Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45947737

by dom96 • 8 months ago

22 20 8 months ago

news.ycombinator.com

Looking for some inspiration for some books to read during the Christmas holidays

Here's my list so far:

Differential Privacy (2025) by Simson Garfinkel. This is an accessible and enjoyable introduction to differential privacy from the MIT Press essentials series.

The Philosopher in the Kitchen (1825) by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. This is a primer on gourmandism or the art and science of cooking, eating, and hosting. An interesting look at the French intellectual milieu at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Relativism and the Foundations of Philosophy (2006) by Steven Hales. This book argues for relativism about philosophical propositions, e.g., metaphysical statements. I came across this book and picked it up after enjoying a few articles from Hales' blog [0].

I usually put up a list at the end of each year. Here's the list from last year [1].

[0] https://hilariusbookbinder.substack.com

[1] https://bcmullins.github.io/interesting-books-2024/

brudgers2• 8 months ago

The Creative Act, Rick Rubin

But I do not read a lot of books in a year anymore.

chistev3• 8 months ago

But I do not read a lot of books in a year anymore.

Why?

brudgers2• 8 months ago

Reading books does not align with my interests as much anymore.

And I realize as I write this, my favorite fiction authors have mostly all died off…and if they were already dead when I discovered them I have already read about as much of their work as seemed worth reading.

But in the bigger picture, I quit moralizing over my reading a few years ago…it started with giving myself permission to not finish books.

Basically I stopped keeping a list.

bicepjai2• 8 months ago

This why I love HN, my next book will be creative act

carlnewton• 8 months ago

I enjoyed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke the most this year. It has wonderful world building that was reminiscent of The Library of Babel. I'm currently really enjoying We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. So far it's a very fun spacefaring adventure.

dom96• 8 months ago

Piranesi has been on my shelf for a while, guess it's time I give it a go

pesfandiar• 8 months ago

As a parent, I found "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt insightful and eye-opening.

unionjack22• 8 months ago

It’s absolutely insightful for adults as well. Especially when paired with the other horsemen of the attention apocalypse “Dopamine Nation”, “Irresistible”, and “The Shallows”.

Returned my treatment of the internet from “the thing” to just another tool.

BOOSTERHIDROGEN• 8 months ago

How I Wish I Had Taught Maths by Craig Barton. it really is how i wish.

qkeast2• 8 months ago

- One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford - Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky - The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

I keep a reading list at quinnkeast.com/reading. Would love to see others’ if any has one to share!

chistev3• 8 months ago

Your link isn't loading up on my browser

qkeast2• 8 months ago

What’re you seeing? Seems to be working from my end.

chistev3• 8 months ago

Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Animal Farm by George Orwell (a reread)

Night by Elie Wiesel

scrapheap• 8 months ago

Stand out books for me that I've read this year:

* The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Short, but a great read)

* The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

* The Armchair Universe by A.K.Dewdney (First read this one many years ago, but I've been reading it again)

* Final Orbit by Chris Hadfield (third book in a series, so you'd want to start at the begining with The Apollo Murders)

bicepjai2• 8 months ago

1. Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works--and How It Fails 2. Writing to learn. People who are scared of writing like me must listen to this every year :) 3. Made to stick 4. Million dollar weekend 5. Surrounded by idiots

bencornia• 8 months ago

- Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout

- Leviathan Wakes by James Corey

- UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan

- Efficient Linux at the Command Line by Daniel Barrett

sph• 8 months ago

The Outsider by Colin Wilson validated a lot of the doubts I’ve had my entire life and showed me a courageous way forward embracing my nature.

This is a recommendation that applies to very few people but the misfits, the philosophers, the hermits, the compulsive thinkers. Those that feel they are meant to peer behind the veil of the world rather than dance to its tune.

racktash• 8 months ago

Between River and Sea by Dervla Murphy (her final published book). It (and admittedly a few other things) completely altered my view on the relevant issue, and despite being a very serious topic, the book is enjoyable and heavy considering.

pioneer42• 8 months ago

On a pop history/nonfiction streak this year:

Assyria, The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm

1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline

Children of Ash and Elm, a History of the Vikings by Neil Price

Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?

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