and struggled with his enemies. The Renaissance story has surprisingly many similarities to today`s developments

Ann Schmiesing describes in "The Brothers Grimm - A Biography" the life of Jacob (1785–1863) & Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859). The brothers are famous for collecting & publishing fairy tales, but they saw themselves as scholars and even scientists and they worked all their lives on much larger projects.
Their main goal was to preserve the German cultural heritage. The Grimms thought it necessary to strengthen Germany´s identity because the state "Germany" did not exist in their lifetimes. Before the unification in 1871 existed a patchwork of about 300 independent German speaking polities - kingdoms, duchies, counties, electorates and independent cities like Hamburg & Frankfurt; and the European continent was shaken by the rise and fall of Napoleon and the related wars & revolutions. 

Jan Swafford`s biography "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph" by  (1,483 pages) describes Ludwig`s development, who and what influenced him and the genius` struggles with employers, competitors and his fragile health. Swafford, who himself is a composer, elaborates and explains the  symphonies, chamber works, concertos & many other pieces of music, their development processes and how the - often surprised - audiences had responded. We learn about the political, economical & sociological environments Beethoven has to deal with; influenced by dynamical history of the German speaking countries - a patchwork of about 300 kingdoms, duchies, electorate,  cities and other independent polities -, which was then a patchwork of independent countries.    

 

Joan Schenkar´s biography "The Talented Miss Highsmith" dives deep into the life of the author. Apparently Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) didn`t have a nice childhood, resulting in an strong hatred against her stepfather, even though she took his name, and deep aversions against her mother, with whom she had continuous severe conflicts over her whole life. 
 

There are not many pieces of world literature that are so funny and so much pleasure to read like Lewis Carroll´s "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", better known as  "Alice in Wonderland". Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the real name of the author, dedicated the novel to a then six year old girl, Alice Pleasance Liddell, the daughter of the dean of Christ Church College, Oxford, where Dodgson was employed as sub-librarian & mathematics lecturer. Simon Winchester wrote a fine little book around Dodgson, Alice, and the most famous portrait of said Alice: "The Alice behind Wonderland" . Aged 25 Dodgson became fascinated with photography, then a fledgling art. He took a lot effort to become a master in the new medium and gained popularity as photographer of portraits, often of celebrities like Lord Alfred Tennyson, but he also got fond of portraying little children.   

 

Fiction: 

Michel Houellebecq belongs to the most important contemporary authors. His novels are analytical, philosophical and entertaining. And he likes to provoke. Houellebecq`s latest novel "Annihilation" comes up to his reputation. The complex plot is set in France around the year 2027 and focuses on a man in his late 40s. There are 2 basic threads, one following the protagonist´s professional and the other his private life. He has a well paid job in the French administration, "at the heart of the state apparatus" and is friend with the French minister of Finance. This thread describes political developments in France and the preparations for an upcoming election. The private thread focuses on marriage, the lives of siblings and health issues. Parallelly are happening mysterious & scary events and the protagonist has often bizarre dreams.

 

The word filth has usually a derogatory meaning. It stands usually for foul or putrid matter and describes something that tends to corrupt or defile. But in some English circles filth has a different meaning: "Failed in London Try Hong Kong”. This is the definition that Jane Gardam used in her novel: "Old Filth", the begin of a trilogy. The plot follows the life - over about 80 years - of an English gentleman, born in Asia, who had a career as lawyer & judge in England and in Hong Kong. Both, the funny title, and the topic got my attention. And I loved the book. The plot jumps back and forth in time, including the protagonist`s childhood in Asia & England, his adolescence, his war time experiences, his marriage and his dealing with the challenges of old age. 

 

Imaging you are forced to spend the rest of your life in just one place. This is the basic idea of Amor Towles` novel "A Gentleman In Moscow", set in the Russia`s capital. The plot stretches from the 1920s to the 1950s and follows an aristocrat who`s life got fundamentally changed by the Russian Revolution. The new rulers kept him alive, even though he didn`t fit anymore into a world ruled by Stalin and his followers, but they sentenced him to a lifelong house arrest. "Several duly gated officers of the current regime determined that for the crime of being born as an aristocrat, he should be sentenced to spend the rest of his days in a hotel". Fortunately this aristocrat was allowed to stay comfortably in a big classy hotel that is endowed with fine restaurants, bars and other amenities.  The plot describes a life in a micro-cosmos, almost like a spaceship, and shows how Russia changed under the dictatorship of Comrade Stalin and the ruling Bolsheviks and how the protagonist adapted and responded to all new challenges.


The 17th century in England was a bloody mess, full of violence. After the death of Elizabeth I the Stuarts became kings. The son and the grand sons of Elizabeth`s nemesis Maria Stuart intended to turn England`s history back and tried to nullify the Anti-Catholic reforms of the Tudors. Especially the regime of Charles I, an absolutist and tyrannic ruler, ruined England and cost the lives of many. Charles`tyranny lead finally to a revolution and his execution in the year 1649, followed by a republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Robert Harris`novel "Act of Oblivion" begins about 20 years after the execution. Another Stuart became king, Charles II, the son of the executed, another absolutist ruler & tyrant. It goes without saying that the new king started a bloody revenge and ordered a hunt for those who participated directly or indirectly on the execution, the regicides. The plot follows two of the regicides, who had fled over the ocean and tried to hide in the English colonies, and one (fictional) man, who has just one target, to catch the regicides and to kill them.

The french author Frederic Dard belongs to my favorite writers. His crime mysteries - set in Europa in the 1950s - are short, crispy and full of twists & surprises. I especially enjoyed "Bird in a Cage" & ""The Executioner Weeps”. The book "King of Fools" fits to this collection . The novel is told in first person - as usual with Dard. The protagonist, a French man, has a surprising encounter with a beautiful English woman, while making holiday at the Cote Azure. The encounter starts a series of unexpected events.

Patricia Highsmith belonged to the most important writers of the 20th century, blending art with entertainment. Her murderous tales are deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud and her own secret obsessions. The short story collection "Eleven" gives a perfect introduction into her work. The Highsmith was obsessed by snails. She kept about 300 in her home and took her favorite, Hortense, on travels. It is not surprising that the collection has 2 snail stories. The famous "The Snail Watcher" (10 pages) is about scientific interest that turns into obsession and then into horror. The 2nd snail story, "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" (19 pages), is a fairy tale that reminds of Brother Grimms`and also a bit of Robert Louis Stevenson´s South Sea Tales, set on a remote tropical island. The Highsmith showed that she is also a master in the genre of old fashioned (in a good sense) adventure stories.

 

Evelyn Waugh may be most known by his novel "Brideshead Revisited", especially by the TV-adaption with Jeremy Irons. But the English author wrote much more and is loved for his "dark and wicked satire". The  anthology "The Complete Stories Of Evelyn Waugh" is wonderful mixture, full of witty & amusing tales and offers brilliant observations of people´s weaknesses, English gentry, but also anticipates today´s wokeness .
There are at least 8 gems. For instance: Too much Tolerance: A mocking story about a man, who is extremely tolerant and has a very open mind; a person who accepts everyone and everything without regard to his own interests. Everyone is called a "jolly got chap" and "awfully nice person", whatever they do. In today´s terms a satire about wokeness and Political Correctness (PC).

As usual I read a lot Science Fiction. Here are my favorites from 2025:

 

 A while ago I discovered a writer with the pseudonym qntm, who´s very weird novella "There is no Antimemetics Division" fascinated me, even though I did not fully understand it. The author can write, owns plenty of imagination and seems to be well educated in mathematics, information theory, astrophysics and the like. The collection "Valuable Humans in Transit and other Stories" shows his talents: I have 3 favorites:
 "Gorge", a slick space opera. The staff of a space ship discovers a sphere drifting in space that has very strange properties. They begin to explore it, with disconcerting results (this is a spoiler free block). The tale reminds of the best stories of Asimove & Clarke 
"A Powerful Culture" belongs to the best alternate worlds & parallel universes stories I read - and I had read a lot  
"The Frame-by-Frame" is a funny tale where the diverse software threads of a self-driving car are discussing with each other about a suddenly approaching challenging traffic situation, using all available information

Rich Larson belongs to the up and coming writers in the science fiction genre. His short collection "Tomorrow Factory", published 2018, is lots of fun ( amazon). The collected 23 stories span a considerable bandwidth and are all crispy, quirky & cool. 
I have two favorites:
Innumerable Glimmering Lights" follows octopus-like intelligent beings who live in an ocean below miles of ice. One of them is ambitious and wants to find out what is beyond the ice - causing a lot of trouble. Lawson invented a plausible ecologic & social system of smart submarine beings who have their own ways to communicate - a master piece inspired by evolution, biology & chemistry. 
The Ghost Ship Anastasia: The crew of a spaceship tries to recover a very bizarre spaceship, leading to strange experiences - a horror story

 

 

Robert Heinlein belonged to the ring of masters who developed the science fiction genre (Asimov, Clark, Frederic Pohl). Like his colleagues he speculated about the future by appreciating scientific possibilities (hard science fiction). His short story "And he built a crooked house" shows what science fiction can do. The plot is based on mathematics and blends the weirdness of quantum physics with cosmology and ancient Hindu mythology about time & infinity. Apparently the basic idea inspired Ted Chiang ("Tower of Babylon") and other writers. 
The story is part of the small collection "All You Zombies— Five Classic Stories" (89 pages). The name giving short story does not contain zombies, but narrates about the paradoxes of time travel and blends it with different topics like sex change, terrorism, paranoia and much more. The weird plot reminds me more of Philllip K Dick than of the Heinlein`s typical engineer tales ("The Moon is a Harsh Mistress").

Enjoy!