There are so many books about success. Just so, so many.

And I've read most of them. Maybe all of them.

But you may be surprised to learn that for me, the best one of all is Never Finished by David Goggins.

For a few reasons:

• For pure motivation, it's hard to match. The amount of overcoming and circumstances - the hills Goggins climbs personally - I'm forever impressed by the story and the perseverance.

• But there is also the learning that is expressed in the book. In his first book - Can't Hurt Me - we learn about David's upbringing and the trauma and what it took to succeed. In this book, we see him trying to be more, including healing himself and pursuing life long dreams. This more complete definition of success makes the story richer with more life lessons.

• And the book is not just inspiration and suffering - though there is plenty on some of those ultra runs. There is also methodology in practice. It's not a how to guide. But you can see planning and failing. And more importantly, there is learning, adapting and trying again. I've learned so much about contingency planning and preparation in my reading of it. About how preparation guarantees nothing. And about figuring out what to do next.

• David Goggin's story is both a challenge to traditional psychology and an affirmation of it. Life lessons about commitment, choices, the price of success, courage and fear, authenticity. And ultimately about deciding who you want to be - at any age.

If you are at all interested in a non-standard book on success, I can't recommend this book enough.

(And if you've read it, do you agree? What other book would you recommend for beginners?)