These are books I genuinely enjoyed—many have shaped how I think, work, or live—and I find myself recommending them to friends and colleagues often. I love helping people find books they can enjoy. Reach out if you want ideas for your next book!

To make it onto this page, the books received a 4 or 5 star recommendation in my year end power rankings.

History and Biographies

• Grant by Ron Cernow
• Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton
• Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides
• A Pikes Peak Partnership: The Penroses and the Tutts by Thomas J. Noel
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Cernow
• Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon by Edward Dolnick
• Profiting from the Peak: Landscape and Liberty in Colorado Springs by John Harner
• The Path to Power by Robert A Caro
• In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
• Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders by Philip Anschutz
• The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
• Gangbuster: One Man’s Battle Against Crime, Corruption, and the Klan by Alan Prendergast
• Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen
• The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple

Self-Improvement, Personal Finance, Parenting

• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
• Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley
• The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money by Ron Lieber
• Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
• Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
• The Daily Dad by Ryan Holiday

Business and Leadership

• No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
• Made to Stick:Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath
• Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths by Erika Ayers Badan
• Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John Maxwell
• Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
• The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors that Transform Ordinary People into World Class Leaders by Elena L. Botelho

Sports

• Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict
• Open by Andre Agassi
• Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre by Jeff Pearlman
• Saban: The Making of a Coach by Monte Burke
• The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict
• Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack
• Letters to a Young Athlete by Chris Bosh
• Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL by Michael Lombardi

True Crime/Investigative Journalism

• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
• American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton
• The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal by Evan Ratliff
• Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
• Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the Richest, Most Powerful Criminal in History by Mark Bowden
• Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork by Reeves Wiedeman
• Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright

Miscellaneous/Awesome

• All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians by Phil Elwood
• Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader by Mark Bowden
• Buying Disney’s World: The Story of How Florida Swampland Became Walt Disney World by Aaron H. Goldberg
• Coyotes: A Journey Across Borders with America’s Mexican Migrants by Ted Conover
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride to the Edge and Back by Kevin Hazzard
• Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday
• Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last by Wright Thompson
• Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge by Ted Conover
• The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
• The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in the New West by John Branch
• Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game by Jon Birger
• The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcom Gladwell
• Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. – How the Working Poor Became Big Business by Gary Rivlin