It Doesn’t Take Long to Do This | Mark Manson's Reading List (From Ryan Holiday)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Daily Stoic – "It Doesn’t Take Long to Do This | Mark Manson's Reading List (From Ryan Holiday)"

Date: December 26, 2025
Host: Ryan Holiday (Daily Stoic)
Guest/Co-host: (Not directly named but referred to as someone interviewing Noah Kagan, possibly Mark Manson per episode title)

Episode Overview

This episode explores two primary threads:

1. Stoic Reflections on Change: Ryan Holiday opens with a meditation on how quickly one can turn their life around, inspired by Marcus Aurelius and the annual Daily Stoic “New Year, New You” challenge.
2. Books, Ideas, and Wisdom: The latter half features a lively exchange between Ryan and a guest centered on what they've been reading recently, highlighting works that offer insight on productivity, management, leadership, and life.

The discussion is informal, bookish, and packed with personal recommendations, notable insights, and candid takes on renowned writers and ideas.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power & Speed of Self-Change (00:20 – 03:25)

• Ryan reflects on how it's easy to let a year slide, lose good habits, and pick up bad ones, but emphasizes, with inspiration from Marcus Aurelius, that:

  “A week is all it takes to turn it around. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. But the point is it doesn't take long to get going in the right direction again.” (01:02)

• He connects this philosophy to the Daily Stoic's "New Year, New You" 21-day challenge, underscoring that meaningful change can start swiftly with intentional action.
• Memorable advice:

  “To recommit to your principles and begin acting like the person you know you can be.” (01:43)

2. On Reading & How Podcasts Shape Reading Habits (05:31 – 06:07)

• The guest shares that most of their reading now centers on upcoming podcast guests, which broadens their exposure:

  “Most of my reading is just whoever's coming up next.” – Guest (05:36)

• Ryan agrees, noting the value of reading books one might otherwise ignore for too long.

3. Recent & Noteworthy Reads (06:08 – 10:44)

• "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins
  • Currently being read by the guest’s wife: “It's blowing her mind.” (06:08)
• Pre-Pandemic Writing Group:
  • Ryan reminisces about a group including Shane Parrish, James Clear, Tim Urban, Near Eyal, Steve Kamb, David Epstein—remarking on how these friendships shaped their work and book choices (06:15 – 07:00).
• "Going Infinite" by Michael Lewis
  • Ryan defends the book:

    “He comes off as a complete... really? Yeah, totally... He comes off as someone who's very smart but also a moron.” (07:53)

  • Notes the paradoxes of brilliant yet socially inept figures (Sam Bankman-Fried, Elon Musk).
• Examples of “Smart Stupid People”:

  “I'm gonna use him in the wisdom book as, like, an example of a smart, stupid person. Musk being another great example of that.” – Ryan (09:14)

4. Unique and Underappreciated Book Recommendations (09:31 – 13:16)

• Biography of Pontius Pilate by "obituaries editor for The Economist"
  • Ryan describes it as:

    “One of the greatest biographies I've ever read in my life. Really? So good, huh?... A good example, like, multiple times, he tries to do the right thing, but it would have required just, like, 10% more spine.” (10:06)

  • Highlights the tension of historical inevitability vs. leadership choices.
• Jan Morris’ Memoir
  • Praised for its nuanced, apolitical take on trans identity:

    “It's a memoir of what it’s like to be trans, but from... before any of the things that have now made that discussion toxic... It was incredible. One of the best books I read last year.” – Ryan (12:03, 13:16)

5. Business and Management Wisdom (13:16 – 14:33)

• "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz
  • Both hosts concur it's a valuable, down-to-earth management resource.
• On Peter Drucker and the "Daily Drucker":
  • Ryan explains its direct inspiration for "The Daily Stoic":

    “There isn’t one [definitive] book for Peter Drucker... Steve did that book because... one page a day of the best stuff... That’s the model he was using because he had done it as a publisher.” (13:57)

6. Ryan’s Bookstore and Philosophy on Curation (14:33 – 15:07)

• Ryan elaborates on the philosophy behind his bookstore:

  “The whole point of the bookstore is like, I love all these books... Like, a bookstore this size should have 15,000 books in it... So it's mostly, like, I just. I love all the books, so... I tell you why. It's amazing.” (14:43)

• Lighthearted moment on not “tricking” guests into buying books during podcast recordings.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Swift Change:

  “A week is all it takes to turn it around. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. But the point is it doesn't take long to get going in the right direction again.” – Ryan Holiday (01:02)

• On “Smart-Stupid” People:

  “He comes off as a great example of a person who’s very smart but also a moron... Musk being another great example of that.” – Ryan (07:53 & 09:14)

• On Book Selection:

  “The best way to understand the present is to read from a long time ago.” – Ryan (11:54)

• On Pontius Pilate’s Biography:

  “Multiple times he tries to do the right thing, but it would have required just, like, 10% more spine.” – Ryan (10:06)

• On Bookstore Curation:

  "The whole point of the bookstore is, like, I love all these books." – Ryan (14:43)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Stoic wisdom on changing course: 00:20 – 03:25
• Reading habits and recent reads: 05:31 – 08:31
• Michael Lewis & “Going Infinite” discussion: 07:03 – 09:20
• On biographies and history books: 09:31 – 11:51
• Jan Morris and reading outside culture wars: 11:54 – 13:16
• Business/management book recs: 13:16 – 14:33
• Ryan’s bookstore philosophy: 14:33 – 15:07

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Tone & Style

The episode strikes a friendly, candid tone, balancing philosophical introspection with bookish banter and a genuine enthusiasm for sharing wisdom. Ryan’s delivery is warm, direct, and occasionally self-deprecating, making this episode both practical and thought-provoking for listeners seeking both Stoic advice and great reading recommendations.

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In summary:
This episode is as much about the ease of personal renewal—a core Stoic principle—as it is a treasury of smart, eclectic book recommendations, each unpacked with stories and insights that encourage listeners to pursue wisdom from both ancient and unexpected sources.

Transcript

[Ryan Holiday]

Foreign.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each day we bring you a Stoic inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life.

[Ryan Holiday]

Each one of these episodes is based.

[Daily Stoic Host]

On the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. Help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit Dailystoic.com. It doesn't take long to do this. It was a bad year. You dropped some balls. You picked up some bad habits. You let some good habits slip. You wasted time on stuff that doesn't matter. You made plans for a creative project, but no progress on them. But just because that's true doesn't mean it has to continue that way. As Marc Sorilles writes in Meditations now they see you as a beast, a monkey. But in a week they'll think you're a God if you rediscover your beliefs and honor the logos. A week. A week is all it takes to turn it around. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. But the point is it doesn't take long to get going in the right direction. Again, it doesn't take long to turn things around, to pick up the balls you dropped. To replace one bad habit with a better one. To recommit to your principles and begin acting like the person you know you can be. And that's what we built the Daily Stoic New Year. New you challenge around. It's just three weeks, 21 days to start the year right. To create momentum, to transform you from whoever you are right now to who you're capable of being in 2026. 21 days of stoic inspired challenges. One per day to help you be.

[Ryan Holiday]

What you're capable of being.

[Daily Stoic Host]

You could be one way, one thing right now, but it doesn't have to stay that way. And it doesn't take much to get going in the other direction. If one week is all it takes, imagine what you can do in three weeks. I know that I have personally been transformed by the challenges we do each and every year. This is almost the 10th year of the challenge. I have habits and practices that I do each and every year because of the Daily Stoic New Year. And you'd challenge and I'd love to see you in there. And just a little note, if you want to do this challenge or any of our challenges or courses throughout the rest of the year, I just sign up for Daily Stoic Life as part of this, you get all the challenges for free. So you can sign up [e-mail] or just go to dailystoic.com challenge to sign up for the 2026 Daily Stoic New Year New you Challenge. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see it in there. And I can't wait for us to start on January 1st. Dailystoic.com challenge.

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[Daily Stoic Host]

Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastow County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought, this.

[Ryan Holiday]

Isn'T going to work.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Stopped, parked it walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove into Austin and bought truck. What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma. And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields, and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in. We got to go deep into the Hill Country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven it across the country. And by we, I mean not just my wife, but both my kids, who I drove home from the hospital in that truck. Toyota trucks are built for those who understand that the best adventures happen when you're willing to veer off course, because you never know when you'll end up on a Toyota Adventure Detour. And of course, this is stoicism, too, because every detour, every obstacle is an opportunity. But it's helpful if you can handle the difficulty inherent in that. If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you, discover your uncharted territory. Learn [e-mail] Trucks Adventure detours.

[Ryan Holiday]

What have you been reading? Or what do you like?

[Guest or Co-host]

Dude, Everything. So, speaking of podcasting, like, most of my reading is just whoever's coming up next.

[Ryan Holiday]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that is nice because it forces you to read new books that you probably ordinarily would take, like, a long time to get away from.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah. So I just went back and read some of Cal's stuff, read his new one.

[Ryan Holiday]

And then I'm.

[Guest or Co-host]

I'm doing interviewing Noah tomorrow, so I just.

[Ryan Holiday]

Noah Kagan. Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

So I'm.

[Ryan Holiday]

We had that.

[Daily Stoic Host]

He was here.

[Ryan Holiday]

He's like a thing at the store.

[Daily Stoic Host]

It's down here.

[Guest or Co-host]

It's the bright green.

[Ryan Holiday]

Oh, there it is. Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

I actually need to finish.

[Ryan Holiday]

Have you read Die with Zero? I've been raving about that lately. Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

Actually, my wife's reading that right now.

[Ryan Holiday]

Really?

[Guest or Co-host]

And it's blowing her mind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fantastic. Gets you thinking about a lot of interesting stuff.

[Ryan Holiday]

He's gonna come in. Did you end up going. So people don't know. We were in sort of writing group that met before the pandemic. That was Shane Parrish. James. James Clear before he'd done any books.

[Guest or Co-host]

Tim Urban.

[Ryan Holiday]

Tim Urban.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Near.

[Ryan Holiday]

Near hooked Steve. Cam, you, me, I think we're forgetting some. Oh, David Epstein. Oh, yeah. David.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yep.

[Ryan Holiday]

For Range, did you go?

[Guest or Co-host]

No.

[Ryan Holiday]

Okay.

[Guest or Co-host]

It's actually this coming weekend.

[Ryan Holiday]

Oh, right, right. That's why I'm not going. Yeah. Spring break. Yeah. Shane's book is good. Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

I still need to have him on.

[Ryan Holiday]

Yeah. He came out. He did it.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

Did you read the Michael Lewis one going infinite.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

So good.

[Guest or Co-host]

Is it.

[Ryan Holiday]

I think people. People gave him so much. Yeah. He fillets the dude. He comes off as a complete. Really? Yeah, totally. The only thing, his somewhat contrarian argument is like, okay, first off, he spent about $5 billion in investments and one of them he invested in Ethmorpic or whatever the big AI company that's now worth like a trillion dollars. Right, right, right. So like that one investment is going.

[Guest or Co-host]

To make up for. Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

So like, it's hard. His argument is like.

[Daily Stoic Host]

At the end.

[Ryan Holiday]

Of the day, there may not be that much fraud there.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

Which is. Which is not in any way a clearing him. It's just that it's not like $40 billion didn't evaporate or whatever. That it's a little different. But he comes off as a great example of a person who's very smart but also a moron. He doesn't read, he thinks he knows everything. He doesn't think personal or soft skills matter. He's actually a horrendous manager. He's not on top, like. So he comes off as someone who. Yeah. I thought the book was really interesting. I like it. And then it's all. You're just watching one of the greatest of all time.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Just.

[Ryan Holiday]

He could write about. There's a Malcolm Gladwell blurb where it's like, if I found out Michael Lewis wrote a book about staplers, I would read that book. And it's true. I would. I would read him anything. I.

[Guest or Co-host]

He got. Lewis got destroyed because he gave a 60 Minutes interview and defended SBS on it. And.

[Ryan Holiday]

The interview was not great. Yeah, but it's not the book.

[Guest or Co-host]

It was a bad look. I actually just read a news story recently, said that SBF has been giving his prison guards crypto trading advice, and the prison guards are already up, like, 10x.

[Ryan Holiday]

Yeah, that's hilarious.

[Guest or Co-host]

I was like, that's awesome.

[Ryan Holiday]

Yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating. Yeah. I thought it was good. I thought it was good. I'm gonna use him in the wisdom book as, like, an example of a smart, stupid person. Musk being another great example of that. Oh, yeah?

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

Of a person whose brain is apparently so open that. Or whose mind is so open that their brain falls.

[Guest or Co-host]

Well, it's also great. Musk is a great example of, like, domain brilliance.

[Ryan Holiday]

Yes, of course. What else? Did that Montana book come in yet? Do you know, Tristan? We don't. So the weirdness of the bookstore is that a lot of the books that I really love are not super popular, and so they are constantly out of print, and it's hard to get them like this. I've been raving about this book, which I think you would like as a. It's a biography of Pontius Pilate. Oh, wow. Which, like, you don't think of as a guy who had a shitty job.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, right.

[Ryan Holiday]

He's just the governor of a province of the Roman Empire, and there's, like, a troublemaker in it, and we don't know that much about him. Yeah, but, like, she does. Like, she's the obituaries editor for the. The Economist, so she's, like, a really interesting writer. And it's, like, one of the greatest biographies of I've ever read in my life. Really? So good, huh? Like, and it's a good example, like, multiple times he tries to do the right thing, but it would have required just, like, 10% more spine. Yeah. Like, he kept trying, like. Because basically at the end he says, like, you guys decide.

[Guest or Co-host]

He tried to let Jesus go.

[Ryan Holiday]

And then at the end, he goes, all right, you guys do it. You know what I mean? I wash my hands of it. Right. That's where the expression comes from. But, like, he. If he had. Had just a ton. If he just said, like, my job is to make the decision that's my job. And a good chunk of people are not going to be happy with the decision. Like, all of history might have turned out differently. And then at the same time, she does talk about it, which I don't think about from a biblical standpoint, which is like. Or is he the fall guy? Because the prophecy was that he would come and be put to death. Right. So somebody had to do it. So he actually didn't have a choice.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

Like, he. He was just the guy. Like, his number came up and God said, you have, like. You know what I mean? Like, the other way is that, like, it couldn't have happened any other way. And so, I don't know. It's really. I love that book. I think you'll love. You'll like it. Trying to think, what else. What else are you. What have you been into? Or have you read any of these recently?

[Guest or Co-host]

What have I read recently?

[Daily Stoic Host]

Ooh.

[Ryan Holiday]

Okay. Talk about. The best way to understand the present is to read from a long time ago. Do you know who Jan Morris is? So Jan Morris was.

[Daily Stoic Host]

What's his name?

[Ryan Holiday]

What's his actual name? Is it. Oh, James Morris is the journalist who climbs Everest with Hillary. He is the great historian of the British Empire. And then in like, 19. What year is it? I don't know, 1960, 1970. Gets gender reassignment surgery. Like, realize super early. Yeah. Yeah. But. So it's a memoir of what it is like to be trans, but from, like, three generations or multiple generations, but. Or any of the things that have now made that discussion toxic, you know? So you're like, oh, this is just. What. Do you know what I mean? So you're just like, oh, this is what it's actually like, and how hard it would be and what you would feel and all of these things. But none of the political. None of the culture war stuff. It's just. And you can't possibly say that, like, this wasn't a dude. Yeah. You know what I mean? Who, like, this was, like, a man's man who's in the army, like, all this stuff, but, like, deep down knew he was someone. And something else. I thought it was incredible. It's one of the best books I read last year.

[Guest or Co-host]

I've been reading a lot of business shit lately.

[Ryan Holiday]

I've been a podcast.

[Guest or Co-host]

I've been hiring a lot. Oh. So I'm, like, hitting that point where I'm like, I should, like, kind of know what I'm doing when it comes to.

[Ryan Holiday]

Yeah.

[Daily Stoic Host]

Like, people.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah. Dealing with people, managing.

[Ryan Holiday]

What have you liked because that's the section. I don't have a lot of great books. I.

[Guest or Co-host]

So I just finished Ben Horowitz's the Hard Thing About Hard Things.

[Ryan Holiday]

That book's great.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, I really like that one. I read some of the Drucker stuff.

[Ryan Holiday]

Have you read the Daily Drucker?

[Guest or Co-host]

I've not.

[Ryan Holiday]

That was the inspiration for the Daily Stokes agent. Steve did that book because. Yeah, you go, like, people know Peter Drucker is a leadership expert, but they're like, where do you start?

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Holiday]

And there isn't, like, a class. It's not like, if you're like, I want to read Jim Collins. You read good to great. That's his classic book. There isn't one for Peter Drucker. And so you could get the wrong one. And so he was like, why don't we just do one page a day of the best stuff? And it was a huge hit. And so that's when he suggested the Daily Stoke. That's the model he was using because he had done it as a publisher. Wow. So it's pretty good. You might like that. Nice. I. I don't flip through it enough, but I should. No rule is good.

[Guest or Co-host]

Is this. Is this, like, bonus footage of you pitching me books to buy from your bookstore?

[Ryan Holiday]

So we do this.

[Daily Stoic Host]

It's so funny.

[Ryan Holiday]

We do this every time. Like, the whole point of the bookstore is like, I love all these books. Like, these aren't like. Like, we should have. If this was, like, a regular bookstore, none of these books would be in it, probably, and. Or some of them would be, but most of them would not be in it, and we'd have way more books. Like, a bookstore this size should have 15,000 books in it. Yeah. Like, titles, sure. Not inventory. And so. So it's mostly, like, I just. I love all the books, so I could. You could ask me anyone. I tell you. Why. It's amazing.

[Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, but.

[Ryan Holiday]

So we do this. Like, we just go, oh, like, we just started doing. I recommend it. And then they'd, like. They walk up at the end and try to pay. And I was like, I did not just trick you on camera into buying seven books or whatever.

[Toyota Trucks Testimonial Speaker]

I didn't.

[Ryan Holiday]

I didn't think you were gonna make me pay for. No. When Admiral McRaven was here, he was like, no, no, I'm gonna pay. And I was like, well, but I wasn't picking the books based on, like, what I think you should buy. I was just saying, like, I was just picking all my favorite. Like, I maybe wouldn't buy this one if I was paying for it, because I think you just might get one one thing out of it. So yes, I'm not. This isn't me on camera bullying you into.

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