The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,707 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of God Is An Octopus: Loss, Love and a Calling to Nature

John Elkington Why did I love this book?

This is a profoundly moving book. An exploration of grief, recovery, and, ultimately, hope.

Ben Goldsmith is someone I have known for years through our joint work on greening capitalism. The loss of his daughter, Iris, sent intense shockwaves well beyond the family. Indeed, I live in Barnes, southwest London, and the London plane tree dressed by her mourners for well over a year is 7-8 minutes’ walk from our home.

Ben’s attempts to come to terms with soul-searing grief repeatedly had me in tears – and I don’t normally have that reaction to books. Then, ultimately, his deepened calling to nature – and to its protection and regeneration – is both uplifting and a call that we all now need to answer.

By Ben Goldsmith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked God Is An Octopus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Intensely readable, poetic, truthful, wise and wonderful.' STEPHEN FRY 'An extraordinary book.' SUNDAY TIMES Struggling to comprehend the shocking death of his teenage daughter, Ben Goldsmith finds solace in nature by immersing himself in plans to rewild his farm. In July 2019, Ben Goldsmith lost his fifteen-year-old daughter, Iris, in an accident on their family farm in Somerset. Iris's death left her family reeling. Grasping for answers, Ben threw himself into searching for some ongoing trace of his beloved child, exploring ideas that until then had seemed too abstract to mean much to him. Missing his daughter terribly and struggling…


Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Mountain in the Sea

John Elkington Why did I love this book?

The fact that both my first and second book choices refer to octopuses, or octopi, is something that only struck me as I picked my way through the towering mountains of books I have bought (the bigger number) and read (a smaller, though still substantial number) in the past 12 months.

But if Ben Goldsmith’s book had me in tears, Ray Nayler’s had me laughing out loud and reading out sections to my long-standing (and long-suffering) wife, Elaine.

The story centres on pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who is invited to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a species of highly intelligent – and occasionally highly dangerous - intelligent octopus. As the book’s own blurb says, she should have studied the fine print in her contract rather more carefully before embarking on the adventure.

DIANIMA, a tech corporation best known for its work on AI, has bought the archipelago and sealed off the islands, so it can concentrate on its mysterious work there. No one has asked the octopus population what they think about all this—and the investigators are about to find out, to their peril.

By Ray Nayler,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Mountain in the Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'I loved this novel's brain and heart'
DAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS

'A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful, and redemptive'
JEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF ANNIHILATION

There are creatures in the water of Con Dao.
To the locals, they're monsters.
To the corporate owners of the island, an opportunity.
To the team of three sent to study them, a revelation.

Their minds are unlike ours.
Their bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting.
They can communicate.
And they want us to leave.

When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Con…


Want my future book recommendations?

My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of How to Blow Up a Pipeline

John Elkington Why did I love this book?

Malm’s short paperback—running to just 200 pages—profoundly challenged my thinking on how we “save Earth”.

The book argues that non-violent engagement strategies are being gamed by the powers that be. It also shows how many successful social movements have combined peaceful and violent wings, with political leaders of the day forced into existentially wrenching decisions by the risk of escalating violence. 

In his compelling manifesto, long-standing climate activist Malm, also infamous as a saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines, explains how similar dynamics played out in the overturning of slave economies, the ending of the British Raj in India, and the civil rights movement in the United States.

He then argues that lessons from the past have a great deal to teach us about how we can best tackle climate and biodiversity emergencies.

By Andreas Malm,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked How to Blow Up a Pipeline as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The science on climate change has been clear for a very long time now. Yet despite decades of appeals, mass street protests, petition campaigns, and peaceful demonstrations, we are still facing a booming fossil fuel industry, rising seas, rising emission levels, and a rising temperature. With the stakes so high, why haven't we moved beyond peaceful protest?

In this lyrical manifesto, noted climate scholar (and saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines) Andreas Malm makes an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse. We need, he argues, to force fossil fuel…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism

By John Elkington,

Book cover of Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism

What is my book about?

A Green Swan is a profound market shift, generally catalysed by some combination of Black or Grey Swan challenges and changing paradigms, values, mindsets, politics, policies, technologies, business models, and other key factors. A Green Swan delivers exponential progress in the form of economic, social, and environmental wealth creation. At worst, it achieves this outcome in two dimensions while holding the third steady. There may be a period of adjustment where one or more dimensions underperform, but the aim is an integrated breakthrough in all three dimensions.

Drawing on first-hand experience from boardrooms around the world, the book examines wicked problems and the ‘ugly ducklings’ of today that have the potential to become tomorrow’s world-saving Green Swans.

My book recommendation list