Best Things of 2025

1. The Deceiver, by Frederick Forsyth (1991), author of the even better Day of the Jackal and The Dogs of War. I haven't yet come across a bad book of his.

2. Weimar, a board game of 1920's German politics. I have come across so many good games this year! Frederick the Great: Crisis(7 Years War); Virgin Queen (1550-1600 religious and political conflict); Soviet Dawn: The Russian Civil War 1918-1921(solitaire).

3. French food-- cheap restaurants, fancy restaurants, coffee, grocery stores, bakeries, pastry shops,fishmongers, butchers. Sufficient reason in itself for a trip to France.

4. Leather backpacks such as the ones made by Marius for sale in St. Malo. A briefcase replacement.

5. Gel Superglue, which doesn't run onto your fingers.

6. Becherel, France, near Dinant just outside Brittany. Like Hay on Wye, this is a bookstore town.

7. Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham (2024). How big-name evangelical organizations have been cleverly corrupted by leftwing money. It's shocking how easy this was.

8. Africa: Biography of a Continent, John Reader (1998). From geology to prehistory to 2000, science as well as history.

9. Perfect Rigour, Masha Gessen (2009). A biography a famous Russian eccentric mathematician recluse. Beautifully written.

10. Rouen Cathedral. Not the most beautiful one, but it has historical connections to all periods.

11. Le Helianthe restaurant in Turquant, Anjou. In a chalk cavern, like many of the town's houses. The simple nettle soup was the best.

12. Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb party (1980). A novel by the English novelist Graham Greene.

Also rans. The Office. The Ithaca Museum of the Earth fossil museum. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ Classical and Koine Greek lexicon. Built-in GPS in cars-- Dacia and our BMW, and Tesla. Travelling in Europe with a Two-Year-Old. Sleeping in airplanes sitting up. French roadside "aires".

See also Best Things of 2024 and Best Dozen Articles I've Read in 2023 and Best Articles 2021 and Top Ten Articles of 2025.