Success Books Reviews - January 31, 2026

Hello Readers,

January 2026 brings together five reviews spanning psychology, philosophy, decision-making, resilience, and personal growth - from The Courage to Be Disliked through to The Comfort Crisis.

Featured Review

Clear Thinking - Shane Parrish

Good decisions are often determined before the moment of decision arrives.

In Clear Thinking, Shane Parrish examines how automatic reactions, emotions, ego, and social pressures can interfere with judgment — and how creating space between stimulus and response can lead to better choices.

The book combines practical ideas about decision-making with a broader argument: clearer thinking depends not simply on intelligence, but on developing habits that allow us to recognise when our judgment is being compromised.

Read our full review of Clear Thinking

Also Reviewed This Month

The Courage to Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

Drawing on Adlerian psychology, The Courage to Be Disliked challenges readers to reconsider ideas about approval, responsibility, relationships, and personal freedom.

Presented as a dialogue between a philosopher and a young man, the book argues that much of our unhappiness comes from allowing the expectations of others to determine how we live.

Read our full review of The Courage to Be Disliked

Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

In this more philosophical companion to Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl explores humanity’s search for meaning beyond immediate circumstances and material concerns.

The book develops Frankl’s ideas about responsibility, conscience, transcendence, and the human need to find meaning even when straightforward answers are unavailable.

Read our full review of Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning

Stillness Is the Key - Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday draws on Stoic philosophy, historical figures, and examples from religion and culture to make the case for stillness as a source of clearer judgment and purposeful action.

Rather than treating stillness as inactivity, the book presents it as the ability to create mental and emotional space in a world filled with noise and distraction.

Read our full review of Stillness Is the Key

The Comfort Crisis - Michael Easter

Modern life has become remarkably effective at eliminating inconvenience — but Michael Easter asks whether we may have lost something important in the process.

The Comfort Crisis explores how deliberately engaging with physical and psychological difficulty can build resilience, perspective, and a healthier relationship with challenge.

Read our full review of The Comfort Crisis

January’s Theme: Thinking Beyond Comfort

Although January’s books approach personal development from very different directions, a common theme runs through them.

The Courage to Be Disliked asks what happens when we stop organising our lives around other people’s approval. Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning examines the deeper human search for purpose. Stillness Is the Key considers the value of quiet and reflection. Clear Thinking focuses on creating the mental space required for better judgment, while The Comfort Crisis asks whether deliberately accepting difficulty can make us more resilient.

Together, they challenge a familiar assumption: that a better life necessarily means an easier one.

Looking Ahead

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1 - Shane Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien

Coming next, The Great Mental Models, Volume 1 explores frameworks drawn from multiple disciplines that can help us understand problems, question assumptions, and make better decisions.

It is a natural continuation of the ideas explored in Clear Thinking - moving from how to create the conditions for better judgment to the intellectual tools we can use once we begin thinking more deliberately.

Look for our review in February.

Thank you for reading Success Books Reviews - Your Filter in a Noisy Book World.