Gear Not Stuff: February '26

Book recs from 10 brilliant people

It’s time for Gear Not Stuff.

We live in a world of mass consumerism, where we have more stuff than ever. As I point out in Scarcity Brain, the average home contains at least 10,000 items. Yet minimalism, as I wrote here, has failed us.

When considering how to make smarter purchasing decisions, I’ve started distinguishing between gear and stuff.

• Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff clutters. We buy stuff impulsively to alleviate boredom or stress, or to solve problems we could have tackled creatively with what we already have.

• Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose. Gear is a tool we can use to have better experiences.

This month’s gear: books. Good ones.

We’re still in the grips of winter, with heinous storms hammering the East Coast.

Sounds like a great time to sit down with a book.

Which is why I reached out to some of my favorite thinkers and asked them a simple question: What’s the best book you read in the last couple of years?

Their answers were incredible. Not a single book was expected. All of them sounded fascinating and made my “to-read” list.

For each person below, I’ll reveal the book, what it’s about, and the person’s explanation of why they loved it.

Today, you’ll learn from:

• Cal Newport, NYT bestselling author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism

• Melissa Urban, founder of the Whole30 health empire and elite reader

• David Epstein, NYT bestselling author of Range and The Sports Gene

• Doug Fabrizio, host of NPR’s RadioWest and the absolute best interviewer I know

• Melissa Ilardo, PhD, professor of evolutionary genomics, who studies what makes humans resilient

• Sam Alaimo, former US Navy SEAL with a Master’s from Columbia University

• Kate McKay, half of The Art of Manliness and the DYING BREED Substack

• Brett McKay, founder of The Art of Manliness and the DYING BREED Substack

• River Selby, author of Hotshot: A Life On Fire, one of the best books I read recently

• Lynda Easter, my mom, who reads more than everyone¹

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The books