Success book series in reading order

John C. Maxwell

208 books• 10 series

Leadership is the main subject of John C. Maxwell, an American author, speaker and pastor. Maxwell's leadership books include The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, and some have reached the New York Times Best Seller list. The catalogue lists 208 titles from Think on These Things: Meditations for Leaders (1979) to The Resilient Leader (2026). The Winning Attitude (1984), Be a People Person (1989), Developing the Leader Within You (1993) and The Power Of Attitude (1995) are earlier entries. Series include Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Leadership Gold, John C. Maxwell's 101 and Lunch & Learn. Success, attitude and Christian life run through the subject tags.

Andy Andrews writes inspirational fiction and self-improvement books, and works as a corporate speaker. Success, motivation, perspective and Christian living run through the catalogue, alongside children's fiction. Andrews has 26 catalogued books published between 1995 and 2024, grouped into the Traveller's Gift, Noticer and Sawyerton Springs series. Tales from Sawyerton Springs (1995) opens the run; The Traveler's Gift (2002), The Lost Choice (2004) and Mastering the Seven Decisions (2009) follow; and Lost in the Swamp (2024) is the most recent title.

Rhonda Byrne is an Australian television writer and producer who turned to self-help publishing with The Secret (2006), a book built on the law of attraction. Byrne followed it with The Secret Gratitude Book (2007), The Secret Daily Teachings (2008), The Power (2009), The Magic (2012) and Hero (2013). Ten titles are catalogued in all, through to Countdown to Riches: 21 Days of Wealth-Attracting Habits (2025). Self-realisation, New Thought, positive thinking and happiness carry the subject tags.

Malcolm Gladwell

13 books• 1 series

Malcolm Gladwell is a British-Canadian journalist, author and public speaker, born 3 September 1963, and a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. The catalogue lists 13 books, opening with The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000) and followed by Blink (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), David and Goliath (2013), Talking to Strangers (2019) and The Bomber Mafia (2021). The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic (2026) is the newest. Gladwell's writing draws on social science research in sociology and psychology. Gladwell hosts the podcast Revisionist History, co-founded Pushkin Industries, and joined the Order of Canada in 2011.

Ryan Holiday

17 books• 1 series

Ryan Holiday writes non-fiction about stoicism, marketing and success. Trust Me, I'm Lying (2012) opens a list of 17 catalogued books that holds The Obstacle Is the Way (2014), Ego Is the Enemy (2016), The Daily Stoic (2016), Stillness Is the Key (2019) and Lives of the Stoics (2020). Stoic Virtue is the one grouped series, and titles appear about every ten months.

Kate White

27 books• 1 series

Kate White's catalogue divides between suspense and career advice. Bailey Weggins, a journalist, is the lead of White's mystery series, and early fiction titles include A Body to Die For (2003), 'Til Death Do Us Part (2004) and Over Her Dead Body (2005). The non-fiction side opens with Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead... But Gutsy Girls Do (1995) and covers business success and career development. Twenty-seven books run to I Came Back for You in 2026.

Dave Pelzer

11 books• 2 series

Dave Pelzer writes memoir and self-help out of a childhood of abuse and foster care. A Child Called: One Child's Courage to Survive (1995) opens the catalogue, followed by The Lost Boy (1997) and A Man Named Dave (1999); Help Yourself (2000), The Privilege of Youth (2004) and Moving Forward (2008) turn to advice. Eleven titles are catalogued, the last being Return to the River, and the catalogue is dormant.

Seth Godin

82 books• 1 series

Seth Godin (Seth W. Godin, born 1960) is an American author, marketing expert, entrepreneur and former dot-com business executive who has also written as F. X. Nine. The catalogue lists 82 books between Business Rules of Thumb (1987) and This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (2024). Guerrilla Marketing for the Home-Based Business (1991) is an early title. Subjects include marketing, management, success in business, creative thinking and the Internet.

Lis Wiehl, born August 19, 1961, is an American legal analyst and New York Times bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction. Wiehl worked at NBC News and NPR's All Things Considered, then spent more than fifteen years as a legal analyst and reporter at Fox News, and comments regularly for CNN. The catalogue lists 18 books from 2004, when The People v. George W. Bush and Winning Every Time appeared, to A Spy in Plain Sight (2022), an account of the FBI and Robert Hanssen. Other titles include Face of Betrayal (2008), Hand of Fate (2010) and Waking Hours (2011). Series include Newsmakers, East Salem Trilogy and Mia Quinn, with subjects such as women lawyers, women journalists and forensic psychiatrists.

Cal Newport writes about attention, work and study. The American computer science professor at Georgetown University has 9 books published between 2005 and 2024. The early titles are student guides: How to Win at College (2005), How to Become a Straight-A Student (2006) and How to Be a High School Superstar (2010). The later ones argue about working life, So Good They Can't Ignore You (2012), Deep Work (2016), Digital Minimalism (2019), A World Without Email (2021) and Slow Productivity (2024). Attention management in the digital age is Newport's central subject.

Three books make up Jen Sincero's catalogue, all of them self-help: You Are a Badass (2013), You Are a Badass at Making Money (2018) and You Are a Badass Every Day (2020). Self-actualisation, personal growth, success and personal finance are their subjects. Sincero is an American writer, speaker and success coach.