On finishing my first book, webdev, and reading challenge

Updated December 2025, from a hotel lobby in Tainan, Taiwan

The last week of December. I want to end the year calmly — without rushing — to put a full stop and properly wrap up the results. I’m deliberately not taking on any new projects right now and focusing only on finishing what I’ve already started.

Finished writing my first book

After rewriting the book for the third time and cutting everything unnecessary, I can finally say this with confidence and pride: the book is finished. Polished. And ready for publication.
While I’m sorting out the publishing details with Amazon, I decided to send the book to a few friends for beta reading. If you’d like to get a copy, email me at [email protected] — but only if you promise to give honest feedback 🙂

Rebuilt my personal website

Regular visitors may have noticed that alexmaltsev.me has changed and become noticeably faster. I’ve fully moved away from WordPress and am now experimenting with Astro and static sites. Some things might still be a bit rough around the edges, but I’m fixing them step by step.

Wrapping up my reading challenge

For several years in a row, I’ve been trying to read 50 books per calendar year. This year, I came closer to that goal than ever before and, once again at the end of the year, realized that the goal itself matters less than who you become while pursuing it.

I started reading more, diving into new topics, developing critical thinking, and expanding my understanding of philosophy and psychology. I’m closing the year with The Courage to Be Disliked and The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Mentally, I’m closing this challenge for myself — but I’ll keep reading a lot and with pleasure. The reading list keeps growing.