2025 in Books Wrapped: My Top 5 Reads of the Year

As another year winds down, I’ve been looking back at the titles that shaped my thinking in 2025. This year’s list is a mix of older works that proved their relevance, analytical non-fiction that reframes how we see the world, and a pair of short Japanese novels that brought welcome literary calm. Here are the five books that stood out the most - and why they earned a spot on my list.

1. The Changing World Order — Ray Dalio

Why it made the list

Although published in 2021, Dalio’s macro-historical framework has aged unusually well. His cycles of rising and declining powers, debt accumulation, geopolitical competition, and societal cohesion offer a structured way to interpret today’s global shifts: U.S.–China tensions, inflation waves, currency instability, and political polarization. Books like these help me understand why the world is the way it is and its adequacy in explaining the current geopolitical landscape is what makes it worth revisiting, even in 2025. 

Synopsis

Dalio examines empire cycles, using data-driven patterns to explain how nations rise, peak, and decline. He highlights indicators - education, innovation, military power, reserve currency status - and ties them to modern data to forecast what the next few decades may hold.

About the Author

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates and one of the most influential macro-investors of the past half-century. His writing blends historical datasets with practical economic frameworks.

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2. Size — Vaclav Smil

Why it made the list

Smil’s central thesis - that humans and institutions routinely misinterpret scale - directly reflects organizational behavior today. Teams underestimate constraints, overestimate capabilities, and misunderstand the physics of size. This book nails that disconnect. Essential reading for any business leader trying to make their teams more effective. 

Synopsis

Smil breaks down how size dictates the functioning of organisms, machines, companies, and cities. He demonstrates why scaling up isn’t just “more of the same,” but a fundamentally different problem governed by physical law, energy density, and efficiency boundaries.

About the Author

Vaclav Smil is a world authority on energy systems and technological history. His reputation is built on detail, quantitative rigor, and an aversion to hype.

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3. The AI-fication of Jobs: Preparing Ourselves for the Future of Work — Huy NGUYEN TRIEU

Why it made the list

As readers of my blogs will know, the impact of AI on existing industries and the workplace is something I take great interest in. I had the opportunity to meet Huy Nguyen, and the book’s value becomes even clearer when you understand the intention behind it: a practical framework for collaborating with AI rather than competing against it. The co-writing approach - author + AI - is itself part of the thesis.

Synopsis

Nguyen outlines how generative AI will reshape job roles, skill sets, and organizational structures. He breaks roles into “automatable,” “augmentable,” and “irreducibly human,” offering realistic pathways for workers and leaders to adapt. The book avoids techno-utopian exaggeration and focuses instead on actionable adaptation.

About the Author

Huy Nguyen is a researcher and strategist focused on AI-enabled productivity. His work centers on human-AI cooperation, workflow augmentation, and workforce transition planning.

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4. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop — Satoshi Yagisawa

Why it made the list

After heavy non-fiction, this slender novel delivers a welcome break for the mind amid busy weeks and months. It’s a story of dislocation, loneliness, and rediscovery - set in a cramped Tokyo bookshop. Light, quiet, and grounding. One for a rainy day or slow Sunday afternoon. 

Synopsis

After a personal and professional collapse, Takako moves into her uncle’s eccentric second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho. What begins as refuge becomes renewal, as she reconnects with ordinary life through books, routines, and unexpected friendships.

About the Author

Satoshi Yagisawa is a Japanese novelist whose works often center on small spaces, inner lives, and human-scale transformation.

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5. Afternoon at the Morisaki Bookshop — Satoshi Yagisawa

Why it made the list

A continuation of the first novel, this sequel broadens the emotional world of the characters while keeping the same warm, minimalist tone. Together, the two books form a complete emotional arc.

Synopsis

The sequel shifts focus to another character grappling with identity, relationships, and the meaning of home. The bookshop once again serves as the backdrop for personal rebuilding, offering an introspective counterpart to the first book.

About the Author

Yagisawa continues his exploration of community, fragility, and the subtle shifts that define everyday life, delivering another quiet but resonant story.

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What to take into 2026

This year’s list taught me three things that I will look to expand my knowledge of in 2026:

1. The world runs on cycles larger than individuals can see (Dalio).

2. Scale is destiny, and misunderstanding it has consequences (Smil).

3. The future of work will belong to those who cooperate with AI, not fear it(Nguyen).

And sometimes, two quiet novels set in a dusty bookshop can rebalance everything.