Person
James Clear's book recommendations
Across 4 podcasts. Every show James Clear appears on, in one place — not just one.
James Clear’s most recommended books
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
- The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris
- Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
- Range by David J. Epstein
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
James Clear is an American writer. Raised in Hamilton, Ohio, and receiving education from Denison University and Ohio State University, he is known for his 2018 self-help book Atomic Habits. During podcast appearances, Clear recommended and discussed several books that shaped his perspectives on habits and performance. On The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, he recommended W. Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis as a great read for preventing overthinking, and mentioned David J. Epstein's Range while discussing the concept of grit. Speaking on The Jordan Harbinger Show, Clear recommended Judith Rich Harris's The Nurture Assumption in the context of parenting and genetics. Additionally, during a conversation on The Mel Robbins Podcast, Clear reflected extensively on the writing process, goals, and specific anecdotes from his own bestselling book, Atomic Habits. On The Tim Ferriss Show, he also referenced Cal Newport's Deep Work while discussing the structure and table of contents of effective books.
Books recommended by James Clear
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Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a widely acclaimed guide on habit formation, personal development, and how minor incremental adjustments yield substantial long-term results.
Discussed“Then I signed the book deal for Atomic Habits. Season changes. Can't can't write those anymore. So that shifted. Then I worked on the book for 3 years.”
Where to get it
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The Power of Habit
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is a bestselling nonfiction book exploring the science behind how habits operate and how they can be transformed.
Discussed“So The Power of Habit, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Power of Now, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The blah, blah, blah.”
Where to get it
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Deep Work
Deep Work by Cal Newport is a productivity and self-help guide that argues for the immense value of cultivating distraction-free concentration in a hyper-connected world, asserting that focused effort is the key to achieving extraordinary professional outcomes and personal fulfillment.
Discussed“Another one that I looked at, I can't remember which one of Cal Newport's books it was, but it was either Deep Work or something like that. But he had a section on, here are the rules that you need to follow...”
Where to get it
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The Inner Game of Tennis
The Inner Game of Tennis by W.
Recommended“I feel like a lot of this is there's a great book Inner Game of Tennis um that came out many many years ago. Might even be 50 at this point.”
Where to get it
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The Nurture Assumption
The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris is a provocative work of psychology and developmental science that challenges conventional parenting wisdom by arguing that peer groups and genetics play a far more decisive role in shaping children than parental upbringing.
Recommended“there's actually a really good book called the nurture assumption it's written by Judith rich Harris”
Where to get it
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Extreme Ownership
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is a practical leadership guide rooted in military combat experiences that emphasizes personal accountability and execution.
Discussed“I'll get to Atomic Habits in a second, but Extreme Ownership by Jocko.”
Where to get it
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Range
Range by David J.
Discussed“David Epstein, who's the author of uh Range and Sports Genius, friend of mine, um he told me once, "Grit is fit."”
Where to get it
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Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T.
Discussed“Another example that might be like Rich Dad Poor Dad. That book has this element of contrast between the two.”
Where to get it
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The 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss is a lifestyle design manual that encourages readers to rethink traditional employment, automate income streams, and reclaim ownership of their time.
Discussed“4-Hour Workweek is a good example of this. Nobody really used that phrase before the book.”
Where to get it
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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo is a widely known self-help and organizing guide that encourages individuals to evaluate their material possessions by keeping only those items that spark genuine joy.
Discussed“So The Power of Habit, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Power of Now, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The blah, blah, blah.”
Where to get it
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The Power of Now
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual guide designed to help readers live in the present moment and transcend compulsive thinking.
Discussed“So The Power of Habit, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Power of Now, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The blah, blah, blah.”
Where to get it
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The Power of Positive Thinking
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale is a classic mid-century self-help manual advocating for optimistic faith, mental resilience, and the practical application of religious belief to overcome personal obstacles.
Discussed“So The Power of Habit, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Power of Now, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The blah, blah, blah.”
Where to get it
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The Psychology of Money
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is a bestselling finance book that explores how human behavior, history, and personal pride shape financial decisions rather than strict math.
Discussed“The War of Art. It's a very proven format. The Psychology of Money, we can just keep going on and on and on.”
Where to get it
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson is a popular self-help guide that uses blunt counterintuitive wisdom to help readers prioritize what truly matters in life.
Discussed“So The Power of Habit, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Power of Now, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The blah, blah, blah.”
Where to get it
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The War of Art
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a well-regarded guide on creativity, professionalism, and overcoming self-imposed creative blocks known as resistance.
Discussed“The War of Art. It's a very proven format. The Psychology of Money, we can just keep going on and on and on.”
Where to get it
Books by James Clear
Appearances
Other mentions (28: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Looking back on, you know, now Atomic Habits has sold 25 million copies, I'd say that's maybe the biggest lesson that I have is that the people who make it easy to get started and who master the art of getting started tend to stick with it and succeed.”
“Um in a way all of Atomic Habits is an answer to that question.”
“I wrote parts of Atomic Habits on my parents' couch when I was visiting them for the holidays. I wrote parts of it in the passenger seat of a car while we were on a road trip.”
“That was how I built my audience and got the book deal that eventually became Atomic Habits.”
“I mentioned him in Atomic Habits and he when he first started working out, he had this strange little rule for himself where he wasn't allowed to stay at the gym for longer than 5 minutes.”
“In my language and the Atomic Habits language, it's what I call identity-based habits.”
“There really, there is no one version of Atomic Habits. There are 25 million versions. And it's what those 25 million people who have read have thought.”
“And I don't feel that way about Atomic Habits. I'm like, it can just be a project that I worked really hard on...”
“I got into this thing for a little while when I was actually working on writing Atomic Habits. I tried to lock everything down...”
“If there was any one thing that I could add to Atomic Habits that wasn't in there, it would be more on the social environment.”
“In some ways, I feel like everything that I teach through Atomic Habits and the writing that I do is just me teaching what my parents taught me...”
“Atomic Habits is like runaway freight train. I'm trying to keep a hold of that.”
“So, you know, if you're looking for more on all this, how what else can I do to make habits easier, obvious, and so on, Atomic Habits is, you know, the the full guide there.”
“It's making it easy to start in a way like probably 70% of what's in atomic habits are different strategies and different ideas and different tools that help you get started or makes starting easier.”
“Then why would I fall for it? Basically, but there's this guy, I mentioned him in Atomic Habits, his name is Mitch.”
“So I call them in the book in atomic habits I call them Q, craving, response and reward.”
“And I in atomic habits, I call this the cardinal rule of behavior change.”
“And then some stuff's just neutral, you know, like get dressed, you know, sure, whatever. Just put a put an equal sign.”
“But um yeah, so this book, the Atomic Habits Workbook, Simple Exercises for Building the Life You Want is now out. It came out this week.”
“So, um Atomic Habits is the culmination of basically 10 years of work and effort for me. Um, it's like I my objective was to write the best book that's ever been written on habits.”
“So, Atomic Habits is the full guide and the philosophy and the approach on how to do it. Then you finish this book and you sit there and you say, "All right, great. I have some habits I want to build. How do I do that?"”
“I'm ultimately chose the phrase atomic habits for three reasons. There's there's three meanings to the word atomic. The first is tiny or small like an atom which obviously I think your habit should be small and easy to do.”
“atomic habits was one of the most meaningful projects that I've worked on. It seems to have made a big difference for a lot of people or helped a lot of people.”
“and then I signed the book deal for Atomic habits and I didn't have the capacity to do that and write the book”
“Another question I love, and this is actually at the core of a lot of what I talk about in Atomic Habits, is How can I create an environment that will naturally bring about my desired change?”
“So let's say when I was writing Atomic Habits early on, I was like, I know what I'm trying to achieve. I'm trying to write the most comprehensive and most useful book that's ever been written on habits.”
“So for all of those reasons, I felt like atomic was a great word to describe it. So It needs to describe what the topic is.”
“so when I was about a year into writing atomic habits that like okay this is going to slow I'm spending too much time on social I need to make sure that I like say more focus tearing to get this book done”