Spring isn't the only time for fresh starts. Fall offers the perfect opportunity to press the reset button. These new self-help and personal development books are designed to refocus your goals, boost productivity and elevate your career, all before the end of the year.
Discover our top business and self-help new release books, packed with actionable insights on personal growth, mindset shifts and entrepreneurial strategy. Our curated list of new release books includes titles from influential thought leaders like James Clear, Brené Brown, Malcolm Gladwell, and Adam Grant. Your next big breakthrough could be just one read away.
New Business & Personal Development Books for September
The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict
by Priya Parker
A paradigm-shattering exploration of how we fight and how we build healthy conflict, from the author of The Art of Gathering
We say we want community. Successful teams. High-performing colleagues and workplaces. Dynamic friend groups. Yet many of us don't understand the crucial element we need to forge long-lasting communities in our lives: healthy conflict.
In The Art of Fighting, Priya Parker explains that we can't form and grow effective relationships without a fight. She rejects the idea that conflict is abnormal or that good groups don't fight. All groups change and evolve; indeed, it's because people disagree that good groups flourish.
As she did in the now-classic The Art of Gathering, Parker draws on her far-reaching experience as a conflict facilitator, her own detailed research, and real-world examples to lay out the ways that people can identify disputes, determine how to address them, and what to do if they are insurmountable.
Whether people disagree in the boardroom or the locker room, on a playground or in church, online or in person, conflict is a part of life, and understanding healthy conflict and how to harness its power is more important than ever. The Art of Fighting is a vital primer to help all of us understand how to do that.
F*ck Failure
by Benny Blanco
From Grammy Award-winning producer, artist, actor, and New York Times bestselling author benny blanco comes a book that teaches you how to achieve your wildest dreams by seizing the most powerful opportunity you'll ever be handed: failure.
You want success? You gotta fail better. I fail constantly--small everyday failures and massive failures that last for years. I've learned a few tricks along the way, and all of them have to do with turning f*cking up into an artform. My superpower as a producer is helping people tap into the success that's already inside of them.
F*ck Failure gives you the non-shortcut shortcuts to success. If you let it this book can change your life. Soon enough, failure will start to feel good. And once you realize that failure is freedom, you'll never look back.
The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money
by Jean Chatzky
"The clear, step-by-step plan that will help you stop guessing, stop stressing, and start using your money with confidence. I'll be sending copies of this book to my friends and my kids." -- Mel Robbins
The new roadmap to financial longevity, from longtime TODAY show financial editor and New York Times bestselling author, Jean Chatzky
Retirement is in crisis. 61% of adults are worried they won't have enough money to support them in retirement. 84% of Gen-Xers are "concerned or terrified about having no more paychecks in retirement." 74% of the non-retired Baby Boomers who preceded them and 79% of the Millennials who follow feel the same way.
You've been saving for retirement for decades: paying yourself first, maxing out your 401(k) or IRA contributions, compromising on things you want today in order to make tomorrow possible. But what happens when you get to the end of your earning years? How do you take the money you've amassed and not only make it last as long as you do, but do it in a way that brings you the most fulfillment and the least amount of stress?
This is something that you simply cannot afford to get wrong. If you do, you'll either run out of money before you run out of time, or you'll discover years too late that you didn't use your money as much as you could have to enjoy your life.
The solution is right here. It's a paycheck that lasts for the rest of your life: a Forever Paycheck. With the power of a Forever Paycheck comes a simple, revelatory truth: you can spend more, and do more, than you think you can.
It's a revolutionary concept. The data shows that people entering retirement often can't bring themselves to spend. But when their money comes as a steady monthly paycheck, they feel much more confident in using it to live life to the fullest. Many find they can spend double with no risk of running out. New research shows that a Forever Paycheck is even associated with better health, lower chances of disability, and a substantially longer lifespan.
Whether you plan to work to 50 or 75, have a small 401(k) or a large stock portfolio, like to take risks with your money or always play it safe, bestselling author and financial expert Jean Chatzky provides a step-by-step plan for making your money work for you. Written in collaboration with AARP, The Forever Paycheck is packed with the information you need to plan for the future you want.
How to Read the Room: The Art and Science of Social Observation
by Pamela Meyer
Learn to detect the secret signals that shape power, trust, and influence.
In all aspects of today's world, power, trust, and influence are negotiated in every glance, pause, and click. Perfecting the art of social observation is the key to success in any endeavor. In How to Read the Room, Pamela Meyer draws on cutting-edge behavioral science, intelligence-agency tradecraft, and real-world storytelling--from comedy clubs and boardrooms to digital deepfakes and family dinners--to reveal the unseen forces that shape every human encounter.
This essential survival manual introduces a clear, four-step framework for social observation--one that turns the elusive art of "reading people" into a disciplined practice. Meyer provides a structured way to decode what's really happening in any room--why certain people command attention, how power shifts, and how subtle cues can reveal intent. Through vivid examples and field-tested strategies, readers will learn how to profile motives, sense emotional undercurrents others miss, and turn observation into influence without manipulation.
Mastering these tools will unlock the rarest form of social intelligence: the ability to not only read any room, but to leave it better than you find it.
I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends
by Jessica Tarlov
The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show The Five shows us how to stay true to our values, find common ground, and communicate with confidence when engaging across political and social divides.
"A helpful guide to engaging with those who think differently from you--and doing it in a thoughtful and civil way."--Katie Couric
Imagine you're sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, knowing it's going to get heated. One uncle is ready to argue about politics, another relative has very different views, and you usually try to stay out of it, even though you have strong opinions yourself. Conversations like these have split some families up. Now imagine that dinner table debate broadcast daily to millions.
Welcome to the world of Jessica Tarlov, an unflappable liberal voice on Fox News Channel's The Five. When you're outnumbered four to one on a daily basis, you better know your stuff. When you're outnumbered four to one on the highest-rated show on cable news, you better have your beliefs on lockdown.
In the conservative fishbowl of The Five, Tarlov is no stranger to navigating thorny, often contentious debates with poise, authenticity, and conviction. In this riveting guide, Jessica Tarlov shows us how she does it. Because at some point or other, we all face disagreements--whether with colleagues, family, or friends--and want to walk away with both our values and our relationships intact.
Tarlov models an important and accessible route to building bravery for these conversations. She demonstrates that navigating contentious situations is a skill that requires radical honesty, knowing how to engage with numbers and statistics, understanding when to listen and when to talk, and articulating the common threads that unite us all. Tarlov has honed these skills with practice, and here, she reveals her tools of the trade for the first time. She also explores the future of coalition building, the policies that will animate voters, and a politics we can all feel better about.
Whether you find yourself at a charged debate with the in-laws, or in a tricky conversation with your boss, Jessica Tarlov will prepare you to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone--and why standing alone doesn't mean standing apart.
Outsmart Everyone: Spy Skills to Gain an Unfair Advantage in Work and Life
by Andrew Bustamante
For readers of Never Split the Difference and What Every Body Is Saying, learn how to adopt top-secret spy skills to gain an unfair advantage in business and life.
Information is the lifeblood of spycraft, and the key to unlocking opportunity, influence, and freedom in everyday life. But in a world of infinite newsfeeds and data sources and AI-generated search results, the most powerful person in the room isn't the person with the most information, or even the best information. It's the person who knows how to turn that information into knowledge. This is what intelligence operatives do better than anyone on earth--and ex-CIA officer Andrew Bustamante is here to tell you how. Packed with high octane stories from his seven years undercover and practical strategies the CIA doesn't want you to know about, Outsmart Everyone reveals how to:
- Cut through information overload and transform raw data into actionable insight
- Detect lies and hidden agendas by reading people like a professional interrogator
- Build powerful networks using the same methods CIA uses to recruit foreign assets
- Navigate complex human dynamics to get an edge in negotiations, networking, and teamwork
- Separate signal from noise to notice what others miss and remember details others forget
- Master the art of asking questions to unlock human intelligence
- And much more
These are the same elite skills that CIA operatives use to hunt terrorists, learn enemy secrets, cultivate sources, and stay alive. In this one-of-a-kind field guide, you'll learn how to deploy them to win untold success, power, and influence in your everyday life.
Saying No to New: Why New Things Are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness--And How to Take Back Your Life
by Eric Athas
From New York Times editor Eric Athas comes a groundbreaking solution on how to rewire our impulses to consume new things and reclaim control of our lives and spending habits.
New things are everywhere--and they're causing us to disconnect from what we value most in life. One of the biggest lies of modern times is that new is always better. A new phone is always better than the previous edition. A new pair of sunglasses is always better than the one you wore last summer. The new fitness app is always better than the one you already downloaded. Influencers are constantly promoting the latest trends, and retailers are designing frictionless experiences that optimize for speedy checkouts. Sooner or later, we can't help but feel like a new product, trend, or fad is too good to resist.
Saying No to New recognizes that instead of improving our lives, new things often distract us from our goals. They steal our time, money and attention--and even our joy and happiness. As a solution to today's challenges, Saying No to New will help you:
- Understand how your own brain may be pushing you to newness for brief dopamine hits
- Become knowledgeable about the landscape of new things and the forces pulling you in
- Master the art of detecting persuasion in humans and technology
- Make smarter decisions about what to embrace and what to deflect
- Develop a calmer, healthier, clutter-free lifestyle
In Saying No to New, Eric Athas draws upon his experiences and the latest research--as well as interviews with scientists, philosophers, tech insiders, happiness gurus, decision-making experts, and others--to provide a framework for reshaping your relationship with new things. You will learn how to break the flow of new things into your life and take a more intentional approach to the ones you do encounter.
For more book recommendations focused on personal development, check out our top new releases for Lifelong Learners. Or revisit our past recommendations for Spring and Summer 2026.