Post by Mirco Günther

As we begin 2026, here is my Asia-Pacific (and global affairs) reading list for the past year. Top 25 picks. Primarily non-fiction and a few award-winning novels. Let me know what you’d recommend! Chen Jian: Zhou Enlai - A Life Dan Wang: Breakneck - China’s Quest to Engineer the Future Joseph Torigian: The Party’s Interest Come First - The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping Patrick McGee: Apple in China - The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company Eva Dou: House of Huawei - Inside the Secret World of China’s Most Powerful Company Yuan Yang: Private Revolutions - Coming of Age in a New China Maximilian Mayer, Emilian Kavalski, Marina Rudyak, Xin Zhang (eds.): Routledge Handbook on Global China Marina Rudyak: Dialog mit dem Drachen - Wie uns strategische Empathie gegenüber China stärken kann Sören Urbansky, Martin Wagner: China und Russland - Kurze Geschichte einer langen Beziehung Stephen Witt: The Thinking Machine - Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip Kenneth Rogoff: Our Dollar, Your Problem - An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead William Dalrymple: The Golden Road - How Ancient India Transformed the World Sam Dalrymple: Shattered Lands - Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook: Der amerikanische Weckruf Jacinda Ardern: A Different Kind of Power Kiran Desai: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny Arundathi Roy: Mother Mary Comes to Me Megha Majumdar: A Guardian and a Thief Han Kang: We do not part Lyse Doucet: The Finest Hotel in Kabul - A People’s History of Afghanistan Karen Hao: Empire of AI - Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson: Abundance - How We Build a Better Future Edward Fishman: Chokepoints - How the Global Economy Became a Weapon of War Patricia Evangelista: Some People Need Killing (prominently featured at last year’s Frankfurt Book Fair with the Philippines as guest of honor) David Van Reybrouck: Revolusi - Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World