In this post I wanted to share the list of books I read along the year (1) with a small comment for each one. I have also included a small rating from one to three “+” depending on how much I do recommend its reading.
- “Gobierno omnipotente” (Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War) by Ludwig von Mises (++): Written in 1944, the book shares a critique of state interventionism and central planning on their diverse varieties (socialism, Marxism, nationalism, Nazism), analyzing similarities and differences among them, and the economic and social disasters generated by them in the first half of the XX century, including disastrous wars. [Twitter thread]
- “El origen de las especies” (On the origin of species) by Charles Darwin (++): In this famous book written in 1859, Darwin shares his theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. The book includes numerous examples of evolutionary changes, variations, mutations in different species across the world, counter points and many references to previous studies on the topic (the theory didn’t occur to him out of the blue, but this book is more a compendium of different elements supporting it). The laws that in general terms define evolution are: growth with reproduction, heritage, variation (due to changes of life conditions, use or lack of use), a rate of growth so great that leads to the fight for survival and as a consequence of this natural selection determined by a divergence of characters and the extinction of the less perfect forms. The 6th edition that I read includes as well a review of previous criticisms made to his first editions. The book also includes a discussion of how evolution can still work with the divine creation of a short number of different forms that later evolve. [Twitter thread]
- “La mayor ocasión que verá el siglo XXI” by Rafael Acedo (+++): Rafael Acedo is one of my former bosses at Airbus Military and most importantly a senior executive of the company that held different positions, in particular in Programme management and Engineering. This book tells with a unique point of view the fascinating story of the genesis of the A330 MRTT (multi role tanker transport) aircraft. The book offers a blend of technical aspects of the design and development, insight into the sales campaigns with their various requirements that shaped the products, the personnel selection searching for the right engineers to lead those developments, the leadership struggles and styles at CASA and with the integration into EADS… It is an excellent book.
- “A room of one’s own“, by Virginia Woolf (+): This short book is based on 2 lectures given in 1928 about women and writing. It emphasizes the need for financial independence, a room without interruptions, access to education and time (“give her hundred years“) for women to shine in literature. [Twitter thread]
- “Tractatus logico-philosophicus” by Ludwig Wittgenstein (-): Essay written in 1918 about language, logic, mathematics and their limits, and how the meaning of the world, ethics, mysticism are outside of what can be expressed. The language used and writing style make for a very difficult read even if it is a very short book. [Twitter thread]
- “La cuestión P vs. NP” by Jordi Delgado Pin (-): This is a short book from a collection of Mathematics books I started reading some years ago. This particular one is an introduction to computational complexity, and the analysis of the time it takes to solve problems. Too technical for a reader that it’s not into programming like myself. [Twitter thread]
- “Elements” by Euclid (++): The book I read is Simson’s translation of 1774, and includes the books I to VI, XI and XII of the geometry manual of the 3rd century BC by Euclid, a classic of Western civilization. Throughout the different books Euclid departs from few definitions, postulates and axioms and goes into graphically calculating different distances, angles, surfaces, etc., with the help of what has been proven before. Some of those exercises are studied in a high school technical drawing course (e.g., how to circumscribe a circle about a triangle) many others are technical drawing on steroids. [Twitter thread]
- “Faust” by Goethe (+): Written in 1832, the book is a dramatic poem (in rhyme in the original German) where Faust makes a pact with the devil Mephistopheles to grow in knowledge and live all kinds of experiences; including the love of Grechten and Helen, various parties and military conquests. [Twitter thread]
- “Politics” by Aristotle (++): The book, written in the IV century BC, offers a critique of Plato’s Republic, and it’s essay on constitutions for different states, forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, oligarchy, tyranny), on virtues, citizens, the separation of powers, the different magistracies, about private property, slaves, women, the natural inequalities among individuals… [Twitter thread]
- “Peter Pan” by James M. Barrie (++): Narrated form (1911) of the play (1904) about the adventures of Peter Pan, Wendy, Hook, Tinker Bell… Peter Pan is today a character of world fame, a boy who refuses to grow up and goes to live in Neverland. An aviation angle: his passion for flying and the fact that to fly the only thing which is required are happy thoughts. [Twitter thread]
- “Dinero, crédito bancario y ciclos económicos” (Money, bank credit and economic cycles) by Jesús Huerta de Soto (+++): Huerta de Soto is a Spanish economist of the Austrian School of economics. The book, written in 1998, calls for a system of free banking with 100% reserve requirement for deposits, the elimination of central banks and a return to the gold standard. To arrive at those proposals the book analyzes the business cycles and how fractional reserve banking distorts investments decisions, capital allocation, creates inflation and crises. The book offers a comprehensive historical overview of several authors and schools of thought (back to the Middle Age), with numerous citations and an extensive bibliography. [Twitter thread]
- “Historiones de la Geografía” by Diego González (+++): The book is a collection of short stories and curiosities about islands, remote territories, unique borders, time zones… Very much like the blog Fronteras (in Spanish) but now compiled in a book, with the fresh style of its author Diego.[Twitter thread]
- “La energía nuclear salvará el mundo” (Nuclear energy will save the world) by Alfredo García (+++): A brilliant exercise in popularizing nuclear energy, the science and technology behind it, its unique safety levels (contrary to popular beliefs and the defamation campaigns against it; in particular I loved the detailed analysis of how there’s no risk with eating fish from Fukushima! Much less than with eating bananas), the most well-known accidents (their origin, an account of what happened and what not! i.e., it turns out that most of those accidents are success stories despite how they have stayed in the collective memory), waste management, the need for nuclear energy in the energy decarbonization path, new technologies… The author, Alfredo , works at a nuclear plant and is very active in Twitter / X, follow him (in Spanish) for more information.[Twitter thread]
- “Annals” by Tacitus (+): Written around 102 AD, it describes year by year (consulship by consulship), from the death of Augustus in the year 14 to the fall of Nero in 68, with large gaps not preserved. The book mainly deals with the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. Every year it gives an account of the relevant events of the empire: about wars and their development, conquests and appointments in the provinces; discussion of some laws being passed, trials, betrayals, notable executions and suicides in Rome. [Twitter thread]
- “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand (+++): Written in 1897, the book is a theatre play entirely in verse, which is based on some true characters of the XVII century and which has as themes the choice (that Roxane has to make) between beauty (Christian) and the talents, the words and the pen of Cyrano. Along the play the characters exhibit honor, humor, the Gascon spirit, freedom (“panache“). Only by the end, when it might be too late, Roxane discovers what had been going on and how wrong she was. A very amusing and dynamic opening.
- “Human Action, a treatise on economics“, by Ludwig von Mises (+++): Written in 1949, Human Action is the main work of Von Mises, an economist from the Austrian school. In the book he defends that human action is directed to reduce current uneasiness, that there’s a time preference, that humans are beings that show social cooperation that allows division of labor, which enables individuals to save and accumulate capital. This will lead to an increase of productivity, increasing added value, offering better products at lower prices, the beauty of capitalism, the market economy, prices, consumer satisfaction as the ultimate goal and profits only accrued when that has happened… as opposed to government intervention, socialism and lack of economic calculation, leading to miss allocation of capital, increase in poverty, etc.
- “Réconciliation. Mémoires” by King Juan Carlos I & Laurence Debray (+++): In this rare autobiography by a king, Juan Carlos talks about childhood in exile (Italy, Switzerland, Portugal) and in Madrid during the Franco regime (where he was raised away from his family). The formation of his family in the 1960s and his relationship with other royal houses. He shares some of his exchanges with Franco and the dictator left to the future king some of the reforms to be made. He talks about coronation, how he shaped the government that would launch the transition to democracy and the following modernization of Spain. He also discussed his abdication, his current retirement in Abu Dhabi and he explains the sadly limited relationship he has now with his son, king Felipe VI. An overarching theme in the book is the importance of the Crown for the unity of the country and its long term vision. Finally, he explains that he is publishing this book to counter the attacks on the Crown by the current socialist government and its revisionism of History.
This year I read more than in 2024, with a good habit in the first half of the year and the last 3 months, but struggling to find continuity in the summer months, when I was stuck with Annals. In the end I read 17 books and nearly 7,300 pages (~20 pages a day on average), most of them in Spanish with a couple of books in English and another couple in French. Among them I read 5 books out of the Great Books list.
A resolution for 2026 will be to keep the habit, for which I will be following these two tips that I share every year:
- a blog post from Farnam Street blog “Just Twenty-Five Pages a Day“, which was published well after I had adopted such an approach to reading but captures it very well,
- the Wikipedia article about the Pomodoro Technique, which enables you to efficiently use the last hours of the day.
Another question that I have got a few times is about the source of the list of some of the classics that I read. That one comes from yet another blog post from Farnam Street blog. That post mentioned the Great Books curriculum for the bachelor in arts of Saint John’s College in Annapolis. You can get the list from the Wikipedia or directly from the college website. As I am not reading exclusively those books I advance at a pace of 5 to 8 books out of that curriculum per year, thus it will take me other 20 years to finish the program.
I wish you all very interesting reads in 2026!
(1) You can find here: my 2012 reading list, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 ones.
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