These are the 149 Amazing Books I Read in 2023

It’s that time of the year again when I share all of the books that I read. You’ll see that the books I read this year cover a variety of topics I’m interested in, such as philosophy, psychology, online marketing, and even some fiction. I’ve been thinking about narrowing down my interests so that the people who come to this site know exactly what to find here. Nevertheless, the reason why I’ve been able to read as many books as I have is because I can jump from topic to topic and I love that. Sometimes I’m interested in reading a book about a sociological experiment, sometimes I want to read a book about stoicism, sometimes I want to reread an old classic, and so on. I don’t think I can ever burnout if I follow my passions and this is part of playing the so-called infinite game.

As you can see, I started a bunch of books that I never finished. This year, I finally decided that I was not going to finish a book I didn’t like. Sometimes I’d start a book and I’d read the first chapter or around 10% and if I don’t like the book by that point, I just stop. This was liberating and it completely transformed my workflow. To symbolize the books I didn’t read to completion, I used an asterisk after their name. This means I either didn’t like the book, I read a sample of it, or I used it for reference. These are the books I read in 2023 in no particular order.

If you’re interested, you can always check out the books I read in 2021 and 2022.

  1. Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labreque
  2. The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers by Sally Miller
  3. Food Rules by Michael Pollan
  4. SEO 2023 by Adam Clarke
  5. The Art & Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole
  6. How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury
  7. The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber
  8. The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism by Matthew Van Natta
  9. Courage Is Calling by Ryan Holiday
  10. The Creative Gene by Hideo Kojima
  11. Itchy, Tasty by Alex Aniel
  12. Mass Effect: Retribution by Drew Karpyshyn
  13. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  14. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
  15. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
  16. The Unfair Advantage by Ash Ali
  17. 8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty
  18. Models by Mark Manson
  19. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
  20. Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
  21. The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
  22. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware
  23. Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett
  24. Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett
  25. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  26. The Stand by Stephen King *
  27. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
  28. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
  29. Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday
  30. How to Get to the Top of Google by Tim Cameron-Kitchen
  31. Ikigai by Hector Garcia
  32. The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffmann
  33. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
  34. Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen
  35. Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
  36. Stop Procrastinating by Nils Salzgeber
  37. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
  38. The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
  39. The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett
  40. Miyazakiworld by Susan Napier
  41. The PARA Method by Tiago Forte
  42. A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen
  43. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
  44. Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man by Steve Alpert
  45. The Anthology of Balaji by Eric Jorgenson
  46. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson
  47. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
  48. The Book of Ichigo Ichie by Hector Garcia
  49. Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish
  50. The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
  51. Same as Ever by Morgan Housel
  52. Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly
  53. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (Re-read)
  54. Everything Is Fucked by Mark Manson (Re-read)
  55. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon (Re-read)
  56. The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday (Re-read)
  57. Deep Work by Cal Newport (Re-read)
  58. The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia
  59. Doom Guy by John Romero
  60. Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang
  61. The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale
  62. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
  63. The Complete Musashi by Alexander Bennett *
  64. Good Inside by Becky Kennedy *
  65. Ultralearning by Scott H. Young *
  66. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari *
  67. 1984 by George Orwell *
  68. Selling 101 by Zig Ziglar *
  69. Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday *
  70. The Snowball by Alice Schroeder *
  71. The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker *
  72. How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes *
  73. The Last Action Heroes by Nick De Semlyen *
  74. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithe *
  75. I Am Dynamite by Due Prideaux *
  76. Philosophy 101 by Paul Kleinman *
  77. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus *
  78. Daily Rituals by Mason Currey *
  79. Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards *
  80. Control Freak by Cliff Bleszinski *
  81. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed *
  82. Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver
  83. The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau*
  84. The Shallows by Nicholas Carr *
  85. The Status Game by Will Storr *
  86. Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss *
  87. One Million Followers by Brendan Kane *
  88. Beyond Good and Evil by Fredrich Nietzsche *
  89. Starting Point by Hayao Miyazaki *
  90. The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin *
  91. Mindset by Carol Dweck *
  92. Unscripted by MJ De Marco *
  93. Pulp Fiction by Jason Bailey *
  94. 101 Essays that Will Change the Way You Think by Breanna Wiest *
  95. The Premonition by Michael Lewis *
  96. Be Water, My Friend by Shannon Lee *
  97. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari *
  98. The Game Neil Strauss *
  99. Dopamine Nation by Anna Lemke *
  100. A Handbook for New Stoics by Massimo Pigliucci *
  101. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marylin Manson *
  102. Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger *
  103. Heartbreak by Alain de Botton *
  104. How to Find Love by The School of Life *
  105. Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson *
  106. Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull *
  107. Blood, Sweat & Chrome by Kyle Buchanan *
  108. The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha *
  109. Working Hard, Hardly Working by Grace Beverly *
  110. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport *
  111. Decisive by Chip Heath and Dan Heath *
  112. The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman *
  113. Principles for Success by Ray Dalio *
  114. Metal Gear Solid by Nicolas Courcier *
  115. The Daily Dad by Ryan Holiday *
  116. Someday Is Today by Matthew Dicks *
  117. Manage Your Day-to-Day by Jocelyn K. Glei *
  118. Mindfulness by Mark Williams *
  119. The World of Studio Ghibli by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham *
  120. Art & Arcana by Michael Witwer *
  121. Best. Movie. Ever by Brian Rafter *
  122. Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle by Susan Napier *
  123. Manga in Theory and Practice by Hirohiko Araki *
  124. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin *
  125. The Joy of Less by Francine Jay *
  126. Quiet by Susan Cain *
  127. Entrepreneur Revolution by Daniel Priestley *
  128. The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor *
  129. The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt *
  130. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely *
  131. Two Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield *
  132. The 4-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss *
  133. The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins *
  134. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
  135. The Film Buff’s Bucket List by Chris Stuckmann *
  136. The Second Mountain by David Brooks *
  137. Happy by Darren Brown *
  138. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert *
  139. The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss *
  140. The Art of Happiness by Cutler *
  141. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism *
  142. Walden by Henry David Thoreau *
  143. Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charles T. Munger *
  144. What’s Our Problem by Tim Urban *
  145. How to Calm Your Mind by Chris Bailey *
  146. The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane *
  147. Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuck *
  148. The Blue Zones of Happiness by Dan Buettner *
  149. Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend *
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