2026 has arrived, and everyone must be making resolutions for this year. This post is not just for regular readers but also for people who have resolved to start reading.
These books will bring a better version of you.
So, start your 2026 with these Non-Fiction Books:
- Origin Story by David Christian
- Speed by Vaclav Smil
- Whole Numbers and Half Truths by Rukmini.S
- Master your emotions by Thibaut Meurisse
- Psychology of Marketing
- Influence the psychology of Persuasion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Fawning by Ingrid Clayton
- The New World Order
- The way of a superior man
- Propaganda
Origin Story by David Christian
This book tells how the world began and the history of our world, from the Big Bang to the formation of Earth’s atmosphere. You can get information about everything from the beginning to how we reached today’s world.
The book discusses how life began with single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, then moved into water, and finally to life on Earth. Further, David also discusses the emergence of complex life and the journey from dinosaurs to humans. And how the innovation of language changed everything.
Well, this book doesn’t just discuss the past but also addresses the current situation and, depending on humans’ current actions, what the world would be like in the coming years and decades.
Speed: How to explain the world by Vaclav Smil
The author discusses speed across a range of topics, from physics and geology to ecosystems and technology. Vaclav says that speed is good, but it comes with both pros and cons, and right now the world is at an unprecedented pace.
He tries to explain that, naturally, everything has its natural speed, starting with forest recovery and soil formation. Fastening such processes can do more harm than good, and we should understand the tempo of everything before planning to alter it, because some things work on a second metric, while others work on a year- or decade-scale.
Ultimately, the author wants a world where people value not just quick things but also slow ones; it can produce fragility and backlash.
Whole number and Half Truths by Rukmini S
The author herself was a field and data journalist in India who, while working, realized the realities of fieldwork and data collection. She says that, due to social and political power on the ground, the data we see or receive is tampered with and sometimes misleads. And the narratives built on such data create an image of things that are not true.
She says we had abundant data on any topic, be it poverty, crime, caste, religion, health, or any other topic you can think of. Still, we have limitations in access, context, and honest interpretation of such data.
You would love this book if you are curious about everything and drill down to the roots of every topic.
Master your emotions by Thibaut Meurisse
As the name suggests, the book talks about how to master your emotions. Well, to live a good life, you should know how to manage your emotions. People tend to depend on others for their feelings, but it’s like giving them control over your emotions, which keeps you always in a state of worry and out of control.
The book says that we don’t usually focus on why we are feeling what we are feeling, and that is important to think about because if you don’t find the reason, you might keep on feeling miserable. It’s difficult to give your 100% in day-to-day activities. Moreover, no one ever wants to feel sad. Small changes over time can help you manage such issues.
The book says that who we are mainly depends on our ego, which plays a significant role in how we perceive things and manage our emotions. And apart from your ego factors that’ll impact your emotions, there are:
- Your body
- Food
- Environment, because a healthy mind can only be present in a healthy body.
Psychology of Marketing by Harinder Singh Pelia
The book says that 90% of the decisions we make while purchasing are emotion-driven rather than logic-driven. There are more behavioural principles, such as Persuasion, choice architecture, habit loops, and cognitive biases, that marketers use when setting prices, offers, and ads.
The book discusses the methods and tricks marketers use to boost sales.
A few topics covered in this book:
- FOMO Effect
- Sarcity principle
- Social Proofs
- Anchoring Effect
- BOGO Effect
- Free trials and shipping
- Color Psychology
- Illusion of personalization
Influence the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
The book teaches how to influence people, the art of Persuasion, and how to build meaningful connections.
The following are a few ideas from the book:
- Reciprocity: It’s a natural human behavior that if someone does something for us for free, we tend to return the favour or do something in return. Kind behaviour or gestures don’t just influence what we do, but also how we feel about the other person.
- Commitment and Consistency: When we commit, we put in more effort and are consistent because of the initial words we gave. This small initial commitment can lead to larger commitments moving forward, as we want to appear reliable and stable in our beliefs.
- Social Proof: We often do things after seeing what others are doing. We decide our actions by observing others because we’re not sure what to do ourselves.
- Authority: The more authority you’re perceived as having, the more likely people are to comply with you. Let’s say you’re not feeling well and go to a hospital. Until someone comes up with a doctor suit to treat you, would you trust that person? No right. That’s how authority works.
- Scarcity: Losing something motivates us more than gaining something of similar value.
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
The author says that the right way to check someone’s intelligence is not just by evaluating IQ (Intelligence Quotient), but also by considering EQ (Emotional Intelligence).
The book says that there are a few ways you can improve your emotional intelligence:
- By figuring out when to vent, because venting while angry would prolong it, on the contrary, venting when you’re sad might help you recover faster.
- Distract yourself when you’re sad, because if you don’t break the chain, it might deepen the feeling, making it even more challenging to recover.
- Learn how to pass on criticism. Well, it’s essential and part of corporate, but delivering in the wrong way might shut the other person down and not give them space to put their point and feelings across.
By reading the book, you can also learn many more ways to improve EQ and how to achieve them if you seem to be too far from it.
Fawning by Ingrid Clayton
The book is written by a clinical psychologist, trauma therapist and also a trauma survivor. The book talks about the trauma fawning, how fawning looks normal, looks like one is being sweet, or maybe it would look like people pleasing, but it is one’s body safety response to the situation.
The book says it is the 4th F of Trauma: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawning, in which a person appears okay with whatever is happening to and around them to stay safe. The author has further described how to figure out in oneself, why we learn it, how it shows up, what to do, and how to come out of it.
So, if you want to deep-dive into this subject, this will be the right book to go with.
The New World Order by Anthony Ralph Epperson
The book was written in the 80s, but it still sounds relevant in 2026. It says that, be it war, pandemic, or financial crisis, everything is pre-planned by hidden groups of people who run the whole world.
They stay invisible but have connections everywhere, creating notions and influencing the way they want. Nowadays, whatever you see, be it the media, financial bodies of the countries, education, or technology, everything is being tampered with through them.
He predicted a cashless world, even when smartphones weren’t a thing and there was no such thing as digital currency. He also predicted that a time would come when people would have to give up freedom for safety (covid19). All this is just the tip of the iceberg; there’s a lot more in the book that would put you in question.
The Way of a Superior Man by David Deida
This book teaches that, as a man, you can be great in all the areas a man should excel.
The book talks about choosing a partner who’s your complementary opposite because that’ll make for a complete, close-to-perfect relationship. If both of them had the same feminine or masculine energy, then they wouldn’t be able to complement each other, as opposites can complement.
Don’t weaken yourself by not believing your gut and agreeing to what your partner says; by not believing and agreeing to your gut, you would indicate to your body that you don’t trust your wisdom, and why would someone trust your wisdom when you yourself don’t trust it?
Men tend to challenge each other; that’s how we thrive. Masculinity grows through challenge; on the other hand, femininity grows through compliment. So, always compliment your partner and see how your relationship becomes better and more beautiful.
Just like the ones mentioned above, there are a lot more ways mentioned in the book that’ll help you become a superior man.
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
The author says that propaganda and the manipulation of the masses are essential for the smooth functioning of society. The book presents propaganda as a tool for shaping psychology, media, and marketing to engineer what people think and do.
Bernays points out that no one has the time or energy to keep track of everything happening in a country. Because of this, people naturally rely on a small group of “experts” to explain what matters and what it all means. Over time, these experts don’t just share information; they quietly shape how people think. Eventually, individuals believe they are forming opinions on their own, without realizing that many of those ideas were planted and guided by others in the first place.
Reading these books in 2026 helps you become a better version of yourself.