Success book series in reading order

by Sean Covey

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.

Wayne W. Dyer

47 books• 1 series

Wayne W. Dyer (May 10, 1940 - August 29, 2015) was an American self-help author and motivational speaker. Dyer completed a bachelor's degree in history and philosophy, a master's in psychology and, in 1970, an Ed.D. in guidance and counseling at Wayne State University. After working as a high school guidance counselor and running a private therapy practice, Dyer taught counselor education at St. John's University, where a literary agent's approach produced Your Erroneous Zones (1976). Success, spiritual life, meditation and self-realization appear among the subjects, and Pulling Your Own Strings (1978) and You'll See It When You Believe It (1989) are among the 47 catalogued books.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens (1997) is the best known book by Sean Covey, an American business executive and speaker born September 17, 1964. The book has been translated into 20 languages and has sold over 8 million copies. Covey is president of FranklinCovey Education. His 22 catalogued books also include The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make (2005) and The 7 Habits of Happy Kids (2008), plus companion workbooks and journals.

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.

Jack Canfield, born August 19, 1944, is an American author and motivational speaker. Canfield co-authored the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print across over 40 languages. The Success Principles, written with Janet Switzer, followed in 2005. The catalogue lists 182 books from Dare to Win (1988) to Everyday Catholicism (2020), with Mark Victor Hansen co-credited on 148 and Amy Newmark on 46. Chicken Soup for the Soul appeared in 1993.

Robin S. Sharma is a Canadian writer of self-help and motivational books, trained in law at Dalhousie University and known as a leadership expert. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (1996) is Sharma's signature book and spawned several follow-ups on leadership and family wisdom. Toastmasters International gave Sharma its Golden Gavel award in 2011. The catalogue lists 26 books from Megaliving! (1995) to Digital Harmony (2026), covering success, leadership and happiness.

Marcus Wilfrid Buckingham is an English author, business consultant and motivational speaker, born on 11 January 1966 and based in California. The catalogue lists 11 books from First, Break All the Rules (1998) to Love and Work (2022). Now, Discover Your Strengths (2001), Go Put Your Strengths to Work (2008), StandOut (2011) and Nine Lies About Work (2019) are among them. Subject headings cover management, leadership, employee motivation, executive ability, performance and self-actualization. The listing is marked dormant.

J.H. Brennan wrote about the occult and wrote games for children. The nonfiction covers magic, reincarnation, astral projection, parapsychology and the New Age movement, starting with Astral Doorways and Five Keys to Past Lives in 1971 and taking in The Occult Reich (1974). The fiction includes the Sagas of the Demonspawn gamebooks, Barmy Jeffers and the prehistoric Shiva novels. The 60 catalogued titles date from 1971 to 2013, peaking in the 1980s.

Meera Lester writes non-fiction on spirituality and self-improvement alongside a mystery series. Saints' Blessings (2004), Mary Magdalene (2005) and several Everything guides, on the Gnostic Gospels, women of the Bible and the law of attraction, form the first strand, with 1001 Ways to Do Good and 365 Ways to Live Happy beside them. The Henny Penny Farmette Mysteries put a farmer and beekeeper at the centre of investigations. 28 titles are catalogued to The Self-Care Planner in 2019, at a median of 263 pages.

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.

Gay Hendricks, born 20 January 1945, is an American psychologist, writer and teacher working on personal growth, relationships and body intelligence. Hendricks is known for work on relationship enhancement and conscious breathing exercises. After a Stanford University PhD in psychology in 1974, Hendricks spent 21 years at the University of Colorado, becoming a full professor in Counseling Psychology, and founded The Hendricks Institute. Hendricks and Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks have written more than 35 books together. The catalogue lists 59 books from The Centering Book (1975) to Your Big Leap Year (2024), plus the Tenzing Norbu Mystery and Sir Errol Hyde series.

Business and self-help make up the Donald J. Trump catalogue, which opens with The Art of the Deal (1987) and continues through Surviving At The Top, The Art of the Comeback, How To Get Rich and Think Like A Billionaire. Real estate development, management and success in business head the subject list, with The America We Deserve (2000) and Crippled America (2015) turning to politics. 28 titles are catalogued between 1987 and 2015, at a median of 224 pages.

John David Mann, born in 1954, has 18 catalogued books published from 2007 to 2023. The Go-Giver (2007) is the first, and Mann has a Go-Giver series. Subjects on the listing include success, self-actualization, positive psychology, Christianity and Islam. Other titles include Go-Givers Sell More (2010), Flash Foresight (2010), Code to Joy (2012) and The Slight Edge (2013). The Vagrant (2023) is the newest entry.

Steve Pieczenik

12 books• 1 series

Steve Pieczenik, born December 7, 1943, is a Cuban-American psychiatrist, author and publisher, also described as a conspiracy theorist. In 1976 Pieczenik became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, serving under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance and James Baker, and later consulted for the State Department. Pieczenik has appeared on InfoWars and has called the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook shooting false flag operations. The catalogue lists 12 books from 1985 to 2014, including the Desaix Clark series; The Mind Palace (1985), Blood Heat (1988) and State of Emergency (2010) are among them.

Matthew Philip Syed, born on 2 November 1970, is an English writer and radio presenter who previously played table tennis for England. Syed was the English number one, won the men's singles at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in 1997, 2000 and 2001, and represented Great Britain at the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Olympics. After moving into journalism, Syed has written for The Times since 1999. The catalogue lists 10 books from Bounce (2010) to Maths Made Easy and Times Tables Made Easy (both 2022), including Black Box Thinking (2015), The Greatest (2017), You Are Awesome (2018), Rebel Ideas (2019) and Dare to Be You (2020). Subject headings include success, failure, expertise and organizational behavior.

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.