Top 100 Books Recommended by SmartGuy®

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Here’s a curated list of 100 essential books, a mix of classic literature, philosophy, faith, personal development, history, science, and leadership. Each designed to help a young person grow into a wise, grounded, compassionate, and courageous human being. This list is Stoic, Catholic-friendly, and focused on character, clarity, and real-life preparation.  Click Here for more details on each book.

1. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
2. Letters from a Stoic – Seneca
3. Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle
4. The Consolation of Philosophy – Boethius
5. The Republic – Plato
6. The Art of War – Sun Tzu
7. Tao Te Ching – Laozi
8. Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Nietzsche
9. The Four Loves – C.S. Lewis
10. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
     

1. The Bible (start with Proverbs, Gospels, Psalms)
2. The Confessions – St. Augustine
3. The Imitation of Christ – Thomas à Kempis
4. Introduction to the Devout Life – St. Francis de Sales
5. Story of a Soul – St. Thérèse of Lisieux
6. The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
7. Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton
8. Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
9. Catechism of the Catholic Church
10. Life of Christ – Fulton J. Sheen
     

1. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
2. The Brothers Karamazov – Dostoevsky
3. Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky
4. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
5. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
6. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
7. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
8. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
9. The Odyssey – Homer
10. The Iliad – Homer
11. The Aeneid – Virgil
12. Beowulf
13. The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri
14. Paradise Lost – John Milton
15. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
16. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
17. The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
18. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
19. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
20. 1984 – George Orwell
21. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
22. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
23. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
24. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
25. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
     

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
2. Atomic Habits – James Clear
3. The Road Less Traveled – M. Scott Peck
4. Daring Greatly – Brené Brown
5. Boundaries – Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend
6. Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman
7. Deep Work – Cal Newport
8. Grit – Angela Duckworth
9. Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins
10. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
     

1. Start with Why – Simon Sinek
2. Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek
3. Good to Great – Jim Collins
4. The 5 Levels of Leadership – John Maxwell
5. Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink
6. Leadership and Self-Deception – The Arbinger Institute
7. The Servant – James C. Hunter
    

1. The Diary of Anne Frank
2. Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
3. John Paul II: Witness to Hope – George Weigel
4. Bonhoeffer – Eric Metaxas
5. The Wright Brothers – David McCullough
6. Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
8. Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
    

1. Cosmos – Carl Sagan
2. The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins
3. Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
4. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
6. Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari
7. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! – Richard Feynman
    

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
2. The Millionaire Next Door – Thomas Stanley
3. I Will Teach You to Be Rich – Ramit Sethi
4. Your Money or Your Life – Vicki Robin
5. The Psychology of Money – Morgan Housel
6. The Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Clason
    

1. On Writing – Stephen King
2. The Elements of Style – Strunk & White
3. Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
4. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
5. Show Your Work – Austin Kleon
6. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
7. Talk Like TED – Carmine Gallo
    

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
2. The Art of Manliness – Brett McKay
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo
4. Crucial Conversations – Patterson, Grenny, McMillan
5. How to Be an Adult – David Richo
6. 12 Rules for Life – Jordan Peterson
7. Make Your Bed – Admiral William H. McRaven
8. Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport
9. The Gift of Fear – Gavin de Becker
10. The Boy Scout Handbook – Boy Scouts of America (or a modern life skills equivalent)