What Jon Read in 2025, Part 1: Development & Entertainment

The Non-Fiction I Read for Self Development, and the Fiction I Read For Fun in 2025.

I’ve had to break this post into two sections, due to length limits within Substack. This post, Part 1, has all of the Non-Fiction Print books I read this year, as well as the Fiction Print books. In order to count as a “read” I have to have a) read at least 85% of the book, skipping only minimal sections, or b) be refreshing myself on a book I’d previously read by reading at least 40% of the material.

Look out for Part 2 covering the Role-Playing Games and Audio Books I read/listened to this year.

Print, Non-Fiction

Print, Non-Fiction Part 1

1. Why Design Is Hard, Scott Berkun & Bryan Zug

2. Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, Kory Kogon, Suzette Blakemore

3. Never Lead Alone, Keith Ferrazzi with Paul Hill

4. Domain Modeling Made Functional, Scott Wlaschin

5. The Decision Book, Mikael Krogerus, Roman Tschäppeler

6. Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, Richard Rumelt

7. Presenting Virtually, Patti Sanchez

8. Progress & Poverty, Henry George - In Progress

9. Designing for Autonomous AI, Kence Anderson

Print, Non-Fiction Part 2

10. Designing the Obvious, Robert Hoekman Jr - This is an old favorite that I went through another time this year. Its aging, but the advice is timeless.

11. HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Strategy, Harvard Business Review, Michael E. Porter, W. Chan Kim, Renee A. Mauborgne, Roger L. Martin

12. Web Design for ROI, Lance Loveday & Sandra Niehaus - Another old favorite.

13. Software Architecture: The Hard Parts, Neal Ford, Mark Richards, Pramod Sadalage & Zhamak Dehghani

14. The Heretic’s Guide to Management, Paul Culmsee & Kailash Awati

15. Experimentation Works, Stefan H. Thomke

Print, Fiction

Print, Fiction

16. The Dirty Streets of Heaven, Tad Williams

17. Daemon, Daniel Suarez

18. Freedom, Daniel Suarez

19. The Death Gate Cycle: Dragon Wing, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman