7 books that everyone can and should read in December 2025!
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December has a way of slowing everything down. The days turn quieter, and there’s finally room to breathe, look back, and pick up a book you’ve been meaning to read. The seven books on this list are easy to sink into, whether you’re gifting them or keeping them for yourself. Each one invites you to rethink some part of life—how we make choices, how societies are built, how we understand the universe, and what it means to be human. They’re steady companions for the final stretch of the year, and perfect for anyone who wants stories and ideas that linger after the last page.
1. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Harari walks through human history from our earliest ancestors to the modern world, focusing on three turning points: the Cognitive Revolution, which gave us the ability to cooperate through shared stories; the Agricultural Revolution, which reshaped societies while creating new challenges; and the Scientific Revolution, which continues to transform the way we live. He blends biology, anthropology, and economics to show how each shift pushed our species forward—and how little we truly understand about ourselves.
What makes the book so compelling is the way Harari dismantles familiar ideas. He takes concepts you think you already grasp, breaks them down, and rebuilds them until your perspective tilts in ways you didn’t expect. Reading it feels like learning the world from scratch.
My favourite part: the unsettling reminder that humans have never lived in harmony with nature. Wherever Homo sapiens migrated, local animal populations often vanished soon after. It’s a stark lesson about our species’ impact, and it lingers long after the chapter ends.
2. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Kahneman opens a window into how the mind works by introducing two modes of thinking. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and automatic. System 2 is slow, deliberate, and analytical. Through everyday examples and sharp little stories, he shows how these systems shape everything we do—from quick impressions to major life decisions.
As the book unfolds, you start to see how often we fall into cognitive traps and how much our biases guide us without our permission. It’s a humbling look at how rarely we think as clearly as we believe we do. Despite its depth, the writing stays accessible, making complex ideas easy to absorb even if you’ve never studied psychology.
This book has influenced a lot of my own thinking, including many posts in the Science of Us series—especially the one on procrastination, which remains a reader favourite.
My favourite part: realizing how unbelievably easy it is to influence or steer people, and how resistant we are to admitting that this is true. It’s unsettling, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
3. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tyson has a rare talent for turning the vastness of the universe into something you can hold in your hands. Across twelve compact chapters, he walks you through the essentials of modern astrophysics—how the cosmos began, what it’s made of, and how we fit into it. His writing is clear and descriptive, giving you just enough detail to understand the big ideas without ever feeling lost.
The book feels like sitting beside someone who loves the universe and can’t help but share that excitement. It’s accessible to anyone, even if you’ve never studied space or science. By the end, you’ve travelled from the birth of the universe to the world we live in now, all in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
My favourite part: the introduction. It sets the tone perfectly, reminding you that the universe isn’t just a distant spectacle—it’s the story we’re all part of, whether we notice it or not.
“In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period that ends this sentence.”
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky’s novels are surprisingly easy to read. The narration, the rhythm, the small details—everything is deliberate, designed to make you feel as much as you think. Crime and Punishment might be set in the heat of summer, but it carries a heavy, closed-in atmosphere that fits December more than you’d expect.
Following Raskolnikov’s frantic, tangled thoughts creates a sense of emotional claustrophobia. Many people feel something similar during the holiday season: the pressure, the noise, the expectations. This book captures that inner tension with unsettling accuracy, and that’s what makes it a powerful companion for the end of the year.
My favourite part: Raskolnikov’s belief that a person with a conscience will punish himself far more harshly than any court ever could—and that someone without a conscience is beyond reach. It’s one of the sharpest insights in the novel, and it lingers long after you’ve closed the book.
5. The Stranger by Albert Camus
Camus tells the story of a man who doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral, and that single moment shapes the way the world judges him. Meursault is emotionally detached, moving through life without the usual reactions or social signals people expect. He does what feels right in the moment, not what society believes he should do, and that difference becomes the core of the case built against him.
The novel explores meaning, expectation, and the quiet pressure to behave in ways that make others comfortable. Meursault’s distance from those expectations challenges you to think about how much of our “normal” behaviour is driven by habit rather than truth.
My favourite part: without giving anything away, the moment when Meursault finds a kind of inner peace. It’s small, almost still, but it changes the entire shape of the story.
6. City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
Rawlence brings you inside the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, one of the largest in the world, by following nine people through their daily lives. Instead of statistics or distant headlines, you get the textures of real experience—small routines, constant uncertainty, and the quiet resilience that holds everything together. The book is vivid and unsettling, but also deeply human. It shows what life looks like when a place meant to be temporary becomes home.
I first read this book in college, and my copy is still filled with 2B pencil notes on nearly every page. Rawlence writes in a way that invites you to stop, underline, and think.
My favourite part: discovering that even in a camp filled with people from different cultures, religions, and backgrounds, the everyday dramas of love, friendships, and misunderstandings are exactly the same as anywhere else. It’s a reminder that our similarities often run deeper than our circumstances.
7. The Giver by Lois Lowry
Lowry’s novel asks a sharp, unsettling question: is it better to live in a perfectly controlled world where everyone is safe and content, or to know the truth—even if it destroys that comfort? The society in The Giver has erased pain, conflict, and choice, but it has also erased the very things that make life fully human. As you follow Jonas, you start to weigh these questions yourself. It’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you finish, especially when you think about what we consider “civilized” and what we call “human rights.”
My favourite part: the moment Jonas begins to see small flashes of the real world. Those glimpses shift the ground beneath him, and the reader feels that shift too. It’s the point where the story opens up and you realize how fragile his perfect world truly is.
These seven books offer fresh ways of seeing the world, whether you read them for yourself or wrap them up for someone else. They’re thoughtful, accessible, and perfect for the quiet days at the end of the year. If December is a time for reflection, these stories and ideas will give you plenty to carry into the new year.
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[…] mentioned this book in my December 2025 list because it’s one of the best I’ve ever read—and one I think everyone should read at […]