2025 Recap — Books

I read a little more than last year (29 in total, compared to 26 in 2024). I took a few months off from work this year so I had more time to read. I wish I had read more, but I’m still happy with the number. I hope I can keep this momentum going in 2026, but since I’m new to the job, we’ll see.

Book Stats

I read 15 non-fiction and 14 fiction books this year. I was too lazy to make visualizations again, but I don’t think there are significant differences compared to last year.

My Favorites

If I had to pick one fiction and one nonfiction book from this year, I’d go with Orbital: A Novel and The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets.

• Orbital: One might think this is just another sci-fi novel by looking at the title, but it’s actually a very meditative, philosophical, and emotional exploration of human nature and society. My favorite part of the book is where the characters talk about Velasquez’s painting “Las Meninas” and how the dog is the only being in the painting that is truly free.

• The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets: I didn’t take many biology courses in schools and I always felt embarrassed that I didn’t really know what the “central dogma” was. Thanks to this book, I think I finally undertand what it means! To be honest, I’m pretty biased toward this book, since history/philosophy of science is one of my favorite topics.

Gratitude, 아주 희미한 빛으로도, 흰, Siddhartha, Death in a Shallow Pond, The Fall were also great reads.

I didn’t really like Comfort Crisis and Not the End of the World as much as I expected. While I appreciated their broad messages, I often felt that some of the claims leaned on oversimplified readings of statistics and research, drawing conclusions that felt a bit too confident. I might also be biased, since I “read” them as audiobooks.

Book List

Title	Author	Genre	Format	Language
The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values	Sam Harris	Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Religion, Psychology	Audiobook	English
귀신들의 땅 (鬼地方 / Ghost Town)	천쓰홍 (陳思宏 / Kevin Chen)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
The Fall	Albert Camus	Fiction, Philosophy, Classic	Physical book	English
산소리 (The Sound of the Mountain)	가와바타 야스나리 (Yasunari Kawabata)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
Gratitude	Oliver Sacks	Nonfiction, Memoir, Essays, Biography	Physical book	English
A Little History of the World	E. H. Gombrich	History, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain	Lisa Feldman Barrett	Science, Nonfiction, Neuroscience	Physical book	English
Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World	Ha-Joon Chang	Economics, Nonfiction, Politics	Audiobook	English
나는 세계와 맞지 않지만	진은영 (Jin Eun-young)	Essays, Nonfiction	Physical book	Korean
대온실 수리 보고서	김금희 (Kim Keum-hee)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
패배의 신호 (La Chamade)	프랑수아즈 사강 (Françoise Sagan)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
허송세월	김훈 (Kim Hoon)	Essays, Nonfiction	Physical book	Korean
바바리안 데이즈 (Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life)	윌리엄 피네건 (William Finnegan)	Memoir, Nonfiction	Physical book	Korean
RNA의 역사 (The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets)	토머스 R. 체크 (Thomas R. Cech)	Science, Biology, Nonfiction	Physical book	Korean
모순 (Contradictions)	양귀자 (Yang Gwija)	Fiction, Short Stories	Physical book	Korean
너의 유토피아 (Your Utopia)	정보라 (Bora Chung)	Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction	Physical book	Korean
The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self	Michael Easter	Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Self-help	Audiobook	English
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance	Robert M. Pirsig	Philosophy, Fiction	Physical book	English
흰 (The White Book)	한강 (Han Kang)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
Siddhartha	Hermann Hesse	Fiction, Philosophy	Physical book	English
People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent	Joseph E. Stiglitz	Economics, Politics, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
어두운 상점들의 거리 (Rue des Boutiques Obscures / Missing Person)	파트릭 모디아노 (Patrick Modiano)	Fiction	Physical book	Korean
Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It	Ethan Kross	Psychology, Science, Self-help, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
The Last Supper: How to Overcome the Coming Food Crisis	Sam Kass	Science, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
Project Hail Mary	Andy Weir	Science Fiction, Fiction	Audiobook	English
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet	Hanna Ritchie	Science, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
Orbital: A Novel	Samantha Harvey	Fiction	Physical book	English
Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, a Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need	David Edmonds	Philosophy, Nonfiction	Audiobook	English
아주 희미한 빛으로도	최은영 (Choi Eun-young)	Fiction, Short Stories	Physical book	Korean