2025 Reading List

This years reading list is designed as a living document, one that grows and evolves each month as new books are added, old favorites are revisited, and themes begin to emerge from the year’s choices. With this approach I am trying to reflect both discipline and flexibility. Discipline in maintaining the habit of reading widely and carefully, and flexibility in allowing new interests to shape the direction of study. By updating monthly, I hope the list will capture not just what is being read but also the rhythm and progression of a year in books.

The first part of the year has been anchored by a series of re-reads. These are works that shaped my thinking in past years and continue renewed attention. From the moral vision of Thomas Paine and Martin Luther King Jr. to Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique of modern ethics, and to the practical wisdom of Ray Dalio and Charlie Munger, these months highlight the value of returning to foundational texts while engaging them through questions and critiques in writing. Alongside these, I revisited investment and strategy classics such as The Intelligent Investor and Chip War. Their lessons take on new meaning when read in light of current social and political realities. I plan to make this cycle of re-reading a deliberate annual practice at the start of each year.

At the same time new discoveries and focused studies have continue to enrich the year’s reading. February was shaped almost entirely by the philosophy of Leibniz, which deepened my engagement with questions of knowledge, metaphysics, and the origins of thought. Spring and summer brought explorations into history that included civilizational collapse, espionage, America’s founding generation, and the long legacy of slavery in early colonial and pre-colonial America. This mix of re-reads and new works in philosophy, history, and biography illustrates the balance I seek. I want to stay grounded in familiar texts, continue to build a foundation of knowledge while continuing to press outward into new thoughtful terrain.

January

  1. The Name of God is Mercy, by Pope Francis (re-read)

  2. Rights of Man, by Thomas Paine (re-read)

  3. The Measure of a Man, by Martin Luther King, Jr. (re-read)

  4. After Virtue, by Alasdair MacIntyre (re-read)

  5. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, by Ray Dalio (re-read)

  6. Charlie’s Almanac, by Charles Munger (re-read)

7. The New Wine Rules, by Jon Bonne

February

  1. Thoughts on Knowledge, Truth and Ideas, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  2. Discourse on Metaphysics, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  3. A New System, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  4. Reflections on Locke’s Essay on Human Understanding, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  5. On the Ultimate Origin of Things, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  6. On Nature in Itself, or the Force Residing in Created Things, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  7. The Monadology, by Gottried W. Leibniz

  8. Epistemological Problems of Economics, by Ludwig Von Mises

  9. What Would Frida Do? By Arianna Davis

  10. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, by Ross King

  11. Idealism, by Hector Davis

  12. My Inventions, by Nicolas Tesla

  13. Three dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, by George Berkeley

March

  1. 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric Cline

  2. A Concise History of Turkey, by Charles Editors

  3. Irreligion, by John Paulos

  4. The Situation Room, by George Stephanopoulos

  5. After 1177 B.C. The Survival of Civilization, by Eric Cline

  6. The Spy, by Suzanne Kamata

  7. The Reluctant Spy, by John Kiriakou

April

  1. The Life of a Spy, by Rod Barton

  2. The Firm, by John Grisham

  3. Chip War, by Chris Miller (re-read)

  4. The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham (re-read)

  5. Battle for the American Mind, by Pete Hegseth

6. For Love of Country, by Tulsi Gabbard

May

  1. To Sail a Serious Ocean, by John Kretschmer (re-read)

  2. Money, by Jacob Goldstein

  3. George Washington at “Headquarter, Dobbs Ferry”, by Mary Donovan

  4. George Washington: A Selection of Letters, by George Washington

  5. George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, by George Washington

  6. George Washington’s Farewell Address, by George Washington

  7. Flowers, Guns, and Money, by Lindsay Schakenbach (About Joel Poinsett, Van Buren’s Sec of War)

  8. Patriotism and Profit, by Susan Nagel

June

  1. Antifragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  2. First Family, by Joseph J. Ellis

  3. John Adams Under Fire, by Dan Abrams

  4. Washington, by Ron Chernow

July

  1. Rise and Kill First, Ronen Bergman (re-read)

  2. Mark Twain, by Ron Chernow

  3. Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (re-read)

  4. American Sphinx, by Joesph J. Ellis

  5. Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt

  6. The Hundred Years War of Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi

August

  1. Master of the Mountian, Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves, by Henry Wiencek

  2. Trumps Triumph, by Newt Gingrich

  3. Melting Point, by Rachel Cockerell

  4. Master of the Mountian, Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves, by Henry Wiencek (re-read)

  5. The Servile Wars: The History and Legacy of the Slave Uprisings against Rome, by Simon Webb

  6. The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam, by Simon Webb

  7. American slavery, American freedom, By Edmund Morgan

  8. The Haitian Revolution: The History and Legacy of the Slave Uprising that Led to Haiti's Independence, by Charles Editors

  9. The Slave Ship: A Human History, by Marcus Rediker

  10. To be a Slave, Julius Lester