Updated November 25, 2025 09:45AM
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9 Most Inspiring, Insightful, and Seriously Worthwhile Books of 2025
No matter what you want in a book, you'll find it here.
(Photo: Fotios Photos)
The best part about reading? No matter what type of book you choose, it inevitably helps you escape life for a little while also bringing you a more sharpened understanding of your existence. Whether you’re looking to lose or find yourself, books are typically the answer. And our best books of 2025 definitely deliver.
Following are the titles that we found difficult to put down throughout the last 12 months. Whether you’re looking to expand your knowledge, flip your perspective, enhance your awareness of self and others, or simply bust yourself out of a rut, the following are our recommendations, in no particular order. Although not all of these are new, we consider them to be quite timeless.
Best Books of 2025
1. My Yoga. My City.
By Grant Henry and Erica Chen
It’s easy to talk about diversity and inclusivity in yoga. It’s much more challenging to depict it. Yoga teachers Henry and Chen accomplished exactly that with their compilation of more than 108 captivating images and compelling essays capturing the essence of what yoga means to various practitioners throughout New York City. As the authors explain, “The project became a powerful reminder that yoga is for everyone—every background, every story, every body.” Think Humans of New York but the yoga edition. —Renee Marie Schettler
2. Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History
By Anajali Rao
This is the book everyone in the yoga space is talking about—or should be. It’s an unflinching exploration of caste, patriarchy, gender, Hinduism, culture, and other not-often-talked-about truths that helped contribute to our contemporary yoga space. Rao’s objective is not only to bring to light these lesser-known aspects of yoga’s past but to incite readers to consider the practice as one of liberation and self-discernment as we reconsider its past, rethink its present, and determine its future.
3. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self
By Stephen Cope
I’ve already waxed poetic about this book, and I’d like to continue. This memoir melds human stories and yogic philosophy in a manner that illustrates the practice’s ability to strip away anything obscuring your truest self. The text is also incredibly readable, taking at-times dense subject matter and transmuting it into a relatable conversation you won’t want to step away from. —Calin Van Paris
4. The Sacrifices of Superwomen: Natural Remedies to Restore Balance
By Dr. Andrea D. Sullivan
This exploration of “the superwoman persona” is essential reading for anyone who feels her resistance waning amid everyday life, especially women of color. The book shares relatable experiences and irrefutable statistics designed to help the reader understand that she’s not alone in her exhaustion—and that the problem isn’t her inability to get it all done but rather the complexities of contemporary society that place women in the position of needing to do it all. —Renee Marie Schettler
5. I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living
By Josie Balka
Most of the world describes the author as a “viral sensation.” She considers herself “the happiest sad girl you’ll ever meet.” Her collection of poems is essentially the love child of each of these aspects of herself. The New York Times best-seller is written in a way that feels real, raw, and as though your best friend is helping you see the truth about yourself. —Renee Marie Schettler
6. The Science of Yoga: Understand the Anatomy and Physiology to Perfect Your Practice
By Ann Swanson
Yoga is a spiritual practice yet the asana portion of it is fundamentally physical. Unfortunately, it can be easy to move through class without entirely understanding what it takes to move your body through space. This book delves into the anatomy of each pose through illustrations and diagrams that are intricate and gorgeous, allowing you to process the scientific as well as the spiritual side of the practice, whether you’re a student or teacher. —Calin Van Paris
7. Spirit Worlds
By Jessica Hundley
The sixth volume in The Library of Esoterica series, Spirit Worlds explores, through words as well as artwork, the vast array of ways humans throughout history have considered the mystical, the afterlife, and the unseen realms. Its 500 pages span underworlds and celestial realms, rituals and chakras in its pursuit of defining what the sacred means. A conversation-starting coffee table tome if ever there was one. —Renee Marie Schettler
8. Darby, Love (Alive Things Mum Said to Me Before She Died)
By Darby Hudson
Another charmer from a series of social media posts gone viral, Darby, Love consists of a poet’s recollection of his mother’s unusual and imaginative way of perceiving life. There’s no chance you won’t be changed by reading these poems. It’s as if there’s invisible glitter attached to the words that flutters around them and attaches itself to those who read. You’ll want to follow the author for more glitter.—Renee Marie Schettler
9. The Little Frog’s Guide to Self-Care
By Maybell Eequay
I first came across The Little Frog’s Guide to Self-Care at an airport bookstore. A few weeks later, my mom gifted me a copy, which I took as a sign that Little Frog’s magic was already in full effect. Whimsical illustrations and simple messages of self-care adorn each page of this tiny hardcover, and Little Frog’s advice ranges from the intangible and poetic (“Tiny miracles are happening in every moment”) to the extremely practical (“If household or self-care tasks feel too big, try doing them halfway”). No matter my mood or stress level, I can turn to any page and gain a quick bit of wisdom or experience Little Frog’s wit. —Laura Harold
And if you’re the sort of person who spends their days collecting audiobooks to help get you through your non-yoga workouts, join the Everand Move & Listen Challenge on MapMyFitness. When you log 200 minutes of activity between Nov. 18 and Dec. 18, you’ll receive a free 30-day Everand trial, which includes three free audiobooks. Plus, challenge finishers can enter to win a free 12-month Everand standard subscription.
