My Top 10 Books of 2023

I try and read every day. It doesn’t always happen, but it does happen most days.

For me, I try and keep the last hour of the day for reading. It helps to wind me down before going to bed.

The stacks of books next to my chair has some books people gave me, some fiction for fun, and several books that fall into the learning/personal development category.

Buuuut these are books I have yet to read. So let me share with you the 10 books that impacted me the most in 2023.

The Wager

This book takes place when, as my old roommate used to say, “ships were made of wood and men were made of iron.”

Next time you think you did something hard, read a book about living and working on a ship in the 18th century.

First, you leave your family for what is a best-case scenario of a year, but possibly multiple. No one really knows. Oh, and you basically won’t be able to communicate with them during that time.

Then you work on a creaky wooden boat. You are allocated 21 inches down in the hold for your personal space and meals are salt pork and gruel. Your only downtime is once a week when you get a measure of rum and dance on the deck for a few hours while someone keeps an eye out for pirates and the Spanish Armada.

And I haven’t even touched on disease and storms yet.

Yikes.

The Wager tells the tale of a British warship, The Wager, that sought a great Spanish treasure ship during the War of Jenkin’s Ear. While attempting to round the Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of South America, the ship sank, and the remnants of the crew (those who didn’t die from starvation and disease up to this point) washed up on a remote island off Chile.

Eventually, some of the survivors made it home back to England, but trouble still awaited them at home.

You see, there was a great controversy amongst the survivors. The group split into factions during their time on the island and the question was:

Was this a mutiny or a total failure of leadership of the captain of the ship?

The book is about the power of perspective and how it can shape what we think is right.

Find it HERE.

How to Get Rich

Let me first say that one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone who is really successful thinks that they HAVE to write a book and then everyone goes to buy it because they want to be like that person, but it turns out that person can’t write worth a damn.

This is not that book.

Felix is a great writer. He’s witty, honest, and knows what the reader is thinking.

This is a no-BS guide from someone worth hundreds of millions of dollars on how he did it. What I like about this read is that he is also brutally honest about what you can lose by being that rich. He talks about stress, anxiety, and poor relationships.

This is a book of honesty from someone who just wants to share it with the world.

Find it HERE.

The Alchemist

If you have not read this book. Go do it.

Like, now.

Need validation? This book has sold 150 million copies.

I first read this book when I was in high school.

And I didn’t get it.

Then I read it in my late 20’s and think I read it in a single sitting- it captured me that much.

So I decided to re-read it this year and it still holds up.

Especially for this audience, who may be struggling to find meaning and purpose after the military, I highly recommend this.

Find it HERE.

The Lifestyle Investor

Here’s why I chose this book: it changed my thinking.

If you follow business news and hear the stories of entrepreneurs getting big exits and look at the Forbes list of richest people, the figure that captures everyone is net worth.

No one talks about cash flow.

You could have an incredible personal balance sheet, with many holdings in great companies, but not have the cash flow to fund the life you want.

This book changed my mindset to think about wealth-building not as an exercise in building my net worth, but in building income.

Find it HERE.

One Simple Idea

Do you ever say to yourself, “I wish someone would make this?”

Ok, maybe that’s just me. But I do it all the time. Just in daily life, finding some small problem and thinking, “I wish there was a product to fix this.”

Naturally (for me), my business brain immediately starts going, “How can I make a business out of this?”

But then I realize I don’t want to start a company around some stupid widget and the idea fizzles out.

This book showed me that the idea doesn’t have to fizzle out. There is a much simpler and easier way to make money on that idea: licensing.

This book goes into great detail, which I love. Every time I thought, “Yes, but what about xyz?” my question was usually answered on the next page.

Find it HERE.

The Martian

You probably saw the movie with Matt Damon, but I just got to the book.

It was super fun to read. Clearly written by an engineer, the protagonist faces problem after problem after problem trying to stay alive on Mars after his crew thought he died in a storm. The ingenuity and optimism toward problem-solving appeals to anyone who was deployed and “had to figure it out.”

Find it HERE.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Genghis Khan was a fascinating character.

When he built his empire, the Mongolians were a nomadic people. They didn’t have the central authority of a Rome or a shared cultural heritage as powerful as the Greeks.

But this former slave conquered most of the known world and built an empire in a generation.

An absolutely fascinating story in history.

Find it HERE.

Ultramarathon Man

Dean Karnazes is an absolute mutant.

On his 30th birthday (after drinking and without running gear) he just up and left the bar and decided to run 30 miles. Mind you, he hadn’t run in years. Just a casual 30-miler.

Yeah, that’s crazy.

Here’s why I chose this book: it got me back into running.

I was a HUGE runner while I was in the army. I ran all the time and did tons of races. But as I crossed the finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon in 2019 (my 5th marathon), I thought, “Fuck this. I’m done.”

And didn’t run further than a mile for 4 years.

Until I picked this book up, remembered why I liked to run, and have started running again and like it.

Many of us have hobbies that turn into jobs. They become work. For me, running used to be work. I liked it, but it was something I had to do because that is what army officers did. And I had to run marathons because hooah-ranger-airborne.

But now I just run because I like it. Thanks in huge part to this book.

Find it HERE.

The Psychology of Money

Since reading this book, I have listened to a few interviews with the author, Morgan Housel, and after reading a number of his articles, I just really like the guy.

He has a very sensible and approachable philosophy about money that is a breath of fresh air.

His book is definitely worth a read.

Find it HERE.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever

I like reading about wild humans. People who just go and do crazy stuff.

This story fits that bill.

“Chick” Donohue wanted to bring some beers to his friends in Vietnam and so he started a crazy, wild, adventure to Vietnam to do so. He got caught in the middle of the Tet Offensive, was mistaken for a CIA officer, and ventured out to remote firebases to deliver a can of suds to his buds.

That’s a story worth reading.

Find it HERE.

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