100 books like How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

By Scott Adams,

Here are 100 books that How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big fans have personally recommended if you like How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Melina Palmer Author Of What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics

From my list on brainy branding that results in buying.

Why am I passionate about this?

The more I learn about the brain, the more I want to dig in and discover more. Why do we procrastinate? Why do people buy things? Why do some people love unlocking these topics weekly on The Brainy Business podcast (where each person on this list has been a guest) and sharing those insights with the world? When it comes to selling and buying in a brainy way, behavioral economics is the best way to get there, and these books are all a great first step into learning what behavioral science is, how the brain really works, and up-leveling your brand. 

Melina's book list on brainy branding that results in buying

Melina Palmer Why did Melina love this book?

No list on behavior, sales, and brand messaging would be complete without including Robert Cialdini on the list. Concepts like social proof, scarcity, and reciprocity are key for getting customers to buy in on your product or service before they even get to the buying moment.

If you are one of the millions of people who has already read Influence, his other book Pre-Suasion is amazing as well and so helpful for brands!

By Robert B. Cialdini,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked Influence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The foundational and wildly popular go-to resource for influence and persuasion-a renowned international bestseller, with over 5 million copies sold-now revised adding: new research, new insights, new examples, and online applications.

In the new edition of this highly acclaimed bestseller, Robert Cialdini-New York Times bestselling author of Pre-Suasion and the seminal expert in the fields of influence and persuasion-explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. Using memorable stories and relatable examples, Cialdini makes this crucially important subject surprisingly easy. With Cialdini as a guide, you don't have…


Book cover of Miracle Morning Millionaires: What the Wealthy Do Before 8AM That Will Make You Rich

Bradley Bevers Author Of The Mental Game of Real Estate: How to Thrive as a Real Estate Agent

From my list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read books. I read over 100 books a year and really try to implement principles and tips from those that I love. I also hate traditional sales advice and have worked on building my business differently from the typical salesperson, trying to serve my clients better by learning and practicing in a different way. Nothing happens until somebody sells something, but there is a better way. That’s why I wrote my book, The Mental Game of Real Estate, about the same principles that I teach my agents every day.

Bradley's book list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul

Bradley Bevers Why did Bradley love this book?

I have always been self-motivated, but this book gave me the tools to turn up the dial from a 7 to a 10.

In this book, I learned to apply the SAVERS system every morning (Silence, affirmation, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing), and I have been doing it for years now. I wrote my book by heeding this advice and waking up at 4 am for months in order to write before working out and heading to the office. Every morning, including today, I read excerpts from at least 20 books, review my annual goals, study a foreign language, exercise, and more. One of the things I have learned about this framework since building it into my life is that it is much easier to hang new habits you want to start onto this system.

Once you implement this, you never have to start from scratch again. I have been…

By David Osborn, Hal Elrod, Honoree Corder

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Miracle Morning Millionaires as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What if the real secret of millionaires isn’t about doing more, but becoming more?
Millionaires know everything in your present is a result of how you thought, decided, and acted in the past. But your present circumstances can easily change. Right now. Because, with this revolutionary manual to wealth, you’ll discover...

• The undeniable connection between mornings and wealth.
• Why becoming wealthy is never a sedentary pursuit.
• The simple five-step wake-up process that’ll guarantee you’ll rise early...like a millionaire.
• Four choices you must make to become wealthy.
• The specific actions you must take when you choose…


Book cover of No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy

Bradley Bevers Author Of The Mental Game of Real Estate: How to Thrive as a Real Estate Agent

From my list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read books. I read over 100 books a year and really try to implement principles and tips from those that I love. I also hate traditional sales advice and have worked on building my business differently from the typical salesperson, trying to serve my clients better by learning and practicing in a different way. Nothing happens until somebody sells something, but there is a better way. That’s why I wrote my book, The Mental Game of Real Estate, about the same principles that I teach my agents every day.

Bradley's book list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul

Bradley Bevers Why did Bradley love this book?

I love this book and re-read it at least every couple of years. All of Dan Kennedy’s books are fantastic, but this one is special.

As a real estate agent, I didn’t realize how much my view of the world and the economy held me back. This book helped shift my perspective, and I now see the world from an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset. I give this to anyone who is stuck in an "if I win, then someone loses" mindset, and it will shake them out of it. I also love his chapters on the magic of generosity and on learning to expect "the phenomenon" at least once every few years (you will have to read it to learn more).

I love how this book has freed me up to go after my goals without hesitation because, as an entrepreneur, it is my job to grow…

By Dan Kennedy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No B.S. Wealth Attraction in the New Economy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Become A Money Magnet

The old economy is shattered, and GONE FOREVER. It's never coming back as it was, and in its place a generally tougher, more demanding marketplace is emerging. The realities of the business and financial landscape that you knew have been forced to change.

HOWEVER, when it comes to wealth, one instrumental reality is unchanged: No matter the economic conditions-booms or recessions, including the fast-emerging New Economy-there is wealth. And who better to show you how to lure, bait, attract, and become a magnet for it than "Millionaire Maker" Dan S. Kennedy?

Kennedy covers:

How to experience…


Book cover of The Luck Factor: Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles

Bradley Bevers Author Of The Mental Game of Real Estate: How to Thrive as a Real Estate Agent

From my list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read books. I read over 100 books a year and really try to implement principles and tips from those that I love. I also hate traditional sales advice and have worked on building my business differently from the typical salesperson, trying to serve my clients better by learning and practicing in a different way. Nothing happens until somebody sells something, but there is a better way. That’s why I wrote my book, The Mental Game of Real Estate, about the same principles that I teach my agents every day.

Bradley's book list on showing you how to sell anything without losing your soul

Bradley Bevers Why did Bradley love this book?

One of the biggest reasons that I have been able to become a successful real estate agent is also one that surprises other people: I got lucky. Luck is one of the biggest reasons for my success. I am sure that you know "lucky people," those people for whom everything seems to go right. I know them too, and this book tells you their secrets.

It turns out that luck is not a fortuitous chance but rather a set of rules that you can implement to become more lucky yourself. I love this book and the four rules it gives on how to become more lucky in your life. My paraphrased short version of these rules are: maximize your chance opportunities, expect good things to happen, turn your bad luck into good luck, and listen to your gut.

I love this book, and if you want to have more good…

By Richard Wiseman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Luck Factor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Luck Factor: The Four Essential Principles [Paperback] by Wiseman, Richard


Book cover of Batman & Me: An Autobiography

Michael Burgan Author Of What Is the Story of Batman?

From my list on helping to rekindle a love of Batman.

Why am I passionate about this?

One of my favorite childhood pictures, circa 1967, shows me in the Batman costume I got for Christmas. And one of my sharpest memories from that time was seeing the Batmobile at a local auto show. Yes, I was a Batman fanatic, thanks to both the TV show and the comics. That passion faded somewhat as I grew older—I can’t rattle off the names of all the villains or discourse on the styles of the different artists and writers who have told his story. But having the chance to write What Is the Story of Batman taught me a lot—and helped me feel like a kid again. 

Michael's book list on helping to rekindle a love of Batman

Michael Burgan Why did Michael love this book?

OK, I have to say this upfront: a lot of comic-book aficionados don’t care much for Bob Kane, Batman’s co-creator. He took too much of the credit for coming up with the Caped Crusader, at the expense of writer Bill Finger. And there are details in the autobiography that seem to stretch the truth. But I wanted to get Kane’s perspective on Batman and his development over the years. As a bonus, the book has complete color reproductions of several early Batman adventures. 

By Bob Kane, Tom Andrae,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Batman & Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bob Kane's insights into Batman by Tom Andrae.


Book cover of Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? A Memoir

Kathryn Betts Adams Author Of The Pianist's Only Daughter: A Memoir

From my list on Memoirs illness aging death moving vivid prose.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was first a clinical social worker and then a social work professor with research focus on older adults. Over the past few years, as I have been writing my own memoir about caring for my parents, I’ve been drawn to memoirs and first-person stories of aging, illness, and death. The best memoirs on these topics describe the emotional transformation in the writer as they process their loss of control, loss of their own or a loved one’s health, and their fear, pain, and suffering. In sharing these stories, we help others empathize with what we’ve gone through and help others be better prepared for similar events in their own lives.

Kathryn's book list on Memoirs illness aging death moving vivid prose

Kathryn Betts Adams Why did Kathryn love this book?

This graphic memoir by Roz Chast is one of my favorite books of all time. I completely relate to the story, which focuses on Chast’s relationship with her parents as they age and become less capable of managing independently.

The book depicts her repeated efforts to coax her parents to face the reality of their aging and failing health as she gradually does more and more to help them, a situation I’m very familiar with and wrote about in my recent memoir. As an only child (like me), she must deal with every crisis and decision.

Her drawings add humor and emphasis to the story, but the prose alone vividly portrays her frustrations and heartbreak as Chast faces complication after complication and loss after loss in her parents’ final few years. 

By Roz Chast,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? A Memoir as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times Bestseller
2014 National Book Award Finalist
Winner of the inaugural 2014 Kirkus Prize in nonfiction
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
Winner of the 2014 Books for a Better Life Award
Winner of the 2015 Reuben Award from National Cartoonists Society

In her first memoir, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort…


Book cover of Rat Time

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Author Of Diana: My Graphic Obsession

From my list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been passionate about making, reading, and studying comics for my whole life. When I first encountered autobiographical comics, they were all by women who I looked up to for their ability to tackle their lives with both words and images. This is a small list and biased towards the cartoonists I first encountered in the world of female autobiographical comics. There is so much more out there. I love how the flexibility and history of the comic form have allowed for so much blending of genres and styles. 

Sivan's book list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Why did Sivan love this book?

Keiler Roberts has a number of books featuring vignettes from her daily life. All are incredible. This is a personal favorite, cleverly balancing medical scenes about her MS treatment and diagnosis, her work as an art teacher, her life with her daughter and husband (and their family rats), and private moments with herself. 

By Keiler Roberts,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rat Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pet deaths and parenting, embarrassing childhood memories and mental illness, Roberts documents her daily life’s minutiae, its up and downs, with the deftness of an observational comedian. Her comics demonstrate that sometimes life can deal you a punch to the gut, but it doesn’t have to be devoid of a punch line.


Book cover of Americana

Shannon Watters Author Of Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware The Kitten Holy

From my list on comics when wishing you sat around a campfire.

Why am I passionate about this?

Not only have I been a comic book editor for sixteen years and obsessed with indie comics for much longer, I’m also an avid camper who co-created and co-wrote a comic book series that exalts in the unique feeling of sleeping under the stars. As such, excellent comics about outdoor adventures have a particularly tender spot in my heart.

Shannon's book list on comics when wishing you sat around a campfire

Shannon Watters Why did Shannon love this book?

Luke Healey’s highly graphic, wonderfully expressive cartooning style is especially powerful in this memoir of his time hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. Through-hiking the PCH is an obvious physical feat in any circumstance, but it’s a deeply taxing mental one, and Luke’s reflection on his trip compels you forward.

You are next to him on the trail, begging the question repeatedly: how can we bear moving forward? How can we do this, day after day? You feel right there as Luke laces up his boots, takes a breath, and walks on. 

By Luke Healy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Americana as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2660 miles, from California's border with Mexico to Washington's border with Canada. To walk it is to undertake a grueling test of body and spirit... challenge accepted.

This intimate, engaging autobiographical work recounts the author's own attempt to walk the length of the USA's west coast. Healy's life-changing journey weaves in and out of reflections on his experiences in America and his development as an artist, navigating both the trail itself and the unique culture of the people who attempt to complete it.


Book cover of MetaMaus

John Carey Author Of A Revolution in Three Acts: The Radical Vaudeville of Bert Williams, Eva Tanguay, and Julian Eltinge

From my list on merging art with personal history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I had been an exhibiting painter and an editorial cartoonist for years, but never a graphic book artist. Not until A Revolution in Three Acts. I was fortunate to have great guidance: my buddy David Hajdu (Positively Fourth Street, Lush Life, The Ten Cent Plague) wrote the words, did the research, and created the blueprint of every page and panel. My job was to lock myself up in my studio and draw, draw, draw. I think David and I did justice to three amazing figures of the American stage who dealt with the shifting societal forces of race, femininity, and gender: Bert Williams, Eva Tanguay, and Julian Eltinge.  

John's book list on merging art with personal history

John Carey Why did John love this book?

This is the backstory of Spiegelman’s two-volume masterpiece.

What was the impetus for MAUS? How did comic creatures find their way into a Holocaust narrative?  What were the reactions to such a unique merging of cartoons and historical horror? How has Spiegelman dealt with the book’s tremendous reception?

The book answers these questions with many interviews, photos, explanations, and reflections. Even agent and publisher rejection letters are included.

By Art Spiegelman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked MetaMaus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER • Visually and emotionally rich, MetaMaus is as groundbreaking as the masterpiece whose creation it reveals.

In the pages of MetaMaus, Art Spiegelman re-enters the Pulitzer prize–winning Maus, the modern classic that has altered how we see literature, comics, and the Holocaust ever since it was first published twenty-five years ago.
 
He probes the questions that Maus most often evokes—Why the Holocaust? Why mice? Why comics?—and gives us a new and essential work about the creative process.
 
Compelling and intimate, MetaMaus is poised to become a classic in its own right.


Book cover of The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree

Paul V. Allen Author Of Jack Kent: The Wit, Whimsy, and Wisdom of a Comic Storyteller

From my list on children’s stories by cartoonists.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved comic strips since I was a kid, so children’s books that had cartoon art in them were the ultimate for me. That love drove me to research and write about the career and life of Jack Kent. Books by cartoonists tend to have the whole package: They tell a story visually, they’re funny, and they use language economically but memorably. The limitations I placed on myself in choosing this list were 1) the creator had to have both written and drawn the book, and 2) they had to have been established as a professional cartoonist before moving into children’s books.

Paul's book list on children’s stories by cartoonists

Paul V. Allen Why did Paul love this book?

A fact lost in their massive success in children’s books is that Stan and Jan Berenstain started as cartoonists.

In the 1940s and 1950s their work appeared in the likes of the Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and McCall’s, and they had a series of best-selling “cartoon essay” books. Their famous bears debuted in 1962 as part of Beginner Books, a line created by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, Helen Palmer Geisel, and Phyllis Cerf.

With 1978’s The Spooky Old Tree, The Berenstains created the quintessential early reader, using repetition and predictability, prepositional phrases, rich visuals, and high drama to captivate their young audience (and their parents). “Do they dare? Yes. They dare.”

By Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

Join the Berenstain Bears on a spooky adventure in this classic children's book perfect for learning to read!

Climb the Spooky Old Tree with the Berenstain Bears! This classic children's book makes great use of rhyming and repetition of phrases to encourage children's reading, and the spooky story will delight young and old!

Bright and Early Books are designed to encourage even 'non-reading' children to read.
Some Bright and Early Books are simple stories, others are hilarious nonsense: both types have been designed to give children confidence and make them want to go on reading. Perfect for both boys and…


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