I’m always on the hunt for a good book. Typically, I read non-fiction, but this year I branched out and included a little Stephen King, Anthony Doerr, and Markus Zusak. This year was an exceptional year of reading and I want to share just a few of my favorite books. If you pick one of these up, I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did! (You can also check out my favorite books from last year here.)
Deep Work
Cal Newport’s Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World should probably be required reading for all of us. With everything competing for our time these days, especially our phones, it’s the people who are able to focus who will do the most meaningful work in the next century. In Deep Work, Newport discusses the problems we face today and gives us actionable ideas for how to focus in today’s fast-paced world. You can find some of those actionable items and a “deeper” summary of the book here.
Make Time
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky are most famously the authors of Sprint, the book about how to run a Google Design Sprint (a practice I teach in my course at UW-Madison). They were both nice enough to chat with me a bit when I was writing my own book a couple of years ago. So, when I found out they’d written a book about time management, I picked it up right away. Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day was a perfect follow-up to reading Deep Work.
I read a lot of time management books, but this is the one I would give to my close friends and kids if they asked me to help them manage their time. It is chock full of practical ideas and things that you could start doing today. I still use their idea of having a “highlight of the day”, which is writing down what the most important thing you need to do today is. It’s the one thing that if you accomplish it, you’ll feel really good about the day’s productivity. It is an incredibly powerful tool in helping me work towards my most important goals. I also wrote a summary of this book with more of my favorite ideas from it here.
Invisible Women
And now I’m going to get a little more serious. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez made me mad. It made me LIVID. I could only read one chapter at a time, but it is an incredibly important book. It’s a major work of research in which Criado Perez proves just how our male-oriented society is affecting women today. In short, society’s biases are killing us. And with the rise of AI using the male-centric data we have to make decisions, things are only going to get worse — and quickly.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like women and minorities have been making progress. But this book and a few things that have happened lately in the United States have reminded me that we have a long way to go. Women (and men) need to work very hard to not only maintain the rights we have, but continue to fight for equality. If this intrigues you, pick up the book and/or check-out my summary here.
Unstuck
This is a fun one by a self-published author, Rachael Herron. During the pandemic, Rachael and her partner decided to move from San Francisco to New Zealand. She chronicles her move while comparing and contrasting life in New Zealand with life in the United States in her book: Unstuck: An Audacious Hunt for Home and Happiness. I absolutely loved this book. New Zealand is my favorite country in the world so I enjoyed the insights and honest stories about what life is really like there. The book even inspired me to get some Hell Pizza while I was in Wellington a couple of weeks ago. This is a short, fun read. If you’re interested in New Zealand, or are considering making a major move, I recommend it!
Do Nothing
Most of us are so busy with work and life that we’ve forgotten how to rest. We’ve forgotten that our bodies need rest and many of us are living lives that we’re not entirely happy with. Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee is an inspirational book filled with ideas for how to live a more intentional life. I was able to cut way back on work and stress this year by quitting my full-time job and it’s brought me to a much healthier life balance. I have no idea how I had time to work full-time for the past twenty years. You can read more about Headlee’s Do Nothing book here.
Transformed
I love all of Marty Cagan’s books and his latest Transformed: Moving to the Product Operating Model is no exception. All I will say about this book is that when I start a software company, this will be the playbook I use to run it. I’ve spent 20 years in tech and the Product Operating Model pulls together most of what I know to be true about running a highly effective software company, one in which you’re building products that really work for your customers and one in which your employees love to come to work. You can find out more about Transformed in my overview here.
How to Stand Up to a Dictator
Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in standing up to the Philippines’ dictatorial government for years. She was working as a journalist in the Philippines as she watched her once-democratic country turn into one in which people were killed without due process and political opponents (including herself, several times) were thrown in jail.
She is one of the smartest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening too. And she talks a lot about how social media, particularly Facebook, is contributing to the downfall of democracies worldwide. I picked up this book in preparation for the fight we may be embarking on in this country soon and I learned a lot along the way. This book, How to Stand up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future by Maria Ressa should be required reading in all high schools and for all adults in the United States right now.
Stephen King’s On Writing
I mentioned in the introduction that I started reading Stephen King novels this year. His memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, was the reason I picked up his other books. It is so well-written and, for an author like me, it is filled with invaluable information on how to be a great writer. I can’t speak highly enough about this book. You can learn more about it here.
More Favorite Books (Honorable Mentions)
There are a couple of other books that I really enjoyed that I want to briefly mention.
My favorite fiction book of the year, was a suggestion from my 14-year-old daughter: All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It’s a novel about a blind girl in France during the Nazi occupation and an orphan boy in Germany. It is beautifully written and eye-opening in its details about the time period.
A book that touched me more than I expected was Katie Ledecky’s swimming memoir, Just Add Water: My Swimming Life. I thought she’d be somewhat of a dumb jock (sorry, Katie), but the book was well-written. For a former swimmer like me, it’s incredibly fun and interesting. It’s fascinating to hear how she made it to the Olympics at 15 and has been to four of them since.
Breath by James Nestor wins in the category of eye-opening science lost to the ages. In a nutshell, we’re breathing wrong. The best thing you can do for your health and even to straighten out your teeth is to breathe with you mouth shut.
Last, But Not Least
Reading is one of the best things you can do to improve and enrich your life. I’d love to hear about what you’ve read in the past year, so please comment below! I wish you all a wonderful 2025 in books.
And now it’s shameless plug time. I have a book of my own. If you’ve ever been curious about how software teams work, but don’t want to wade through a lot of technical details, Agile Discovery & Delivery: A Survival Guide for New Software Engineers & Tech Entrepreneurs, is a great place to start. If you enjoy my blog, consider supporting me by buying the book!