Monthly Non-Fiction Reading List 1.25
We’re kicking off 2025 with 11 books on the list! I’ve been on a roll this year. I go through phases of wanting to read and learn, and then it kind of slows down. It’s possible that I just read less when there’s nothing good to read. So far, some awesome books have come out this year, and they’re on the list.
We have one of my new favorite moral psychology books, an incredible book on connection from an extremely underrated author, and so much more. Enjoy!
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The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions by Dr. Michael Norton
This book was a lot better than I expected. I think something’s wrong with me when it comes to this topic because I always expect to not like the book, but I always find themes super interesting. Norton does an excellent job discussing why we do various rituals, how they help us individually, and how they bring us together. It’s super interesting, and I definitely recommend it.
The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
This is my third time reading this book, and while it’s an excellent book, I think this may be the last time I read it. This was the first book that taught me about what the author calls “inconspicuous consumption”, which is the acquiring of knowledge or habits to show that you’re of a higher status than others. For example, using certain words, reading certain newspapers or books, where you shop, etc. This book is far more academic than I remembered, so I got a bit bored with it in the second half.
Again, I’ve read this book multiple times, so if you haven’t read it, you’ll probably love it if the topics of class and status interest you.
The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network by David Robson
I’m going to say what needs to be said: David Robson is one of the most underrated non-fiction authors out there. I don’t know how he does it, but he manages to take topics I don’t think I’ll be interested in and just absolutely blow my mind. I’m a bit of an introvert, I really don’t like being around people, and I keep my friend group super small. With that said, I get annoyed by all of the books telling us that we have to connect with others and have a million friends. I was worried that’s where David was going with this one, but I should have known better.
Sure, this book discusses the benefits of making connections with others, but it’s so much more than that. It covers so many other topics like conflict resolution, how to build deeper connections with people closer in our lives, why we connect with certain people and not with others, and so much more. He discusses the importance of having a “shared reality” with people we connect with, and it blew my mind and made me think about which relationships in my life work and which ones don’t.
I could talk about this book forever, but just do yourself a favor and read it. As per usual, David pulls in a ton of interesting research to back his ideas, and it’s great.
Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground by Kurt Gray
I honestly can’t remember the last time I binged a book like I did this one. I absolutely loved Kurt Gray’s first book The Mind Club, and when I heard he was coming out with a new book, I was so excited. Kurt researches and studies moral psychology, which is one of my favorite subjects. This book isn’t just about our political divide, either. Kurt dives deep into the roots of moral psychology to explain why we evolved this way and how the way we see morality is relevant in our everyday lives.
Kurt argues that we evolved as prey, not predators, meaning we’re always on the lookout for something that’s going to harm us or our loved ones. Through this lens, we can better understand why people take certain moral stances. They aren’t trying to actively harm us; they’re trying to protect themselves, their family, or their community.
Gray discusses Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory a bit in this book, and it’s super interesting. Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind was the first book to introduce me to moral psychology, so it’ll always have a special place with me, but Gray makes great arguments against Haidt’s moral foundations theory.
This is definitely one of my new all-time favorite books, and I’ll for sure be reading it again. I kind of want to read it again already.
The Dip by Seth Godin
I’ve been getting back into my “creator mode” and creating a lot of content for YouTube and other platforms, so Seth Godin is one of my go-to authors when this happens. This book was recommended by a YouTuber, and they mentioned it was on the topic of “when to quit”, and I was sold. Too often, we teach people to keep going no matter what, and not enough people talk about when to quit. This is a great book that discusses how to decide when to keep moving forward and when to call it quits.
Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
This was one of the first Seth Godin books I read, and that was years ago, so I wanted to give it another read. It’s a short and sweet book about being remarkable so you stand out against the competition. Whether you’re releasing a product or content, Godin discusses the mindset you have to get into in order to make it remarkable.
Unlearning Shame: How We Can Reject Self-Blame Culture and Reclaim Our Power by Devon Price PhD
This book gets off to a great start, but it sort of fell off for me about halfway through, but I definitely recommend it. I read a previous book by Devon Price, and it was a similar experience. The book starts with a great premise, which is that in our capitalist, individualistic society, we’re trained to feel shame if we don’t fall within certain norms. If we’re not wealthy, it’s our fault. If we have a mental illness, it’s our fault. If we’re different or non-conforming in any way, we’re trained to feel shame.
I think there are a ton of great insights as to how we’re all trained to feel shame for pretty silly things, and it’s a way that the wealthy and powerful stay in power. The major issue is that it causes us to look down on one another as well, even though we’re all dealing with similar shame.
The author is all about social justice, but the second half of the book, similar to their previous book, is just a bit all over the place for me. The author is a trans man, and the second half of the book really focuses on LGBTQIA+ issues. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not how the book is marketed or what the first half is focused on. So, it goes from focusing on a broad audience to focusing on a very narrow one. The author also discusses some other marginalized groups as well, but again, it goes from a broad audience to very niche ones.
Lastly, I’m very sex-positive, but it’s hard for me to process the author discussing their own shame while discussing so many of their personal, sexually explicit stories. I won’t get into details, but they tell some sex stories that many of us wouldn’t feel comfortable telling our closest friends. I’m not trying to “shame” the author, but I really like when it feels like the author can relate to the topic on a personal level, but with the amount of self-disclosure, it’s hard to believe they feel much shame when they’re such a popular author and telling these stories to massive amounts of people.
Also, even though I shouldn’t have to say this, my opinion has nothing to do with the fact that the author is a trans man. If this book was written by a cis male or female, and they randomly started talking about their kinks or masturbatory habits out of nowhere, my opinion would be the same. Some even think I’m some weird prude for pointing out how lately it feels like movies and TV shows seem like they’re trying insanely hard to shove unnecessary sex scenes in everything.
Again, I think the book’s a good read and discusses some important topics, but I think it could be better.
The School of Life: On Failure: How to Succeed at Defeat by The School of Life
This book was just strange. It’s been a while since I’ve read a School of Life book, but I was curious so grabbed a few, and I’m hoping the others are better. Based on the title and the synopsis, you’d think this book is about dealing with failure. While it sort of is, it oddly discusses suicide quite a bit. It’s like, “Hey, let’s calm down a bit. People can fail without being suicidal.”
The tone lightens up a bit about halfway through this short book. There’s some practical advice, but the main issue with this book is that they tried to cast too wide of a net with the audience. Something I learned a long time ago was that if you write for everybody, you write for nobody. This book could be worse, but I’m also sure there are plenty of better books on failure.
Reset: How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath
This book wasn’t terrible, but it was pretty mid. Dan Heath and his brother write a ton of books marketed toward business folks, and they probably get paid boat loads of cash for their talks. They’re also mentors to Jonah Berger, who does the same thing. The issue is that 90% of their books are just filled with anecdotal evidence. While this book had me excited at first because Heath pointed to some research, that didn’t really extend passed the first few chapters.
This book is about problem-solving when you’re “stuck”. It’s primarily for solving problems within businesses, but some of the advice is practical for everyday life. As mentioned, I don’t think the book was terrible, but it just annoys me that he could easily reference some research to make his arguments stronger. However, he doesn’t really have to because people will buy up his books anyway.
The Customer Is Always Wrong: An Unhinged Guide to Everything That Sucks About Work (from an Angry Retail Guy) - The Perfect Funny Christmas Gift for Retail, Service, or Office Workers by Scott Seiss
Like many people who have heard of Scott Seiss, I found him through his TikToks about work and how work sucks. This is a short read, and he’s a comedian so I’m sure most people will get some chuckles as he rants about all the various aspects of work. He covers everything from getting the job to working various positions like customer service and office jobs and quitting. He rants about what we’re all thinking about the silliness of work and how many people are overworked and underpaid.
Did I personally like it? I liked it about as much as I expected to. I’m personally just not a fan of books by comedians. The book is just punchline after punchline after punchline, and similar to his TikToks, it just got a bit repetitive for me. The book also reads like a TikTok, it’s basically just a bunch of one-liners for various situations at work. It’s nothing against the author, and I’m sure a ton of people will enjoy this book a lot more than I did, it’s just not my style of book.
Envy Up, Scorn Down: How Status Divides Us by Susan T. Fiske
I’ve had envy on my mind a lot lately, and when I went to see if I had any books on the topic, I remembered this one from Susan Fiske. What a fantastic book. She’s a social psychologist who researches social comparison and how it relates the the class system here in America. This was just the book I needed to read, and it’s so good. It touches on the wealth gap, the “just world” fallacy, the myth of meritocracy, but most importantly, how we feel toward people “above” and “below” us on the social hierarchy. I 1000% recommend this book, and I may give her others another read soon.
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