The 10 Most Impactful Books I Listened to in 2025
History, War, Leadership, Preparedness, and Why These Books Matter
I read a lot.
Or more accurately, I listen to a lot of audiobooks.
Most of it happens while I am running, training, or doing something physical. That is intentional. I do not read to escape. I read to sharpen how I think.
This is not a list of my favorite books of the year. If it were, it would probably be nothing but Roman Legionaries and Viking warbands.
This is my list of the most impactful books I listened to in 2025.
What most of these books have in common is pressure. Real pressure. Not abstract stress, not spreadsheet risk, not social media outrage. Pressure where bad decisions cost lives, time, reputation, or everything at once.
A lot of these are military history or historical fiction. A few are business books. One is a faith book I did not even fully enjoy. But all of them reinforced the same ideas over and over again.
Preparedness matters more than comfort.
Leadership shows up when things are going wrong.
Consistency beats cleverness.
And most people have no idea what real sacrifice looks like.
I do not agree with every author on this list. That is kind of the point. Reading critically matters more than reading comfortably.
That is why this list lives on Tech Writer.
We Were Soldiers Once and Young (Harold G. Moore and Joseph Galloway)
Leadership and Consequences
- Audible Audiobook
- Harold G. Moore (Author) – Jonathan Davis (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/10/2018 (Publication Date) – Tantor Audio (Publisher)
I finished this one on New Year’s Eve. Last book of 2025 for me.
You probably saw the Mel Gibson movie We Were Soldiers. Like most war movies, it just scratches the surface. What it does not really show is that there is a whole second part to the battle in the Ia Drang Valley, and it is brutal.
What stuck with me was not just the fighting. It was knowing that many of these men were drafted, sent into this kind of battle, and then came home only to be spit on and taunted.
The entire time I was listening, I kept asking why are we here.
Not the whole war. That is a different conversation. But why this valley, why this fight, why these men.
The heroism is undeniable. The sacrifice is unreal. It makes you think hard about leadership, decisions made far above the people doing the fighting, and who you vote for as Commander in Chief.
One hell of a way to close out the year.
Alone at Dawn (Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz)
Responsibility Without Recognition
- Audible Audiobook
- Dan Schilling (Author) – Kiff VandenHeuvel, Betsy Foldes Meiman (Narrators)
- English (Publication Language)
- 06/25/2019 (Publication Date) – Grand Central Publishing (Publisher)
Hands down the best book I listened to this year.
This is the story of John Chapman, an Air Force Special Operations Combat Controller, and his final stand on a mountain in Afghanistan called Takur Ghar. During a chaotic insertion, Chapman is accidentally left behind. Wounded and alone, he continues fighting until he is eventually overrun.
The book does a great job explaining what Combat Controllers actually do. They are often among the first Americans into a country, securing runways, directing aircraft, and calling in airstrikes with pinpoint precision. During Operation Anaconda, they were shaping the battlefield in ways most people never hear about.
What makes this story even more powerful is what happens years later. For a long time, the full extent of Chapman’s actions was not understood. Then, almost by chance, footage is reexamined and timelines are revisited. It becomes clear he fought alone far longer than anyone realized, using his limited ammunition to keep the enemy pinned down so other men could land safely.
Years later, he is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, finally correcting the record.
What makes this book so impactful is that it shows what real responsibility looks like when nobody is watching and recognition may never come.
If you only listen to one book from this list, make it this one.
The Wide Wide Sea (Hampton Sides)
Competence Before Comfort
- Audible Audiobook
- Hampton Sides (Author) – Peter Noble (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/09/2024 (Publication Date) – Random House Audio (Publisher)
As much as the world changes, you still cannot escape modern revisionism. The opening framing of this book almost made me stop listening.
Sides clearly approaches exploration through a modern moral lens, leaning hard into the idea that figures like Christopher Columbus and other explorers were primarily agents of genocide and harm. You can feel when the book was written. During COVID. During the era of statue removals. That perspective hangs over the early part of the narrative.
I think that framing is largely bullshit.
Not because these men were perfect or harmless, but because judging eighteenth century exploration by twenty first century standards misses the point entirely. When you actually look at what Captain Cook and his crews accomplished, it is staggering. Global navigation, cartography, astronomy, science, medicine, and logistics performed at a level that is hard to comprehend even now.
Once the book settles into the actual story of Cook’s final voyage, it becomes excellent. Exploration carried out with primitive tools, brutal conditions, no reliable resupply, and enormous personal risk.
What stuck with me was the competence. The discipline. The resilience. It is easy to sit comfortably in the modern world and pass judgment. It is much harder to acknowledge that without people like this, the modern world simply does not exist.
You do not have to sanitize history to respect it. Flattening it into a morality play does not help anyone understand what actually happened.
Once you get past the framing, this book is absolutely worth the time and will leave you wondering how they pulled any of it off and how few people today could.
Razor 03 (Alan C. Mack)
Preparation Is the Real Advantage
- Audible Audiobook
- Alan C. Mack (Author) – Alan C. Mack (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/03/2023 (Publication Date) – Pen and Sword (Publisher)
This book is really the story of Alan Mack’s career flying special operations Chinooks, not just a single battle.
After 9 11, Mack becomes part of Task Force Dagger, flying MH 47s and MH 60s on missions that honestly do not sound possible when you hear the terrain, weather, and flight conditions involved. The book covers the Horse Soldiers insertion into Afghanistan, the hunt for Bin Laden at Tora Bora, his shootdown during Operation Anaconda at Takur Ghar, and later missions in Iraq and the Kunar Valley.
What made this book impactful for me was not the missions themselves, but the consistency. The preparation. The repetition. The mindset of this is just the job even when the stakes are incredibly high.
That translates directly to business and preparedness. Real performance is rarely dramatic. It is disciplined, boring, and built long before it is needed.
The book also does not shy away from the cost. Constant deployments and near death experiences slowly erode life at home. It reinforces how much we ask of soldiers and their families for too little pay and nowhere near enough appreciation.
That is what stuck with me.
Buy Back Your Time (Dan Martell)
Leverage Over Control
- Audible Audiobook
- Dan Martell (Author) – Dan Martell (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/17/2023 (Publication Date) – Penguin Audio (Publisher)
Honestly, a little overrated, but still worth a listen.
The book is repetitive and could probably be cut in half without losing much. That said, the core idea is solid. I will save you the read if you want.
If someone else can do what you do for twenty five percent of what it costs you personally, you should hire it out. That is how you actually grow instead of just getting busier.
What landed for me this year was the forced honesty. Most bottlenecks are not money or talent. They are time, control, and ego. Growth usually stalls not because of lack of effort, but because people refuse to let go.
I like Dan Martell and he is worth following. Even though the book drags in places, the message landed because it forced me to look at where I am still trading time for control instead of leverage.
Not life changing, but useful.
Outlaw Platoon (Sean Parnell)
Perspective on Sacrifice
- Audible Audiobook
- Sean Parnell (Author) – Ray Porter (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 02/28/2012 (Publication Date) – William Morrow (Publisher)
If you have not picked up on it yet, I read a lot of military books. This one is a great story with a surprisingly strong arc.
Parnell walks through sixteen brutal months with the Tenth Mountain Division in Afghanistan. The conditions, the decisions, the exhaustion, it all comes through without much sugarcoating.
If you have read The Operator and know what happens at the Nine Eleven Museum opening, this one lands even harder. You start seeing how these stories connect years later in ways you do not expect.
What stuck with me most was the level of sacrifice. What these guys are asked to do, repeatedly, is incredible and still wildly underappreciated.
It is hard to listen to this and not rethink what stress, hard work, and sacrifice really mean in modern life.
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (John Mark Comer)
Slowing Down Without Quitting
- Audible Audiobook
- John Mark Comer (Author) – John Mark Comer, Kris Koscheski (Narrators)
- English (Publication Language)
- 11/26/2019 (Publication Date) – Random House Audio (Publisher)
I do not even fully know why I am including this one, but here we are.
The core message is good. We are all moving too fast and could stand to slow down and be more purposeful. I know I need to.
That said, the book felt self focused to me. Less about service or responsibility and more about personal comfort. Honestly, all you really need is the prequel. The rest felt like filler.
The author grated on my nerves, and it was another reminder that you cannot trust ratings or bestseller lists.
What bothered me most is that slowing down is not the same thing as stepping away from responsibility, and that distinction felt missing.
Still, the takeaway stuck with me. Slow down. Step back. Be intentional with how you spend your time and energy.
Even if I did not love the book, the message is one I probably need to hear.
The Splendid and the Vile (Erik Larson)
Leadership Under Real Pressure
- Audible Audiobook
- Erik Larson (Author) – John Lee, Erik Larson (Narrators)
- English (Publication Language)
- 02/25/2020 (Publication Date) – Random House Audio (Publisher)
We all knew Churchill was a badass. This really drives it home.
The book is not just about Churchill. A huge part of it is about the bombing of London by the Luftwaffe. Night after night. Constant bombing. Tens of thousands killed. And people just carried on.
On Churchill’s first day as Prime Minister, Hitler invades Holland and Belgium. Dunkirk is weeks away. For the next year, Britain gets hammered from the air, and Churchill somehow keeps the country together while also convincing Roosevelt that Britain is worth backing.
What made this impactful for me was seeing leadership up close. Not speeches, but pressure, doubt, exhaustion, and still showing up projecting confidence when everything looks bleak.
It puts modern politics into perspective fast. This was leadership under real consequences.
Stonehenge (Bernard Cornwell)
Fortitude and Long Term Thinking
- Audible Audiobook
- Bernard Cornwell (Author) – Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 03/22/2022 (Publication Date) – Harper (Publisher)
By far my favorite author. I could read another fifty Sharpe books and not get tired of them.
This is historical fiction, but Cornwell’s theory on how and why Stonehenge was built makes more sense than most explanations I have heard. It feels researched, plausible, and grounded.
The story follows three brothers whose rivalry, ambition, and beliefs ultimately lead to the creation of Stonehenge. Power, religion, craftsmanship, and violence all play a role.
This was not the most impactful book on the list, but it was one of the most enjoyable. I came away with a deeper appreciation for what people were capable of with almost nothing to work with.
Sometimes that perspective alone is valuable.
Warrior: The Epic Story of Caratacus (Simon Scarrow)
Leading Against Overwhelming Odds
- Audible Audiobook
- Simon Scarrow (Author) – Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 05/25/2023 (Publication Date) – Headline (Publisher)
This one was basically a side quest from one of my favorite series, Eagles of the Empire, with Cato and Macro.
It tells the story of Caratacus, who manages to unite scattered tribes in Britannia to resist Rome after the invasion in AD 43. No illusion of an easy win. Just leadership, grit, and refusal to submit.
What I like about books like this is how much you can still learn from history. Different time. Same problems. How do you unite people? How do you lead when the odds are stacked against you. How do you fight something that looks unstoppable?
If you enjoy historical fiction with real lessons baked in, this one is worth your time.
Why These Books Matter
None of these books are about hacks, shortcuts, or optimization.
They are about people operating under pressure, making decisions with incomplete information, and living with the consequences. That is why I keep coming back to history and military accounts instead of productivity trends.
Preparedness beats cleverness.
Judgment matters more than tools.
Consistency outperforms motivation.
Those lessons apply whether you are running a business, leading people, raising a family, training your body, or just trying to stay steady in a noisy world.
You do not have to agree with every author to learn something valuable. In fact, reading critically is part of the process. The goal is not comfort. It is perspective.
If even one of these books makes you rethink how you approach responsibility, leadership, or preparation, then it was worth the time.
Blair Witkowski is an avid watch nut, loves pocket knives and flashlights, and when he is not trying to be a good dad to his nine kids, you will find him running or posting pics on Instagram. Besides writing articles for Tech Writer EDC he is also the founder of Lowcountry Style & Living. In addition to writing, he is focused on improving his client’s websites for his other passion, Search Engine Optimization. His wife Jennifer and he live in coastal South Carolina.