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Jocko Willink books: every book Jocko Willink wrote and recommended
Across 8 podcasts. Every show Jocko Willink appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Jocko Willink
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Leadership Strategy and Tactics
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Extreme Ownership
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Final Spin
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Discipline Equals Freedom
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Marc's Mission
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Need to Lead
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Way of the Warrior Kid
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The Dichotomy of Leadership
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Way of the Warrior Kid 5
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Mikey and the Dragons
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The Code. the Evaluation. the Protocols
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Way of the Warrior Kid III
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Way of the Warrior Kid 4
Jocko Willink’s most recommended books
- About face by David H. Hackworth
- On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F Dixon
- John Lyle catalogue by John Lyle
- The Dirty Tricks Department by John Lisle
- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
- King Henry V by William Shakespeare
- The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Jocko Willink is an American author, podcaster, and retired United States Navy SEALs officer. During his podcast appearances, he recommended several notable books. He recommended John Lisle's The Dirty Tricks Department, noting that it details the founding of the OSS and the insane tactics used in World War II, and mentioned that the author has another book coming out about the transition from the OSS to the CIA. Willink also recommended and discussed About Face by Colonel David Hackworth as a book that had a massive impact on his leadership perspective and one he has gifted to others. Additionally, he recommended his own book Leadership Strategy and Tactics for individuals facing challenging environments and leadership hurdles. Willink discussed several other works as well, including Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which he noted he has read multiple times and finds gripping, and his own book Extreme Ownership, using it to illustrate the importance of leaders detaching from chaos, emotions, and ego.
Books recommended by Jocko Willink
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About face
About Face by David H.
Discussed“one of my biggest mentors and heroes is a guy named Colonel David Hackworth and Colonel David Hackworth was a wrote the book about face and he was a Korean War veteran and a Vietnam war veteran.”
Where to get it
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On the Psychology of Military Incompetence
Discussed“There's a really good book and I ended up doing about four podcasts on this book, which is called The Psychology of Military Incompetence.”
Where to get it
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John Lyle catalogue
The John Lyle catalogue compiled by John Lyle presents historical documentation and insights into specialized operations.
Recommended“M you know who you should have on the show? A guy called John Lyle. So he wrote a book called The Dirty Tricks Department. It was a a book about the founding of the OSS and the insane tactics that they used in World War II to try and stop World War II.”
Where to get it
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Leadership Strategy and Tactics
Leadership Strategy and Tactics is a practical guide written by retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink that offers actionable frameworks for mastering leadership, building resilience, and navigating high-stress environments.
Recommended“What I should have said was, hey, read the book Leadership Strategy and Tactics. It's a good book for someone that is going to be in an environment that's going to be challenging and where you're going to be faced with leadership challenges.”
Where to get it
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The Dirty Tricks Department
The Dirty Tricks Department by John Lisle is a historical account detailing the founding of the Office of Strategic Services and the extreme, unconventional tactics developed during World War II.
Recommended“But he's got another one coming out which is the OSS came into the CIA and then I think this one is the the transitions through that.”
Where to get it
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Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is a harrowing and visceral historical novel that depicts the extreme violence and bleak reality of the American West through the harrowing journey of a runaway teenager known as the kid.
Discussed“The other book that I've read multiple times is Blood Meridian Blood Meridian Yeah I don't know that You don't know Okay So it's written by cor M McCarthy”
Where to get it
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Extreme Ownership
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is a prominent leadership and self-improvement book written by former Navy SEAL officers that translates military combat experiences into actionable business and personal principles.
Discussed“It's the same thing that I try and teach leaders now is to take a step back, detach from the chaos, detach from the mayhem, detach from your emotions, detach from your ego, and be able to assess the best way to execute and give, you know, the book, the book is called Extreme Ownership that you referenced.”
Where to get it
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King Henry V
King Lear is a classic tragedy by William Shakespeare that examines themes of madness, betrayal, generational conflict, and the deconstruction of absolute authority.
Discussed“So King Lear versus rules of engagement both of them need to be disassembled and reassembled”
Where to get it
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The Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang is a harrowing historical account detailing the atrocities committed by the Japanese military in the Chinese city of Nanking prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Discussed“no actually the first one where I really realized myself was we did another one called The Rape of Nanking”
Where to get it
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Way of the Warrior Kid
Way of the Warrior Kid is a children's book by Jocko Willink designed to help young readers build resilience, confidence, and strong character habits.
Discussed“and the book I read was way of the warrior kid which is which is a kids book”
Where to get it
Questions about Jocko Willink’s book recommendations
What book does Jocko Willink recommend most?
About face by David H. Hackworth. Jocko Willink recommended it in 4 episodes, with 2 explicit recommendations.
How many books has Jocko Willink recommended on podcasts?
We have found 10 books Jocko Willink recommended or discussed, across 8 episodes of 8 podcasts. Ad reads and passing mentions are not counted.
What books are on Jocko Willink's reading list?
The books Jocko Willink has recommended most on podcasts are About face by David H. Hackworth, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F Dixon, John Lyle catalogue by John Lyle, The Dirty Tricks Department by John Lisle and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The full book list below has all 10.
What books has Jocko Willink written?
Extreme Ownership (2015), Discipline Equals Freedom (2017), Way of the Warrior Kid (2017), Marc's Mission (2018), The Dichotomy of Leadership (2018), Mikey and the Dragons (2018), Leadership Strategy and Tactics (2020), The Code. the Evaluation. the Protocols (2020), Final Spin (2021) and Way of the Warrior Kid 5 (2022), among 13 in all.
What did Jocko Willink recommend on The Jordan Harbinger Show?
King Henry V, The Rape of Nanking and Way of the Warrior Kid.
What is the latest book Jocko Willink recommended?
About face, discussed on The Shawn Ryan Show (2025-11-27).
People who recommend the same books
Appearances
Other mentions (50: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“I wrote a book called Extreme Ownership, which is about like taking ownership of what's going on.”
“Way of the Warrior Kid. Yeah.”
“And there was some, you know, it's funny, we we in Extreme Ownership, Leif and I were writing our kind of chapters independently and it ends up there's three chapters in there that are about blue on blue.”
“I wrote a kid's book called Mikey and the Dragons. And the the story is, spoiler alert, the kid he's he he's uh his dad is the king. His dad dies. The kid now has to defend the village from the dragons.”
“I wrote a kid's book called Mikey and the Dragons.”
“So I read a bunch of kids books and one part of those kids books or one series of kids books called Way of the Warrior Kid.”
“And I ended up writing the first book in in in the series which is called Way of the Warrior Kid.”
“There was another book that was called that is called Mikey and the Dragons.”
“There was another book that was called that is called Mikey and the Dragons. Right. Right. Which I think is one of your favorite children's books of all time if I remember correctly.”
“And they're doing push-ups and they showed him this book that they read called Wave the Warrior Kid. He picks up the book and says, "What? I got to make this into a movie."”
“I wrote a book called Mikey and the Dragons that came just boom, I just instantly had this idea. Boom, I wrote the book.”
“The movie is called The Way of the Warrior Kid. Yeah. Okay. And it's the same title as books. Same title as the books.”
“I wrote another I wrote a novel called Final Spin, which uh which now has been optioned to a movie.”
“You know, the first book I wrote called Extreme Ownership, right? The opening chapter is about this terrible situation that took place, a fracture side, a friendly fire incident that I was in charge of, right?”
“Uh when people ask me and I got a I got a book I wrote called leadership strategy and tactics. It's like how to get promoted.”
“I wrote a book called Extreme Ownership. That number one, take responsibility for what you're doing. Take take ownership of your world.”
“Take ownership of your life. There's number one. Number two, the second book, Dichotomy of Leadership. Be balanced.”
“the first book that I wrote was called Extreme ownership”
“Yeah, I wrote a book called Leadership Strategy and Tactics. And one of the things that I wrote about in that book is understanding what's important and what's not.”
“JOCKO WILLINK: Yeah, I wrote a book called Leadership Strategy and Tactics. And one of the things that I wrote about in that book is understanding what's important and what's not.”
“but we did we did meet up there and but I did fly up there with Chris Pratt and Jack Carr and some of the other folks from the terminal list which is a TV show that Chris Pratt is in that Jack Carr wrote the book that the show is based on and we went up there watched the”
“I think the book extreme ownership which is about taking personal responsibility well it's about taking responsibility and you can definitely apply it to personal responsibility”
“I mean I've I've got some some forward motion on both Warrior kid right now and on the novel that I wrote called final spin so the both of those are being are moving forward in the in the movie Arena”
“so so we made extreme ownership. comom which is an online training platform for leadership and for life”
“So and and I wrote about this in in the first book that I wrote about leadership, which is called which is called Extreme Ownership”
“So and and I wrote about this in in the first book that I wrote about leadership, which is called which is called Extreme Ownership”
“You know, I wrote about this in the last leadership book I wrote, Leadership Strategy and Tactics.”
“Uh the book I wrote about this is called Discipline Equals Freedom.”
“yeah and i i ended up writing a book called discipline equals freedom and i'm lucky that i wrote it when i did”
“i think you were writing the forward for for the gulag and i was about to write the foreword to”