Ultimate Self-Improvement BOOK Tier List (BEST to WORST)

About this video

Clark Kegley ranks 15 popular self-improvement books he says he has read cover to cover, selected for selling over 5 million copies or having over 10,000 Amazon reviews and being widely known, with half new and half returning from a tier list three years earlier. His S tier is Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, about beating ‘Resistance’ to create, and Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. A tier includes James Clear’s Atomic Habits for practical habit change, Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money for money behavior, The Courage to Be Disliked for Adlerian psychology, Gary Keller’s The ONE Thing for focus over doing more, Ryan Holiday discussion aside, Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck for values and self-acceptance, and David Hawkins’s Letting Go for surrendering suppressed negative emotions. B tier includes Cal Newport’s Deep Work (valuable but summarizable quickly), Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power (useful defensively but risky taken as gospel), and Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way as an introduction to Stoicism and focusing on what you can control. C tier includes Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, which Kegley calls less practical or lower return on time than newer alternatives, while noting Hill’s ideas have been credited by successful people despite rumors Hill died penniless.

Key takeaways

• Kegley places The War of Art and How to Win Friends and Influence People in S tier, calling the former essential for creators facing Resistance.
• His A tier includes Atomic Habits, The Psychology of Money, The Courage to Be Disliked, The ONE Thing, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and Letting Go.
• His B tier includes Deep Work, 12 Rules for Life, The 48 Laws of Power, and The Obstacle Is the Way, with caveats that Deep Work’s core idea is brief and 48 Laws should not be taken as gospel.
• He places Rich Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich in C tier, arguing other books offer more practical value for the time invested.
• His selection criteria were high sales or Amazon review counts, personal cover-to-cover reading, and wide recognition, mixing new titles with returning ones.

Episode details: published May 19, 2025 · 21:44 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Clark Kegley’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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