New Book Releases for the Week of June 3, 2025
Featuring new book releases from Jeremy Kourdi and Jonathan Besser; Adam Met with Heather Landy; Evan Osnos; and Pat Flynn.
We're just a few weeks from the official start of summer, or as we see it, the read-your-book-outdoors season. This week's list of recommendations includes books that explore new ways of thinking about the world around you. Grab one of these titles, roll out your favorite picnic blanket, and take it all in! Between the fresh air and the fresh ideas, you're sure to come away energized and ready to get after your goals.
The Porchlight staff members choosing books each week include Porchlight's Managing Director, Sally Haldorson, and the marketing team of Gabbi Cisneros, Jasmine Gonzalez, and Dylan Schleicher. As expert booksellers, we browse publisher catalogs and explore new titles from across the book industry to discover what captures our interest, and we're excited to share our findings with readers like you.
Unless otherwise noted, all book descriptions are provided by their respective publishers.
Our Recommended Books This Week
Sally's pick: 50 Ideas that Changed the World of Work by Jeremy Kourdi and Jonathan Besser, published by Economist Books
The world of work is full of ideas. Some of these ideas shape the work we do and the way we do it. But it can often be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff.
When ideas really do break new ground and change the way we think about what we do, they can help all of us to be better, happier, and more productive. The trick is to know which ones offer the most reliable vision, and how they can be adapted and deployed to the best effect.
By encapsulating and explaining the best of this thinking, 50 Ideas that Changed the World of Work is equal parts vision and road map; an invaluable and insightful guide to navigating the world of work today.
Gabbi's pick: Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World by Adam Met, PhD with Heather Landy, published by Harmony
From stadium acts to indie singer-songwriters, musicians have pioneered ways of sparking passion, building awareness, and catalyzing engagement. Now imagine if the causes you cared about—from the fight to protect the planet to campaigns promoting global health or LGBTQIA+ rights—had the same fervent support as your favorite artists.
Adam Met, member of the multi-platinum band AJR, climate advocate, and educator, has firsthand experience growing a band from an audience of three or four to now selling out arenas. With award-winning journalist Heather Landy, he applies successful fan-building tactics to building up movements in exciting, innovative ways. Amplify shows how to smartly attract passionate supporters (i.e. fans) using the tactics of engagement, collaboration, and authentic connection, to inspire them to carry your message to the world and spur others to action.
This movement-building manifesto includes cutting-edge research and strategies from today's most effective organizers, engagers, and thinkers, including extensive interviews with:
- Adam Grant (Wharton professor) on embracing disagreement within a movement.
- Christiana Figueres (Paris Climate Agreement architect) on finding a path to solutions.
- Andrew Yang (former U.S. presidential candidate) on becoming the front person for your ideas.
- David Hogg (March for Our Lives co-founder) on the challenges in building a youth-led movement.
- Sue Doster (NYC Pride co-chair) on keeping movements nimble and relevant.
- Glenn Beck (conservative commentator) on finding common ground.
- Jim Gaffigan (comedian) on setting and achieving goals.
- Bill Nye (scientist and entertainer) on communication that connects with people.
Amplify's innovative toolkit will help you find your voice and maximize your impact in the world of social progress to create the change you want to see.
Dylan's pick: The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos, published by Scribner
The ultrarich hold more of America's wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. Here, Evan Osnos's incisive reportage yields an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges, and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.
With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, this is a book about the indulgences, incentives, and psychological distortions that define our economic age. In each essay, Osnos delves into a world that is rarely visible, from the outrageous to the fabulous to the ridiculous: a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus; the ethos behind the largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history; the confessions of disgraced titans in a "white-collar support group." A celebrated political reporter, Osnos delves into the unprecedented Washington influence of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires, about their power and the explosive backlash it stirs.
Originally published in The New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of raw ambition, unimaginable fortune, and the rise of America's modern oligarchy. Osnos's essays are a wake-up call—a case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultrarich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling, and eye-opening, The Haves and the Have-Yachts couldn't be more relevant to today's world.
Jasmine's pick: Lean Learning: How to Achieve More by Learning Less by Pat Flynn, published by Simon Element/Simon Acumen.
From an early age, we're taught that more is better. More money, more information, more skills. But times have changed. What was once valuable has now become a burden, and if information alone were the answer, we'd all be exactly where we want.
In today's fast-moving world, the difference between success and failure is not in what you know but in what you do with what you know. Lean Learning equips you with the tools to do just that, propelling you towards your goals with greater efficiency, purpose, and results.
Pat Flynn, a seasoned and serial entrepreneur and business mentor to millions, draws on his own experiences and of those who have successfully implemented his techniques. Lean Learning isn't just about absorbing information efficiently—it's about reshaping your approach to knowledge altogether.
This book teaches you how to identify what's essential for your growth and eliminate all the distractions that tend to bog you down.
Lean Learning stands out in a crowded productivity space by focusing not just on "working smarter" but on revolutionizing the way we absorb, process, and use information every single day. It's a perfect read for entrepreneurs, professionals, and lifelong learners who are ready to cut through the chaos and start making real progress.
Backed by Flynn's extensive entrepreneurial success real-life case studies, Lean Learning offers a transformative approach to mastering any skill and achieving more with less. It is a perfect reading companion for fans of Great at Work, Digital Minimalism, and Building a Second Brain.
Buy these recommended new book releases and more directly from Porchlight Book Company.
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