The BEST Books I Read This Year

Newsletter · Dec 21, 2025

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An entrepreneur's recipe for sweet success

2.7min Read

I heard once that Oprah has an incredible reading schedule. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening of uninterrupted reading time…

Seriously that IS the dream!

The “uninterrupted” part is key here. Not to mention the FOUR hours of total reading time per day. That sounds absolutely amazing!

While I long for a reading schedule like Oprah, I’m not quite there (yet). For now, my compromise is 20 pages a day no matter what. It used to be 10 pages a day, but honestly I just have too many books I want to get to for 10 pages to cut it. I had to up my game the last couple of years.

Today is 12/21/25 as you are reading this and 12/18/25 as I’m writing this. I have finished 34 books this year and I’m about half way through my 35th. I’ll most likely finish this one in the next week and start (maybe finish) one more pending the length.

All that to say is I now have a pretty complete list of the books I've read in 2025 and it’s time to share my TOP 10.

The whole list and current reads can always be found in the link below, but I’ll break down the top 10 that I’ve read and why I think it is a worthy read.

FULL LIST HERE

Starting with 10…

Wait, one more note— It was extremely hard to order these. Don’t think that #10 is any less worthy than #1. I would re read each and every one of these again. They are all awesome!

10 )
Green Lights

I much prefer reading a physical book over an audible, BUT I would recommend the audible on this one. Matthew McConaughey narrates it and this genuinely might be his best role yet. So authentic, so well written. The beauty of this book is found I the way Matthew recalls and shares the lessons he’s learned through his life. His determination, spunk and ZEST for life pours out into this book.

It’s a great read for ANYONE really, but especially for visionaries, dreamers and those that know in their heart of hearts they were meant for more.

9 )
The Third Door / Delivering Happiness

I realize that I’m cheating here and listing two books, but I read them back to back because Delivering Happiness played a large role in the life of the author of the Third Door… So they kind of go hand in hand.

The Third Door — Alex Banayan is one of the best story tellers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. He was a man on a mission and more dedicated to his cause than anyone I have ever read about. He tells his life story and the journey he was on for years to learn from the most successful people in the world. He was just a kid when he started the journey and shares the WILD adventures of figuring out this unique life hack that he finds common in each of the successful people that he talks to.

Delivering Happiness - tells the story of the man behind making Zappos into the success it was. This is part biography, part “hero’s journey” of one of the most incredible entrepreneurs of all time, Tony Hsieh.

8 )
You Can Just Do Things AND Tiny Experiments

I know, i know, theres two again. The reason I have them like this is these books compliment each other, trust me!

You Can Just Do Things -- The simple beauty of this book blows me away. Jay Yang was 19 when he wrote this. I think he’s MAYBE 21 now. His story is nothing short of wild. He is now on Alex and Leila Hormozi’s team and living a life that most entrepreneurs dream of.

While he might be young, he is wise beyond his years and the secret that he openly shares to his success is that “you can just do things”.

Tiny Experiments -- The previous book talks about doing things, Tiny Experiments describes the HOW. Anne-Laure SO eloquently shares how you take big dreams and break them down into tiny, manageable actions to achieve them.

7 )
The Five Regrets Of The Dying

Oh man, this one hit. Author Bronnie Ware spent a large part of her adult life taking care of those at the end of their lives. She wasn’t just good at what she did, she was born to do it. The title says it all— Ware shares the most common things that her patients had come to regret as they were on their final days. It’s at times a tough read to get through just because some of the regrets hit SO close to home.

But reading this puts life in perspective and is worth a read annually.

6 )
The 5 Types Of Wealth

First off, Sahil Bloom is one of the most kind and generous authors I’ve ever met. He launched his book with style and poured his soul into engaging with the world as people read it. He responded to almost every single tweet, tag, DM, reference on every social media platform he has. And he isn’t just some unknown dude. He has a HUGE following. It was a full time job for him to do that.

He was even kind enough to hop on a call with me and the book club I was running to discuss his book. With that said, this book was amazing! It makes you completely rethink your definition of wealth and ALSO how to really get a handle on all aspects of your life that ultimately make you successful.

5 )
How To Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

Seriously one of the best overall entrepreneur books out there! Highly underrated. Scott Adams is the author but he’s most famous for being the creator of the comic Dilbert. That is where he made his fame and money and the empire that grew from that.

The story that Adams tells is about his life and all that has led to where he is now, but what he REALLY shares is how you can truly come out successful regardless of how many perceived failures you might have.

4 )
The Art Of Entrepreneurship

Jim Stovall is an absolute LEGEND. He became legally blind as a young man in a time when people didn’t think there was much a blind man would be able to do. Jim had other ideas of what his life would look like though.

He shares the winding road of his journey, but more importantly, he shares every single tactical lesson along the way that we can use to come out as successful as he has become.

3 )
Burn The Boats

The title says a lot, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg for this book. For a long time I avoided reading this because I didn’t agree with BURNING THE BOATS, but I was wrong. I should have read this a log time ago. Matt Higgins doesn't talk about being reckless and throwing caution to the wind— he shares about the mindset needed to go all in on your dream.

2 AND 1)

Portal To Genius
The Jackrabbit Factor

I’m combining these two, because you can’t and shouldn’t read one without the other. The Jackrabbit factor comes first and then the Portal to Genius is the prequel and should be read second. Seriously two of my favorite books of ALL time.

Maybe it was the time in my life that I read them or maybe these will resonate with you as well, but I HIGHLY recommend these books for anyone honestly. If you’re an entrepreneur, these will speak to your soul. If you are a wantrepreneur, these will light the fire inside of you. If you are have and satisfied with your w2, these might awaken the giant within and get you to rethink your life.

Each book is written with a fictional storyline painting the picture, but the lessons hit just as hard as any other non fiction book out there. These teach you mindset, the power of thought, and the formula to visualizing your future and making it a reality. I seriously LOVE these books and need to read them every year!

There you have it! My top 10 of 2025.

Those are just normal amazon links, not affiliate links or anything, but if I were you, I’d go to Thriftbooks.com and order as many as you can there. I almost exclusively order from there now. You get books in really great condition for $5.

Seriously such a steal!

If you want to talk about ANY of these, seriously don’t hesitate to email me back!I’ll leave you with that today, no other bites or links, that was already a lot to digest and you’re probably deep into book shopping by now.

Until next Sunday, have a WONDERFUL Christmas and time with family! 🎅🏻🎄 I appreciate you more than you know!

Until next time...

Stay in the fight,