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Writer's pictureSarah Ertelt

What to Read: The Best Non-Fiction Books for a 75 Hard Challenge

Updated: Nov 29

Whether you're planning a 75 hard or a 75 soft challenge, you'll need some inspiring non-fiction books to read! Reading 10 pages of a non-fiction book is part of the daily tasks for the 75 hard challenge that was developed by Andy Frisella. More than a fitness challenge, the 75 hard challenge is about developing healthy habits, including your mental health.


Even if you're planning to try a more comfortable 75 soft challenge, you should plan to read 10 or more pages of a non-fiction book every day. Reading self-help books, or listening to personal development books as audio books, is a great way to improve your mental health, learn a new hobby or skill, or just learn about something interesting on your self-development journey.


On top of drinking a gallon of water a day, 45-minute workouts, and skipping cheat meals, get yourself out of your comfort zone by reading a non-fiction book - whether it's self-help, personal finance, or one of the certified not-boring non-fiction books listed below!


Here are the best books to read during a 75 hard challenge (or a 75 soft challenge):


Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant is an Editor's Pick for Nonfiction on Amazon. In Think Again, Grant uses research and storytelling to "help us build the intellectual and emotional muscle we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it."


"Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility."


best book to read during a 75 hard challenge

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things is a 2023 #1 New York Times Bestseller also by Adam Grant. One of Amazon's Best Books of the Year 2023, this non-fiction book, "will shatter your assumptions of what it takes to improve and succeed."


In a world that's obsessed with talent, it can be easy to believe that if you're not born gifted in a skill, that door is just closed to you. In Hidden Potential, Grant combines evidence and storytelling to show readers that "it's not about the genius you possess - it's about the character you develop."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Atomic Habits by James Clear is probably the most iconic self-help book to read during a 75 hard challenge or 75 soft challenge, and for good reason. Atomic Habits has a 4.8-star rating with over 130,000 ratings and over 20-million copies sold. Atomic Habits does a brilliant job of helping you break down overwhelming tasks into bite size goals, and gives you realistic advice on how to convince your brain to stick with your healthy habits.


Atomic Habits promises to help readers learn how to "make time for new habits, overcome a lack of motivation and willpower, design your environment to make success easier, and get back on track when you fall off course."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell was an Instant New York Times Bestseller and is currently on the list of the Best Books of the Year So Far 2024. "Magical Thinking" is Montell's definition of the way we assume our internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the outside world. Montell argues that magical thinking is one of the modern world's coping mechanisms.


"In a series of razor sharp, deeply funny chapters, Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the “halo effect” cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger-than-life celebrities, to how the “sunk cost fallacy” can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we’ve realized they’re not serving us."


The Age of Magical Overthinking is a funny and entertaining read that will easily help you read 10 pages of a non-fiction book every day!


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

The Creative Act: A Way of Being is another Editor's Pick on Amazon and also one of the Best Books of the Year 2023. The author Rick Rubin states, "I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of ar. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be."


The Creative Act offers the reader wisdoms gleaned from a lifetime of artistry. Rick Rubin worked with musicians for decades, helping them to overcome their personal barriers and create transcendent artwork. The lessons he's learned are applicable to everyone, and The Creative Act promises to be one of the best personal development books you can ready during your fitness challenge.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport is a great reminder for everyone with goals to accomplish in the new year. Cal Newport helps readers tease apart the differences between busyness and true productivity.


Slow Productivity helps the reader "rethink workload management, introduce seasonal variation, and shift performance towards the long term" by drawing on wisdom from some of the world's greatest achievers - Galileo, Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, Goergia O'Keefe, and more.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Crying In H Mart: A Memoir is an unforgettable memoir by Michelle Zauner with over 470,000 ratings on Goodreads. I personally love reading memoirs and consider them to be important non-fiction pieces. Broadening your horizons and learning about cultures and experiences unlike your own is a huge part of self-development.


Crying in H Mart is a memoir from the indie rock artist Japanese Breakfast about growing up as a Korean American. Her memoir is "rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller is one of the most highly rated Biographies on Amazon. Lulu Miller dives into the strange life of David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist credited with discovered almost 1/5 of all the fish we know today.


After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, nearly all of the scientist's discoveries were ruined. Why Fish Don't Exist is uniquely both an inspiring tale of one scientist's determination and also a warning against hubris as the reader watches his life slowly unravel. Why Fish Don't Exist is a uniquely interesting non-fiction book that is easy to read in one sitting.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion by Jia Tolentino is a New York Times Bestseller that's currently up for an award for the Art of the Essay. Jia Tolentino takes the reader for a ride on everything from scam culture to reality television.


"This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self." Each essay addresses something unique like the nightmare of social media, reality television, and the invention of scamming and cat fishing.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel is the perfect book to pick up during your fitness challenge if learning about personal finance is one of your 2025 goals.


While money is normally taught to us using math and numbers, Morgan Housel dives into the motivations and behaviors that surround wealth, greed, and happiness. The author, "shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life's most important topics."


Best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt is a 2024 non-fiction book that has dominated the Amazon charts since its release in June.


The Anxious Generation dives into why childhood feels so much different with the new generation. It's an important and engaging new book written by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. In the Anxious Generation, Haidt breaks down the difference between "play-based childhood" that abruptly ended in the 2010's with the rise of social media, and the new phone-based childhood seen today, and the dangers this has posed to children and young adults.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo dives into the little-understood science behind complex PTSD. This inspiring memoir, "provides real hope for those who long to heal."


What My Bones Know dives into Stephanie's seemingly successful life - a successful career and a loving relationship at age 30 - and the roiling waters underneath the surface. "Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Disability Visability: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong is, "a ground-breaking collection of first-person writings on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience." According to the last census, 1 in 5 Americans are disabled, yet are grossly underrepresented in politics, arts, and culture.


Disability Visibility is a beautiful collection of essays that broadens the reader's experience of life. "This anthology gives a glimpse of the vast richness and complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own assumptions and understandings."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by Steve Magness is a persuasive read for new parents, coaches, or anyone on the cusp of a tough challenge. This would be one of the best books to read to prepare for a 75 hard challenge or to read when you start!


In this personal development book, Steve Magness breaks down the science of "toughness." "Magness flips the script on what it means to be resilient. Drawing from mindfulness, military case studies, sports psychology, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, he provides a roadmap for navigating life’s challenges and achieving high performance that makes us happier, more successful, and, ultimately, better people."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

From the bestselling author of the book How Not to Die, How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss is a new book by Dr. Michael Greger that digs into the actual science of weight loss: calorie density, insulin, and the impact of food on the microbiome inside of us.


Every year, new and old diets come back around, but the obesity epidemic continues to rise. If you want to read 10 pages of a non-fiction book every day that will help you in your 75 hard or 75 soft challenge, consider picking up How Not to Diet.


"How Not to Diet goes beyond food to identify twenty-one weight-loss accelerators available to our bodies, incorporating the latest discoveries in cutting-edge areas like chronobiology to reveal the factors that maximize our natural fat-burning capabilities."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and has been on the Amazon Nonfiction charts since its release. Dr. Peter Attia contends that, "or all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and type 2 diabetes."


Dr. Peter Attia provides a guidebook on living longer - why simple cholesterol tests aren't cutting it, how exercise is the most important factor in living longer, and how to change your diet mindset to one of "nutritional biochemistry."


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

Finally, you may also want to read the book that Andy Frisella, the creator of the 75 hard challenge, wrote himself. The Book on Mental Toughness combines mindset lessons, tools, and lessons to cultivate the mental toughness needed to stick to a fitness challenge like the 75 hard challenge.


best books to read during a 75 hard challenge

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