In pursuit of ideas and perspectives a little more challenging than what I understand (one’s reach exceeding one’s grasp and all that…) my reading journey spanned AI, history and the lives and wisdom of influential and interesting people.
While some titles aligned closely with personal and professional interests, one clear trend emerged: books that grappled with the complexities of our modern world and explored ways to counter the annual, relentless cycle of burnout and fatigue. Driven by curiosity, these reads challenged my thinking and expanded my mental models.
As with the fiction list in Part One, this list is arranged in a loose ranking based on enjoyment, intellectual challenge, and impact.
The Notebook – A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen
If there was a book written just for me, this would be it. The tickling of my nerdy and obsessive core and left me with a warm, fuzzy and reassuring feeling that I was not alone in the world. As well as offering a great argument for why one should keep a notebook (or four) and context on why we feel compelled to do so, it also revealed how the mundane act of writing things down in notebooks transformed and shaped the modern world.
It is is a terrific historical study of the evolution and usage of notebooks and their role in creating the global financial system, Renaissance, Enlightenment and all manner of other human breakthroughs, discoveries and art works. For notebook enthusiasts, writers, and history buffs, this is an absolute must-read. It even solved a longtime personal mystery: why I became obsessed with buying and filling Moleskine notebooks in the late ’90s!
This book initially caught my attention as a teacher, but its broader discussion of how smartphones and social media are reshaping all our lives kept me hooked.For parents, educators or anyone with a stake in the lives and struggles of young people, this is sobering reading which goes a long way to explain the shift we have seen in our young people.
Haidt, a social psychologist, delves into what he calls ‘the great rewiring of childhood,’ examining its profound consequences for young people. He presents a compelling argument about the combined impact of social media, smartphones, and shifting parenting trends on the critical developmental years of adolescence—highlighting their role in the ongoing teen mental health crisis.
Haidt describes this as the greatest social experiment in history, with results that demand urgent rethinking and intervention to safeguard the well-being of young people—and, I would add, older generations too. If you have children, work with young people, or simply want to understand these seismic shifts, this book is essential reading.
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
This was definitely a stretch book, and it took a long time to work through—many chapters demanded careful thought and re-reading. Even then, I reckon I only grasped about two-thirds of this intellectual smorgasbord.
At its core, Antifragile explores the concept of ‘antifragility,’ a state beyond the familiar categories of fragile or robust. Taleb argues that in a world rife with change, chaos, and uncertainty, the most powerful and enduring quality to cultivate is antifragility—the ability to grow stronger and more resilient through adversity and indeed, rather than enduring, controlling, or avoiding randomness and chaos, we should embrace them and find ways to thrive. This shifted my perspective on how to navigate change and uncertainty in both personal and professional contexts.
While Taleb’s style is divisive, blunt, and arguably arrogant at times, his wide-ranging exploration of human behavior, systems, and institutions is undeniably thought-provoking. One idea that particularly resonated with me was Iatrogenics—the unintended consequences of medical interventions—which, intriguingly, has parallels with the realm of education. His insights span medicine, mathematics, finance, gambling, politics, and beyond, making this a deeply challenging but rewarding read.
Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick
With the rapid pace and complexity of AI development, it is hard know where to begin or what to believe. I went looking for a good primer to help me understand AI and its potential impact on our work and lives, and Ethan Mollick’s book fit the bill perfectly. His approachable style simplifies technical concepts without oversimplifying them, making this an excellent guide for anyone new to the field.
Mollick offers a broad overview of how generative AI works, along with practical principles and rules of thumb for interacting with it—helping to counterbalance the alarming and dark dystopian narratives often circulated. There’s plenty to blow your mind, but also an abundance of useful insights and ideas that avoid descending into dry theory or abstract history. If you’ve been curious about AI but unsure where to start, this is an accessible and engaging first step.
It’s not just his mesmerising podcast voice that draws you in—on the page, Oliver Burkeman’s writing exudes a warm, homely, and reassuring tone. He explores themes that feel especially relevant in our hyper-connected, relentlessly busy modern lives. One word he introduced me to this year was ‘finitude’—the idea that human limits and boundaries are both inevitable and worth confronting, philosophically and practically.
Maybe it’s age, or the mounting pressure to excel at everything in pursuit of the elusive perfect work-life balance, but as time passes the pressure to attain this grows more overwhelming. Burkeman, a self-confessed recovering productivity addict, confronts this reality head-on, asking uncomfortable yet essential questions about what it means to embrace our limits.
There were moments where his revelations hit hard—like his vivid description of striving for an imagined life of perfect equilibrium, where everything feels balanced and effortless. The painful truth he offers is that such a place doesn’t exist—and, crucially, that it’s okay. In fact, the endless pursuit of this ideal might be the very thing driving our exhaustion.
Don’t be misled by the self-help-style title—this isn’t a guide filled with tips you somehow missed. Instead, it’s thoughtful, digestible brain food that challenges how we navigate the chaos of modern life and pushes us to rethink the path forward.
Honourable mentions
If you watched and enjoyed ‘The Bear’ then you will love this account of how the process of building and creating a restaurant happened in real life, which in turn influenced the creators of the show. I thought there were lessons which applied in any service industry, like schools, too.
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
A great book that builds on the idea of working at a more human pace and measuring progress over years, not days and weeks. It includes practical advice, but also offers more philosophical questions to reflect on when thinking about your own context.
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr Peter Attia with Bill Gifford
This kept popping up on recommended reading lists and I avoided it for a long time because I thought it was just a ‘how to live until two hundred’ thing. I was wrong about that. The ideas and messages in this are more about the distinction between lifespan and healthspan and how science can suggest ways to improve your chances of being in a position to be healthy enough to live well as you age.Unlike most health and science books out there, this is not full of prescriptive ego and while it is dense and detailed, the information is meant to be understood and applied by regular people.
John Curtin: A Life by David Day
This was a great read about a flawed man of his time whose life is on the cusp of being forgotten by Australia. There is more detail on this here.
Good luck for your reading journey in 2025 and I hope you found something useful in this list and I thank you for persisting if you made it this far. What books challenged your thinking this year? Feel free to share your recommendations below!
Charlie Hynes 