Matthias Karner

Digitalization & IT leader. Avid reader. Engineering PhD. Productivity enthusiast.

5 minute read

Over the past few years, I’ve consistently taken on a reading challenge. For 2025, I set a goal to read 20 books, with 7 of them preselected at the end of 2024 (see this article). Now that we’re past the halfway mark of the year, let’s take a quick look at what I’ve read so far.

  1. Hidden Potential (2023): A great book from Adam Grant on how you can uncover potential in people - a great read for all leaders. I wrote a summary of my 10 key lessons of the book, if you are interested.
  2. Rødstrupe (2000): This novel from Norwegian author Jo Nesbø continues the story of the detective Harry Hole on his quest to fight the bad guys. Compared to the first two books in the series, this one is set in Norway and is significantly longer. Still, the pacing remains excellent, and it’s an exciting read from start to finish.
  3. War and Peace (1867): I read the first book in January and started the second one in May (I am still into it, but with a slight pause). Although it’s not exactly timely, the pacing is excellent, and the topic feels surprisingly relevant.
  4. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016): This isn’t really a novel - it is a play that is set 19 years after the main story of Harry Potter, and it is quite different to the first few books (I liked them better). However, if you are a fan of the Harry Potter universe, it is still interesting to read about what happens to all the characters after 19 years.
  5. Freiheit (2024): The biography of Angela Merkel is long, but honest. She reflects critically on her time as chancellor of Germany and doesn’t shy away of criticizing her own policy. If you are interested, but don’t want to read the full book, please check out my summary.
  6. The Burning Earth (2024): Since I mostly read books on productivity, leadership, and the occasional novel, I wanted to switch things up with something different. The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith was just that. What stood out was the perspective on climate change from an Eastern viewpoint (in contrast to the typical Western narrative). It was an interesting read, though I must admit it wasn’t my favorite book of the year.
  7. Never Split the Difference (2016): The book is an interesting counterargument to the teachings from the Harvard Method (cf. Getting to Yes) on negotiation. It sets emotion at the center of negotiation - a method which the FBI uses at difficult negotiations. Based on the book I published some articles on negotiation in April - one for example comparing the two approaches.
  8. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity (2023): I really enjoyed this book. It is another self-optimization book, but not on productivity. It is about optimizing your health. I’ve learned a lot from the book. Here are my core learnings.
  9. Thinking in Bets (2018): The book on decision-making was an entertaining read, but I didn’t take much from it. So, no recommendation here.
  10. Wild Courage (2025): This book jumped at me. Published in March 2025 and written by a former Google executive on the topic of leadership I just had to pick it up. And it was worth it. It is written in an entertaining way and it is also packed with insights (here is my summary).
  11. Die 50 größten Öko-Lügen (2022): This book (written in German) challenges common myths about the environment and sustainability. While some insights were familiar, others offered thought-provoking perspectives.
  12. Anleitung zur Selbstüberlistung (2023): The German title means as much as “instructions on how to outsmart yourself”. It was one of the best books I’ve read in 2025. Christian Rieck, a behavioral researcher, shares a fun and psychologically rich strategy for dealing with our own inner resistance. If you are into productivity I highly recommend reading this book - if you want, please check out my book summary.
  13. The Prince (1532): It’s a classic. Every once in a while, I force myself to read such a book. It wasn’t particular fun, but fortunately it wasn’t that long, and I even could take some insights from it.
  14. The Art of Strategy (2013): I was searching for books on Game Theory (triggered by my book Nr. 12) and found this one. It is not too technical, but also contains enough depth to dig a bit deeper into the topic of Game Theory. For this one I also wrote a summary, if you are interested.
  15. The Art of Thinking Clearly (2011): Ever since I’ve read Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, I’ve been interested in the topic of mental fallacies and how the human mind operates. This book summarizes 99 mental flaws.
  16. Four Thousand Weeks (2021): I’d call this book the most honest book on time management (as I wrote in my article last week). I started reading it, because I thought it’d be another interesting productivity book. However, it was something different. The author (as self-declared healed from “productivity” madness) shares his insights on time management from a more philosophical point of view.
  17. How to Talk to Anyone (1999): I wanted to read some books on communication and stumbled upon this one. It was an interesting read (92 techniques to improve communication). Some chapters felt a bit outdated, but there were definitely some valuable insights to grab.

What is next?

Currently, I’m reading Educated (2018) by Tara Westover - a truly captivating biography. It offers a unique perspective from within a deeply religious Mormon family and follows a young woman’s remarkable journey toward education against all odds. I’m also diving into Supercommunicators (2024) by Charles Duhigg to challenge and compare its insights with those from How to Talk to Anyone. As for fiction, I’m working through the second book of War and Peace. I’ve paused it for now, but I’m hoping to find the motivation to pick it back up soon.

I think I am on a good track towards reaching my 20-book-reading-goal and I already read my self-declared “7 must reads” of the year. Some books I might also dig into as the year continues are:

Thanks for checking out my reading update! What have you been reading in 2025? And most importantly: do you have any recommendations for me? Please reach out and let me know!

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