2025 in Books

Since my early 20s I've always been carrying books around but never really committed to a yearly reading goal. For 2025 I was inspired by a friend, who read upwards of 2500 books in her lifetime, to setup a reading goal after she told me she wanted to read an additional 100 books throughout the year. My goal was to read a minimum of a book a month which was, apparently, too conservative as I got upwards of 35 this year in addition to quite a few science based magazines.

The amount of books isn't as important as what we're able to learn from them. While I can't recall every details of every book I read, the below are the ones that I connected with the most:

• "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" book by Carl Sagan explores the "why" people still believe in pseudo-science today.
• "Letters from a Stoic" book by Seneca (2024 modern translation) is a classic that explores the futility of accumulating things and what is required to be at peace with death (or at least try to be).
• "A Thomas Jefferson Education" book by Oliver DeMille is information I wished I would of gotten sooner in my self-improvement journey. If you're just starting out, this is one of the first books you should pick up.

The goal for next year will be 20 books. I have no idea how my friend is able to read 100 books/year... At 35 books, I already felt like I was reading all the time; Maybe I need to ask her if she reads in her sleep?

We Can't Afford to "Be Ourselves"

Most people can't afford to be "themselves" at all hours of the day. Employees can only be themselves as far as it is acceptable within the workplace. Anything that's being asked of them, that wouldn't be done without getting paid, can't be considered as being "yourself".

Most people are required to sacrifice part of themselves for the greater good. There's a degree of adaptability that we need to adhere to in order for society to progress.

Who can be themselves?

If you're required to be in an office then you can't really be yourself. When Jeff Bezos still worked at Amazon, he still had to show professionalism otherwise it would of negatively impacted his bottom-line. He couldn't come in drunk, scream or harass people, without consequences to this business.

If you're not required to be in an office, then there's nothing stopping you from being yourself 24/7.

Illusionary Education

“You need teaching for writing and reading; even more so for life, as you are born a slave to your senses and passions, without true knowledge or reason.”

-Marcus Aurelius

One of the biggest problem with today's society is that we're swimming in information and most of it is false. The consumer of this information doesn't know the difference but still feels educated.

“If you have bad information, you’ll make bad decisions. It’s that simple.”

-Peter Drucker

The Internet is filled with studies on any conspiracy theories imaginable. Whether it be vaccination, secret societies, aliens, flat earth... there are groups of people that have dedicated their lives to further those claims. Whether or not they're true doesn't matter as much as they need to catch the attention as this is how they make money.

Education is important as long as it comes from reputable sources.

Good Vs Bad Politicians

A good politician is someone who went through great injustices and fight to improve the living situation of future generations.

"He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”

-Aristotle

Those that have committed great injustices, and become Leaders of countries, are bound to make things worse for future generation. After all, how could they make any meaningful improvement when their personal lives were filled with injustices?

There are no country where citizens are better under a tyrannical regime than in democracies where people have a voice and rights. Only those that have never read about, or experienced tyrannical governments first hand, can believe otherwise.

“History shows that almost all tyrants have been demagogues who gained the favour of the people by their accusations of the notables.”

-Aristotle

Why The Secrecy?

"I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection."

-Warren Buffet

When it comes to personal finances, the government has taken steps to dirty the waters. While we do have access to all the information we need, it's not easily understood nor focused on by the general population. Some areas of concerns are:

• Income tax used to be taken from people's paycheque AFTER the employee had received them. This allowed the person to see first hand how much the government was removing but it created an uproar which is why now income taxes are taken BEFORE the employee receives his paycheque - many don't even notice it.
• Inflation, at 2%/year on average, is a hidden tax on citizens' savings. While it's shared, the impact of it isn't clearly understood.
• While we know our country is in debt how we got there isn't that clear. Repaying the debt doesn't seem to be a priority.
• Currencies not based on the gold standard. What is the currency even based on now if not on something as tangible as the amount of Gold a country as?

While we haven't actually seen a tax raise in years all the above items are negatively impacting our finances in ways that are not easily understood. The information is available but the responsibility of connecting the dots has been given to the citizens knowing full well that most won't bother which allows the government to do as they please.

How many people could retire if half of their paycheque wasn't going to the Government? What's the point of saving money if it looses value every year at a rate of 2%? These are some of the frustrations from learning about these hidden, not so hidden, concepts impacting our finances.