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The Whistle Library features engaging and important reports, discussions, articles and videos that I select from the Web every month for the exclusive reading and listening pleasure of subscribers.
Read on to know what subscribers to The Whistle are enjoying in December 2025 at The Whistle Library, when we are reading about the COP30 Climate Summit, US tariffs’ impact, Trump’s Asia tour and AI adoption. Then, there are articles on books, music, podcasts and so much more!
Season’s Reading 2025!
Hello subscribers! Welcome back to The Whistle Library for what is the last Whistle Library post of this year. I hope you’re enjoying the festive season already and can make time for some important reading.
We begin at Belem, Brazil, with the COP30 Climate Summit, where it was expected that progress would be made on the phasing out of fossil fuels that was agreed to at the COP28 Summit in Dubai. You’ve probably read about the last minute hectic negotiations that went on into the weekend between the two camps of countries, one for the phasing out and the other resisting it. Well, you might like to read Simon Stiell’s closing remarks and the release of the NDC Synthesis Report 2025.
As far as Trump’s tariffs are concerned, the US and the world are yet to feel the effects in their entirety, but this article from PIIE shows that US imports increased in the first half of 2025, while exports decreased.
I hope you have read my blog post on Trump’s Asia tour in which I shared a link to a podcast from CSIS about the trade deals with Asian countries. Here is the podcast again, in case you didn’t listen to it earlier.
https://www.csis.org/podcasts/trade-guys/takeaways-trumps-trip-asia
The world is agog with AI and its chips! This article from HBR shares advice on how organisations can adopt generative AI.
https://hbr.org/2025/11/the-gen-ai-playbook-for-organizations
And McKinsey in its global survey titled State of AI in 2025 has shared findings of how companies around the world are understanding, adopting and scaling AI within their organisations.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai
In books, I have for you both the winners of the National Book Awards 2025 in the US as well as the Booker Prize 2025 from UK.
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2025
This month, I have selected a piece from LRB’s Plato Made it Up collection called On His Trapeze about Roland Barthes by Michael Wood
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v38/n22/michael-wood/on-his-trapeze
I also have an article on BBC from LRB by Des Freedman which you might like to read, considering BBC’s recent troubles with a Panorama documentary.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/november/whose-bbc
In music, I have for you an article from Gramophone Magazine about renowned conductor, Sir Charles Mackerras at the age of 100 and his mastery of Janacek’s operas. Since I haven’t listened to any opera by the composer, I must begin my new year with this!
Finally, in keeping with the spirit of the season, I think it would be a good idea to share this Gramophone review of a new album called The New Winter Songbook featuring soprano, Rebecca Lea and pianist, Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. Obviously an allusion to Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, for those familiar with it. Sounds wonderful… shall have a listen.
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/the-new-winter-songbook
In case you want to listen to them…
That’s all for this month and for this year. See you again at The Whistle Library in 2026. Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Peripatetic Perch 