I love to read, and 2025 was a big year for books—especially those focused on the technology industry. Here’s a look at my year in reading.
📖 **How I Read**
I consumed most of my books as e-books, semi-exclusively through Kindle, usually on my iPad Air.
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### 📗 Favorite Non-Fiction Title
**Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company** by Patrick McGee
*Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company* by Patrick McGee is the best and most important book about the personal computing industry in at least a decade. It’s thoroughly researched and elegantly written, unfolding like a whodunit murder mystery. Over time, the book reveals Apple CEO Tim Cook as subservient to the Chinese government, all while undermining his company and country in a relentless quest to maximize profits at any cost.
This is such a significant exposé that I wrote a full review on it. The book will be heartbreaking to anyone who believed Apple was somehow better than the rest of Big Tech or that it embodied any form of patriotism. It may very well be the most important industry book ever written.
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### 📕 Favorite Fiction Title
**Never Flinch** by Stephen King
That Stephen King is still producing books this good is astonishing. His late-career turn towards crime fiction is equally impressive. *Never Flinch* centers on Holly Gibney—the quirky character first introduced in *Mr. Mercedes*, which remains a favorite of mine.
While some of the character’s mannerisms are becoming a bit tired, I can’t get enough of this universe and the stories King continues to craft around it.
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### 🔊 Audiobooks
I listen to audiobooks semi-exclusively on Audible and continue to maintain an Audible Premium Plus subscription.
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### 📘 Favorite Non-Fiction Audiobook
**Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment** by Jason Schreier, narrated by Ray Chase
In *Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment*, Jason Schreier documents over 30 years of the company’s history with engaging detail. Though steeped in the lore of the video game industry, much of this story was new to me, and I eagerly consumed it over a long weekend.
Interestingly, this is the third book I’ve read by Schreier. His earlier works—*Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made* and *Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry*—are also terrific reads.
Since 2010, Schreier has been covering the video game industry extensively and interviewed many current and former Blizzard employees to unravel this history. I highly recommend this audiobook.
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### 📙 Favorite Fiction Audiobook
**Red Dragon** by Thomas Harris, narrated by Thomas Harris
This audiobook isn’t new, nor is the original novel. It’s also not new to me: I first read *Red Dragon* over 35 years ago and bought the Kindle version back in 1999!
*Red Dragon*, a prequel to the more famous *Silence of the Lambs*, tells a similar story but with a different protagonist. It remains one of the all-time great crime thrillers and an enduring favorite in my collection.
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2025 was an incredible year for reading, and I’m looking forward to what the next year brings!
https://www.thurrott.com/paul/331097/my-favorite-books-and-audiobooks-of-2025
