The 13 Best Books of 2023 (Across 13 Different Categories)
“Stairway to Wisdom” edition
Happy holidays! It almost doesn’t matter when you’re reading this — everything’s a holiday now.
It’s probably “National Cucumber Day” somewhere…don’t even laugh! It’s almost certainly a thing.
Anyway, I’ve been running my library of expert book breakdowns called the Stairway to Wisdom for over a year now, and this post today is a kind of “wrap up” of the very best books I’ve featured during that time.
A few of these breakdowns are “Members Only” — but most of them are free to read, and you can even get a 14-day free trial right here if you want to read the paywalled ones. It’s honestly just one or two of them here. Most are completely free.
Anyway, you won’t get a sales pitch from me on Christmas — let’s just get into the books!
Here are the 13 of the best books I’ve featured at the Stairway to Wisdom, across 13 different categories:
Biography: Napoleon: A Life, by Andrew Roberts
The larger-than-life story of Napoleon Bonaparte introduces epic strategies for shaping our own life stories as well. Through this dramatic story of Napoleon’s rise and fall, you’ll learn timeless lessons on leadership, heroism, and, most importantly, massive action.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Business: No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, by Dan S. Kennedy
In this book, the eccentric entrepreneur Dan S. Kennedy shares the extreme time management strategies he uses personally to run his multimillion-dollar company while successfully safeguarding his schedule and his sanity.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Creativity: The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
Learn from legendary music producer Rick Rubin about deepening and strengthening your creative instincts, producing great work, and discovering your authentic self through artistic expression.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Education: Reader, Come Home, by Maryanne Wolf
The Bureau of Prisons in states across America project the number of prison beds they will need in the future based on third- or fourth-grade reading statistics. This book is about the state of reading in the digital age, and what we stand to lose when children stop learning how to read.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Fiction and Literature: Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis
Zorba the Greek is one of the most powerful, life-affirming books you’re ever likely to come across, and I don’t think that anyone who is somewhat alive and breathing can read this book and sit still. Read this breakdown and let Zorba teach you how to love life, and not to fear death.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Health: The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation, by Mike Matthews
You can learn just as much (if not more) about yourself at the gym than inside any classroom. In this book, entrepreneur and world health and fitness expert Mike Matthews shows that you have more inside of you left to give, and offers you the tools you need to bring it out.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
History: Socrates in Love, by Armand D’Angour
I admire — and wonder at — anyone who is able and willing to go to such extreme lengths to construct a brilliant biography of an intellectual giant who’s been dead for thousands of years. But that’s exactly what this book is, and it shows sides of Socrates that we never considered and asks questions about what his life must have been like that we never even thought to ask.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Leadership: Your Next Five Moves, by Patrick Bet-David
In this (future) business classic, one of the biggest breakout entrepreneurial success stories of the modern era lays out his personal playbook for how you can out-think, out-plan, and out-execute your competition in the fight they never even saw coming.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Philosophy: Peace of Mind, by Seneca
Forced to commit suicide by a psychopathic dictator, the great Stoic philosopher Seneca never once abandoned his belief that we can maintain our peace of mind in any situation. And in this classic book, the master shows us how it’s done.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Psychology: The Power of Regret, by Daniel H. Pink
Regret may be our most misunderstood — and yet also our most valuable — emotion. In this book, Daniel Pink explores how we can tap into its power and wisdom and use it to help us live differently, and better, from this day forward.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Religion & Spirituality: Awareness, by Anthony de Mello
Most people are not NEARLY as alive and awake as they COULD be. This classic book teaches why waking up is much closer and easier than you might think. You’ll also learn to experience the gorgeous reality of everyday life that was always available if you only had eyes to see.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Self-Improvement: Learn, Improve, Master, by Nick Velasquez
This is the most practical, down-to-earth, yet inspiring book about learning that you’re ever likely to find. Settle in for a masterclass in skill acquisition as Nick Velasquez shows you how to master anything you put your mind to.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
Stoicism: Discipline is Destiny, by Ryan Holiday
Everything that most people believe about self-discipline is wrong. In this book, through inspiring stories and using fundamental truths and hard-won insights, Ryan Holiday illustrates the true power of self-discipline to shape our destinies.
Read the Full Breakdown Here
That’s it for this edition of the Stairway to Wisdom!
But I’ll be back once more before the New Year with more book breakdowns, inspiring thinkers, novel concepts, big ideas, reading tips, and more.
In the next issue, I will also be releasing the breakdown of The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand, an absolutely incredible novel about artistic vision, why you should never compromise your standards, and about what it means really to want something.
Rand is…more than a little bit controversial, and some “less than admirable” people have cited her as one of their key influences, but The Fountainhead is just spectacular.
It was certainly a Before/After book for me: I looked up after finishing it and saw that my entire world had changed.
But that’s all coming later.
In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Facebook — basically everywhere — and I’ve got newsletters called The Stairway to Wisdom, The Competitive Advantage, and The Reading Life.
Until next time…happy reading!
All the best,
Matt Karamazov
P.S. Live “The Reading Life!”
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