I’m pleased to share what I consider the most promising, must-read nonfiction titles scheduled for release in August 2025.
These titles will be included in our longlist of potential titles for Season 27 of the Next Big Idea Club. In a few months, the list will be narrowed down to a handful of finalists and, ultimately, two official season titles, which we will send members.
All must-read authors are invited to create a “Book Bite”, a short audio self-recording that features five key insights from their book. Imagine chatting with a stranger while waiting in line at the supermarket—only that person just happened to write a fascinating nonfiction book.
And now, the August 2025 titles are…
Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress
By Roy Scranton
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
If we want to have any hope at all for the future, it must be grounded in a recognition of human limits―a view Scranton calls ethical pessimism. View on Amazon
Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You
By Meg Josephson
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
A psychotherapist’s groundbreaking exploration of people-pleasing as an under-recognized but common trauma response, that also offers a compassionate and actionable path for healing. View on Amazon
Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture
By AJ Wolfe
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Disney Adults dives deep into a misunderstood subculture, exploring the lives and experiences of a fascinating community to better understand its devotees’ unwavering passion for all things Disney, why it offends, and why it matters. View on Amazon
The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why
By Madeleine Beekman
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
In a radical new story about the birth of our species, The Origin of Language argues that it was not hunting, fighting, or tool-making that forced early humans to speak, but the inescapable need to care for our children. View on Amazon
The Cybernetic Society: How Humans and Machines Will Shape the Future Together
By Amir Husain
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Why the major risk and opportunity of AI is that humans and computers have fused, giving AI the ability to shape the future of human affairs. View on Amazon
This Isn’t Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success
By Meghan French Dunbar
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Leadership expert Meghan French Dunbar shows how to boost performance and at the same time make the workplace better for women, and, ultimately, business at large. View on Amazon
The Outward Path: The Wisdom of the Aztecs
By Sebastian Purcell
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
A practical and eye-opening guide to the Aztec philosophy on how to live. View on Amazon
The Learning Household: How to Help Your Child Get More out of School
By Ken Bain & Marsha Marshall Bain
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
An essential guide to bringing curiosity back to the classroom and fostering an appreciation for the intrinsic value of learning. View on Amazon
Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life
By Noah Giansiracusa
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
How the rich and powerful use math to exploit you, and what you can do to beat them at their own game. View on Amazon
Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half
By Kerry Burnight
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
From America’s Gerontologist, a practical guide that offers a radical and optimistic approach to longevity. View on Amazon
Me, My Customer, and AI: The New Rules of Entrepreneurship
By Henrik Werdelin & Nicholas Thorne
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
A game-changing guide from two startup veterans that shows you how to harness AI in order to break barriers, accelerate growth, and build a business that truly matters. View on Amazon
Consent Laid Bare: Sex, Entitlement, and the Distortion of Desire
By Chanel Contos
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Why is sexual assault so widespread and rampant in an era of growing equality? Contos argues that when it comes to sex, we are still working with an outdated social contract. View on Amazon
Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions
By L. David Marquet & Michael Gillespie
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
Former U.S. Navy Captain David Marquet and professor of psychology Michael Gillespie show you how to make better decisions by becoming your own coach. View on Amazon
The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life
By Arthur Brooks
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
A Harvard professor offers science-based insights on work and life in this curated collection from his “How to Build a Life” column in The Atlantic. View on Amazon
Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives
By Sam Parker
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
How a misunderstood emotion can offer you clarity, purpose and strength. View on Amazon
Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know
By Angus Fletcher
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
Primal Intelligence offers a new neuroscientific approach to intuition, imagination, emotion, and commonsense, helping you think more like our most famous visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers. View on Amazon
Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
By Bill McKibben
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
From the acclaimed environmentalist, a call to harness solar power and rewrite our scientific, economic, and political future. View on Amazon
Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters, and Thieves
By Johnathan Walton
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
These are the 14 red flags to identify the scammer in your life before they con you—from a victim-turned-vigilante and host of the hit podcast Queen of the Con. View on Amazon
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
By Peter Brannen
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Brannen shows how a deep exploration into the mechanics of the carbon cycle and the history of our planet can provide hope for averting environmental catastrophe in the future. View on Amazon
Freemium: How Zoom, HubSpot, Atlassian, and Other Top Companies Use Product-Led Growth … for Low-Cost Customer Acquisition and Expansion
By Dave Boyce
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Competing in nearly every tech-related industry today requires an understanding of the principles of product-led growth. Freemium is the comprehensive, practical handbook for this unicorn-building strategy. View on Amazon
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
By Rob Dunn
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
How rethinking our relationships with other species can help us reimagine the future of humankind. View on Amazon
There’s Got to Be a Better Way: How to Deliver Results and Get Rid of the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Real Work
By Nelson Repenning & Donald Kieffer
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
A groundbreaking method for clearing the organizational roadblocks that keep you from doing your job and delivering results. View on Amazon
Could Should Might Don’t: How We Think About the Future
By Nick Foster
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
An invaluable guide to how to think―and not to think―about the future, by one of the premier futurists of our time. View on Amazon
How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life
By Rachel Barr
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
A delight-filled, evidence-based guide to taking better care of your brain — so it, in turn, will take better care of you. View on Amazon
Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future
By Dan Wang
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
A riveting, firsthand investigation of China’s seismic progress, its human costs, and what it means for America. View on Amazon
Manipulation: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, and What to Do About It
By Cass Sunstein
Publication Date: August 28, 2025
Drawing on decades of groundbreaking research in behavioral science, this landmark book outlines steps we can take to counteract manipulation in our daily lives and offers guidance to protect consumers, investors, and workers. View on Amazon
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