Top 10 Reads of 2025 + Subscriber Wildcard Pick + Subscriber Shoutout + 2026 Thoughts
Why It Matters
The video signals a strategic pivot for a niche literary channel, blending AI expertise with curated reading, which could reshape how creators engage educated audiences in a data‑driven era.
Key Takeaways
- •Subscriber wildcard pick returns, inviting one book suggestion per comment.
- •Author reflects on AI shift, linking machine learning to reading.
- •Top 10 2025 reads include diverse titles from fiction to architecture.
- •Travel experiences in Portland, Paris, Greece influence book selections.
- •Channel future hinges on balancing depth with a limited publishing schedule.
Summary
Chris’s latest "Leaf by Leaf" episode serves as a hybrid year‑end roundup and forward‑looking roadmap. He revives the subscriber wildcard pick—viewers comment a single title, and Chris randomly selects one to read and review before year‑end—while also giving a heartfelt shout‑out to a Portland reader who nudged him toward a hardcover edition of Robert Zoller’s "The Salt Sea Mastodon."
The video weaves together a whirlwind of personal updates: a hectic publishing cadence that slipped to one long‑form video per month, a series of literary pilgrimages to Powell’s in Portland, the Louvre, and Greek islands, and a deep dive into his professional pivot toward AI, graph databases, and generative retrieval‑augmented generation. He frames his top‑ten 2025 reads—ranging from Helen DeWitt’s experimental "Your Name Here" to Douglas Hofstadter’s "Ambigrammia"—as books he never covered on the channel, highlighting a deliberate shift toward unexplored territory.
Memorable moments include a spontaneous encounter with a fan named Will, who recommended the Zoller edition; a diner interview with author Michael Brodsky; and a portrait session with Lucian Freud chronicled by Martin Gayford. Chris also cites Mortimer J. Adler’s maxim that good books should get through to the reader, not merely be counted, underscoring his evolving curatorial philosophy.
Looking ahead, Chris grapples with the tension between his AI‑driven career and a yearning for an unplugged, cabin‑bound reading life. The channel’s future will likely balance fewer, more focused videos with deeper analytical content, leveraging his AI insights while preserving the intimate, community‑driven spirit that defines "Leaf by Leaf."
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