These are my favorite books read in 2025, in no particular order.
Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman
A fellow Improver highly recommended this book a couple of years ago, and I had promised to run a book club for it.
I enjoyed the book because the author’s journey overlaps mine in many ways. As I often reflect on my career, the book inspired me to keep documenting my journey as I plot my way forward.
As I prepared to share my takeaways at a lightning talk, I took a slice of that and shared as blog post and video: Software Worth Talking About – From Gooey Glass to Glowing Code
Biblical: Rob Halford’s Heavy Metal Scriptures
At the end of Rob Halford’s autobiography, Confess, I learned he had published it a few years later. This was another great listen for me.
Heavy Metal was created around 55 years ago. Rob has been there for most of it.
His retelling of metal history was excellent.
How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion
This year, I gifted many copies of this book.
I enjoyed reading the book and revisiting my notes just as much as the previous times I read it.
One page, on the topic of creation (a focus for me the entire year), had every single line highlighted. Three different colors were used to mark passages I highlighted at various times I’ve read the book. That, plus the multiple sticky notes I added to the page.
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
I don’t remember reading a book I marked up the jacket of, so I knew I’d enjoy this one, which at least five people had already recommended.
The book validated some things I had learned and clarified the science behind them, while giving me more to reflect on. I will let it sit for a while and revisit my notes later (which is something I usually do, and the authors also recommend).
Only Half There The Autobiography of Devin Townsend
From listening to his albums and interviews, I knew his music represented his life’s journey, and the book added more details. His creative process is very similar to mine. Devin has released 30+ albums over his career, and the variety of music he writes amazes me.
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Eye-opening.
This is Strategy
Seth Godin writes short riffs, which are easy to read and provide great food for thought. This is one of the few books I started transferring notes and highlights immediately after reading. Here are just a few of my favorite passages…
Strategy is a compass that helps us to take action when we’re uncertain, to build networks when we’re alone, and to persevere until the world we live in becomes the world we imagine.
Our experience of time determines our choices.
“Better”, the heart of your strategy.
Better for who?
When we lack the empathy to imagine someone else’s “better”, we’re on the road to frustration.
Tiny Experiments
I stumbled upon a short interview with the author of this book while preparing to give a talk to the Goals Alliance community. I enjoyed the book a lot. Several lessons resonate with what I have learned and experienced over the years, and they also gave me a few more tools for reflecting on experiments and goals and deciding what to learn next.
I’m considering rereading the book soon and will likely run a book club.
Unreasonable Hospitality
Its background is fine dining, which I know nothing about and have no interest in.
However, the core message is that we provide the people we serve value beyond what we charge.
I listened to the audiobook, but I’ll get either a printed copy or an e-book version so I can mark it up.
Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions
Over the last three years, I’ve been reading, researching, and pondering deeply about how people think. I had believed everybody thought in pictures as I do, but learned that wasn’t the case at all. In my research, I came across Temple Grandin’s book. I enjoyed it immensely.
I enjoyed learning about the different types of thinkers: Verbal and Visual (split into Object and Spatial). The kind of thinker isn’t either-or; it’s a spectrum.
Grandin makes a point and offers good examples about the importance of bringing together diverse thinkers in teams.
The description of her 30-second wow resonated and inspired a blog post (“Helping Stakeholders “Get It” — With a 30-Second Wow“).
The book includes a questionnaire that helps identify a person’s kind of thinker. I prompted AI Studio with that questionnaire and a deep research result, and built a simple assessment experiment. The intention is to understand how the people I work with think and to improve our communication and collaboration. If you’re interested in that, see the callout below!
This experiment later became one of the stories in my book, Need–Problem–Solution: A Simple Playbook for Using AI in Your Everyday Life. It’s one of ten real, everyday examples where I start with a human need, name what’s in the way, and explore how AI can help—without losing the human side of the work.