My Top 10 Favorite Books of 2025: Lessons on Life, Loss, and Curiosity

2025 was a year of books that challenged, comforted, and inspired me. From randomness and mortality to dreams and embodiment, these ten nonfiction books stood out from all the rest.

Here’s a look at my 10 favorites—and why they might resonate with you too. (I’ll share my Top 5 Fiction Favorites on Friday, December 19.)

1. Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters

by Brian Klaas

Do you want to be more comfortable with uncertainty? This book takes a curious look at how randomness shapes our lives. I was completely fascinated by it. It explores the tension between chance and meaning. It left me more confident that small actions still matter—even in an unpredictable world.

• Quick takeaway: Embrace uncertainty.
• Think about: If so much is out of my control, does it matter what I actually do? (Answer: yes!)

2. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

by Tom Vanderbilt

I was captivated by this observation of human behavior behind the wheel. This book brings both data and psychology to explain how and why we drive like we do.

• Quick takeaway: The systems we function in (including highways and parking lots) shape our behavior.
• Think about: Why do I act differently on the road and how can I improve?

3. Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

by Oliver Burkeman

If you’re a student of productivity culture (I can’t help but be drawn to these books), don’t look in this book for more life hacks. But what you find might be more helpful: a way to reframe our limits. Burkeman sees them as a feature of being human, not a flaw. He offers permission to live fully and make peace with boundaries. I’ll read anything Oliver Burkeman writes.

• Quick takeaway: Focus on what matters most.
• Think about: What if the problem isn’t my self-discipline, but my expectations about what I can accomplish in a day?

4. Moving On Doesn’t Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss

by Gina Moffa

For anyone who is grieving something—a person you love, a material possession, a job, etc.—this book talks to you like a compassionate friend. It guides you through living and growing with grief, not trying to erase it and pretend the loss never happened.

• Quick takeaway: Deep grief changes over time, but it doesn’t disappear.
• Think about: Is it okay that I’m still grieving—and may never stop?

5. The Dreaming Way: Courting the Wisdom of Dreams

by Toko-pa Turner

If spiritual listening and learning to trust your wisdom are important to you, this is a mesmerizing look about paying attention to your nighttime dreams. While our minds speak to us in words all day, at night they switch to images to get our attention.

• Quick takeaway: Notice what your dreams want you to see.
• Think about: Does my deeper self know more than I’m giving it credit for?

6. Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying

by Sallie Tisdale

We may not like to think about death. But we (and everyone we know) are all going to die. So why not contemplate our mortality with more clarity and compassion? This book by a palliative care nurse does that in a soothing and honest way.

• Quick takeaway: Face your mortality head-on.
• Think about: What could dying well look like for me—and for helping others I love?

7. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

by Priya Parker

Whether you host elaborate work conferences or an occasional family meal, this is a surprisingly helpful book to improve any type of gathering. I found several practical ideas to use for creating more intentional connections with groups of people.

• Quick takeaway: Meaningful gatherings are created by design.
• Think about: What few details could I intentionally tweak to create more purposeful gatherings?

8. Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

by Ann Handley

Yes, everybody writes. It doesn’t have to be the great American novel. It could be just a text confirming a lunch date. This book addresses all of us as the writers we are, whether we’re writing for work, personal relationships, or online communications. Lots of helpful tips.

• Quick takeaway: Write like a real person—yourself!—and not a brand.
• Think about: What words can I use to communicate with more clarity and value?

9. Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World

by Abigail Rose Clarke

Our bodies are our first and constant home on this earth. This book explores what it means to reconnect with our bodies and their place in the world at large.

• Quick takeaway: Reevaluating your relationship with your body is healing in personal, social, and ecological ways.
• Think about: What if my body is more than a productivity tool to move me through life?

10. Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

by Bill Perkins

I’ve always been more of a money saver than a spender. (I’m good at talking myself out of buying things.) This book was a wake-up call that, at this stage of my life, it’s okay to use money that I’ve saved up (within reason, of course; I’m still going to be thrifty) for things that matter to me.

• Quick takeaway: Use money as a tool to live fully, not just as a security blanket.
• Think about: What if the goal isn’t to die with a stash of money, but to thoughtfully spend and give more away while I’m alive and can watch it make a difference?

Final Thoughts

Each of these 10 books gave me a unique gift in 2025, and left me with better questions after I finished them.

I hope you found a book or two this year that did the same for you.

Did you have a favorite? Share your recommendations in the comments.

Related Reading:

• My Top 9 Books of 2024: More Than Stories, They Became Experiences
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• My Top 7 Novels of 2024
  Here are my favorite 7 novels that I read in 2024. Some are by authors I already love; other authors are new to me this year.
• 5 Reasons to “Do” the Book Instead of Just Reading It (+ 5 Book Picks)
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• Double the Insight: Why It Works to Read Fiction and Nonfiction Together
  Mixing fiction and nonfiction can make your reading life deeper and more balanced. Here’s why the combo works—and three book pairings to try.

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• My Top 5 Fiction Books of 2025: Stories That Stayed With Me →