While the bulk of what I read every year is published by Christians and for Christians, I do also enjoy reading books for the general market. On that note, here are 10 of the general market books I read and especially enjoyed in 2025.
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman & Paul Clark Newell Jr. In 2009, Bill Dedman noticed a grand old mansion for sale—a mansion that had not been lived in for 60 years. He began to research the home and learned it belonged to Huguette Clark, an heiress whose father, though largely forgotten today, had been one of the wealthiest men in America during the Gilded Age. Dedman tracked her down and found her still alive and still incredibly wealthy, though bedridden and reclusive. Her story is nothing short of fascinating (not to mention heartbreaking). This was definitely among my favorite reads in 2025. (Buy it)
Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara. It is one of the ugly realities of the world today that many of the devices we use on a daily basis are built with resources that have been gained in the most unconscionable ways. Cobalt Red focuses on cobalt, the metal that is essential for the rechargeable batteries that power our phones, electric vehicles, and so much else. Much of the world’s cobalt is mined by “artisanal miners,” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—individuals who endure the harshest of conditions and are paid only the meagerest of salaries. Many of these laborers are children and many others are women who experience the most horrific abuses. Kara went deep into the DRC to find the mines and prove what we already know—that there are terrible abuses at the bottom of our supply chains. (Buy it)
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin. This book describes Wall Street’s greatest crash and the way it led to the Great Depression. It does not only describe history, but also sounds a sober warning about today, for “ultimately, the story of 1929 is not about rates or regulation, nor about the cleverness of short sellers or the failures of bankers. It is about something far more enduring: human nature.” Human nature likes to think the good times, such as we’ve been enjoying in the markets over the past couple of years, will last forever. And “in that collective fever, humanity will again and again lose its head.” We do, after all, read history so that we are not necessarily doomed to repeat it. I found it well worth the read and recommend it to anyone with an interest in history or economics. (Buy it)
The Boys in the Light by Nina Willner. You might think that after all these years, the Second World War has revealed all of its stories, but The Boys in the Light proves this is not the case. It tells the story of three different men and slowly draws them together at a key moment. Here’s what the publisher says about it: “At sixteen, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler’s Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike, and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps, including Auschwitz. Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. Once farmers, factory workers, and coal miners, they were suddenly untested soldiers, thrust into the brutal conflicts of WWII.” (Buy it)
The Gales of November by John U. Bacon. Gordon Lightfoot’s famous song has forever memorialized the Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew, becoming one of Canada’s most recognized exports. Bacon tells the story of the shipwreck in depth and with a good bit of drama. I found he tells the story with perhaps just a bit too much depth and something bordering on melodrama, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the best-known and most important shipwreck in the history of the Great Lakes, and this book explains why. (Buy it)
Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. I was a few years behind the times reading this one, but I am glad I finally did. It may be best to simply share the editorial description from the publisher: “‘A patchwork story is the shame of the refugee,’ Nayeri writes early in the novel. In an Oklahoman middle school, Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of a skeptical audience of classmates, telling the tales of his family’s history, stretching back years, decades, and centuries. At the core is Daniel’s story of how they became refugees—starting with his mother’s vocal embrace of Christianity in a country that made such a thing a capital offense, and continuing through their midnight flight from the secret police, bribing their way onto a plane-to-anywhere. Anywhere becomes the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and then finally asylum in the U.S. Implementing a distinct literary style and challenging western narrative structures, Nayeri deftly weaves through stories of the long and beautiful history of his family in Iran, adding a richness of ancient tales and Persian folklore.” (Buy it)
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin. When I was in Zimbabwe, and again when I was at home and chatting with a Zimbabwean I met here, I was told that to understand the country’s recent history, I ought to read When a Crocodile Eats the Sun. I’m glad I did. Told through the eyes of journalist Peter Godwin, it tells the tragic story of Zimbabwe after independence, which is to say, Zimbabwe after the rise of Robert Mugabe. Few African countries fell so far or collapsed so completely after the end of the colonial era as Zimbabwe, and Godwin aptly explains it in this book, which is as much memoir as history. It’s a terrible story that’s beautifully told, if such a thing is even possible. (Buy it)
The Fear by Peter Godwin. Consider this a bonus book! The Fear is a sequel to When a Crocodile Eats the Sun. I did not find it quite as captivating as his first book, but once I was invested in the modern history of Zimbabwe, I wanted to get caught up. While The Fear doesn’t take us all the way to the present day (nor, indeed, even to the end of Robert Mugabe’s extremely long reign), it does explain the further degradation of the nation and its people. It lacks some of the human interest of the original, but still conveys the horrors of life under Mugabe and his iron grip on the nation he so badly damaged and exploited. (Buy it)
Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze. If you have watched any of Nate Bargatze’s specials, you pretty much know what to expect from his book. Most of its chapters could easily be bits from his routines. Bargatze is a great storyteller and also a clean one—the worst you’ll hear from him is a “heck.” He tells about his early life in Tennessee, his discovery of comedy, and his rise to fame. Endearingly, he is never afraid to be the butt of his own jokes. Obviously, a memoir by a comedian is only somewhat factual, but that’s exactly what makes it enjoyable. I still prefer Bargatze on stage than Bargatze on the page, but either wa,y he’s good, clean fun. (Buy it)
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. There are some historical characters who are not only important to their times, but who are so fascinating that they loom larger-than-life. Winston Churchill comes to mind as an example, as does Theodore Roosevelt. And so too does Mark Twain. Chernow’s biography is appropriately long and thorough, but never boring. He aptly sets Twain in his time, describes his life and impact, and explains how he influenced the world in his time. This is as good a biography as you’ll read, and its character, for all his strengths and weaknesses, for all his brilliance and idiocy, is worth getting to know! (Buy it)
American Zion by Benjamin E. Park. I am fascinated with Mormonism—that most quintessentially American of religions. In the past, I have enjoyed reading biographies of its founding figures, but in American Zion, I enjoyed reading a history of it. While there are many other histories of Mormonism available, this one draws on the latest sources and brings the story up-to-date. I found it respectful toward Mormonism while not advocating for it—a helpful position. (Buy it)
