Start 2026 With This Novel + 2 Business Books On The Power Of Storytelling
Plus video. Happy new year—and happy storytelling!—from Shane Snow.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pleased to be moving on from 2025. Like Bruno, we just won’t talk about it.
That said, no matter how tough a year has been, at the end of each one I like to journal about the bright spots. There are always highlights to consider. Friendships, moments, learnings, gratitudes. My kid turning 2 and learning to speak Spanish better than I do. Lando Norris beating Max Verstappen. (Eat it!)
To invoke Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy’s “The Gap And The Gain”, instead of focusing entirely on the gap between where I am and where I want to be, year’s end reminds me to take time to recollect the gain from where I once was to where I am now.
One of the things I gained in 2025 is a novel that is now one of my all-time favorites. If you, too, are a fan of stories about storytelling, you’ll enjoy kicking off 2026 with this one:
About the hidden stories that shape our world:
The novel is called The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and it’s one of the only books that I finished and then immediately started reading again in the same sitting. I want to make a TV series out of it. (If you’re reading this, Erin’s agent, hit me up!)
If you’re intrigued by the idea of a secret underground world where guardians and acolytes protect Stories, where Fate and Time fall in love, and where the son of a fortune teller finds himself caught up in the collapse of it all—treat yourself to this one. In between the lines of this story about love and sacrifice and adventure is a meta story about how storytelling keeps our memories and lost ones alive.
I literally got a tattoo this year of a depiction of the character Time from this story. Check the book out here.
Now if urban fantasy is not your thing, or you’re more into the practical aspects of storytelling, I recommend kicking off 2026 with these two nonfiction books:
About the stories that make us human and how to wield them in business:
As artificial intelligence gobbles up more of the world we once knew, storytelling is a meta skill that will be ever more important for us to do the things we still need humanity for: Leadership, perspective, wisdom, and more.
Super Skill is by Joe Lazer, my co-author of The Storytelling Edge, and it comes out in February. Pre-order it here!
About the stories we tell ourselves and how to change our work and lives with them:
If you’ve read my last couple of newsletters, you’ve seen me talk about Nir Eyal’s new book Beyond Belief, with Julie Li. There’s a lot of great stuff, but my favorite parts revolve around the science of how our brains and bodies respond to the stories we tell ourselves. These stories literally shape what we see—what we notice or miss. They literally affect how we feel—our anticipation, our subjective experiences of pain and anxiety—and more.
Beyond Belief comes out in March. But you can pre-order the book here in the meantime!
And if you are intrigued by the science of storytelling but books are not for you…
…IDK cuz you’re a Zillennial or something? Whatever’s the case, here are some videos on the science of storytelling that I posted this year that you’ll enjoy:
Why 90% Don’t Know Their Boss’s Birthday (Neurons That Fire Together…)
How Baby Yoda Encapsulates The 4 Elements Of Great Storytelling
BTW, later in 2026 I’ll be posting the two Storytelling chapters of Dream Teams for free in this newsletter. These chapters deal with how storytelling helps us build movements and change people’s hearts about groups of people they don’t understand.
I’m posting the whole book for free in 2026, one chapter a month, but if you’d like a signed hardcover copy right away, upgrading to a paid supporter of this newsletter gets you one.
A big thank you to those of you who became paid subscribers so far! I am honored and thrilled for your support. Make sure you fill out the form in the welcome email for your free book, if you haven’t yet!
I hope your 2025 had lots of bright spots, and that you’ll focus on the “gain” you’re grateful for at least as much as the “gap” to where you want to get to in 2026.
Cheers to being so fortunate in our lives already (if we’re spending time reading and writing Substacks, that means life already is much better than it could be!). And cheers to getting better together in 2026, too.
Make a great year!
–Shane
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