First Friday Book Synopsis

The New York Times has published its list of ten best-selling business books for August, 2026 – Atomic Habits; Unreasonable Hospitality; so, so many good books…

The Let Them Theory is, yet again, at number one.

Of this month’s list of ten books, I have presented synopses of five of them, and my former colleague Karl Krayer presented one—so six of the ten have been selections at our monthly First Friday Book Synopsis event.

I presented Atomic Habits, Unreasonable Hospitality, The Creative Act, Extreme Ownership, and Never Split the Difference. Karl Krayer presented Thinking, Fast and Slow.

So, for these six books, I can assure you that they are worth your time.

There is so much to learn from all six.

Over the 28+ years of our event, we have now presented synopses of more than 680 different books. And, month after month, there are always two new books to learn from.

Here are the ten books on this month’s New York Times list. Which one will you read next?

#1 — The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
#2 — Cancel Me If You Can by Dave Portnoy
#3 — Atomic Habits by James Clear
#4 — Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
#5 — The Risk Worth Taking by Teri Ijeoma
#6 — The Creative Act by Rick Rubin with Neil Strauss
#7 — Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
#8 — Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz
#9 — Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
#10 — Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williamssnetd