---
title: "My Favorite Books of 2025"
description: "A curated list of the top 10 books I read in 2025, covering complexity science, geopolitical strategy, the mechanics of innovation, and thrilling fiction."
categories: ["books"]
keywords: ["best books 2025","complexity science","innovation economics","Nick Harkaway","China technology","Texas politics","financial bubbles"]
ai_summary: "Discover Tom's top 10 books of 2025, featuring insights on complexity science, the economics of financial bubbles, China's engineering quest, and gripping spy thrillers."
date: 2025-12-29
lastmod: 2026-08-04
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/10-best-books-of-2025/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---


This year I traveled through systems, human & machine, from the mathematics of complexity to industrial espionage.

1.  [The Complex World: An Introduction to the Foundations of Complexity Science](https://www.amazon.com/Complex-World-Introduction-Foundations-Complexity/dp/1947864629): Donella Meadows' [_Thinking in Systems_](https://tomtunguz.com/feedback-loops/) introduced me to feedback loops a decade ago. This book goes deeper, surveying where complexity science stands today.
2.  [Math Without Numbers by Milo Beckman](https://www.amazon.com/Math-Without-Numbers-Milo-Beckman/dp/1524745545): A vivid & accessible tour of abstract mathematics. Beckman covers topology, infinities larger than infinity, & other mind-bending concepts, all without a single digit & with proofs to explain it all.
3.  [On Democracy by E. B. White](https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-B-White/dp/0062905430): White, New Yorker editor, Charlotte's Web author, Elements of Style co-creator, is among my favorite writers. These essays provide a time capsule to help us understand where we are today. Written as fascism spread across Europe & America debated isolationism, White's defense of America provided a window into another era of rapid political change.
4.  [Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang](https://www.amazon.com/Breakneck-Chinas-Quest-Engineer-Future/dp/B0FDH3Z3K6): Wang argues that the US & China each have a dominant form of government problem-solving : through laws in the US, or through engineering in China.
5.  [God Save Texas by Lawrence Wright](https://www.amazon.com/God-Save-Texas-Lawrence-Wright-audiobook/dp/B075F8Y83N): Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of the Lone Star State. Both California & Texas value independence & innovation. As a Californian, it was fascinating to see Texas through Wright's eyes.
6.  [The NVIDIA Way](https://www.amazon.com/Nvidia-Way-Jensen-Making-Giant/dp/1324086718): Jensen Huang believes Nvidia's worst enemy isn't competition but complacency. Kim's portrait reveals a CEO who spends late nights alongside his team, torturing them into greatness.
7.  [The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies](https://www.amazon.com/Unaccountability-Machine-Systems-Terrible-Decisions/dp/B0FCSPKXKX): Davies argues that modern organizations function like runaway AIs, making decisions no human intends. A hotel executive cuts staff to improve the balance sheet. Later, you can't check into your room & the clerk can only offer a voucher. There's no one to call, no way to communicate back. That's an unaccountability machine.
8.  [Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway](https://www.amazon.com/Karlas-Choice-John-Carr%C3%A9-Novel/dp/B0CTD53NZS): I've read every le Carré. His son Harkaway picks up where his father left off, adding a bracing entry to the canon.
9.  [Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway](https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Titanium-Noir-A-Novel/dp/B0BKWTMTM9): Before spy novels, Harkaway spent fifteen years writing science fiction. Curious about his earlier work, I was not disappointed. Titanium Noir explores a world in which the wealthy have access to drugs that double their lifespan & double their size. The novel examines what happens when health becomes a function of wealth.
10. [Boom: Bubbles & the End of Stagnation by Byrne Hobart & Tobias Huber](https://www.amazon.com/Boom-Bubbles-Stagnation-Byrne-Hobart/dp/1953953476): Why does transformative progress require financial bubbles? This builds on Carlota Perez's work on [technology innovation cycles](https://tomtunguz.com/three-big-ideas-in-technology-innovation-cycles/). Hobart & Huber argue that bubbles' poor accountability shelters the world's most important breakthroughs.

What should I read in 2026?