527. The 100 Best Books for Work and Life

The ONE Thing

NOVA Media

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of business and self-help books out there? With more than 40,000 titles published every year, it's impossible to read them all — and most of us don't have the time to waste on the wrong ones. The real challenge is knowing which books will actually help you grow, both personally and professionally. That's why Jay Papasan sits down with Todd Sattersten, publisher of The ONE Thing and author of The 100 Best Books for Work and Life. Over the past 20 years, Todd has read more than 3,000 books, reviewed over 1,000 of them, and curated the top 100 that deliver the greatest insights for work, leadership, growth, and purpose. In this conversation, he shares the lessons he's learned from a lifetime of reading---why self-awareness is the most consistent takeaway across categories, how to choose books that truly add value, and why organizing your reading around the problems you're facing is the fastest path to results. You'll come away with a clearer framework for deciding what to read, how to apply it, and when to let go of books that don't serve you. If you've ever struggled with too many choices and not enough time, this episode will help you build a smarter, more intentional reading habit that compounds over time. Challenge of the Week:Be honest with yourself about the ONE problem you need to be working on right now. Then, choose a book---or a short list of books---that speaks directly to that problem. Don't try to read everything. Read for what you need. Want more tools to help you simplify your choices, focus on what matters, and get extraordinary results? Visit the1thing.com *** To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods. We talk about: What reading 3,000+ business and self-help books reveals about personal growth How to choose the right book for the problem you're facing right now The surprising lessons from curating The 100 Best Books for Work and Life Links & Tools from This Episode: The 100 Best Books for Work and Life by Todd Sattersten Jay Papasan on Instagram Follow Todd Sattersten on Instagram: @toddsattersten Free Resources Want to be a guest or share feedback? Email podcast@the1thing.com or send us an audio note at Speakpipe.com/the1thing Produced by NOVA

Transcript

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0:00.0	So this week, we ended up answering a question. I didn't know that we were going to ask an answer,
0:05.6	is what does someone learn when they read about 3,000 business and self-help books in their career
0:11.6	and distill that into some really good takeaways? So this week, I'm interviewing Todd Satterston.
0:17.3	He wrote a book called The 100 Best Books for Work and Life, discovered on the journey that
0:21.6	over the course of preparing to write this book, four and a half years, and many years before,
0:25.5	he read 3,000-plus books, probably reviewed 1,000 of them to select 100.
0:31.2	And we unpacked some of the lessons he learned, some of the lessons he would make sure
0:35.7	that our one-thing listeners should look at,
0:38.5	what sections of the knowledge out there, the books that we would be most interested in reading
0:43.2	and learning about after learning about the one thing. And also just some great practice.
0:48.0	If you're a reader, readers or leaders, how do we read for what we need? How do we make great
0:52.7	selections? How do we set aside the ones that don't matter and pick more of the good ones? You'll love this conversation with Todd Satterson. He's an authority in the world of books. He's the publisher, our publisher, the bar press behind The One Thing. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I do.
1:07.5	I'm Jay Papazan and this is The One Thing, your weekly guide to the simple steps that lead to extraordinary results.
1:26.6	Todd, my friend, our publisher at The One Thing, welcome to the show.
1:30.6	Thank you so much, Jay. I'm just thrilled. I'm thrilled to be here.
1:34.2	And I'm so excited. I've read your books before. You wrote an earlier version of this.
1:39.2	You also wrote a book about everything you knew about business books, which was just out there, like for the real nerds
1:44.4	to read, because you are one of the authorities on self-help and business books. So I'm super
1:50.3	happy to chat shop with you about your new book, The 100 Best Books for Work and Life. So I want to
1:56.3	dive in. You know our audience. You've been helping us with the one thing for many years.
2:01.0	What do high achievers? How are they going to use this book? Why should they buy it and how will they use it?
2:05.6	Yeah, I think one of the key features of the 100 Best is that I think we need to read a wider range of books.
	...

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