Pursuing Veritas

Reflections by Jacob J. Prahlow

What I Read in 2025

Every year, I commit to reading as much and as widely as possible. And as a means of attempting to remember everything I’ve read and holding myself accountable to my reading goals, I track the books I’ve read each year. (Click here to see what I read in 2024.)

A couple of notes on this list. First, this is not a “what you should read” list like some of the others that you might see floating around this time of year. This is what I read this year and it’s a list shaped by my vocation and place in life. Second, I’ve found that breaking down what I read by category is helpful for me, so this list appears that way (and includes some sub-categories as well).

Please also note a couple of special markers. My favorite books (and the ones I actually do recommend you consider reading) are marked with an asterisk and hyperlinked. Additionally, the books I’d read prior to this year but re-read are marked with a [re-read] notation.

Finally, my reading goal changed this year from past years, as we welcomed a third child and I stepped up what had been a side job into a second full time job. This year, my goal was to read one book a week (so 52 books). Without further ado, here’s what I read in 2025:

Biblical Studies

  • The Bible in 52 Weeks, Moore
  • Biblical Critical Theory, Watkin
  • Best Bible Study Methods, ed. Kline
  • God’s Stories As Told By God’s Children, The Bible for Normal People
  • God’s Ghostwriters, Moss
  • The New Testament in Its World, Wright and Bird
  • The Moral Vision of the New Testament, Hays*
  • Loving Jesus, Powell
  • Reading Revelation Responsibly, Gorman [re-read]

Churchworld and Pastoral Care

  • Healthy Calling, Molloy
  • The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Alberta
  • Are My Kids on Track?, Goff, Thomas, Trevathan
  • Fear, Hanh
  • Is the Commission Still Great?, Richardson
  • Turning Points (4th Ed), Noll, Komline, Kantzer Komline
  • The Evangelical Imagination, Prior*
  • A Kite Like Me, Brown and Caulk
  • How to Lead in a World of Distraction, Scroggins [re-read]
  • Dominion, Holland
  • Leroy the Lily Frog, Krabbe

Fiction

  • The Hobbit, Tolkien [re-read]
  • The Silver Chair, Lewis [re-read]
  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heilein
  • Dracula, Stoker
  • The Magician’s Nephew, Lewis [re-read]

History

  • Eisenhower, Johnson
  • The Mythmakers, Hendrix
  • Permanent Record, Snowden
  • You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried, Gora
  • The Atlas of Atlases, Allen
  • World Cities, Swift
  • Great Battlefields of the World, MacDonald
  • Why We Love Football, Posnanski
  • Everything Sad is Untrue, Nayeri
  • The Man Who Saved the Union, Brands*
  • American Sniper, Kyle
  • Shakespeare, Bryson
  • The Big Print, Lepard

Philosophy & Literature

  • Macbeth, Shakespeare [re-read]
  • J.R.R. Tolkien: A Very Short Introduction, Towenend
  • Edgar Allen Poe’s Complete Poetical Works, Poe
  • Hamlet, Shakespeare [re-read]
  • Little Christmas Carol, Dickens and Sutphin

Politics & Culture

  • Social Justice Fallacies, Sowell
  • Life Worth Living, Volf
  • The Anxious Generation, Haidt*
  • A Thousand Small Sanities, Gopnik
  • The Little Guide to Taylor Swift, Oh
  • The (Almost) Zero Waste Guide, Mannaring
  • The Woodland Homestead, McLeod

Theology

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