5 Favorite Books of 2025
At the end of the year, I have a habit of covering the books I really liked. In 2021 and 2022, I managed to read over 60 books. In 2023, it was only 19. Last year, I got back on track with 31 books. This year, I have finished only 15 so far, with a few still in progress. I have clearly spent more of my time planning, building, and studying things for my new startup, and I had less time for reading. But I still got into some truly interesting books.
This time, I am taking a slightly different approach. I will cover four of the five books in a concise way, and then focus on my favorite of the year in more depth.
By the way, here are my favorite books from previous years.
5 Favorite Books of 2022 (easier to pick 5 😅)
The Four Good Ones
Here goes.
The Wealth Ladder, Nick Maggiulli
“The Wealth Ladder” feels like a straightforward manual for building financial freedom through repeatable, practical steps instead of chasing a pipe dream or lottery wins. Maggiulli breaks wealth down into stages: earning, saving, investing, and scaling, and explains how each stage requires a different mindset and set of behaviors.
The best part is that the book does not try to impress with complex theories. It shows how ordinary people can move up the ladder by being intentional, building skills that raise earning power, and consistently putting money to work in simple, long term investments. It is basically a roadmap for turning disciplined habits into compounding advantages.
Why it deserves a top 5 spot:
The book addresses a topic that is close to any entrepreneur. Once you start making a living and paying your bills, the itch often appears to actually build real wealth. Not everyone feels it, but I have noticed that the wealth creation that comes from building your own company is a side product that rarely gets talked about. This book explores that better than any I have read.
Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman
“Meditations for Mortals” reads like a gentle but sharp reminder that life is short, and that accepting our limits is the fastest way to stop wasting time on the wrong things. Burkeman takes the big existential ideas from Four Thousand Weeks and turns them into short reflections that help you step out of anxiety, perfectionism, and overthinking.
Why it deserves a top 5 spot:
I rarely come across a book that makes me think this much while I am reading it. It kept pulling me back to the simple truth that we have a limited number of days, and clarity comes from choosing what truly matters rather than trying to do everything. It is both practical and philosophical, offering grounded prompts for focusing your attention.
No More Mr. Nice Guy, Robert Glover
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” is a wake up call for men who hide their needs, avoid conflict, and hope that being agreeable will solve everything. Glover explains how these habits begin as childhood coping strategies and later turn into resentment and weak boundaries. The book gives concrete steps for changing the pattern by being honest, setting limits, and acting from your own values instead of seeking approval.
Why it deserves a top 5 spot:
This book hit me because it put words to behaviors I had never really recognized in myself. It made me see how much I had tied my self worth to being agreeable and keeping the peace, even when it meant suppressing my own needs with my spouse and kids. It has given me tools to change that, from expressing what I want to setting limits without guilt. It has helped me feel more solid and authentic in my relationships.
Mark Twain, Ron Chernow
What I liked most in Chernow’s Mark Twain biography was how it revealed the messy side of a writer most of us imagine as effortless. Twain struggled with money, bad investments, perfectionism, burnout, and the pressure to keep producing. Seeing that side made me feel more connected to my own creative process. His accomplishments felt less mythical and more like the result of resilience and persistence.
Why it deserves a top 5 spot:
The book reads like the biography of a creative entrepreneur who kept reinventing himself. Twain took risks, made bad bets, rebuilt his finances, and continued innovating while managing his public persona. Seeing those cycles up close made me think about my own work in a grounded way. It reinforced how persistence and reinvention matter more than perfection.
My Favorite of the Year
The Art of Spending Money, Morgan Housel
“The Art of Spending Money” became my favorite book of the year because it helped me see money, both holding it and not spending it, from new angles. Housel shows how disposable income can quietly start shaping your identity, and how you may begin defining yourself by what sits in your accounts or your assets. The book helped me see more clearly how cash in the bank, and other assets, interacts with daily life without turning it into a performance, something I have definitely noticed in myself.
The biggest insight is that the book is less about spending and more about not spending. It is about preserving autonomy. Like in his previous books, Housel explains the freedom that comes from choosing not to buy, not to signal, and not to let money pull you into lifestyles you never consciously chose. That shift moves the focus away from optimizing purchases and toward protecting autonomy.
Get this book, and get his other books as well. He has a unique way of thinking about how we should approach money without letting it define us. This book helped me clarify what truly matters, cut the noise, and appreciate the power of restraint.
Out of all the books I read this year, this one gave me the cleanest and most useful shift in perspective. In my opinion, that is what matters most in books.