These books and films really stood out for me last year.

Books

• The Maniac (2023) - Benjamin Labatut What an engrossing tail of the enigmatic character of John von Neumann, a shaper of the 20th century who is relatively unknown today. But what a tale it is, with his origins in theoretical mathematics in Hungary, Berlin and then America, ending with the atomic bomb and geopolitical game theory. The books concludes with the story of Demis Hassabis and the AI AlphaGo journey at DeepMind, which while not quite as engrossing, is also quite interesting as a new generation of computational achievements.
• The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes (2020) - Zachary D. Carter Absolutely engrossing story of John Maynard Keynes and his contributions to monetary policy, economics, and human society. From financing England during WWI to Roosevelt and the formation of the World Bank after WWII. Absolutely inspiring and eye opening about how our new world of fluid money was created out of the ruins of the old regime.
• East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity" (2016) - Philippe Sands After doing some traveling in Krakow and Warsaw, I loved this personal look into the origins of genocide, and the humanity that was erased by the Nazis in Poland and eastern Europe.
• Schindler's List (1982) - Thomas Keneally - On the same themes, this book is such a beautiful and enriching look into the lost humanity and suffering of Jews and other outcast groups in Krakow, and how one very average businessman fought back within the system.
• Wind, Sand and Stars (1939) - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - After watching a new film based on this book, I wanted to read the source, and really enjoyed the tales of living, flying and ruminating about life and death in North Africa during the early years of aviation.
• God's Fury, England's Fire (2008) - Michael Braddick - This story of how a country chaotically came to beheading a King and asserting the will of Parliament was utterly engrossing to me. Also how the battles were relatively civilized compared to the destruction on the continent during the Thirty Years War (thinking of the burning of Magdeburg), and how protestant calvinist thought and political theory came to topple a king, 140 years before the French Revolution.
• Winter of the World (2012) - Ken Follett - Ken Follett can always get me with his historical tales, and this one about the human journey through WWII from several different perspectives was extremely touching to me. The existential relief of the residents of Berlin when the Berlin Air Lift started to bring in food and fuel after years of starvation, for example, or the story of how one american scientist was convinced to hand over critical information about the atomic bomb to a Russian agent. Human, engrossing & fascinating looks into history and the individuals living through it.
• Why England Slept (1940) - John F. Kennedy - Fascinating look into why England took so long to react to Hitler and the threats coming from Germany leading up to WWII.
• Sternstunden der Menschheit - Decisive Moments in History (1927) - Stefan Zweig - Beautiful small stories of dramatic decisions and moments through history, from the fall of Constantinople to the story of the composer Handel struggling in London, truly inspiring and wonderful.
• I, Claudius & Claudius the God (1986) - Robert Graves - Deeply fascinating look into the life of a Roman historian, emperor and human. The story of the invasion of England was amazing.
• The Stoic Challenge (2019) - William B. Irvine - Very useful and interesting look into stoic philosophy for living.
• Millennium (2008) - Tom Holland - Fascinating story and journey of Europe & Christianity fighting to survive around the year 1000.
• How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future (2022) - Vaclav Smil - Thought provoking guide to the scientific discoveries that really power our modern world: steel, aluminum, concrete, & fertilizer. Chips & digital don't even come close to that impact, and are decidedly "virtual" compared to the real impact of transportation and food that those earlier discoveries provide. Interesting!

Films

• Pan's Labyrinth (2007) - Guillermo del Toro Beautiful little fairy tale and story.
• Predator: Badlands (2025) - Dan Trachtenberg Simple and great little predator film.
• Frost/Nixon (2009) - Ron Howard A good simple movie with moving characters.
• Ghostlight (2024) - Alex Thompson, Kelly O'Sullivan Beautiful little film about life and theater.
• A Real Pain (2024) - Jesse Eisenberg After taking my own trips around Poland in the last few years, I really enjoyed this character portrait (except for the last shot, but it didn't ruin the film).
• Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) - Stanley Kramer What a masterpiece.
• Oddity (2024) - Damian Mc Carthy Wow, what a great suspense film.
• Maria (2024) - Pablo Larraín This film paints a full picture of an artist's life, tragedy and all.
• Companion (2025) - Drew Hancock Fun romp through the future world of lifelike robots.
• The Brutalist (2025) - Brady Corbet Full portrait of a life, which I very much enjoyed.
• Spotlight (2015) - Tom McCarthy Great newspaper film.
• Black Bag (2025) - Steven Soderbergh Great spy caper.
• The Big Sleep (1946) - Howard Hawks Classic great film.
• Henry V (1989) - Kenneth Branagh Really enjoyed this adaptation, always wanted to get around to watching it, was worth the wait.