Top Reads from 2025

I love reading books based around personal development and business, and 2025 saw me get through quite a few! Here are my top picks from the year (in no particular order).

Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley

I am a big fan of Daniel Priestley - he is very good at explaining things and doesn’t show-off in the same way other entrepreneurs do. He is obviously very intelligent and he has perfected his system for starting and scaling businesses.

Oversubscribed landed through my letterbox at just the right time for a product I was launching. I used his tips to be more systematic in my business and create more excitement. If you are a business owner, I highly recommend you read it.

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas

I started by reading Denise’s “Lucky Bitch” book which is the story of how she manifested an all-expenses paid round the world trip - the key takeaway for me was that it isn’t actually about manifesting - it’s about getting clear on what you actually want and be open to receiving it. Her next book dives more into her process for releasing money blocks and opening yourself up to abundance.

One particular sentence in this book had a profound impact on me: “Being a money mentor was so terrifying to me, even though I knew deep down that I was meant to be part of the global shift in abundance consciousness.” I have been wanting to start a more purposeful business for years, but always found reasons as to why I needed to prioritise other things. This sentence made me realise: now is my time - I am meant to do this.

The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel

I first discovered Morgan Housel when listening to the Diary of a CEO podcast, and I found that I resonated with a lot of the things he was saying and the way he was saying them. I am less of a fan of his writing style, but I enjoyed all the stories and quotes he provided in his book.

Morgan Housel’s overarching principle is that all of our own personal life experiences impact how we save and spend money. He iterates that there is no right or wrong way, but for him true wealth is not about having a large amount of money or possessions, but about achieving independence and control over your time.

“Are you spending money on something because it makes people think differently of you - like you more, be more impressed with you, maybe even jealous of you - or because it actually feeds your soul and makes you happy?”

The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

First off, this book is a little out-dated - a lot of the techniques/references Tim suggests are no longer relevant, however the underlying principles of his book still hold true. It also reads more like a manual and a bit dictator-y in some places, which I personally didn’t like about it, but there were lots of ideas and sentences that I highlighted as I was reading it, such as:

“If only I had more money” is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment.

Pareto’s law: 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the inputs, therefore being selective is the path of the productive.

One cannot be free from the stresses of a speed- and size-obsessed culture until you are free from the materialistic additions, time-famine mind-set, and comparative impulses that created it in the first place.

I adored his dreamline system and it was the starting point for my own process that I teach.

Want to join my book club? Register here: https://lucygordon.com/bookclub

Some links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase through them, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend products and services I genuinely use or believe add value.