A little learning may be a dangerous thing — but that hasn’t stopped us from asking respondents in our weekly By the Book column for specific details about what they learned from their reading in 2025. Here’s a sampling of their fascinating, eccentric and not-so-dangerous answers, edited for length and clarity.
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Author, “Doggerel”
Reading “The World’s Fastest Man,” Michael Kranish’s biography of Major Taylor, I learned that the bicycle was the center of the Industrial Revolution. Learned that, barely after antebellum slavery, Taylor was an international star. Learned, too, that Taylor died tragically trying to escape poverty by telling the story of his remarkable life.
Read more about Reginald Dwayne Betts’s favorite books.
Will Oldham
Musician, wrote foreword to “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones”
Paul Gauguin saw the traveling extravaganza overseen by Buffalo Bill Cody in Paris in 1889 and was so inspired that he bought himself a 10-gallon hat and wore it as his trademark headgear for years. (Learned from “Wild Thing,” by Sue Prideaux.)
Read more about Will Oldham’s favorite books.
Elinor Lipman
Author, “Every Tom, Dick & Harry”
In “To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah,” by Dvora Hacohen, I learned that there were exactly 13 Jewish families living in Edinburgh in 1909. Just 13! And in “Connie,” by Connie Chung: She was the youngest of 10 children, only five survived infancy, all girls, and she’s the only one born in the United States.
Read more about Elinor Lipman’s favorite books.
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Author, “Theft”
The life history and the cultural significance of the Andean condor.
Read more about Abdulrazak Gurnah’s favorite books.
Ed Helms
Author, “Snafu: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups”
In David Byrne’s “How Music Works,” I learned how profoundly music is shaped by the spaces it’s performed in. Cathedrals, dive bars, stadiums: They don’t just host music, they transform how we experience it.
Read more about Ed Helms’s favorite books.
Lisa Scottoline
Author, “The Unraveling of Julia”
I learned so much about organized crime in Naples from “Gomorrah,” by Roberto Saviano. It’s a fascinating book, and there’s no single fact that struck me except that Saviano had to live under police protection after his book was published.
Read more about Lisa Scottoline’s favorite books.
Adam Haslett
Author, “Mothers and Sons”
That lithium, the salt form of which is used to treat manic depression, was one of only three elements present at the birth of the universe, along with hydrogen and helium. As if the cosmos were preparing for a mental health crisis 13 billion years in the making.
Read more about Adam Haslett’s favorite books.
Jason Blum
Co-author, “Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse”
Probably the benefits of breathing through my nose, from “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art,” by James Nestor.
Read more about Jason Blum’s favorite books.
Jeff Kinney
Author, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper”
That George Washington sent smallpox survivors into Boston to occupy it after the city was evacuated by the British in 1776, since they were immune to reinfection and wouldn’t fall prey to smallpox-tainted items left behind. I learned that from “The British Are Coming,” by Rick Atkinson.
Read more about Jeff Kinney’s favorite books.
José Andrés
Co-author, “Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs”
That in some parts of the world, seeds are passed down like family heirlooms. A grandmother’s pepper seed becomes a granddaughter’s hope. Food is memory. Food is resistance.
Read more about José Andrés’s favorite books.
John Darnielle
Musician and author, “This Year: 365 Songs Annotated: A Book of Days”
That Edith Sitwell was a prude, which I learned reading a copy of “Swinburne: A Selection,” which she edited.
Read more about John Darnielle’s favorite books.
Louis Sachar
Author, “The Magician of Tiger Castle”
The 1939 Marian Anderson concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., played a pivotal role in the novel “The Time of Our Singing,” by Richard Powers. I was surprised I had never heard of it, although given our country’s history, I suppose I shouldn’t have been so surprised.
Read more about Louis Sachar’s favorite books.
Patricia Lockwood
Author, “Will There Ever Be Another You”
I was reading Ange Mlinko’s “Difficult Ornaments” in Key West, and she sets forth a theory that the bight referred to in Elizabeth Bishop’s great poem “The Bight” was actually Garrison Bight. It’s older, more dilapidated, cheerfully disreputable, rather than the more picturesque one that most readers have linked to the poem. That’s the sort of thing I like.
Read more about Patricia Lockwood’s favorite books.
Christopher Moore
Author, “Anima Rising”
From one of Ben Aaronovitch’s “Rivers of London” novels, I learned that when they put the Underground through the city, they had areas where the trains came out of the tunnels to the surface, and they only demolished the backs of buildings to accommodate them. So there are houses in London that are nothing but brick facades of Victorian buildings.
Read more about Christopher Moore’s favorite books.
Bryan Washington
Author, “Palaver”
“Emergent Tokyo,” by Jorge Almazán, Joe McReynolds and Studiolab, taught me about the historical context and spatial configuration of “zakkyo buildings,” which they describe as “densely packed multistory buildings adorned with vertical stretches of neon signage.” There’s also a frittata recipe in Samantha Irby’s “Meaty” that knocks me out.
Read more about Bryan Washington’s favorite books.
The post Jeff Kinney, Patricia Lockwood and More on What They Learned From a Book in 2025 appeared first on New York Times.
