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📚 Welcome back to The Reading Life!
I’m about to hit you with an overwhelming number of book recommendations, but there’s absolutely no reason to feel like you need to read every single one of them.
A few of them will land perfectly for you, many (probably) won’t be relevant to you at all, but there’s a high statistical likelihood that you’re going to find your next favorite book somewhere in this newsletter.
I’ve done something a little bit different tonight too. It was supposed to be a time-saving measure for me, but it ended up taking roughly the same amount of time as my usual “10 Books” newsletter haha. Anyway…
What I’ve done is select ten of my most popular Instagram posts - the ones that have received anywhere from tens of thousands of views to millions upon millions of views, and put them all together for you here. Seriously, these are some of my best book recommendations, in a whole variety of subjects and categories.
I’m also working on some improvements to my private business mastermind on Skool, and creating a new free book club, also on Skool. More on that later.
And I’ve got some ideas for new rewards for being a Premium member of The Reading Life - things like members-only reading updates, and some other stuff that I have to work out the logistics for before I say too much.
But now, before our coffees get cold, let’s hit the books!
Tonight, Inside The Reading Life, We’ve Got:
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“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.”
“There are no real rules, so make rules that work for you.”
Inside my private business mastermind, Creator Launch Academy, we’re tackling one nonfiction book per month and implementing its lessons inside our businesses.
This month’s book is Tools of Titans, by Tim Ferriss, a great book about the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers.
Click here to claim your free trial, and join our business book club for educational content creators!
After achieving my (somewhat meaningless) goal of reading 1,000 books before I turned 30, I set a new (also meaningless but cool) goal of reading 10,000 books. As of today, I’ve read exactly 1,473 books, including 19 books so far this year, and if you’re interested, here’s my full Reading List.
No one's really suggesting that you actually read 365 books this year - although I do know of someone who's really done it!
There's a decently-good book by this woman Nina Sankovitch, who, for an entire year, read (and savored) a new book every single day.
Many of the books in this post though are "heavier" reads - Frederick Douglass, The Divine Comedy, The Beginning of Infinity, etc. - and you're NOT going to get through those in a single day.
But you know what? It's not a race! So don't pressure yourself to catch up to anyone else's reading pace, or feel bad about yourself because you "only" read one book this year.
You read A BOOK. That's awesome. Seriously. And now you've got 365 more books to choose from for next year!
Reading a lot of books isn't complicated, but it's also not easy. There's a lot that goes into it, as you can see. But it's possible, especially if you work in at least 5-10 of the strategies I recommend in this post.
Now, why do things like "learn more vocabulary words" help?
Because every time you run into a word you don't know, it slow you down.
But, as you read more and more books (and look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary), eventually there comes a time when you know a TON of words, and you're able to breeze through paragraphs that used to give you problems before.
So, although it takes a long time (reading is a skill, after all), just reading a lot of books and learning a lot of words will help you read faster. There are a ton of other strategies, like making reading a stronger part of your identity, putting your phone on airplane mode, etc., but many of them are pretty self-explanatory.
Have you ever found yourself rushing to hit your reading goals before the end of the year? Not that I'd ever condone that, but...
Any one of these 42 books can be read in a single day. So if you've ever felt like reading 42 books in 42 days...I got you :)
One of the craziest things about reading is that the more you read, the LESS you know.
There comes a point where, after reading hundreds and hundreds of books, you start to realize there's SO MUCH that you didn't even KNOW that you didn't know!
It's literally an "infinite game," in that you can spend your entire life reading and never get to "the end" of it all.
Which can be depressing to some people, but I find it exciting as hell, because that just means I'll NEVER run out of fascinating books to read!
There's always more to learn and discover, and by challenging yourself with some of these books, you'll stretch your intellectual capacities, learn more than you've ever known about our magical world, and come to a deep realization of how complex and amazing life actually is.
You see highly confident people moving through the world powerfully and easily, but more often than not, they didn’t start off that way. I sure didn't.
My confidence had to built, it had to earned, it had to be brought forth, and these 12 books helped me do that.
📖 Inner Excellence because once you control your mind you control your life.
📖 REAL Confidence because confidence comes from being real, not from being perfect.
📖 The Magic of Thinking Big because life is FAR too short to play it small.
📖 Free to Lead because we have to break the limiting beliefs that hold us back before we can move forward.
📖 The Greatness Mindset because you don't give yourself enough credit for how far you've come already and how far you still have left to go.
📖 Wild Courage because to get what you want you need to stand up, be seen, and get noticed. Without apology.
📖 Make No Small Plans because once you start moving in the direction of your grandest ambitions, heaven and earth move too.
📖 Be Your Future Self Now because you can borrow the confidence of your Future Self today.
📖 Choose Yourself because the world rewards people who don't stand around waiting to be picked.
📖 A High-Performing Mind because there's a quiet confidence comes from knowing that you're unbeatable.
📖 The Wisdom of Insecurity because the universe has always been uncertain and chaotic, and knowing this, you can find peace and courage.
📖 The Expectation Effect because you see what you're looking for. Look for confidence and personal power and you'll find it within yourself.
I don't have a lot of faith in that "the average CEO reads XYZ books a year" stat - it sounds made up, frankly. But one thing's for sure:
To get anywhere you want to go in life, whether that's the corner office, the penthouse, the top of any professional mountain you want to climb...
A dedicated reading habit will help you get there SO. MUCH. FASTER!
And because I always like to add some nuance to things...
Not everybody needs to be a "CEO"!
There are as many good lives as there are people to live them. The CEO and the mailroom staff both get my respect. But reading books? That'll make any life you choose to live better. I stand by that 100 percent.
The hardest thing you will ever do in business is...
To START. And you wanna know the second hardest thing you will ever do?
GROW your business. It doesn't get much tougher than that. It will take everything you have, but in my experience, running a business also comes with incredible growth opportunities.
On two levels actually:
1. On the professional level, when it comes to the growth of your network and your bank balance. But also...
2. On a personal level, where you'll find you have to grow into the type of person who can start, grow, and lead a successful business.
It's definitely not easy, but it's INCREDIBLY rewarding, and the best part is that...
You don't have to do it alone. And you don't have to do it blind.
There are other entrepreneurs and business owners who have been exactly where you are right now, and many of them have also written fantastic books about precisely the things you're struggling with right now.
You can lead...
➡️ Yourself
➡️ Your Family
➡️ Your Team
➡️ Your Organization
➡️ Your Community
➡️ Your City
➡️ Your Country
➡️ Your People
➡️ Your World
...But you're going to need a little bit of help! From these books, and the examples of the greatest leaders EVER to have lived.
Of course, reading a book about leadership isn't the same as actually LEADING people...
But all these books will give you a wealth of ideas, examples, and motivation to become the great leader that you and I both know you can be.
You may be surprised at which books are NOT here...
For instance, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey?
Fantastic book, but not listed here! The only explanation I can offer is that I tried to mix it up a little bit and include plenty of books that not everyone will have heard of.
But then again, under "Habit Formation" it's hard not to list Atomic Habits at or near the top. All that being said, there are some absolutely PHENOMENAL books here, and every one of these has the potential to change your entire life. Full stop.
This is hands-down one of my most popular posts of all time, gaining 5,500,000 views and spawning imitators ripping off my content left and right. That comes with the territory though, and I can’t spend too much time caring about that. What I do care deeply about, however, is helping YOU find your next favorite book, and you’re bound to find it on my Instagram! Or in this newsletter!
Forward this to a friend you think would love this book!
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OK, that’s it for now…
I’ve got plenty more excellent book recommendations coming your way soon though!
There’s also my YouTube channel, where I publish book reviews, reading updates, and more each week.
And if you want to learn how I’ve built an audience of 180,000+ followers across social media, became a full-time creator, and how I’m rapidly growing my audience and scaling my profits in 2025, join us inside Creator Launch Academy and that’s exactly what I’ll teach you — we’d love to have you in the community!
With that said, I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Reading Life, and enjoy the rest of your day!
Until next time…happy reading!
All the best,
Matt Karamazov
P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are three more ways I can help you:
Educational Content Creators: Book a 1:1 call and I’ll help you hit $5K/month with a plan tailored to your business.
Join Creator Launch Academy, my private business mastermind for educational content creators building real revenue and real freedom.
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