I sometimes get asked about the best books I’ve read or the best games I’ve played in a given year, so I thought I’d share my 2025 answer with you! These books and games didn’t necessarily come out in 2025. I simply read and played them in 2025. I’m also presenting them in alphabetical order and not necessarily in the order I enjoyed them.
Top 7 Books of 2025
- Dutch New York Histories
by Dienke Hondius, Nancy Jouwe, Dineke Stam and Jennifer Tosch
I bought this book while just browsing Wereldmuseum Leiden. I think every New Yorker has a vague idea of the Dutch history of New York, in so much as that it exists, lol. So it was enlightening to be able to learn about it in more detail. Something I really appreciated about this book is that they provide maps so that you can visit the locations mentioned. By the way, how do you even say New Utrecht in a New York accent? I can only think of how to say it in a Dutch accent. - Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution
by Sheryl Lightfoot
Lightfoot is one of the only voices in International Relations shining a light on indigenous peoples, and her work is invaluable. If this book were on any other group of peoples other than indigenous ones, I am sure this would be hailed as one of the most important books in modern IR. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this topic. - The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
by Rashid I. Khalidi
I’m sure most of you reading this are well aware of the current events in Israel and Palestine following October 7th, 2023. I’d be more surprised if you weren’t, frankly. This book is very useful in understanding the long and bloody history between the two states and given from a perspective not always heard. - Jimmy the King: Murder, Vice, and the Reign of a Dirty Cop
by Gus Garcia-Roberts
In the same way that Robert Caro’s The Power Broker serves simultaneously as a biography of Robert Moses and a history of New York, this book is both a biography of Jimmy Burke and a history of Long Island police corruption. Even if you’re not a native of Long Island or New York, I still think you’d enjoy this book. - Looking Backward: 2000 – 1887
by Edward Bellamy
This book is about a utopian future where humanity gets all of its problems sorted. The way that the book is told leaves room to be desired: it’s basically one character just explaining the future (technically the past now — the year 2000) to the main character, but it’s still a pleasant story nonetheless. - The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea
by Charles Robert Jenkins with Jim Frederick
I’ve read a few books by North Korean escapees due to my previous work helping defectors from there and for a research paper. This book was different from all of the because it offered a unique perspective on North Korea: that of a foreigner living there. It was funny in a way, because he and the other foreigners got away with so much stuff that you’d expect them to be imprisoned or killed for. - Wage Labour and Capital
by Karl Marx
This book is like a condensed and easily digestible version of Capital. He lays out the labor theory of value and the issues with capitalism. This isn’t for everyone, but anyone that wants to understand Marx or Marxism would be well-served by reading this.
I read way more than 7 books in 2025. However, most of them were political and therefore terrible and/or boring, so I don’t have enough good books to fill out a nice Top 10. I really punished myself with the books I read in 2025, lol. I guess I read a lot of Dragon Ball guidebooks as well, but I did so by hovering my phone over the pages with Google Translate open. So I don’t know if that counts, lol. If it does, I could fill out the last 3. Speaking of bad books though, I’ll share the absolute worst one I read this year.
Worst Book of 2025
- What Is To Be Done?
by Vladimir Lenin
I read a lot of bad books this year, but this one takes the cake. Lenin comes across as extremely rude and hypocritical the entire book. He condemns others for “uncomradely” behavior while ruthlessly insulting them in the next breath. At one point in the book, he explains why the party can’t have mass, open democratic procedures — under Tsarism, the secret police would be able to easily identify and arrest all of them. And sure, this argument makes sense considering the conditions they were operating under. But then you look at Lenin after he was in power and dissolved the Constituent Assembly, and his argument against democracy looks less like a temporary security concern and more like he was simply against democracy in principle. Lenin also explained in this book why it’s so important for his party to be tightly controlled and insulated from outside ideological influence, while at the same time promoting the infiltration of trade-unionist groups that were more-or-less politically allied with them. Anyone who has interacted with ML groups has likely seen this type of subversive behavior in practice, even if they couldn’t name its theoretical origin. It even occurs regularly on things as mundane as subreddits that start out as vaguely leftist, such as /r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM. On the other hand, maybe there was one redeeming quality to this book in that it helped explain why ML groups are so pompous, dogmatic, and why they are so destructive to other groups they “join.”
Top 10 Games of 2025
- Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden
Nintendo 3DS
This game actually has great combat, but it was unfortunately produced for the 3DS, which means it never got the audience it deserved. Maybe it’s not as good of a 2D fighting game as FighterZ, but it’s still very, very good. - Elden Ring
PC
While this game is one of the best I’ve ever played, I dropped the DLC after maybe two hours. Eventually, I’ll go back and play it, but the DLC just feels like a huge drop in quality compared to the base game. There isn’t anything new I could type about why Elden Ring is such a good game. So, if you haven’t played this yet, you really should. - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
SNES
This game was way ahead of its time with the gameplay features it had. You can save anywhere, you can immediately retry any fight you lose, every enemy is visible on the map so there aren’t any random encounters, your teammate’s AI is intelligent, and the enemies change visually as they take damage. Keep in mind I’m describing a game from 1992 here. - Metroid: Zero Mission
Nintendo Switch (Originally on the Game Boy Advance)
Having beaten the original Metroid before, I breezed through this. But if you are a new player, I would definitely suggest this over the original. Not only for the updated graphics and OST, but because it also adds cutscenes and vague, directional hints to the player. I was also pleasantly surprised by the extra level after Mother Brain. - Pac-Man 256
PC
I’m a sucker for stylized Pac-Man games like this. I don’t think it was as good as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, but it was still fun and the $5 price tag is hard to beat these days. - Pepsiman
PS1
I think this might be the best game-as-an-advertisement that exists. The gameplay is essentially just the portions of the Crash Bandicoot series when Crash runs away from a boulder like Indiana Jones. With that said, it’s surprisingly difficult while being completely fair in its difficulty. If you lose, it’s very much your fault. Also, the vibe of the cutscenes is like an American in Japan playing up American stereotypes (read: being funny). - Pizza Possum
PC
This is a cute and funny game where you play as a possum thief trying to eat as much pizza (and other food) as you can without getting caught. It’s perfect for kids and anyone that just likes simple fun. - Savant – Ascent REMIX
PC
This greatly improves upon the original Savant – Ascent. The controls are simple enough that anyone could master them in a few minutes, while being unique enough that I struggle to think of another game that uses the thumbsticks in the same way. I think I received this game for free for owning the original Savant – Ascent because I can’t remember buying it. - Snatcher
Sega CD
At first I was ready to immediately drop this game after I discovered it’s a point-and-click. But I decided to give it a chance because I’m a Kojima fan, and I’m glad I did. The story, characters, art, and music are all great. I was listening to this spooky song from the OST while at a red light when a homeless guy walked up to my car, heard the music, said “That’s some crazy shit,” and immediately walked away from my car, lol. - Thank Goodness You’re Here!
PC
A bit weird at times, but overall a hilarious game. You play as a tiny person helping the citizens of a small English town. Who wouldn’t want to spend their free time doing that?!
CAPSULE COMMENTARY 
Leave a comment