If You Only Read A Few Books In 2025, Read These
I can’t predict the future, so I don’t know what the year will bring, but I feel pretty confident in predicting that 2025 will be challenging.
First of all, because what year hasn’t brought challenges? Never forget, Seneca reminds us, Fortune has a habit of behaving exactly as she pleases. Why would 2025 be an exception to this rule? There is no normal in this life…except disruption, change and surprise.
Second, because it already is challenging. We’re three weeks into the year and there have already been fires and wars, political dysfunction, attacks and earthquakes. My kids have already been sick. And we’re just getting started.
The question, then, is not how we can avoid these challenges but how we can prepare for them. One of my favorite quotes, inscribed across the back of my bookstore, comes from Walter Mosley: “I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps.”
2025 will be crazy and weird and tough. But probably not any more than the year 1925. Or the year 25 AD. That means there are lots of books, lots of ideas, lots of history that can help us with what lies ahead…because it will rhyme with what lies behind us. Whether we’re navigating personal trials, global upheavals, or moments of inspiration, books remain one of…
