Winter Reading List 2025: Stories to Warm the Season

Commonfund Institute is excited to share the latest edition of our winter recommended reading list, featuring thought-provoking memoirs, compelling historical fiction, and inspiring leadership journeys. We hope our curated list sparks curiosity, fuels conversation, and offers fresh perspectives. Whether you’re seeking wisdom, adventure, or simply a great read, this collection has something for every reader.

Born to Be Wired: Lessons from a Lifetime Transforming Television, Wiring America for the Internet, and Growing Formula One, Discovery, Sirius XM, and the Atlanta Braves | John Malone

In Born to Be Wired, this legendary “cable cowboy” shares stories from behind the scenes of the most transformative deals in media, entertainment, and technology. He recounts the extraordinary saga of how America was wired—how a single copper strand evolved from a rural TV-antenna service into a high-speed backbone powering the internet and clearing the path for Amazon, Facebook, and Google.¹

Building a Moral Economy: Pathways for People of Courage

This introductory volume in the Building a Moral Economy series invites readers into a new vision for the future of economic life together. Ethicist Cynthia Moe-Lobeda crafts a compelling case for a new moral economy: its vital importance, the pivotal role religious networks can play, and the varied forms of action needed. Building a Moral Economy: Pathways for People of Courage is grounded in the stories of real people, with real struggles, triumphs, and creative energy. Moe-Lobeda invites readers to imagine an equitable, ecological, and democratic economy for themselves and their descendants and provides wise guidance for living into that vision.²

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.³

The Impossible Thing | Belinda Bauer

On the cliffs of Yorkshire, men are lowered on ropes to steal the eggs of the sea birds who nest there. The most beautiful are sold for large sums. A small girl—penniless and neglected by her family—retrieves one such treasure. Its discovery will forever alter the course of her life.⁴

The Moon is Mistaken: and other musings

Sacred and playful, sublime and funny, the poetry in this collection shares with us a unique inner landscape. Lovett’s poems are rich with childhood wonder, spirit, and a deep connection to nature. They are highly accessible and engaging, allowing every reader to find joy and meaning within these pages. Through these poems we can imagine the inner life of trees, feel the light in pieces of a narrative from a life lived, and become inspired by the techni-color world painted by each. Here the natural world buzzes with life, connection, and pure love. Lovett shares a personal psychic journey reveling in something new with each line. It’s a collection of precious moments, memory, and wisdom that helps us to see our own journey and ourselves.⁵

No Country for Love

No Country for Love follows the hard choices Debora makes as Ukraine, caught between two totalitarian ideologies, turns into the deadliest place in the world - while she tries to protect those she loves most.⁶

Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead

Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck. Drawing in part on his own experiences, including with policymakers and world leaders, Kenneth Rogoff animates the remarkable postwar run of the dollar—how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro—and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc. Americans cannot take for granted that the Pax Dollar era will last indefinitely, not only because many countries are deeply frustrated with the system, but also because overconfidence and arrogance can lead to unforced errors. Rogoff shows how America’s outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability—not just abroad but also at home.⁷

The celebrated portraitist Platon has spent much of his career photographing the famous and powerful, but he has also traveled the world documenting human rights activists and their quests for justice. The Defenders presents five photo essays spanning 15 years of work on these struggles in Burma, Egypt, Russia, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Burma, he took portraits of monks, sex workers, former child soldiers and the controversial political leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was on the ground in Cairo for several weeks early in 2011, when Egyptians took to the streets and demanded the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. In Russia, he photographed and spoke with dissidents who have battled a slew of oppressive governments. Along the border between the US and Mexico, he documented victims of inhumane immigration policies. Finally, the chapter on the Congo documents the continuing trauma of sexual violence as a weapon of war.⁸

The Pope of the NFL: The Andy Robustelli Story And the Family That Loved Him

The Pope of the NFL: The Andy Robustelli Story and the Family That Loved Him captures the life of Andy Robustelli, a legendary NFL defensive end whose greatness extended beyond the football field. Known as “The Pope” by his teammates, Andy was revered for his unwavering discipline, fierce work ethic, and profound commitment to his family and team. Through the eyes of those who loved him, this book reveals the man behind the accolades—a humble, principled figure who valued loyalty and lived by faith. This is the intimate story of a football icon and the legacy he left behind.⁹

Special Characters: My Adventures with Tech's Titans and Misfits

A coming-of-age narrative chronicling an era transformed, Special Characters is, at its core, a young woman’s origin story—in love, in career, and in life—and an account of the humans behind the companies that have shaped our modern society. Filled with emotional heft and razor-sharp observations, Segall’s empowering memoir is a richly rendered backstage pass to the tech bubble that reimagined the ethos of our social, political, and cultural experience.¹⁰

Stay at Risk and Live Forever: Lessons from a Life of Curiosity, Grit, and Reinvention

Whether you're an investment professional, a business student, or someone interested in personal development, this memoir serves as an inspiring and instructive read. Learn how to navigate the complexities of both the financial world and life itself with wisdom from one of the greatest minds in finance. Embrace the principles of curiosity, grit, and reinvention, and discover how staying at risk can lead to a life of fulfillment and impact.

Stay at Risk and Live Forever is not just a memoir; it's a timeless guide to achieving enduring success, offering readers the tools and insights needed to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.¹¹

Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential

While the for-profit sector is permitted to use all the tools of capitalism, the nonprofit sector is prohibited from using any of them. Capitalism is blamed for creating inequities in our society, but charity is prohibited from using the tools of capitalism to rectify them—and ironically, this is all done in the name of charity. This irrational system, Pallotta explains, has its roots in four-hundred-year-old Puritan ethics that banished self-interest from the realm of charity. The ideology is policed today by watchdog agencies and the use of so-called efficiency measures, which Pallotta argues are flawed, unjust, and should be abandoned. By declaring our independence from these obsolete ideas, Pallotta theorizes, we can dramatically accelerate progress on the most urgent social issues of our time. Uncharitable is an important, provocative, timely, and accessible book—a manifesto about equal economic rights for charity.¹²

Who Knew

Moving beyond business, Diller recounts his family life, personal struggles, and regrets, his joyful marriage to Diane von Furstenburg, and where he has found fulfillment. Intimate, candid, and moving, Who Knew is a different kind of business memoir, one that holds nothing back.¹³

The Words That Made Us

In The Words That Made Us, Akhil Reed Amar unites history and law in a vivid narrative of the biggest constitutional questions early Americans confronted, and he expertly assesses the answers they offered. His account of the document's origins and consolidation is a guide for anyone seeking to properly understand America's Constitution today.¹⁴

1. Born to be Wired: Lessons from a Lifetime Transforming Television, Wiring America for the Internet, and Growing Formula One, Discovery, Sirius XM, and the Atlanta Braves
2. Building a Moral Economy: Pathways for People of Courage
3. Frozen River
4. The Impossible Thing
5. The Moon is Mistaken: and other musings
6. No Country for Love
7. Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead
8. Platon: The Defenders: Heroes of the Global Fight for Human Right
9. The Pope of the NFL: The Andy Robustelli Story and the Family That Loved Him
10. Special Characters: My Adventures with Tech's Titans and Misfits
11. Stay at Risk and Live Forever: Lessons from a Life of Curiosity, Grit, and Reinvention
12. Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential
13. Who Knew
14. The Words that Made Us