Zak Parker
Picking yourself up time after time can seem like an unending task. Just think back to how many times you’ve had to do that in just the last year. These 29 empowering books show that perseverance is the path to success or to wherever your goals might be.
So get inspired by these authors’ stories and remember that a lot of them are also true. Truly powerful stuff.
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#1 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Adina Mahalli from EnlightenedReality. |
You can have all the skill in the world, but without effort, you’re unlikely to succeed. In this bestselling book, Duckworth outlines the secret to achievement. Perseverance is renamed as ‘grit’ and how to keep going when the odds are stacked against you is revealed. If you’re looking to improve your ability to persevere this is the book for you.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#2 Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Greg Taylor from Trinity Web Media. |
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins is a great book about of when you truly set your mind to achieve and accomplish your goals nothing can get in your way.
By changing your mindset and clearing the noise you start to understand that you can do anything.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#3 Please Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by John Parrott from Relax Like A Boss. |
In her artistically crafted work, Jodee Blanco tells how the school became a terrifying and disturbing place. The place where threats, assault, and humiliation were as much a part of her daily experience. It is a courageous to look at what it means to be persistent despite being an anti-social.
How even the most adorable parents can get it wrong, why schools and educational institutes fail, and how bullying is both mistreated and misunderstood.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#4 The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by John Parrott from Relax Like A Boss. |
An award-winning author presents an engaging and poignant account of the extraordinary career and accomplishments of boxer Muhammad Ali. The book discusses the racial discrimination; the celebrated boxer had faced throughout his career. This biography chronicles Ali’s influence on race relations inside and outside his boxing career.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#5 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by John Parrott from Relax Like A Boss. |
Paulo Coelho’s spell bounded novel has inspired a large aspiring community of vagabonds around the world. This enchanting novel addresses the power of our dreams and struggles to chase them in a storytelling technique.
This story, impressing in its powerful simplicity and enrich with soul-stirring wisdom, is about a boy named Santiago who travels from his country in Spain to the Egyptian desert in quest of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way, he meets a nomad gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of the characters endorse Santiago in his quest.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#6 Living Cancer Free by Sara Quiriconi
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Sara from livefreewarrior. |
As the author of the book, I can openly say it’s the compilation of my life staying determined through any challenge life throws our way. Determination and perseverance make a warrior, and teach us the life lessons that some of us take, lead, and inspire many others on. Suggesting an open hand that reaches out to say, You’re not alone, and I’m here to help.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#7 Boy in the Hole by Akiva Hersh
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Akiva Hersh from AkivaHersh. |
From an anti-other political climate comes a novel that gives voice to outcasts tyrannized by power. Boy in the Hole is the gripping account of Jacob, a boy wrestling to understand himself, his family, and the world in which he lives as he grows up in the Deep South in the seventies.
Emerging from a family of sexual deviancy and alcoholism masked by religion and wealth, Jacob learns to define who he is, but struggles to find the balance between faith and sexuality. To embrace his true identity, he must go on an exodus to face his demons and overcome the pressures to conform. But his parents’ toxic beliefs and the messages of self-hate taught by religion and society could prove his undoing.
Will Jacob love himself despite the potential isolation? Or will he conform to the norms and settle for mediocrity—and a life in which he can never truly live?
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#8 Swamplandia by Karen Russell
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Elizabeth Estochen from Estochen Editorial. |
Swamplandia! is a surprising tale of a brave young girl’s perseverance to keep her family together. A Floridian foray into subtle elements of magical realism, this story showcases a child’s strength sourced from a place of love and empathy–strengths we neglect to showcase nearly enough.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#9 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Molly Rollins from Teach Me! Personal Finance. |
If you’re looking for a lesson in perseverance, add this book to your reading list. Louis Zamperini’s life story is truly inspiring, as he goes from juvenile delinquent, to Olympic runner, to war hero. But this is not the story of a charmed life—Mr. Zamperini overcame hardships the likes of which few can imagine.
After narrowly surviving a plane crash in the line of duty during World War II, he is faced with weeks adrift at sea, where he battles starvation and shark attacks. When he finally reaches land, he ends up in a Japanese POW camp where he is severely tortured by a notoriously cruel prison guard.
Mr. Zamperini survived these challenges against all odds, eventually even finding the will to forgive his captors. It’s amazing to see humans are capable of surviving, and it serves as the ultimate lesson in perseverance.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#10 The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Lou Carter from Pet Carrier Verdict. |
Henri Rousseau was a 40-year-old toll collector who dreamed of being an artist – but he had no training, and no support from those around him. This book tells the story of how he taught himself to paint and persevered for decades, despite constant ridicule from the experts of the day. Now, his work hangs in museums around the world. The book is intended for children, but it’s a simple and inspiring story for adults too!
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#11 Depression Hates a Moving Target by Nita Sweeney
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Nita Sweeney from NitaSweeney. |
At 49 years of age, grief-stricken, chronically depressed Nita Sweeney takes up running with her dog in an attempt to find a way out of the darkness. Her memoir of pounding the roads with her canine companion will entertain and motivate any reader who has ever fallen into deep despair. Whether or not readers want to follow in her footsteps, they will enjoy reading about her journey.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#12 Battle Endurance by Nate Battle
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Nate Battle from Nate Battle Coach. |
If you are searching for a tool to help you overcome challenges, obstacles, and even failures, to find true purpose, success and peace, this is your book. Let’s face it, life is hard, it is going to be unfair, and people don’t always play by the rules.
Given that, it’s best to equip yourself, sooner rather than later, with a tool to help you manage through the challenges you will inevitably face in life so you can find and live your real purpose. This book will help you do just that. It lays out a roadmap on how you can look beyond challenges, expectations, and facades to be your true self. It was written with the idea that was as the reader can replace the challenges presented with your own, being able to see yourself while learning how to let go, work through conflict, obstacles, and difficulties and limiting negative self-talk, one step, action, moment and battle at a time. It speaks to how we are, at times distracted by false beliefs and faulty thinking. Shared are many stories, and approaches on letting go, how to live in the present, and have a full and more peaceful life.
It’s engaging and relatable while including an honest selection of experiences readers of all ages will find as useful tools to help live a full life. “This book puts language around so many feelings I had. It also reminds me of a place of peace that must be maintained for me to avoid those pitfalls.” A book which motivational speaker Les Brown calls instructive, informative, and inspiring … a guide to live your life victoriously.”
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#13 The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Abe Navas from Emily’s Maids. |
An inspiring story about the guys who wanted to prove that evil can’t win. Hitler wanted to demonstrate that they were superior in every way, good red-blooded American wanted to prove the contrary. You can feel the inspiration that they had in this book and transport it to your life.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#14 Born Survivors by Wendy Holden
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Abe Navas from Emily’s Maids. |
Lost is one of the things that people have a hard time to move on. This real history about the mothers that lost so much but could get on their feet and keep living is a moving and life-changing thing. Get your copy and cry with dignity.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#15 Blue Yarn by Carrie Classon
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Abe Navas from Emily’s Maids. |
A great writer lays flat her life for you to read and learn about it. This book goes beyond on lost and enters in the territory of the aftermatch, what happens after you feel empty. This is an incredible journey that will open your heart so, please, don’t feel lost, we are in this world together.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#16 Fearless by Max Lucado
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Ashley Johnson from The Grit and Grace Project. |
Whether you are facing financial difficulty, an intimidating life change, or are feeling overall concerned about the state of our world, this book is for you. Equally practical and theoretical, Fearless provides poignant answers and tangible hope. Lucado is a gifted story-teller and crafts his thoughts in such a way that feed both your soul and your mind simultaneously. “Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#17 Searching for God in the Garbage by Bracha Goetz
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Bracha Goetz from Spiritual Books. |
Experience what goes on inside the mind of a Harvard grad who persevered and broke the habits that were imprisoning her in this raw and candid memoir about overcoming food addictions. And here’s the Big Truth we get to see: No amount of food will ever fill the emptiness within. Why? Because it’s a much deeper kind of hunger than we had realized.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#18 Endurance by Alfred Lansing
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Tyler Smith from Bicycle2Work. |
Endurance is the story of adventurer Ernest Shackleton’s voyage to Antarctica. Disaster struck and he and his crew found themselves stranded in ice. It’s a harrowing story that details exactly how Shackleton and his men survive the harsh elements, hunger, and fear. Not only does the story hook you from start to finish, but you’ll learn what it truly looks like to persevere in the face of hardship. Every leader should be required to read this book.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#19 White Sheets To Brown Babies by Jvonne Hubbard
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Jvonne Hubbard from N/A. |
This book tells the story of a girl raised by the Grand Dragon of the KKK and overcoming all the poverty and abuse that comes with it. Fast paced story that is very raw.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#20 Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Barbara Nevers from NeoLittle. |
What do you do when you’re suffering from a debilitating illness but no doctor can seem to figure out the problem? What happens when you reach out for help, but no one can help you? For most people, that sounds like a nightmarish situation.
But for Susannah Cahalan, that was her real life. Throughout this book’s 300-ish pages, the author describes her journey — from the earliest symptoms through a misdiagnosis and to the point her mystery illness turns her into a shell of her former self. Without giving away any spoilers, it’s worth your time to read this one until the end. Among other lessons, Cahalan’s story teaches us that perseverance is crucial, even when it feels like things can only get worse.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#21 What Don’t Kill Me Just Makes Me Strong by Stewart Francke
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Jay Hartman from Untreed Reads Publishing. |
What Don’t Kill Me Just Makes Me Strong is a survival memoir that recounts Stewart Francke’s remarkable journey through leukemia and a bone marrow transplant, complications and recovery. Although this is a somewhat singular journey through illness, faith and family, Francke makes it everyone’s story.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#22 So Far, So Good by Lee D. Goldstein
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Jay Hartman from Untreed Reads Publishing. |
Every year, 40,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries. Lee Goldstein was one of them. Lee had been living with his injury for 66+ years, making him unofficially the longest living quadriplegic in history. The story of his injury and the reasons for his survival are chronicled in this stunning book. Lee tells of his terrible injury, his fight for life, and the amazing life he has led ever since.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#23 Both Sides Now by Dhillon Khosla
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Jay Hartman from Untreed Reads Publishing. |
Both Sides Now is a vivid and compelling account of how one man’s search for wholeness led him through multiple, complex, and life-threatening surgeries that transformed him not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Khosla discusses openly and honestly what it was like to live as a woman, and how that life shaped the man he is today.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#24 Pause 2 Praise by Lisa Swift-Young
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Lisa Swift-Young from Lisa Swift-Young. |
Perseverance is about putting one foot in front of the other even when you’re unsure of your next step. It describes people with a strive until you can thrive attitude. This book shares the path one family took to overcome a series of devastating events to discover a new way of thinking and being. Readers who decide to take the journey will be motivated by quotes, scriptures, and stories to find their path to success.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#25 The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*CK by Mark Manson
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Emma Sothern from Lady Alopecia. |
This book knocks the power of positive thinking on its head. It tells us in a frank manner that not everybody can be extraordinary. But it’s only when we accept our limitations – when we stop trying to deny what’s painfully true – that we can really develop ourselves towards success.
Refreshingly different to the hordes of you can do anything books out there, Manson’s approach is to tell us that no, you can’t. But that’s ok. You can still do a lot. The first step is realising what you can’t do, accepting that, and striving to achieve what you *can*. I love this book because it’s honest, it’s smart and it’s very, very funny. A self-help guide for those who are sick of self-help guides. 😉
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#26 You Don’t Have to be a Champion… to be a Winner! by Brian Sims
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Janine Hornsby from Austin Macauley Publishers. |
From fitting wheels to wheelbarrows in a builders’ merchant, Brian rapidly climbed the business ladder and became a Xerox salesman. He was unaware that the professional selling skills he was learning would one day propel him into the glamorous and overtly commercial world of F1.A disastrous debut at a racing driver school was the spark that lit his passion for motor racing.
Aware of the need for some serious financial backing to be able to take part, Brian embarked on a variety of highly innovative and often extremely entertaining ways of securing sponsorship, including working with the cast of a top 1970s’ BBC sit-com, as well as with John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. A chance meeting on a plane with Max Mosley offered an opportunity of managing one of the most popular F1 Grand Prix circuits. This, in turn, led to the heady heights of a factory drive for Mercedes and the establishment of South Africa’s first racing driver school.
It was only a matter of time before Brian’s exceptional sponsorship-acquisition skills took him to F1, where he quickly made a name for himself by securing multi-million pound deals with three of the most sought after global corporations. However, Brian’s greatest achievement in motorsport was to establish the Motorsport Industry Association in 1994, in a bid to secure government recognition of the industry in its own right. Once again, Brian’s sales skills played a key role. Without ever becoming a household name as a motor racing champion, Brian’s story of how he most definitely became a winner is not only inspirational, but highly entertaining, amusing, often irreverent and informative.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#27 A Broken Childhood by Lydia Ola Taiwo
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Janine Hornsby from Austin Macauley Publishers. |
When you have been abused, you do not know what love really means. All you know is abuse and terror. When people do eventually show love, it is difficult to understand why. Love does not make sense to an abused child.
Did you know that? Trust is another challenge; it is so hard to trust anybody. Having been abused myself, I found it very difficult to trust anybody, even my parents. Not being believed was another concern – I was afraid that I would never be believed. This fear grew even more when I had to give evidence in court. Even the lawyers did not believe me until I exposed all the injuries on my head, having to remove my wig. There were over eight of them. It was shocking. But there is hope for an abused victim. You can live again.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#28 Adoptive Mother 101 by Sally Lewer Ahern
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Janine Hornsby from Austin Macauley Publishers. |
Another woman, whose name you know, gave birth to your son. How on earth do you deal with that? How do you deal with people looking at you, and then looking at your son, and you see the moment in their eyes when it registers that you do not look like each other? Sally Lewer Ahern’s memoir, ‘Adoptive Mother 101’, is a moving and uplifting account of the complex and emotionally gruelling odyssey of adopting her son, Carlos, from Guatemala, when he was almost three years old. It is a story of love, of creating her family through intercountry adoption.
Told via a series of vignettes from the portholes of her intercountry adoption quest, ‘Adoptive Mother 101’ is not only about the bumpy road which is intercountry adoption, it’s about clutching on to mercurial hope, clinging to vicarious dreams … and to trusting blindly and determinedly in the unpredictability of the Universe. Not only for those with an interest in intercountry adoption – it’s for anyone, anywhere, who has ever had hopes and dreams.
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
#29 The Belt Boy by Kevin Lueshing
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Who recommended this book? This was recommended by Janine Hornsby from Austin Macauley Publishers. |
Kevin Lueshing’s tears fell freely as he lifted boxing’s coveted Lonsdale Belt. Weeping openly at ringside, Lueshing had just won the fight of the year. But his tears were not tears of joy. They were the stain of a sinister secret he had kept hidden for a lifetime. The former British champion was living the dream. People called him ‘The Look’. But behind the glory and the glitz, Lueshing’s innocence had already been butchered, his hope crippled and his soul shattered.
For the first time, he has red is covered the strength and courage of a champion to tell his harrowing story. The Belt Boy is a completely true account of a brutal life kept hidden. Shocking, explicit, traumatic, Kevin’s autobiography exposes a hideous crime and its utterly devastating legacy. He writes: I risk being judged, but I never want anyone to suffer what I went through. That is my motivation for writing this book. Kevin’s account of childhood abuse is truly shocking and disturbing. Like a true champion, he has displayed incredible strength and bravery to reveal the horrific ordeal he suffered. His book needs to be read so we may all stay alert to this evil crime – NIGEL BENN
Before buying a book make sure to compare price and outlet, we have included links below to several large book outlets for different regions in the world:
Greg Taylor from Trinity Web Media
John Parrott from Relax Like A Boss
Sara from livefreewarrior
Akiva Hersh from AkivaHersh
Elizabeth Estochen from Estochen Editorial
Molly Rollins from Teach Me! Personal Finance
Lou Carter from Pet Carrier Verdict
Nita Sweeney from NitaSweeney
Nate Battle from Nate Battle Coach
Abe Navas from Emily’s Maids
Ashley Johnson from The Grit and Grace Project
Bracha Goetz from Spiritual Books
Tyler Smith from Bicycle2Work
Jvonne Hubbard from N/A
Barbara Nevers from NeoLittle
Jay Hartman from Untreed Reads Publishing
Lisa Swift-Young from Lisa Swift-Young
Emma Sothern from Lady Alopecia
Janine Hornsby from Austin Macauley Publishers
