Have you read any of these, my top favorite reads from 2025? Part one

No time for taking courses? Want to read more this year? Keen on learning?  Take advantage of my review of the books I read in 2025.

Books are underrated.  A vast universe is at your disposal to inhale.

Books allow you to learn, lead, and laugh.

They wait patiently for you to devour them in one sitting or peck at them, a few pages at a time.  Your choice.

That’s why I make reading a priority.  

Let’s celebrate all things books!

Here are my choice reads from 2025, part one.  I’ll cover part two next week.

I’ve divided my top reads into the following categories (note: some books can fit under one category, so don’t get hung up on the ‘classification’):

1. Learning and Development
2. Personal Development / Health and Wellness 
3. Business Development

Learning and Development

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

Worth a read if you want to improve how you learn (and who doesn’t want that?!)

• (I read this book on the Headway App, btw. Have you tried it?  It lets you read or listen to book summaries.  Pretty swift. Worth a try.)
• “Learning is a complex process that includes three stages: coding (entering short-term memory first), consolidation (connecting new knowledge with existing knowledge), and retrieval (remembering it when you need it).”  
• The author encourages us to be active learners, for example, asking questions about the content we’re reading, such as “what’s the main idea of this book? How does what I’m learning fit into my previous experience?”
• Three rules to master any field: be active and persistent in your learning, develop your intelligence, e.g., strive to learn in a variety of ways, and define the basic principles of your learning, e.g., research, analyze, and pinpoint the main idea.
• The author ties making mistakes to learning deeply and encourages us to get over our fear of making them (mistakes that is)

Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education and Why That’s a Good Thing by Salman Khan

• Written by the founder of the famous Khan Academy, this compelling book takes you behind the scenes of using AI – how the Khan Academy does it and how you can too
• Fascinating sections on AI and employment (including hiring), schools, and the issue of cheating
• It takes you down memory lane to what was, describes the current landscape of learning with AI, and gallops into the future with possible AI scenarios, including how AI has the potential to positively impact issues of equity 
• It’s a great balance of pragmatic and practical
• Go get this book and inhale it!

Personal Development / Health and Wellness

The Mindful Body by Ellen Langer 

• This is a fascinating climb into the unique mind of Ellen Langer and just how much control we have over our minds and bodies that we tend to be completely unaware of.
• Ellen has conducted oodles of studies – such as what would happen to your healing, if anything, if you thought time was passing more slowly or quickly than it actually was?  (Hint: it has a huge effect.  Folks who thought time was passing more quickly actually healed faster!)
• While at times I found parts of the book repetitive and easy to lose the thread, there’s no doubt the author proves that we’re capable of way more than we know.

The big scale back by Stephanie Woodward

• Stephanie weaves together her personal and professional experiences to tease out valuable lessons in life.
• Included are chapters on early childhood programming, work identity, work approach, the mucky middle, and the offramp.
• Her rallying cry is to move from unconscious to conscious productivity and all that that entails, examining our relationship to work, our work-life fulfillment, and becoming friends with our inner compass.
• It’s an intriguing read with lots of gems.

Dying to be me by Anita Moorjani

• You may or may not know that a few years back, I had an SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest).  Essentially, my ticker stopped ticking … for 3 ½ minutes.  I went to the pearly gates and had a gold old chinwag with God.
• All of which has made me keen on NDE’s (Near Death Experiences) – which are surprisingly common btw (about 17% of people have had one).
• Anita’s tale of her own NDE is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
• “The way I see it, if we were encouraged to express who we truly are, we’d all be very loving beings, each bringing our uniqueness to the world.  Problems and strife come as a result of our not knowing who we are and not being able to show our inner beauty.  We’ve created so much judgment about what’s “perfect,” which leads to doubt and competitiveness.. Since we feel as though we’re not good enough, we go around acting out.  However, if each of us became aware of our magnificence and felt good about ourselves, it seems to me the only thing we’d have to share is our unique nature, expressed outwardly in a loving manner that reflects our self-care. 
• “It follows that the problems we see in the world aren’t from the judgment or hatred we have for others but for ourselves.”
• I found it an interesting read for her theory on how to effect change, which is very individually focused (as opposed to structural/systemic, aka laws, rules, policies, etc.).  
• It’s a good read if you want to find out what’s potentially on the other side and dig into one way to effect change.

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You by Miranda Hart

• This is a true tale from the hilarious, epically wonderful comedian, actress, and writer Miranda Hart.
• It’s about life – in all its messiness, beauty, and in between bits.
• It’s about ‘Coming home to yourself: to operate from a place of peace and power, where you are free to be who you are (your authentic self) rather than buffeted by others’ opinions of you or worldly measurements of success. Basically, utter self-acceptance.’
• And how one goes about “Living as my true, wild self.”
• “We all have a story. I suppose that’s what our lives are made up of: beautiful, unexpected stories of joy and despair, darkness and light, strength and vulnerability, in all their weird and wonderful guises.
• If we think we are ugly, we hide our beauty. If we think we are stupid, we hide our intelligence, our innovations, our imagination. If we believe we shouldn’t be weak or vulnerable, we hide from asking for the help we need. If we believe we are defined by our job status, we keep striving and working and producing, and hide our playful, spontaneous, joyful selves, rarely resting. If we have been led to believe our opinion doesn’t count or is foolish, we will become small to keep the peace. If we believe our past failures identify our future, we hide our next ideas and our unique personality.
• Part kick-you-in-the-gut with her sincerity, part sit-back-in-awe at her tenacity, and part lean-in-and-snort-laugh, you must get this book!  It’s a total gem.

Into Nothingness – A Brief Chronicle of Loss by Gerda Wever

• It’s a task no one wants to be asked to do, because it means your dear friend’s son has passed.  
• Here’s the testimonial I wrote after being asked …
• “Gerda’s telling of the first year after her only son took his life is a simultaneous brutal, no-holds-barred kick to the gut and a softening of the heart, a testimony to how broken and resilient a mother, a human, can be.  It’s achingly beautiful, searing, raw, and utterly real. I found myself alternately holding my breath, throat thick, tears flowing, and uplifted with the strength of the author.  Her unflinching honesty is a gem.  She writes, “I suspected that by carefully examining something, this something terrible may become less terrible.  I also wrote it to make beauty out of sorrow.” Her intentions have been more than met.”
• If you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one and/or want to explore the topic of grief firsthand, this tiny wee book is a good place to start.  Have your tissues handy.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy

• A sweet, kind, and gentle read, this is a tale of hope, tenderness, and inspiration. 
• It’s a “book of hope for uncertain times.”
• The boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse have been shared millions of times online – perhaps you’ve seen them? They’ve also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Perhaps you saw the boy and mole on the Comic Relief T-shirt, Love Wins?
• Here, you will find the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse, “adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.”
• You need this book.  I guarantee it.

2025 may have been a challenging year for us all on many fronts, but it was also a great year for books.

Above are short and sweet summaries of the first two categories.  Next week I’ll share the other half of the books I read, namely, Business Development-focused.  Stay tuned.  And keep turning those pages.

1. Learning and Development
2. Personal Development / Health and Wellness 
3. Business Development

Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• Heed the call of any of the above books that are saying your name, and/or get inspired and make a list for your 2026 reads.

Laugh

• Need some inspiration?  Check out these wee babes ‘reading.’.

Lead

• Get reading!