The Book Review - The 10 Best Books of 2025

All year long, the staff of The New York Times Book Review conducts a running discussion over what belongs on its year-end Top 10 list. In this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz gathers a group of fellow Book Review editors to talk about the most exciting fiction and nonfiction of the year. 

Here are the books discussed in this week’s episode:

Fiction

  • “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” by Kiran Desai
  • “Angel Down,” by Daniel Kraus
  • “The Sisters,” by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
  • “The Director,” by Daniel Kehlmann
  • “Stone Yard Devotional,” by Charlotte Wood

Nonfiction

  • “A Marriage at Sea,” by Sophie Elmhirst
  • “Wild Thing,” by Sue Prideaux
  • “Mother Emanuel,” by Kevin Sack
  • “There Is No Place for Us," by Brian Goldstone
  • “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” by Arundhati Roy

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Honestly with Bari Weiss - Is Designing Babies Unethical—or a Moral Imperative?

Most parents know what goes into raising children: the time spent changing diapers in inopportune places; the hours of worrying—about what to feed them, how to educate them, how to protect them and keep them healthy; the countless hours devoted to dance classes, summer camps, pediatricians, and piano lessons—all investments meant to give them the best chance in life.

Most of us would do anything to help our kids become the most successful and happiest versions of themselves.

But what if we could start earlier? At the molecular level. What if we could ensure our babies were healthier, smarter, and stronger, before they even took their first breath?

Right now, several biotech companies are doing just that. They offer embryo screening for couples undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). These companies don’t just score embryos for disease risk, which has become standard practice for anyone undergoing IVF—they go further.

Nucleus Genomics promises “optimization” of traits like heart health and cancer resistance, as well as intelligence, longevity, body mass index, baldness, eye color, hair color, etc. It even suggests it may predict a predisposition to become an alcoholic.

In the future, we may be able to more than just screen and select. We’ll be able to make tweaks to our own embryos in order to “optimize” them. This isn’t something out of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It’s the very real, and near, future. Some would argue it’s already here.

It all creates profound and critical questions. So we hosted a debate: Is it ethical to design our unborn children? And are we morally obligated to do so when the risks of abstaining include serious diseases? Or does designing babies cross a line? Is it wrong to play God and manipulate humanity’s genetic heritage?

Arguing that designing babies is not only an ethical choice, but indeed a moral imperative, are Jamie Metzl and Dr. Allyson Berent.

Jamie is a technology and healthcare futurist, who was a member of the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Committee on Human Genome Editing. He’s also written several best-selling books on this subject, including Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.

Allyson is a veterinarian who has become an incredible force for genetic research since her daughter, Quincy, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome. She serves as chief science officer of the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics and chief development officer at a biotechnology company, where she helps accelerate gene therapy programs for Angelman syndrome.

Arguing that designing babies is unethical are O. Carter Snead and Dr. Lydia Dugdale.

Carter is a bioethicist and law professor at Notre Dame. He served as general counsel to the President’s Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush and as an appointed member of UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee. He is also an appointed member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which advises the pope on bioethics.

Lydia is a physician, medical ethicist, and professor of medicine at Columbia University, where she serves as director of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She is also Co-Director of Clinical Ethics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

It’s a critical debate you won’t want to miss. 

The Free Press is honored to have partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to present this debate. Head to TheFire.org to learn more about this indispensable organization.


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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Year 1975

By 1975, the world had seen 25 years of radical change. The changes seen in the first half of the 20th century accelerated even faster. Empires ended, there were social and technical revolutions, new nations were created, humans landed on the moon, and the world was in the midst of peak Cold War. 

Energy, inflation, and civil rights, which had always been issues, were now front and center. 

Learn more about the world in the year 1975 on the 1,975th episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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The Daily Detail - The Daily Detail for 12.2.25

Alabama

  • Morgan Murphy writes op-ed on need to stop radical Islamic migration
  • Mike Rogers to launch bipartisan investigation into strikes on drug boats
  • Hoover Zoning will not recommend rezoning for Islamic Academy relocation
  • Youth facility in Henry County has fourth abuse lawsuit filed against it
  • FBI Birmingham issues warning on holiday scammers and tactics
  • Official Alabama Christmas tree has arrived in state capitol

National

  • National Guardsman injured by Islamic shooter is able to wiggle toes
  • President Trump releases results of MRI after goading by MN governor
  • Federal judge rules against NJ acting attorney Alina Habba's appointment
  • OH senator offers bill to end dual citizenship, person must choose a country
  • DHS reports that 7k criminal illegal aliens are being harbored from ICE in NYC
  • Criminal illegal alien from India causes two deaths in OR while driving semi
  • DOJ to re-offer charges against James Comey and Letitia James this week
  • SNAP program benefits going to 5K liquor and smoke stores across the US


The Ezra Klein Show - Interesting Times: She Exposed Epstein and Shares MAGA’s Anger

My colleague Ross Douthat talks to the journalist who exposed Jeffrey Epstein. 

This episode of “Interesting Times,” with the Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, came out back in July. But since Epstein has very much stayed in the news, I wanted to share it now. The conversation is such a fascinating and helpful explainer of the whole case, and the questions that remain unanswered — with the woman whose reporting led to Epstein’s re-arrest.  

If you haven’t had a chance to check out “Interesting Times” this year, you really should. The team has produced so many great episodes, especially with leading thinkers and activists on the right. You can find them on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

NBN Book of the Day - Brooke Barbier, “King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father” (Harvard UP, 2023)

King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father (Harvard UP, 2023) is a rollicking portrait of the paradoxical patriot, whose measured pragmatism helped make American independence a reality.

Americans are surprisingly more familiar with his famous signature than with the man himself. In this spirited account of John Hancock's life, Brooke Barbier depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions--a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk; a pillar of society uncomfortable with radicalism who yet was crucial to independence. About two-fifths of the American population held neutral or ambivalent views about the Revolution, and Hancock spoke for them and to them, bringing them along.

Orphaned young, Hancock was raised by his merchant uncle, whose business and vast wealth he inherited--including household slaves, whom Hancock later freed. By his early thirties, he was one of New England's most prominent politicians, earning a place on Britain's most-wanted list and the derisive nickname King Hancock. While he eventually joined the revolution against England, his ever moderate--and moderating--disposition would prove an asset after 1776. Barbier shows Hancock appealing to southerners and northerners, Federalists and Anti-Federalists. He was a famously steadying force as president of the fractious Second Continental Congress. He parlayed with French military officials, strengthening a key alliance with his hospitable diplomacy. As governor of Massachusetts, Hancock convinced its delegates to vote for the federal Constitution and calmed the fallout from the shocking Shays's Rebellion.

An insightful study of leadership in the revolutionary era, King Hancock traces a moment when passion was on the side of compromise and accommodation proved the basis of profound social and political change.

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The NewsWorthy - White House Defends Hegseth, Bitcoin Prices Drop & Travel / Giving Tuesday – Tuesday, December 2, 2025

The news to know for Tuesday, December 2, 2025!

We'll tell you about the meeting President Trump held with top officials in the face of growing questions about his military buildup — and one controversial decision in particular.

Also, where the third winter storm in just one week is hitting the U.S. this time.

Plus: new rules coming for anyone without a Real ID, a bad day for Bitcoin — raising fears of another "crypto winter," and what to know about travel discounts and the need for giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!

Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!

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What A Day - With Next Phase Of Ceasefire Unclear, Gazans Brace For Winter

It's been nearly two months since the fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect. The ceasefire is intended to be the first phase of an overarching plan to bring peace to the region after two years of war. But the next steps in the plan seem murky at best. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that countries that had planned to deploy troops to Gaza to keep the peace as part of an International Stabilizing Force have backpedaled on their commitments. Meanwhile, Gazans are continuing to struggle – reeling from massive flooding and increasingly cold weather. For more on the current conditions in Gaza, we spoke with Mohammed Aklouk, a coordinator for the Norwegian Refugee Council who lives in Gaza with his family.

And in headlines, Luigi Mangione's lawyers attempt to get key pieces of evidence thrown out in his New York state trial, a federal court rules that Alina Habba has been serving unlawfully as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, and Indiana Republicans continue their push to assist President Donald Trump's calls for partisan gerrymandering.

This holiday season, gift someone a Friends of the Pod subscription or treat yourself. Learn more at crooked.com/friends. Subscribing is the best way to support independent progressive media.

Show Notes:


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Pod Save America - Department of War (Crimes)

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees launch an investigation into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after a report that he ordered a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean while survivors were clinging to the wreckage. Was his order a war crime? Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss and then jump into the rest of the news, including the White House's reaction to the shooting of two National Guard members in D.C., Trump's pardon of a former Hondoran president convicted of helping drug traffickers bring hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, and a special election in Tennessee where the Democrat has a fighting chance to flip a Trump +22 district. Then, Rob Sand, Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa, joins to talk about his race—and how Iowa farmers are reacting to the Trump trade war.


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WSJ Tech News Briefing - Would You Add A Car to Your Amazon Cart?

Many see Amazon as a reliable source of consumer goods from toilet paper to wireless headphones. But Sean McLain reports that the “everything store” is now betting that consumers will also pick up much bigger items when given the opportunity. Plus, Imani Moise reports on why fintech company Block is sharing its version of a credit store with customers. Patrick Coffee hosts.


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