All previous Book Reviews/ ratings can be found at jessesbooks.com.
Welcome to 2025! I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve and I’m pumped about the number of my friends and coworkers who have decided they want to read more in 2025. Long-time callers will know I was in that exact same spot in 2019, so not that you asked, but here’s what worked for me:
Setting a goal. Turns out goals work. I’d recommend one book a month, and you’d be surprised how easy that is. My 2025 goal is once again 30 books, and we are off to a strong start :)
Reading before bed. Really this is about creating a constant cadence & routine, but committing to reading 30-60 minutes before going to sleep also reduces blue light time before bed, and helps my mind relax. I find, all else equal, that I sleep noticeably better if I read before bed. And it locks in at least 3 hours a week.
Get a Kindle. This isn’t sponsored, I just love the product. Kindles make carrying your reading with you a breeze. One could even lug it around in the pocket of their cargo shorts!
The corollary to “get a Kindle” is read during your in-between moments. On public transit, waiting for an appointment, having 15 minutes in between events. Have a long drive to work? Pop on an audiobook.
Start a book club with your friends. Trust me, they are down.
New Additions (Bolded)
[⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️] Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, Alex Hutchinson – Endure is all about the science (both physiological and psychological) of endurance performance and how humans can push our physical and mental limits. Contrary to what all my friends think, I’m not actually an endurance person myself, but I find the underlying science fascinating. The first section of the book focuses on the physical (VO2 Max, fueling/ hydration, lactic threshold, running economy, etc.), the second section the mental (how different parts of the brain contribute to or hold back performance), and the final section on how to push our limits (it turns out there’s no magic solution, but going into the pain cave over and over sure helps). There’s a ton of cited research and so at points Endure is quite dense, but athletes will find this interesting.
[⭐️⭐️⭐️] On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King – King’s memoir is half backstory that explains what primed him to become a writer, his path to getting there, and why he is qualified to give advice and half actual fiction writing advice. It was obviously masterfully written and contained great advice but it didn’t do it for me, perhaps because I’m not the artistic type. That being said, if I ever do decide to properly write (it will most likely be nonfiction, let’s be real) I will 100% go back and reference the second half of On Writing.
2025 Rankings
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, Alex Hutchinson [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Complete Reviews
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, Alex Hutchinson – Endure is all about the science (both physiological and psychological) of endurance performance and how humans can push our physical and mental limits. Contrary to what all my friends think, I’m not actually an endurance person myself, but I find the underlying science fascinating. The first section of the book focuses on the physical (VO2 Max, fueling/ hydration, lactic threshold, running economy, etc.), the second section the mental (how different parts of the brain contribute to or hold back performance), and the final section on how to push our limits (it turns out there’s no magic solution, but going into the pain cave over and over sure helps). There’s a ton of cited research and so at points Endure is quite dense, but athletes will find this interesting.
⭐️⭐️⭐
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King – King’s memoir is half backstory that explains what primed him to become a writer, his path to getting there, and why he is qualified to give advice and half actual fiction writing advice. It was obviously masterfully written and contained great advice but it didn’t do it for me, perhaps because I’m not the artistic type. That being said, if I ever do decide to properly write (it will most likely be nonfiction, let’s be real) I will 100% go back and reference the second half of On Writing.
⭐️⭐
n/a
⭐
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Cheers,
Jesse