Hello Everyone,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's been a while since I last sent a newsletter out but better late than never.

Below you'll find my favourite books of 2026.

Lincoln’s Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk

This was my favourite book of the year. It was one of the first books I had read on Lincoln, but it was so much more: an exploration of depression, of overcoming adversity, of personal development, of the advantages of a melancholic temperament. I cannot rate this book highly enough. 

I will say you’re probably better off reading a focused biography of Lincoln first, or enjoying the miniseries on him (which, along with Spielberg’s Lincoln, I watched and loved).

For further reading on Lincoln I also read and enjoyed Abraham Lincoln by James M McPherson, and am fairly deep into (and enjoying) Lincoln by David Herbert Donald and the Inner World of Abraham Lincoln by Michael Burlingame - as well as portions of other books on the man. He was also a central character of the next book below.

Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday

The culmination of the Stoic Virtue series came out this year and it was phenomenal. It’s easily one of the best books I’ve ever read, and probably tied for my favourite of Holiday’s (along with The Obstacle is the Way).

The book breaks down how Wisdom actually develops, the obstacles to Wisdom, and the reasons it should be one of our priorities. Lincoln was a major character of the book and the focus of the third section.

This book has changed my approach to reading and to life with already enjoyable results.

I also finished off Right Thing Right Now and the Daily Stoic which were both great. 

Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish

This book was tremendous, and similar to Wisdom Takes Work and Lincoln’s Melancholy, it’s joined a list of what I consider my favourite books of all time.

Shane Parrish - who runs the Farnham Street blog (which you should check out) - wrote a great guide to better thinking and judgement.

It runs through dealing with your own mental space, creating a good decision making process, and a ton more. It’s basically a distillation of the years of writing Parrish has done on developing your thought processes and I found it to be highly valuable and immensely practical.

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Like most people, I was familiar with the term “Growth Mindset” but this book helped me gain an actual working understanding of it (along with her Masterclass). Mindset is a continued interest of mine, as it seems so often it’s a missing link between potential and achievement.

Very often those who claim mindset is unimportant, display all the signs of a strong mindset already. Each person is different but if it’s too much to say a great mindset is crucial to success, we can at least say a bad mindset will keep you from success (and make you miserable in the process).

To flesh out some of the topics in this book, I’d also highly recommend The Power of Story by Jim Loehr and Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman.

Endurance by Alfred Lansing.

This book was just incredible. The story of the Endurance shipwreck and the resulting leadership of Ernest Shackleton as he tried to lead his men to safety… and every page was just incredible.

I read the bulk of it while on a cruise with my family (they vetoed my first choice of a book on the Titanic). There’s plenty of lessons on morale, leadership, survival against impossible odds, endurance, perseverance - but also, the book is just so entertaining and incredibly difficult to put down.

Definitely makes you feel like any complaints you have pale in comparison. You’ll certainly feel more gratitude at not being in their situation.

McClellan, Sherman, Grant by T. Harry Williams

This short book is incredible. The character study of the three most well-known Union Generals from the Civil War.

It paints a great image of each of them and puts forward the idea that their individual characters are what made the difference in results. 

The central theme is that Grant’s moral courage was the differentiator (having read a bit more on Grant, and watched the miniseries on him, I believe is true - he was beyond impressive).

In line with my continued interest in strategy, I read and loved Strategy by B.H. Liddell Hart, which while dry in parts, is immensely interesting, explores the indirect approach, and walks you through the history of the most important strategic engagements and battles of the West. 

On that note, I finally fully read The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli - and like Robert Greene’s work, found it to be unfairly villainised. (The Tim Parks Penguin edition explains the evolution of this, where generation after generation attacked the strawman of Machiavelli without ever reading him but instead relying on critics who also hadn’t read him - a trend that continues to this day).

80/20 Daily by Richard Koch

Koch is a fascinating character. The foreword to this book alone is an interesting description of Koch and the life he leads. The book itself is the breakdown of his years of writing and thinking, and it lends itself to be devoured rather than read slowly (although, you should definitely do both).

The central themes of the book will definitely land more for some than others - but the writing is compelling, Koch is persuasive, and the topics are wide-ranging. I definitely think there’s something of value for everyone.

Last year I read and loved his book Unreasonable Success and how to achieve it, and this year I also read and enjoyed his other books 80/20 Your Life and The 80/20 Principle. 

What It Takes by Stephen A. Schwarzman

Schwarzman is the co-founder of Blackstone - one of the internet’s most hated companies. That being said, this autobiography was practical, enjoyable, and covered a very interesting section of financial history.

Schwarzman’s career is unique in many ways (not many people end up billionaires), he’s pretty open about his own goals and ambitions and failings. It’s a great look at someone whose most famous successes came later in his career (he was 38, and his co-founder was 55). A lot to be learned about career and entrepreneurship in this one.

Additionally, I read and LOVED, What You’re Made for by George Raveling (with Ryan Holiday). The reflections of a truly incredible man, there’s a ton in this book on learning, mentorship, being of service, persevering, and ambition. Raveling (who sadly passed away this year) lived an incredible life and this book is a great addition to his legacy. I highly recommend picking it up and working your way through it.

The other biography that stood out to me this year was The King of Madison Avenue by Kenneth Roman. The biography is near perfect: David Ogilvy is a very interesting subject, it was written by someone who knew him well but doesn’t hold back the punches, and the author himself is an accomplished copywriter so the book flows very easily. 

The jury is out on my feelings on Ogilvy but this book has stuck with me. He had a fascinating career (also 38 years old when he started Ogilvy Mathers) involving working with intelligence agencies, as a door-to-door salesman, and in French kitchens. He displayed both incredible class and genius as well as intense foolishness and immaturity. Ogilvy is worthy of study, selective emulation, and a fair amount of using him as a warning sign.

Favourite Fiction Books

My fiction consumption over the past couple of years has been dismal - a shocking decrease compared to the dozens I used to read. That being said, this year I read and enjoyed a few great fiction books. 

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming was the first in the James Bond series and was excellent. The Bond in the novels relies far less on technology and much more on his own skills and thinking - and often comes up brutally short. The book was just brilliant.

Sunrise of the Reaping by Suzanne Collins was a book club book with my girlfriend. It’s a prequel to the Hunger Games and in my mind, serves as a perfect prequel. We knew what was going to happen in the end - but the plot was riveting, new reveals were fascinating, and it was just fun to read. It fleshed out a character to easily now become my favourite in the franchise.

Ask the Dust by John Fante was an incredibly weird book but I loved it. Bandini (the protagonist) is someone you love to hate. He can’t seem to see how he creates his own problems, and perhaps like most of us, spends a lot of the time in his own head. Everything he does he pictures appearing in some future piece of media about or by him. Bandini would be intolerable if we knew him as a real person, but he’s fantastic entertainment as a character.

Honourable Mentions

A few other books weren’t on the same level as those above for me, but are still worth noting.

I enjoyed Scott Adam’s How To Succeed at nearly everything and still fail, and I loved his line that losers and winners have the same goals - it’s their systems that separate them. However, I do believe Atomic Habits is probably a better treatment of the same ideas. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Education of a Bodybuilder was excellent but I’d recommend his Be Useful book first. Hidden Genius by Polina Marinova Pompilano was a great synthesis of her writings (similar to clear thinking) which centred around getting the most out of ourselves - but the scope of it meant some areas lacked depth.

I really liked the very short book I Can’t Accept Not Trying by Michael Jordan (yes, that Michael Jordan) and found it to be a very good look into his mindset - on a similar note I enjoyed Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality and Relentless by Tim Grover (although Grover’s book dropped a few points for his poorly handled “dark side” section which lends itself to destructive misinterpretation).

I read a few books on narcissism - but they can basically be summarised as: There’s no cure for Narcissism, cut these people out of your life.

I really enjoyed Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss, one of the original writers of The Simpsons. It dispels a ton of myths, explains the making of the show, but is also just incredibly funny - like laugh out loud funny. After reading the book, something clearly rubbed off on me because multiple people asked me why I was suddenly a lot funnier (insult or compliment, you decide)

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That about rounds up my favourite books of the year. Hopefully next years reading is just as enjoyable but my reading system is definitely adapting in the wake of Wisdom Takes Work (more on that at a later date)

Let me know your favourite books of the past year - and hit me up if you want to discuss any of the above books.