We are halfway through the year.
Six months gone. Six months to go.
Every December I share my top 5 books of the year. But this year I could not wait that long. The list got too good to sit on.
So here it is. The midway report. Five books I have read in the first half of 2026 that earned a spot.
Think of this as your summer reading list. Pick any one of them and I promise you walk away with something. Maybe it is wisdom. Maybe it is a laugh you needed on a hard day. Maybe it is the exact idea that solves the problem you have been wrestling with.
We are counting down. Number 5 up to my number 1.
Let’s go.
Number 5. Endurance by Alfred Lansing
A true survival story, and one of the most jaw dropping I have ever read.
The year is 1914. Ernest Shackleton sets out to cross Antarctica. His ship gets locked in the ice and slowly crushed. Now he and 27 men are stranded at the bottom of the world with no rescue coming.
Here is the part that gets me. Almost two years on the ice. Brutal cold. Starvation knocking. And Shackleton brought every single man home alive.
The golden nugget is leadership under pressure. When everything falls apart, the leader sets the tone. Shackleton kept his men fed, focused, and believing when there was no logical reason to believe.
If you run anything, a business, a team, a family, this is a masterclass. Hard times are coming for all of us. The real question is who you become when they show up.
One word for this book. Amazing.
Number 4. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
This one is a fable, and it sneaks up on you.
A hotshot lawyer named Julian Mantle has it all. The mansion, the money, the bright red Ferrari. Then he collapses from a heart attack right in the middle of a courtroom.
So he sells everything and heads to the Himalayas to figure out what actually matters.
The golden nugget that stuck with me is the garden. Sharma says your mind is a garden. What you plant and feed is what grows. Most people let the weeds take over and then wonder why they feel the way they feel.
It is a quick read that hits deep. You will close the last page asking better questions about how you spend your time and your attention.
One word for this book. Thought evoking.
Number 3. Living with a SEAL by Jesse Itzler
I laughed out loud reading this one. Out loud.
Jesse Itzler is a wildly successful entrepreneur who decides he has gotten too comfortable. So he hires a Navy SEAL to move into his house for 31 days and run his life.
The SEAL shows up and immediately has him doing pull-ups in freezing cold water at the crack of dawn.
The golden nugget is the 40 percent rule. When your mind screams that you are done, you are really only at 40 percent. You have way more in the tank than you think you do.
The magic of this book is that it teaches you grit while you are busy laughing. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That is where the growth lives.
One word for this book. Hilarious.
Number 2. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
This is not a book you read front to back. It is a toolbox.
Tim Ferriss interviewed the best of the best. Billionaires, world class athletes, artists, legends. Then he pulled out their habits, routines, and tactics and stacked them all in one place.
You open to any page and find something you can use today.
The golden nugget I love is how many top performers do the same boring stuff. They wake early. They move their body. They guard their morning like it is gold. The magic is not magic. It is the daily reps.
Keep this one on your nightstand. Read a few pages, steal an idea, then go run your day.
One word for this book. Insights.
Number 1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
My number 1 of the year so far. And it is not even close.
This one is fiction, but it reads like a punch to the chest. It follows a boy born into poverty and the foster system in the mountains of Appalachia, clawing his way through a world that keeps knocking him flat.
This book has a depth I did not see coming. It is about resilience. About the systems that fail people who never asked to be failed. About finding your own voice when nobody hands you one.
I could not put it down. And I could not stop thinking about it after I finished. That kid’s spirit is going to stay with you long after the last page.
If you only read one book off this entire list, make it this one.
One word for this book. Depth.
So There It Is
Five books. Five completely different rides. Survival, stillness, grit, wisdom, and heart.
Here is my promise to you. Pick up any one of these and you will find yourself intrigued and educated. You will gain something you can actually use in your life or your business.
Reading is the cheapest mentorship on earth. A few dollars buys you a seat next to the greatest minds and the hardest lives ever lived.
Read one this summer. Then come find me at the end of the year for the full top books of 2026 list.
Keep Shining.
