Books

Reading is one of the most important skills. Naturally, you can spend a lifetime reading and you won’t remember everything. What will change in the process is the way you think. Your way of thinking will affect everyone you meet in life.

Most important ones:

• Manual for Living by Epictetus
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Lessons of History Ariel Durant and Will Durant
• Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings
• The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
• The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin
• Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
• The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
• Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger
• The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanith
• Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• This is Water by David Foster Wallace
• The Art of War Sun Tzu
• The Armed Forces Officer Edition U. S. Department Of Defense
• Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
• Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
• Incerto (Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile, Skin in the Game) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christiensen

Below you will find several hundred recommendations of interesting books. A full list by category (e.g., leadership, management, negotiation) is provided to newsletter subscribers as part of the knowledge base.

More:

• Foundation Isaac Asimov
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking Krogerus, Mikael
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
• Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
• Republic by Plato
• Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process McPhee, John
• The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi by William Scott Wilson
• The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner
• The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
• Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility McCord, Patty
• 10% Happier by Dan Harris
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
• Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti by Krishnamurti, Jiddu
• The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World Ferguson, Niall
• University of Berkshire Hathaway: 30 Years of Lessons Learned from Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger at the Annual Shareholders MeetingBY Pecaut, Daniel
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
• The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive by Afremow, Jim, PhD
• Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
• The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created
• Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
• “12 Rules For Life”, by Jordan Peterson
• Antifragile: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Hundred Rules of War by Tsukahara Bokuden
• Zero to One: Blake Masters and Peter Thiel
• Freakonomics: Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams
• Man’s Search for Meaning: Viktor Frankl
• Moneyball: Michael L. Lewis
• The Fountainhead: Ayn Rand
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Ben Horowitz
• The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins
• Foundation Isaac Asimov
• Neuromancer William Gibson
• Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era
• Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Beyond Band of Brothers, by Dick Winters
• Fooled by Randomness Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• How The Mind Works Steven Pinker
• How to Wind Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie
• Power of Habit Charles Duhigg
• Selfish Gene Dawkins
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey
• Shoe Dog Phil Knight
• Singularity is Near Kurzwell
• Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson
• The Blank Slate Steven Pinker
• The Language Instinct Steven Pinker
• Why Buddhism is True Robert Wright
• A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk Peter L. Bernstein
• Beating the Averages P. Graham
• Better Atul Gawande
• Cosmos Carl Sagan
• Deep Work Cal Newport
• Dune Frank Herbert
• Einstein Walter Isaacson
• Good Calories, Bad Calories Gary Taubes
• Influence Robert Cialdini
• Nonviolent Communication Marshall Rosenberg
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Principles by Ray Dalio
• The Peripheral William by Gibson
• The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan
• Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson
• Quiet by Susan Cain
• A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
• A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nassar
• Abundance by Peter Diamandis
• Accidental Empires by Robert X. Cringely
• Antifragile (Taleb) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
• Buffett by Lowenstein
• Capital in the 21st Century Thomas Piketty
• Checklist Manifesto Atul Gawande
• Contact by Carl Sagan
• Creativity, Inc. Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
• Crossing the Chasm Geoffrey Moore
• Da Vinci by Isaacson
• Elements by Euclid
• Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
• Empire by Hardt & Negri
• Essentialism McKeown
• Dune (Dune Chronicles) by Frank Herbert
• Exponential Organizations Michael Malone, Salim Ismail, and Yuri van Geest
• Finding My Virginity Richard Branson
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Weatherford
• Getting to Yes Roger Fisher and William Ury
• High Output Management Grove
• Homo Deus Hariri
• How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• How To Win Friends Dale Carnegie
• How We Got To Now Steven Johnson
• Innovators’ Solution Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
• Jobs Isaacson
• Lessons from History Ariel Durant and Will Durant
• Moral Letters to Lucilius Seneca
• Napoleon the Great Andrew Roberts
• New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics & the History of Ideas F. A. Hayek
• On China Henry Kissinger
• On Shortness of Life + Letters from a Stoic Seneca
• On the Shortness of Life Seneca the Younger
• On Writing Stephen King
• Originals Adam Grant
• Origins of Political Order Fukuyama
• Our Mathematical Universe Max Tegmark
• Pattern Recognition William Gibson
• Perceptions and Misperceptions Jervis
• Power and Knowledge Foucault
• Practical Reflection J. David Velleman
• Pre-Suasion Robert Cialdini
• Prometheus Rising Robert Anton Wilson
• Propaganda Edward Bernays
• Quantum and the Lotus Matthieu Ricard
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts Susan Cain
• Ready Player One Ernest Cline
• Realism and the Aim of Science Karl Popper
• Red Notice Bill Browder
• Reflections on the Human Condition Eric Hoffer
• Republic Plato
• Search Inside Yourself Chade-Meng Tan
• Seneca’s letters Seneca the Younger
• Seveneves Neal Stephenson
• Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein
• Sociology of Philosophies Randall Collins
• Start with Why Simon Sinek
• Strategy of Conflict Schelling
• Structures, or Why Things Don’t Fall Down J.E. Gordon
• Success Equation Michael J. Mauboussin
• Superforecasting Dan Gardner and Philip E. Tetlock
• Swimming Across and High Output Management Andy Grove
• Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Temporary Autonomous Zone Peter Lamborn Wilson
• That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen Frédéric Bastiat
• The Attention Merchants Tim Wu
• The Black Swan (Taleb) Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov
• The China Study T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell
• The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait
• The Corrections Franzen
• The Daily Stoic Ryan Holiday
• The Demon Haunted World C. Sagan
• The Enterprise of Law Bruce L. Benson
• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Investors and Managers Warren Buffett
• The Extended Phenotype Richard Dawkins
• The Fabric of Reality David Deutsch
• The God Delusion Richard Dawkins
• The God Particle Leon Lederman
• The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing
• The Human Condition Hannah Arendt
• The Importance of Living Lin Yutang
• The Inner Game of Tennis Timothy Gallwey
• The Intelligent Investor Benjamin Graham
• The Lean Startup Eric Ries
• The Media Equation Byron Reeves
• The Miracle of Mindfulness Tich Naht Hanh
• The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
• Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson
• The Monk who Sold His Ferrari Robin Sharma
• The Monkeywrench Gang Abbey
• The Most Important Thing Howard S. Marks
• The Organised Mind Daniel Levitin
• The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
• The People in the Trees Hanya Yanagihara
• The Philosophy of Science Boyd
• The Power of Habit Duhigg
• The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
• The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle
• The Score Takes Care of Itself Bill Walsh
• The Second World War Churchill
• The Secret Of Our Success Joseph Henrich
• The Senses Considered James J. Gibson
• The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan
• The Skeptical Environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn
• The Three Body Problem Liu Cixin
• The Truth Neil Strauss
• The Way of Chuang Tzu Thomas Merton
• Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Sogyal Rinpoche
• To Engineer Is Human Henry Petroski
• Tools of Titans Timothy Ferriss
• Tribe Sebastian Junger
• Trust me, I’m Lying Ryan Holiday
• Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers Robert Sapolsky
• Zen Mind Shunry Suzuki
• A Wealth of Common Sense: Why Simplicity Trumps Complexity in Any Investment Plan by Ben Carlson
• Shenzhen Superstars – How China’s smartest city is challenging Silicon Valley by Johan Nylander
• Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being by Brian Luke Seaward
• The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society by Eric D. Beinhocker
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reite
• Augustine’s Laws, Sixth Edition by Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation N. Augustine
• The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
• Wealth & Wisdom: Timeless Quotations and Comments About Money and Investing by George B. McAuliffe III, James Grant
• The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created by William J. Bernstein
• China in World History, Third Edition by Samuel Adrian M. Adshead
• A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni, Rob Goodman
• The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy by Robert G. Hagstrom
• Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and the Art of Living by Krista Tippett
• The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life by Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson
• Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
• Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages by Carlota Perez
• The Way of Zen by Alan W. Watts
• George C. Marshall: Rubrics of Leadership by Stewart W. Husted
• Money: The Unauthorised Biography by Felix Martin
• The Way of Men by Jack Donovan
• A History of Civilizations by Fernand Braudel
• One Mission: How Leaders Build A Team Of Teams by Chris Fussel
• The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier
• Good People: The Only Leadership Decision That Really Matters by Anthony Tjan
• Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark
• Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000 by Jason Calacanis
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dr. Dan Ariely
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein
• The 33 Strategies Of War (The Robert Greene Collection) by Robert Greene
• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musash
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
• The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter T. Leeson
• The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age by James Dale Davidson
• Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies by Geoffrey West
• Conversations with Major Dick Winters: Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers by Cole C. Kingseed
• The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain by Daniel Gardner
• 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans by Karl Pillemer Ph.D
• “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment” speech at Harvard Law School by Charles T. Munger