2025: A Year in Books
At the start of each year I login in to my Goodreads account and set up a new reading challenge. Reading more is not exactly a New Year’s resolution, but rather just an intention to read more. I used to read books all the time, no matter where I was - work, travel, home - I always had a stack of books in work. A few years ago I realized that, while I was still very active as a reader, I was reading less books and consuming far too much web-based …. um, crap. So starting in 2023 I set up these challenges, and in 2024 actually hit my number of 20. So, for 2025 I was determined to challenge myself even more.
And 2025 was going to be a little different. Along with tallying the total number of books, my daughter, who reads over 100 books a year, encouraged me to read more international works.
I set my goal at 25 books, which I figured would be an achievable challenge at 2 books or so per month. Since audio books count toward the total, I figured I could get a few extra on my preparations for my annual long hikes. Luckily, my daughter (a fellow scientist) had prepared a detailed spreadsheet of international books to give me a starting point.
I made my goal, with last title completed at the very end of December! So here is summary of my reads for 2025:
A selection of books from my 2025 Reading Challenge on Goodreads
The Books of My 2025 Challenge:
in order of completion!
Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Sci-Fi).
Revenge of the Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell (Non-fiction)
Sisters of Belfast, Melanie Maure (Fiction, International Challenge: Ireland)
Children of Memory, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Sci-Fi)
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, Alan Lightman (Non-Fiction; Science, Philosophy)
The House of the Spirts, Isabel Allende (Fiction, International Challenge - Chile)
Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Sci-Fi)
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse (Non-Fiction)
We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, Syou Ishida (Fiction, International Challenge - Japan)
Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Sci-Fi)
The Old Ways, A Journey on Foot, Robert Macfarlane (Non-Fiction, International Challenge - United Kingdom)
The Midnight Library, Matt Haig (Sci-Fi)
Lock In, John Scalzi (Sci-Fi)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific; J. Maarten Troost (Non-fiction, Travel)
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir (Sci-Fi)
Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Robert Macfarlane (Non-Fiction)
Chronicle of Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Fiction - International Challenge - Columbia)
The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi (Sci-Fi)
When the Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi (Sci-Fi)
The Marches: A Borderland Journey Between England and Scotland, Rory Stewart (Non-Fiction, International Challenge - United Kingdom)
This is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Polan (Non-Fiction, Science)
Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane (Non-Fiction)
Astrophysics for People in.a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson (Non-Fiction, Science)
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph, Ryan Holiday (Non-Fiction)
Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life, Daniel Klein (Non-Fiction; Travel and Philosophy)
In addition, two books that I read that didn’t count towards the total, but since I am the science consultant on this series, and it is part of my STEM outreach work, I wanted to list them here:
If you would like to follow me on Goodreads, or read my full reviews for any of these books, here is a link to my profile.
As I’m writing this I’m seeing some interesting patterns. Obviously I enjoy science fiction, and I always will. I usually identify a series each year to listen to on the trail and long travel days to and from my overseas hikes. Margaret Wells and John Scalzi have accompanied me on the trail in previous years, this last year it was largely Adrian Tchaikovsky I’ve also been adding more books about travel experiences. Maybe someday I will join that group!
Just for the fun of it, we made a map of what we accomplished for our international challenge this year!
Our 2025 International Choices - not all books are shown at this scale!
What’s in store for 2026? Well, more books - 26 this year (yes, there is a pattern), and a continuation of the International Challenge. Also, the intention (not resolution), to post more book reviews here and on my travel site, The Long Ways Podcast. Let’s see how that turns out!