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The top 10 books billionaires recommend.

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What do billionaires read? As they’re making their plans, building their companies and investing their money, what are the books they carry around, gift to friends, and dip into when they have a moment to spare? Surely these books hold the answers to how we too can become billionaires, or at least successful by our own measure.

The top 10 books billionaires recommend

Richard Reis and Anurag Ramdasan are founders of Most Recommended Books , a simple site that curates the most recommended books of entrepreneurs, athletes, and people of note in a variety of fields. Reis crunched the numbers to work out which books that billionaires most often recommended and discovered the top ten.

Here are the top ten books that billionaires recommend, from data collated by Most Recommended Books.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Coming in top place and recommended by 11 billionaires on Most Recommended Books; Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Daniel Ek, Keith Rabois, Kishore Biyani, Ray Dalio, Reid Hoffman, Richard Branson, Vinod Khosla, Melinda Gates and Changpeng Zhao. From Wikipedia, Harari “sees the natural sciences as setting the limits of possibility for human activity and sees the social sciences as shaping what happens within those bounds.” Sapiens has sold more than twelve million copies and on Goodreads the book is rated 4.4 out of 5 according to more than 45,000 reviews.

Principles by Ray Dalio

Just behind the top spot and recommended by 10 billionaires, including Drew Houston, Dustin Moskovitz, Howard Marks and Jack Dorsey, Principles has sold over four million copies and was named Amazon’s business book of 2017. Billionaires agree that it’s good. In the book, hedge fund manager Dalio shares principles he developed while running Bridgewater Associates, sparked by receiving a frank memo from his top lieutenants in 1993 concerning his interpersonal performance as a manager. Dalio originally published a shorter version of Principles online in 2011, where it received over three million downloads.

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Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, high output management by andy grove.

In third place and recommended by 9 billionaires including Brian Armstrong, Brian Chesky, Larry Ellison and Ron Conway, High Output Management has over 800 reviews on Goodreads and an average rating of 4.3. The book is a crash course for middle managers by the former Intel CEO, with a foreword by Ben Horowitz. The book’s blurb describes it as a “legendary business book” and “Silicon Valley staple”. Marc Andreessen said, "Andy exemplifies the best of Silicon Valley. Andy built the model for what a high-quality Silicon Valley company could be."

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Recommended by 8 billionaires, this time including Elon Musk, Ev Williams, Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel depicting a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. According to Wikipedia, Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them". As of 2019 the novel had sold 9 million copies.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Recommended by 7 billionaires including Keith Rabois, Larry Page, Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg, The Hard Thing About Hard Things deals with the trials and tribulations that Ben Horowitz encountered during his career as founder CEO to VC at Andreessen Horowitz in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Horowitz differentiates between what is right and what is easy and has been described as one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, famously funny and straight-talking. From over 3,000 reviews on Goodreads, including one which says, “This is one of the best books you’ll ever read on entrepreneurship and being a CEO.” the book’s average rating is 4.23.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack compiled by Peter D. Kaufman

Recommended by Bill Gates, Daniel Ek, Drew Houston, Marc Andreessen, Patrick Collison and, of course, Warren Buffet, Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of speeches and talks by Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman and first published in 2005. The book equips investors with the psychological skills required to keep investing simple and easy. Bill Gates says that Charlie Munger “is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered” and Drew Houston of Dropbox said Poor Charlie’s Almanack was one of the best books he had ever read.

Blitzscaling by Chris Yeh and Reid Hoffman

The book’s subtitle is the lightning-fast path to building massively valuable companies and as Hoffman explains, “Blitzscaling is what you do when you need to grow really, really quickly. It’s the science and art of rapidly building out a company to serve a large and usually global market, with the goal of becoming the first mover at scale.” With a foreword by Bill Gates and over 5,000 reviews on Goodreads, this book is a popular recommendation of billionaires. With a 3.95 score on Goodreads, it’s not a unanimous favourite, but billionaire fans include Brian Chesky, Eric Schmidt, Vinod Khosla, Changpeng Zhao and Sheryl Sandberg.

Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove

How to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company, promises the subtitle of the 8 th most recommended-by-billionaires book. Only the Paranoid Survive is recommended by Bill Gates, Charlie Munger, Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs, Vinod Khosla and Jamie Dimon and follows the story of Intel under Grove’s leadership as CEO and president. “Strategic inflexion points” are explored in the book, which Steve Jobs said, “you must learn about, because sooner or later you are going to live through one.” Over 8,000 Goodreads reviews give the book an average of 3.96 stars. Famous management consultant Peter Drucker said, “"This terrific book is dangerous…It will make people think."

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

Written by a Harvard professor and business professional, this book expands on the concept of disruptive technologies, a term Christensen coined in a 1995 article called Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave. The Innovator’s Dilemma received the Global Business Book Award as the best business book of the year in 1997, the year it was published. The Economist also named it as one of the six most important books about business ever written. Known billionaire fans are Drew Houston, Ev Williams, Jeff Bezos, Mark Benioff, Mark Cuban and Steve Jobs and the book averages 4.03 stars from over 48,000 ratings on Goodreads.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

A science fiction novel published in 1992, Snow Crash is recommended by Ev Williams, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Tobi Lütke, Cameron Winklevoss and Mark Zuckerberg. Publisher Randomhouse describes the book as, “a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you’ll recognize it immediately.” Stephenson originally planned Snow Crash as a computer-generated graphic novel and Goodreads gives it an average of 4.03 stars from over 10,000 reviews (and 258,000 ratings). The book is said to have sold over a million copies in North America alone.

The books that billionaires read

After the top ten come these twelve, in order of popularity: Shoe Dog, Zero to One, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Becoming Steve Jobs, Measure What Matters, Thinking Fast and Slow, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman!”, Antifragile, The Fountainhead, The Art of War, 7 Powers, The Lean Startup. Each of these books has been recommended by at least five billionaires.

Become a billionaire by acting like one. Act like one by thinking like one. Think like one by reading the books that they read and recommend.

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10 Worthwhile Books Written by Self-Made Billionaires The people who started with little and made a lot have written books to help you do the same.

By Deep Patel Jan 30, 2019

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Imagine sitting down and having a conversation with an ultra-successful self-made billionaire like Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban or Oprah Winfrey. What could you learn if you spent an afternoon with Richard Branson or Bill Gates?

Can you imagine all the interesting tidbits or helpful advice they might give you? The personalities mentioned above have all lived very different lives but have found their own path to achieve their ambitions. Meeting these people in person is probably beyond reach for most of us, but thanks to the power of reading, we have access to these amazing innovators and groundbreakers.

Many billionaires have written books detailing their lives and the lessons learned as they built their fortunes. Here are 11 fascinating and insightful books written by billionaires that you should read if you hope to follow in their footsteps.

1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

If there's one thing readers will take away from this book, it's how much fun Richard Branson has in everything he does. This internationally best-selling autobiography details Branson's life, from dropping out of school to founding what would become one of the most influential music labels and a transatlantic airline to setting world records in ballooning and boating across oceans.

Since Losing My Virginity was published in 1998, Branson has published a number of other well-received books, including his updated autobiography, Finding My Virginity , which picks up where this one ends.

Related: 19 Books to Read to Be Successful in 2019

2. Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates

Business @ the Speed of Thought is a must read for business leaders who want to use information flow to gain a competitive edge. Although it was published two decades ago, the examples Gates provides are still relevant and insightful today.

Gates argues that businesses need a digital counterpart to the human nervous system. Businesses with an effective nervous system will have access to the information its leaders need to make good decisions and take action. Gates poses questions to get business leaders thinking about how to improve their process. Does your business have the information flow that enables managers to get the data they need to make decisions? Can employees get access to important data on a daily basis? If not, it's time to build an information system that works.

3. The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett

The Essays of Warren Buffet is a collection of wisdom pulled from Buffett's annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Buffett, who is often hailed as the "Oracle of Omaha" for building his immense wealth through wise long-term investing, shares a lifetime of advice in this book. Each essay gives extraordinary insight into his business philosophy.

The book preserves the integrity of Buffett's words while organizing his letters by theme into a reader-friendly format. This book covers everything from ethics in business to advice on long-term stock investments, and details many of Buffett's tried-and-true strategies. It offers sage advice and important lessons on how to conduct business, while revealing Buffett's perspective on how to navigate both personal and professional decision-making.

4. Made in America by Sam Walton

This is Sam Walton's autobiographical account of how he went from running a single dime store to building his Walmart empire. Made in America candidly shares the story of how he became the undisputed merchant king of the world.

The book was written shortly before Walton's death in 1992. Walton comes across as humble and modest as he details his ambitions and achievements, as well as the mistakes he made. He shares rich anecdotes about his time navigating both small-town America and Wall Street.

5. What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has made history with her legendary talk show, launching her own television network and becoming the nation's first African-American billionaire. But it's the difficult and often heart-wrenching moments of her life that shaped Winfrey into the amazingly successful woman she is.

In What I Know for Sure , Winfrey shares her experiences and insights into overcoming hardships during her childhood and adult life. Lonely and abused as a child and teenager, Winfrey learned to fend for herself and make her own way in life. Her many struggles have transformed her and taught her resilience, and she used that strength to forge a path toward reaching her full potential as she turned her talk show into a media, entertainment and business empire.

Related: 5 Ways to Make a Mark on the World Like Oprah Winfrey

6. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

In Shoe Dog , Phil Knight delves into his past and gives readers an up-close look at the highs, lows and surprising twists behind the creation of what is now the ultra-successful Nike brand. Although a shy and a lackluster salesperson, Knight was daring and resourceful as he followed his vision of selling quality athletic footwear.

With his unconventional yet brilliant team of misfits, he worked tirelessly and weathered lawsuits and scandals. Though many doubted his ability to succeed, he built a company that eventually took on established global powerhouses of athletic wear, such as Adidas, to become the behemoth it is now.

Related: Crazy Things Elon Musk, Mark Cuban and Others Did to Get to the Top

7. Onward by Howard Schultz

This is the story of how Starbucks overcame rocky terrain to become a global coffee chain of behemoth proportions. In 2008, Howard Schultz decided to return as CEO of Starbucks to help restore its financial health and bring the company back to its core values.

In Onward , Schultz is honest with readers about the process and the tough decisions that had to be made along the way. He offers insight into his leadership philosophy: it's not about winning, it's about the right way to win. This is a great read for anyone who wants to understand leadership strategies in action and improve the connection between the brand and the customer.

8. How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban

Using the most insightful material from his popular blog, Blog Maverick , Mark Cuban gives readers a front-row seat to his unconventional yet highly effective ideas on becoming a successful entrepreneur.

In How to Win at the Sport of Business , the Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" investor writes candidly about how he went from sleeping on friends' couches in his 20s to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billionaire. This concise book offers great gems on building a lucrative business and advice on progressing in both personal and business growth.

Related: Mark Cuban on Why You Should Never Listen to Your Customers

9. How to Be Rich by J. Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty, widely known as J. Paul Getty, was an American industrialist who amassed a fortune acquiring oil companies through often ingenious stock takeovers. He was named as the richest living American in 1957, and was worth more than $6 billion (approximately $24.42 billion in 2019) when he died in 1976.

In How to Be Rich , which was first published in 1965, Getty discloses the secrets to his success and provides a blueprint for those who seek to follow in his footsteps. Getty, who was infamously frugal despite being one of the richest men in the world, also delves into the issues of what to do with your wealth once you accrue it. His insights on how to invest in the stock market are still useful today, as are his many practical tips on business fundamentals.

10. Direct from Dell by Michael Dell

Using personal anecdotes from his entrepreneurial life, in Direct from Dell Michael Dell details his journey to building his multinational computer technology company. He was a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Texas when he used $1,000 to launch his business. But his story begins even earlier, with his childhood adventures and ambitions. As a teenager, he took on a summer job selling newspaper subscriptions.

By analyzing sales, he was able to better target potential customers. Learning these entrepreneurial skills early on helped him as he pioneered Dell's build-to-order and direct sales business model for selling computers. He remained at the helm of the company, weathering early struggles and watching his company's stock rise more than 36,000 percent over the next decade. Dell is now one of the largest technology corporations in the world.

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200 Books Written By Billionaires (A Constantly Updated, Complete List)

If you read all of these, you will not come out the same person you came in (in a good way).

Here is the best list on the web of all the books written by billionaires.

I have looked all over the Internet for a list, and I’ve yet to find a list that comes close to what I’ve compiled here. That’s because no one seems to be as plugged into the billionaire universe and the books out there as me. Nor have many people set out to read most or any of these books.

Richard Branson made a good point in his book that news and internet estimates of net worth are usually wildly off in both directions. I tried my best to make this list as accurate as possible by emphasizing more credible sources (Forbes over some content factory). I put more weight on the two net worth sources I trust: Forbes Net Worth Billionaire List and Fortune.

It gets a little dicey since some people can surpass the billionaire level and then fall off later on. For example, Tyler Perry recently crossed the threshold. But he could easily fall off in a year depending on his spending patterns or business events. I’m setting the rule that I’m putting them on the main list if at some point in their life, they hit the mark.

If I had any doubt if people were billionaires, I put their books in a separate list in a section at the bottom.

If you know of a book by a billionaire not on this list, leave a comment. I will keep updating this page.

If you go through any of the following links to buy a book, I will get a commission at no extra cost to you. It really helps support the life of this site and hosting fees.

All Books Written By Billionaires:

My Life and Work by Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motors)
Today and Tomorrow by Henry Ford
The International Jew by Henry Ford
Edison As I Know Him by Henry Ford
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (net worth of $17 Billion according to Forbes)
Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
Made in America by Sam Walton (founder of Walmart)
Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates
The Road Ahead by Bill Gates
Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell
Random Reminiscences of Men and Events by John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller: The Autobiography of an Oil Titan and Philanthropist by John D. Rockefeller
Quotations by John D. Rockefeller
Attack and Win in Business by John D. Rockefeller
The Colorado Industrial Plan by John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller on Making Money: Advice and Words of Wisdom on Building and Sharing Wealth by John D. Rockefeller
Dear Father, Dear Son: Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller and Jr. by John D. Rockefeller
Built, Not Born: A Self-Made Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs by Tom Golisano (net worth $5 billion+)
Zero To One by Peter Thiel (tech investor)
Lean In For Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg (female billionaire, one of the first employees at Google and Facebook)
Lean In: Work, Women and The Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Lean In for Grads by Sheryl Sandberg
How to be The Startup Hero: A Guide and Textbook for Entrepreneurs and Aspiring Entrepreneurs by Tim Draper
Love, Pain and Money: The Making of a Billionaire by John Caudwell
The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking by Eli Broad ( net worth of $7.3 Billion )
Jimmy: An Autobiography by Jim Pattison ( net worth of $6.9 Billion )
Birth: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together by Shari Arison (female billionaire)
The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time by Jim McKelvey, cofounder of Square
Activate Your Goodness: Transforming the World Through Doing Good by Shari Arison
The Doing Good Model: Activate Your Goodness in Business by Shari Arison
The Link: How Doing Good Connects Us to Ourselves, Each Other…and Everything! by Shari Arison
From Red Tape To Red Carpet And Then Some by Gina Rinehart
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by Phil Knight (founder of Nike)
The Wanda Way: The Managerial Philosophy and Values of One of China’s Largest Companies by Jianlin Wang ( net worth of $25 Billion )
Start Small Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start – and Run – Your Own Successful Business by Fred Deluca (founder of Subway, $3 Billion )
Always Fresh by Ronald Joyce (founder of Tim Horton, a doughnut chain, net worth of $1.39 Billion according to Forbes )
Simply Rich by Rich Devos (founder of Amway)
Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People by Rich DeVos
Believe! by Rich DeVos
Compassionate Capitalism by Rich DeVos (this may be confusing since another billionaire wrote a book of the same name)
Hope From My Heart by Rich DeVos
The Essays of Warren Buffett
The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership by Richard Branson
Screw It Let’s Do It: Lessons In Life, Like A Virgin by Richard Branson
Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson
Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson | Book Summary
Reach for the Skies by Richard Branson
Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School by Richard Branson
Finding My Virginity by Richard Branson
What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey – My Book Summary Of This Book
The Snowball (biography of Warren Buffett)
Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad ( Net Worth of $33 Billion according to Forbes )
The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
Eat More Chikin by S. Truett Cathy (the founder of Chick-Fil-A, Net Worth of $6.2 Billion according to Forbes .)
Wealth: Is It Worth It? by S. Truett Cathy
How did you do it, Truett? by S. Truett Cathy
It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men by S. Truett Cathy
It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail by S. Truett Cathy
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
The Generosity Factor: Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure by Ken Blanchard (author of One Minute Manager) and S. Truett Cathy (this is a mini-parable explaining the benefits of generosity.)
Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took On Microsoft by Jim Clark (a.k.a. James H. Clark – net worth $1.3 billion, founder of three billion dollar tech companies)
Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank (Home Depot)
How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers by David M. Rubenstein
The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians by David M. Rubenstein
Winners Never Cheat by Jon Huntsman
Barefoot to Billionaire: Reflections on a Life’s Work and a Promise to Cure Cancer by Jon Huntsman Sr. (Net Worth of $1 Billion according to Forbe s, after giving away $1.2 billion )
Ralph Lauren by Ralph Lauren
Driven from Within by Michael Jordan
For the Love of the Game: My Story by Michael Jordan
I Can’t Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence by Michael Jordan
I’m Back!: More Rare Air by Michael Jordan
The Entrepreneur: 25 Golden Rules for the Global Business Manager by William Heinecke ( net worth of $1.7 Billion according for Forbes )
The Entrepreneur: Twenty-One Golden Rules for the Global Business Manager by William Heinecke (it seems to be an older version of the same book)
How To Win At The Sport of Business by Mark Cuban
Onward by Howard Schultz (Starbucks)
Steering Clear by Peter George Peterson (COE of Lehman Brothers, 1.6 Billion net worth)
Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built A Company One Cup At a Time by Howard Schultz
Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg (Made his money from Bloomberg terminals)
The Business of Happiness by Ted Leonsis
Bailout Riches!: How Everyday Investors Can Make a Fortune Buying Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar by Bill Bartmann
Pizza Tiger by Thomas Monaghan (founder of Domino’s)
How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty ( Fortune named him the richest living American in 1957.)
How to be a Successful Executive by J. Paul Getty
As I See It: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty
My Life and Fortunes, the Autobiography of One of the World’s Wealthiest Men by J. Paul Getty (apparently he wrote two autobiographies?)
The Joys of Collecting by J. Paul Getty (this is more about his priceless art collecting hobby)
Ernest and Julio: Our Story
Shut Up and Listen!: Hard Business Truths that Will Help You Succeed by Tilman Fertitta
Charles Schwab’s Guide To Financial Independence by Charles R. Schwab (net worth of $5.3 Billion)
You’re Fifty, Now What? by Charles Schwab
How to be Your Own Stockbroker by Charles Schwab
Reinventing the Market by Charles Schwab
Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman (investor)
Dream No Little Dreams by Clayton L. Mathile
The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham (a curation of Warren’s shareholder letters)
Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner)
Call Me Ted by Ted Turner (media business)
The First Billion Is The Hardest by T. Boone Pickens
Boone by T. Boone Pickens
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time by David Einhorn (investor)
Soros on Soros by George Soros (probably the densest and most difficult of them all. This guy was born with a genius mind for macro-economists far beyond my comprehension.)
Direct from Dell by Michael Dell
The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman

Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World’s Most Successful Companies by Charles G. Koch
Better India: A Better World by Narayana Murthy
Compassionate Capitalism: How Corporations Can Make Doing Good an Integral Part of Doing Well (2004) by Marc Benioff (net worth $3.9 Billion+)
The Business of Changing the World: Twenty Great Leaders on Strategic Corporate Philanthropy (2006) by Marc Benioff
Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company-and Revolutionized an Industry by Marc Benioff
Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change by Marc Benioff
Habit of Labor: Lessons from a Life of Struggle and Success by Stef Wertheimer
Man at a Machine by Stef Wertheimer
What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence by Stephen A. Schwarzman
Red Zone: Cars, Cows, and Coaches by Red McCombs
Big Red: Memoirs of a Texas Entrepreneur and Philanthropist by Red McCombs
The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street, and Beyond by Peter G. Peterson
Finding America’s Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy (2010) by Peter G. Peterson
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It (2005) by Peter G. Peterson
Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America–and the World (2000) by Peter G. Peterson
Will America Grow up Before it Grows Old: How the Coming Social Security Crisis Threatens You, Your Family and Your Country (1996) by Peter G. Peterson
Facing Up: How to Rescue the Economy From Crushing Debt & Restore the American Dream (1993) by Peter G. Peterson
Sharing the Wealth by Alex Spanos
I Love Capitalism!: An American Story by Ken Langone ($3.4 Billion according to Forbes)
How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud by Ken Fisher
The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don’t by Ken Fisher (I highly disagree with many points in this book; I prefer Warren Buffett’s style and Ken’s father’s book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits)
The Little Book of Market Myths: How to Profit by Avoiding the Investing Mistakes Everyone Else Makes by Ken Fisher
Plan Your Prosperity: The Only Retirement Guide You’ll Ever Need, Starting Now–Whether You’re 22, 52 or 82 by Ken Fisher
Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit from It — Seeing Through Wall Street’s Money-Killing Myths by Ken Fisher
Markets Never Forget (But People Do): How Your Memory Is Costing You Money—and Why This Time Isn’t Different by Ken Fisher
The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) by Ken Fisher
Beat the Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently by Ken Fisher
Battle for Investment Survival by Ken Fisher
100 Minds That Made the Market by Ken Fisher
How Google Works and The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Alphabet (formerly Google), 138th richest man in the world. (What I find interesting about him is that he doesn’t consider himself an entrepreneur. He considers himself a manager that helped Larry and Sergie create their dream of Google. You don’t have to be a CEO or founder guys!)
Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons by Seymour Schulich (Net worth of $1.5 billion according to Wikipedia )
Grinding it Out by Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald’s)
PAPA: The Story of Papa John’s Pizza by John H. Schnatter ( Net worth of $1 billion according to Forbes )
The Art Of the Deal by Donald J. Trump
Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich-And Why Most Don’t by Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki
Think Like A Champion by Donald Trump
Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again Donald Trump
The America We Deserve by Donald Trump
Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received by Donald Trump
Trump 101: The Way to Success by Donald Trump (2006)
Trump University Wealth Building 101: Your First 90 Days on the Path to Prosperity by Donald Trump (2007)
Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success by Donald Trump (2007)
Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life by Donald Trump (2007)
Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message by Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki
Customers Come First: From One Small Shop to a Worldwide Network of Stores by Masatoshi Ito
The Heart Of Doing Business: Memoirs Of An Entrepreneur by Masatoshi Ito
Am I Being Too Subtle?: The Adventures of a Business Maverick by Sam Zell ( Net worth of $5 Billion according to Forbes )
Lui Che-woo: Creating Value: The Journey of a Self-Made Billionaire: The Authorized Biography by Lui Che woo by Lui Che-woo ( Net worth of $15 Billion according to Forbes )
Against All Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Net worth of $4.3 Billion according to Forbes)
A History of Great Inventions by James Dyson
Design by James Dyson
Whatever the Odds The Incredible Story Behind DLF by Kushal Pal Singh (also known as K.P. Singh, Net worth of $5.3 Billion according to Forbes )
Lim Goh Tong: My Life Story ( Net worth of 4.2 billions dollar according to Forbes when he died , richest Malaysian at the time)
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard (Net worth of $1 Billion according to Forbes, founder of Patagonia, more of his books are in the Honorable Mention section)
The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years by Yvon Chouinard
Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune by Thor Bjorgolfsson
Run Your Business, Don’t Let It Run You: Learning and Living Professional Management by Clay Mathile
In for a Penny: A Business Adventure by Peter Hargreaves (founder of Subway, Net worth of $2.9 Billion)
Powerhouse Principles: The Ultimate Blueprint for Real Estate Success in an Ever-Changing Market by Jorge Perez ( $2.8 Billion )
Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer by Alfred Taubman ( $3.1 Billion )
A Passion to Win by Sumner Redstone (chairman of Viacom, Net worth of $5.4 Billion according to Forbes ) – Read My Book Summary

Everything is Possible: Life and Business Lessons from a Self-Made Billionaire and the Founder of Slim-Fast by S. Daniel Abraham ( net worth of $2.1 Billion according to Forbes )
Peace is Possible: Conversations with Arab and Israeli Leaders from 1988 to the Present by S. Daniel Abraham
The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time by Subhash Chandra (net worth of $4.4 Billion according to Forbes)
A Passion to Build: a Memoir of David M. Consunji (net worth of $3.5 Billion)
Dave Says Well Done!: The Common Guy’s Guide to Everyday Success by Rex David “Dave” Thomas (founder of Wendy’s)
My Life & the Principles for Success by H. Ross Perot ( net worth of $4.1 Billion )
Ross Perot: My Life by H. Ross Perot
A Business Handbook: Advice I Gave My Son by H. Ross Perot
United We Stand: How We Can Take Back Our Country by H. Ross Perot
Not for Sale At Any Price: How We Can Save America for Our Children by H. Ross Perot
Save Your Job, Save Our Country by H. Ross Perot
The Dollar Crisis by H. Ross Perot
Intensive Care by H. Ross Perot
Ross Perot Speaks Out: Straight Talking Answers to Today’s Tough Questions by H. Ross Perot
Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod and Reel by Yvon Chouinard
180° South: Conquerors of the Useless by Yvon Chouinard
Climbing Ice by Yvon Chouinard
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders by Philip Anschutz
Out Where the West Begins, Volume 2: Creating and Civilizing the American West by Philip Anschutz
Oil of Russia: Past, Present & Future by Vagit Alekperov

Vertically Integrated Oil Companies of Russia: Formation Methodology and Realization by Vagit Alekperov

The New Normal: Great Opportunities in a Time of Great Risk by Roger McNamee (tech investor)
Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee
Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back by Jeff Hoffman (founder of Priceline.com)
Anticipating Change: Secrets Behind the SAP Empire by Hasso Plattner
In-Memory Data Management: Technology and Applications by Hasso Plattner
Design Thinking Research: Building Innovators by Hasso Plattner
Higher Is Waiting by Tyler Perry
Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry
What You See Is What You Get by Alan Sugar
How to Invest by David Rubenstein

These People May Be Billionaires

Let’s face it. It’s really hard to accurately tell if someone is a billionaire. As Richard Branson says in his books, a lot of the claims about net worth are wildly off since none of it is based on data that is actually public record. There are exceptions, such as if one has a public company yet many have private companies. Hence, a lot of this is to my best conjecture. I’m putting this section aside for people I had a harder time verifying for various reasons. For example, I don’t know if the founder of Trader Joe became a billionaire by the time he died. I’m sure he made a lot of money, and the company has grown to a formidable size decades after his passing; it’s just not clear.

Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys

Billionaires That Lost It All

When I see people rise up quickly to become millionaires in the lime-light but do so in flamboyant, excessive ways, I wonder … but will they stay millionaires? Lately, there have been a lot of young people who have done just that through social media, like Rice Gum or Tai Lopez . While 99% of the world has bought into the idea that they’re gods, history proves differently. I believe time will tell. If you give anyone a couple decades, you’ll find out who stood the test of the time.

The same applies to billionaires. There have been a few who have reached this point and fallen back down. Therefore, I haven’t deemed the books written by the billionaires who fall into this category worthy to be placed into the main list. Their overall strategy failed them, so we shouldn’t take their advice point blank. Nonetheless, we can still learn from their failures so we don’t make the same ones.

That’s why I prefer the advice of Warren Buffet. He’s a billionaire who has consistently stayed rich for over six decades, but preaches the values and qualities of being a good person and living a life beyond money. His whole motto revolves around sacrificing any extra money that can be made if it means a potential loss of reputation or potential catastrophic loss of money.

O X Da Questão by Eike Batista : This book is written in Portuguese. In 2012, he was the richest person in Brazil with a net worth of $30 Billion. Due to risky investments, he loss all of his money and plunged to a negative billion dollar net worth. Many of his cars, including a white Lamborghini Aventador were seized.

Billionaires That Lost Everything And Got It Back

Losing your billion is tough. One billionaire, Adolf Merckle , even killed himself because of this. But it takes mental fortitude to not give up and continue. Two billionaires come to mind who have done this:

Donald Trump is the one billionaire who supposedly claims he plunged into multiple millions into debt, but managed to pick himself back up and make it back. He details the story in his books and points to a moment when he remarked that a homeless man on the street was worth millions more than him. Rather than giving up, he persevered and even ended up becoming President of the United States.

Another book that documents this is Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune by Thor Bjorgolfsson.

Sam Wyly’s books are also included here:

1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur To Billionaire
Texas Got It Right!
The Immigrant Spirit: How Newcomers Enrich America
Immigrants Enrich Us
The Wyly Family: Coming to America

Sam was once a billionaire but is now bankrupt .

Books About Billionaires But Not Written By Billionaires

This list includes books that were:

recommended by billionaires.
written by people directly related to billionaires.
written by someone else about billionaires, but not by the actual billionaire.

This list is nowhere near exhaustive because there are so many more of these. I may end up writing another article for those. Keep in mind that for some famous billionaires, like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, or Jack Ma, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books written about them. I will not list them all here because most aren’t worth your time. Anyone can write these and slap their name on them and most have horrible ratings because of this. If you just search their name on Amazon, you’ll find them yourself.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
DREAM BIG: How the Brazilian Trio behind 3G Capital – Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira – acquired Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Heinz by Cristiane Correa
The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune (not written by Chuck himself. It’s a biography)
Getting There by Zoe Gillian Segal
Invent and Wander (a book about Jeff Bezos)
Carlos Slim: The Richest Man in the World/The Authorized Biography by Jose Martinez
How I Did It: Lessons From The Front Lines of Business (Pulls from multiple columns of the Harvard Business Review and features multiple billionaires including Kevin Plank and Eric Schmidt)
Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life by Lisa Chaney – This one is written about a female founder of a multi-billion dollar fashion company, Chanel. It is put here because it is questionable whether or not she actually hit a billion dollar net worth during her lifetime and it wasn’t written by her. Having said that, she did create an incredible company. The book seems to be more about her personal life than business success though.
Showing Up For Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime by Bill Gates Sr. (father of Bill Gates)
Elon Musk’s biography
Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (not by Charlie, but quoting a lot of his best stuff)
Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill (studied 200+ of the richest people in the world in-person for 20+ years, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and more)
Awaken the Millionaire Within You: Lessons from Carlos Wizard Martins by Carlos Wizard Martins (Net worth of $1 billion in 2014 on Forbes but he sold his company for $700 million and isn’t a billionaire anymore).
Forrest Mars, Jr. (27th richest man in the world, owner of a candy company, net worth $11+ billion) recommends these books according to Fortune (click the link).
The Everything Store by Brad Stone (It’s about Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com)
A Passion For Success by Kazuo Inamori (Net worth of $900 million according to Forbes )
John L. Gokongwei Jr.: The Path Of Entrepreneurship by Marites A. Khanser (Net worth of $6.2 Billion)
The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success As You Start, Build, or Manage a Business by Martha Stewart (She may have hit a billionaire at some point. Now, it seems she’s dipped below that, especially after giving away to charity.)

These books were recommended by the billionaire Forrest Mars (9+ billion net worth) :

General and Industrial Management by Henri Fayol
Elementsof Administration by Lyndall F. Urwick
The Principles of Organization by James D. Mooney

“Forrest has the best management system I’ve ever come across. It permits decentralization and encourages initiative–but keeps firm control at the top.” -former Mars Executive, according to Fortune article.

Avoid These Books by Billionaires

Let’s be honest. One of the key reasons we read these is to earn more money. Therefore, there are quite a few books by billionaires that I didn’t feel fit to include in the main list because their topic is far off from any advice on earning money. They will go in this list:

Peter G. Peterson’s books on politics
H. Ross Perot’s books on politics

My Favorites

So far, I’ve read quite a few of them and gained some incredible insights. I love doing this because a lot of millionaire advice is contradictory.

I love doing this because a lot of millionaire advice is contradictory. One of the reasons behind this is that millionaires surprisingly are sometimes still struggling to figure things out and sometimes have naive interpretations on how they did it.

I loved these for many reasons. Some of them included that they were conversational, easy to understand, and had advice applicable to life as well as business. Here they are in no particular order:

Made in America by Sam Walton
What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
The Virgin Way by Richard Branson (or any book by Branson, really)
Principles by Ray Dalio
How to be a Billionaire by Martin Fridson

My Least Favorites

The Science of Success by Charles Koch because it was short and filled with corporate lingo. I still got a lot out of it though.
Business @ The Speed of Thought by Bill Gates because it was too dry and focused on specific business organization tactics with a touch of strategy. Plus, you can tell Bill isn’t the best writer. Note: Bill is one of my favorite people, but I think I should still be honest here.
The Only Three Questions That Count by Ken Fischer (or any of his books). Probably my least favorite. Any book by Ken really irritates me because a lot of his books are about random tips to trade the stock market, like fluctuations by whether or not the president is a democrat or not. Few people will understand the book unless they’re into money management and fund investing. I didn’t agree with a lot of the advice because it wasn’t logical, had holes, and went against the entire Buffett philosophy of investing. I have a feeling he made his money by getting a tons of investors to give him money and taking a hefty management fee. This structure means he’s in the business of getting people to join his fund more than performance. I liked what he says in his books about giving back and charity.

People That Fell Short of the Billion Dollar Mark But Still Made A Lot

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove ($400 million net worth in 2008. Likely, an inflated number)
Life as I Have Known It Has Been Finger Lickin’ Good by Harland Sanders (While people would love to believe that Colonel Sanders started when he was old and became a billionaire starting KFC, he didn’t make the mark by his death.)
Decisions by Jim Treliving (estimated net worth of 700 million)
Mary Kay Way by Mary Kay Ash (her company has now made her son a billionaire but it isn’t verifiable that she made the mark during her lifetime)
Miracles Happen by Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay: You Can Have It All: Lifetime Wisdom from America’s Foremost Woman Entrepreneur by Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay on People Management by Mary Kay Ash
Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove (former CEO of Intel)
Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond by Thomas Watson Junior (he made $346,590 in 1955, which is around $3.1 million inflation-adjusted)
How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis (his net worth was estimated around $100 million; not a billionaire but worth a mention)

Books By People Who Can’t Be Verified as Billionaires

A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas That Helped Build IBM by Thomas J. Watson Jr. (This man was in charge of managing billions for IBM as his job but that doesn’t mean he earned billions.)
Relentless by Ted Rogers
Billionaire: Secrets to Success by Bill Bartmann (note: he was only a billionaire temporarily )
Bouncing Back: The Life of Bill Bartmann
9 Steps to Achieve Any Goal by Bill Bartmann
21 Secrets to Success and Happiness by John Templeton (one of the best investors in history)
Golden Nuggets by John Templeton
Templeton Plan by John Templeton
Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons

Books Written By Billionaires In Languages Other Than English

Chairul Tanjung Si Anak Singkong by Tjahja Gunawan Diredja ( net worth of $4.9 Billion according to Forbes ) – written in Indonesian.
One win, nine losses by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese], $19 Billion Net Worth
Throw Away Your Success in a Day by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese]
Notes of a Manager by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese]

There’s too many to mention. I’m better off doing an article focusing on billionaire patterns I’ve learned.

One common thing is to prepare and hold your ground for lawsuits. A lot of these people had to battle in the court. It just ends up happening at some point when you get to that size and a lot of people want to sue you for money.

Be prepared to trust your gut and fight back if you believe you were right. Martha Stewart and Richard Branson’s stories stand out in particular. Remember: bad stuff happens and that’s okay.

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By Will Chou

I am the the founder of this site and I am grateful you are here to be part of this awesome community. I help hard-working Asian American Millennials get rich doing work they love.

107 comments

Fascinating collection of books written by billionaires. Inspirational and informative. Thanks for sharing these insights into success!

My pleasure

It gives me Great pleasure to recommend the 200th book in this awesome list of books you have created. And that book is “How to Invest: Masters on the Craft.” by billionaire David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group.

Thank you for sharing this!

Also please add the book Built, Not Born: A Self-Made Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs Tom Golisano

Good suggestion. Plain, simple industry he made his money, but that works sometimes

Also please add billionaire John Caudwell’s Love, Pain & Money: The Making of a Billionaire

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Trader-Joe-Business-Still/dp/1400225434/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I cant verify he was a billionaire by the time he died. Sure enough, decades later, his company is likely worth a lot. No public record for most of this so it’s very hard to say. I’ll put him under maybe.

Invent and Wander, about Jeff Bezos

Hi, Billionaire tim Draper has written a book titled “How to be a startup hero”.

Please add “Invent and wander” which is a book of collected writings by world’s richest man Jeff Bezos.

Hello, Please add “Shut up and Listen!” Book by billionaire Tilman Fertitta, thanks.

Would Jay Gould qualify for the “ Books About Billionaires But Not Written By Billionaires”? Haven’t done extensive research, just a quick google search, and there’s varying estimates but adjusted for inflation he is a billionaire. One of the lesser known Robber Barons.

Yeah, it’s hard to estimate with inflation, but I’ll include him. He seems credible.

Innovation stack by co founder of sqare Jim McKelvey he is a billionaire and great writer

alan sugar- what you see is what you get. british billionaire worth 1-2b£

Thanks. Added

I can not find any information to verify Roger McNamee is a billionaire. How do you come up with that?

At the time, there was more info on the web about his status, but not a lot. It seems like since, it’s been taken down. I am debating taking him off or keeping him on. I can be swayed if there was clear evidence he is not

Please also add “The ONE THING” by Gary Keller.

He’s not a verified billionaire by any means. Last I heard he’s a millionaire

Hey Will, thanks for creating this list! It is super helpful.

Great list! You also need to add “ Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back” by Jeff Hoffman who is the Billionaire founder of Priceline website!

This was a tough call since just because he founded it doesn’t guarantee he had enough ownership percent when he exited (which couldve been early on) to become a billionaire. My research doesn’t show much evidence against or for, but enough to add him to the list for now.

Thanks for your effort, we do appreciate that Could you please sort them off by business such as real estate, stock market etc.. ? Thanks again.

I’d consider that if there’s enough demand – a lot of work for just one person

david rubeinstein

Book by stephen schwarzman

Thanks for the tip! Will add

stephen schwarzman

Alekperov, Vagit. Russian Oil: A Top Manager’s View

SOURCE: Oil of Russia: Past, Present & Future > Other Works by Vagit Alekperov > Alekperov, Vagit. Russian Oil: A Top Manager’s View[Neft Rossii: vzglyad top-menedzhera]. Moscow, 2001.

Thanks, I’ll add

Hasso Plattner books

measure what matters by John Doerr, from KPCB

I can’t believe I missd that one! Thanks!

Vagit Alekperov: .Oil of Russia: Past, Present & Future Hardcover

Tadashi Yanai: .One win nine losses November .Throw Away Your Success in a Day

PS: Both books are in Japanese , as far as i know.

Thanks!! Added

Out Where the West Begins by Philip Anschutz

John H. Schnatter is not a billionaire any more

Thanks for the info! I’m debating keeping him on since he was at one point.

Trailblazer by Marc Benioff

Added. Thank you!!

T. Boone Pickens is not a billionaire

I’m debating keeping him on since he was at one point.

Run Your Business, Don’t Let It Run You: Learning and Living Professional Management by Clay Mathile

Added thanks!!!

Thomas Monaghan is not a billionaire.

How sure are you? Are you basing it off those celebritynetworth websites? What if those are made up numbers from anonymous people

.Michael Jordan books .barefoot to billionaire by Jon M Huntsman

Thank you! I added Michael’s books. Jon’s is already there

Big debt crises by Ray Dalio

Oh, yeah. Thanks, I’ll add it.

Thanks for the work you’ve put into this Will. Though you bash Tai Lopez I truly believe his mantra of, if you want to learn anything, go straight to the top. As far as reading goes, no book on business written by some shmuck is going to be as good as going directly to the SOURCE and hearing billionaires talk about how they succeeded in their own words.

You’ve given me a lifelong reading list, thanks!!!

Glad you found value

“I Love Capitalism” ~ by Ken Langone. A must-have on this list!

Thanks so much for alerting me! I’ll add it

my favorite book ” The Heart Of Doing Business”

Interesting. Thanks for telling me. Why this book?

Dream Big by Jorge Lemann – Warren buffett’s partner in buying Heinz, Buger King, Tim Hortons and others.

https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Big-Sonho-Grande-Anheuser-Busch/dp/8543100836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532348763&sr=8-1&keywords=jorge+lemann

Thanks very much, I’ll add it

Love it. Thank you so much!

You’re welcome!

What would help (if you somewhere find the time in between reading all these books), is if you add a link to the page where people can buy them (Use your mind and make it a referral link!). That way people can order them easily.

Great list by the way!

A book to add to the list: Jack ma – Alibaba (Founder Alibaba)

Yes, I’m aware of this and I will add them soon. There is a link for the first book on the list already, which takes you to the Amazon page. If you search and/or buy any books from that URL, I get a commission at no extra cost to you. I’m aware of affiliate links but was wary. But this is a sign that you (and maybe other readers) don’t feel bad when they see an affiliate link.

I definately don’t since I still got to pay the same price, and I have an easy way to thank you for creating the list!

Thanks, Angelo. I will keep that in mind.

“Principles” by Ray Dalio

Will, maybe you should publish the Chinese book list that I send to you. It may benefit someone

Can you send that list again? I must have lost the list you sent in a comment.

Here are book of other billionaires 1)Gokongwei’s biography, John L. Gokongwei Jr.: The Path of Entrepreneurship by Gokongwei net worth $6.2 billion 2)A passion to build: a memioir of David M. Consunji by David M. Consunji net worth 3.5 $billion 3)Awaken the millionaire within you: Lessons from Carlos Wizard Martins by Carlos Wizard Martins (net worth $1 billion in 2014, he is not on Forbes list any more because he sell his company for $900 million). This book is one of the best book I have ever read

here is the book written by billionaires but haven’t translate to English, I wish somebody will translate them or I will hire people to translate them when i get richer

Chairul Tanjung Si Anak Singkong by Chairul Tanjung (net worth 4.8 billion)

Here are even more amazing books, sorry today it seem like I update to many book

Dream No Little Dreams by Clayton L. Mathile (he worth 3.8 billion dollar https://www.forbes.com/profile/clayton-mathile/?list=rtb )

Whatever the Odds The Incredible Story Behind DLF by Kushal Pal Singh (he worth 5.3 billion dollar https://www.forbes.com/profile/kushal-pal-singh/?list=rtb )

Lim Goh Tong: My life story (he was worth 4.2 billions dollar when he died in 2007, he was richest Malaysian at that time)

Thanks for the Forbes links. They help me verify and it’s the most credible source, though not always completely accurate.

I suggest using Amazon’s author feature as well. You can click into the author name and see if they wrote any other books.

here are one of the amazing book I read also. It is written by Eike Batista. (In 2012 he is the richest person in Brazil and he is worth 30 billion dollar. Up to now due to risky investment in oil businesses he loss all of his money and stay in debt by a billion dollar. However his book definitely still worth a read about how he made it from nothing to 30 billions dollar). It is written in Portuguese but Google Translate do very good job when it come to translate from Portuguese to English .This is the link to download that book http://lelivros.love/book/download-o-x-da-questao-eike-batista-em-epub-mobi-e-pdf/ After download a book you can convert it in to doc and use google translate to read it

Can you read Chinese or Do you want me to share books that are written by Chinese billionaires which are written in Chinese?. Some of these books have been Translated to English but most haven’t. If you like it, I will share those books with the link that you can verify their net worth. Some of these books are the best book I have ever read in my life. Good day, Will. See you soon

I can’t read but please let me know about them.

some new book up date Am I Being Too Subtle?: The Adventures of a Business Maverick by Sam Zell (net worth 4 billion) Lui Che-woo: Creating Value: The Journey of a Self-Made Billionaire: The Authorized Biography by Lui Che woo (net worth 15 billion) PAPA: The Story of Papa John’s Pizza by John H. Schnatter (net worth 1 billion)

You are the MAN, Dong. I got all your comments. I will have to read these. I’ll vet these and add those I can verify to the list. How do you find these? You’re amazing.

Thank you, Will. So happy that you have the same passion with me. I really love to read book written by billionaire like you do. You are the one who very kind to share those book to people, Your list is probably the best list on the Internet.And there are many more book that I haven’t see in your list. Here are some more (If they are not billionaire right now, they are at list was a billionaire when I found them on Internet)

The Entrepreneur: 25 Golden Rules for the Global Business Manager by William Heinecke (net worth 1.8 billiona, according to Forbes 2017 link: https://www.forbes.com/profile/william-heinecke/?list=rtb )

Here are even more books written by billionaire recently Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune by Thor Bjorgolfsson (Thor Bjorgolfsson net worth 1 billion last year, can not find him on Forbes list right now)

In for a Penny: A Business Adventure by Peter Hargreaves net worth 2.9 billion https://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-hargreaves/?list=rtb

Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer by alfred taubman (He was worth 3.5 $billion when he die in 2015)

Powerhouse Principles: The Ultimate Blueprint for Real Estate Success in an Ever-Changing Market by Jorge Perez (net worth $2.8billion https://www.forbes.com/profile/jorge-perez/?list=rtb )

Start Small Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start – and Run – Your Own Successful Business by Fred Deluca founder of Subway (he was aslo worth 3.5 $billion when he die in 2015)

There are still many more book and I will gradually update it on your blog, Will. Thank you again for your kindness to sharing this list

Thank YOU. I was planning on going straight down the entire list of billionaires and see if they had written books comprehensively but never got around to it yet. Thanks for doing some of the work for me.

Yes, I plan on reading all of them. It is ridiculous how no one has thought to do this before. You will come out so much better after reading these.

here are some more against all odds by Jame Dyson (net worth 4 $billion) let my people go surfing by Yvon Chouinard (net worth 1 $billion) Everything is possible by S. Daniel Abraham (net worth 1 $billion)

Here are some of the new book: The Z factor written by Subhash Chandra (Net worth: 4 $billion) Creating Value: The Journey of a Self-Made Billionaire written by Lui che woo (Net worth 15 $billion) Am I being too subtle written by Sam Zell (net worth: 4 $billion)

one more: The King of Shaves Story: How I Built a Great Business in Tough Times by Will King

I would like to suggest: Making It Big by Binod Chaudhary (He is a billionaire from Nepal) Mochtar Riady: My Life Story (One of top business magnate from Indonesia, the founder of Lippo Group) The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles from America’s Greatest Woman Entrepreneur

Thanks for these suggestions, GW. I will have to vet them thoroughly before it’s confirmed they’re billionaires. Howd you find out about these?

buddy you should also have mentioned books written by henry ford

You’re right. Thanks for mentioning it. Added.

you miss the book A Passion to Win by Sumner Redstone 5.3 Billion Forbes

You are the man, Dong! I will add that and definitely have to read that.

You can add “Get Smarter” by Seymour Schulich to the list (1.75b net worth).

Also “A Passion For Success” by Kazuo Inamori to the honorable mentions section (900m net worth).

Thanks so much Robert! Added. How did you find these? This is amazing!

Do you have a blog/ youtube? notes. Which have you read?

This is my blog. My youtube is youtube.com/willyoulaugh I’ve read about 15 or so of these so far. I have filmed a few videos and podcasts on what I learned from them.

thank you a lot .i am going to try to read some of these books and i hope they will help me to improve my understanding about personal development and business development as well as risk taking.

Thanks for reading and good luck Arsene!

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Books Billionaires Read

by Ray Dalio

#1 New York Times Bestseller.

“Significant...The book is both instructive and surprisingly moving.” —The New York Times

Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth” and “radical transparency,” include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards” for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Here, from a man who has been called both “the Steve Jobs of investing” and “the philosopher king of the financial universe” (CIO magazine), is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you’ll find in the conventional business press.

Our favourite quote from Principles

Above all else, I want you to think for yourself, to decide 1) what you want, 2) what is true and 3) what to do about it.

by Yuval Noah Harari

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens , Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future.

Our favourite quote from Sapiens

You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.

High Output Management

By andrew grove.

In this legendary business book and Silicon Valley staple, the former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel shares his perspective on how to build and run a company.

The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, High Output Management is equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and startup founders. Grove covers techniques for creating highly productive teams, demonstrating methods of motivation that lead to peak performance—throughout, High Output Management is a practical handbook for navigating real-life business scenarios and a powerful management manifesto with the ability to revolutionize the way we work.

Our favourite quote from High Output Management

Remember too that your time is your one finite resource, and when you say “yes” to one thing you are inevitably saying “no” to another.

Play Nice But Win

By michael dell.

In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely.

‍ Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential.

More than an honest portrait of a leader at a crossroads, Play Nice But Win is a survival story proving that while anyone with technological insight and entrepreneurial zeal might build something great—it takes a leader to build something that lasts.

Our favourite quote from Play Nice But Win

The Innovator's Dilemma

By clayton m. christensen.

Named one of 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime by Amazon Editors. A Wall Street Journal and Businessweek bestseller. Named by Fast Company as one of the most influential leadership books in its Leadership Hall of Fame. An innovation classic. From Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos, Clay Christensen’s work continues to underpin today’s most innovative leaders and organizations.

The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, by renowned author Clayton M. Christensen. His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices.

Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator’s Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator’s Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.

Our favourite quote from The Innovator's Dilemma

Disruptive technology should be framed as a marketing challenge, not a technological one.

Atlas Shrugged

By ayn rand.

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Who is John Galt? When he says that he will stop the motor of the world, is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battles not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men and women in this book. You will discover why a productive genius becomes a worthless playboy...why a great steel industrialist is working for his own destruction...why a composer gives up his career on the night of his triumph...why a beautiful woman who runs a transcontinental railroad falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill.

Atlas Shrugged, a modern classic and Rand’s most extensive statement of Objectivism—her groundbreaking philosophy—offers the reader the spectacle of human greatness, depicted with all the poetry and power of one of the twentieth century’s leading artists.

Our favourite quote from Atlas Shrugged

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.

by Neal Stephenson

One of Time’s 100 best English-language novels.

A mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous, you’ll recognize it immediately.

Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison—a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.

“[Snow Crash is] a cross between Neuromancer and Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. This is no mere hyperbole.”—The San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the twenty-first century.”—William Gibson“Brilliantly realized . . . Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow.”—The New York Times Book Review

Our favourite quote from Snow Crash

Ninety-nine percent of everything that goes on in most Christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion. Intelligent people all notice this sooner or later, and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshit, which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

By ben horowitz.

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies.

A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in. Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.

Our favourite quote from The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Every time I read a management or self-help book, I find myself saying, “That’s fine, but that wasn’t really the hard thing about the situation.” The hard thing isn’t setting a big, hairy, audacious goal. The hard thing is laying people off when you miss the big goal. The hard thing isn’t hiring great people. The hard thing is when those “great people” develop a sense of entitlement and start demanding unreasonable things. The hard thing isn’t setting up an organizational chart. The hard thing is getting people to communicate within the organization that you just designed. The hard thing isn’t dreaming big. The hard thing is waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when the dream turns into a nightmare.

Zero to One

By peter thiel.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets.

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we're too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won't make a search engine. Tomorrow's champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today's marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique.

Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.

Our favourite quote from Zero to One

The best entrepreneurs know this: every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.

by Phil Knight

In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.

Young, searching, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year, 1963. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is more than a logo. A symbol of grace and greatness, it’s one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. Now, in a memoir that’s surprising, humble, unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted, he tells his story at last. It all begins with a classic crossroads moment. Twenty-four years old, backpacking through Asia and Europe and Africa, wrestling with life’s Great Questions, Knight decides the unconventional path is the only one for him. Rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, something new, dynamic, different. Knight details the many terrifying risks he encountered along the way, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors, the countless doubters and haters and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs and narrow escapes. Above all, he recalls the foundational relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers.

Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the redemptive, transformative power of sports, they created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything.

Our favourite quote from Shoe Dog

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

Only the Paranoid Survive

Andy Grove, founder and former CEO of Intel shares his strategy for success as he takes the reader deep inside the workings of a major company in Only the Paranoid Survive.

Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel became the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy for measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside--in a new way.

Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever.

Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.

Our favourite quote from Only the Paranoid Survive

Businesses fail either because they leave their customers or because their customer leave them!

Blitzscaling

By reid hoffman.

LinkedIn cofounder, legendary investor, and host of the award-winning Masters of Scale podcast reveals the secret to starting and scaling massively valuable companies.

What entrepreneur or founder doesn't aspire to build the next Amazon, Facebook, or Airbnb? Yet those who actually manage to do so are exceedingly rare. So what separates the startups that get disrupted and disappear from the ones who grow to become global giants?

The secret is blitzscaling: a set of techniques for scaling up at a dizzying pace that blows competitors out of the water. The objective of Blitzscaling is not to go from zero to one, but from one to one billion -as quickly as possible.

When growing at a breakneck pace, getting to next level requires very different strategies from those that got you to where you are today. In a book inspired by their popular class at Stanford Business School, Hoffman and Yeh reveal how to navigate the necessary shifts and weather the unique challenges that arise at each stage of a company's life cycle, such as: how to design business models for igniting and sustaining relentless growth; strategies for hiring and managing; how the role of the founder and company culture must evolve as the business matures, and more.

Whether your business has ten employees or ten thousand, Blitzscaling is the essential playbook for winning in a world where speed is the only competitive advantage that matters.

Our favourite quote from Blitzscaling

There’s a common misconception that Silicon Valley is the accelerator of the world. The real story is that the world keeps getting faster—Silicon Valley is just the first place to figure out how to keep pace.

Poor Charlie's Almanack

By charlie munger.

Poor Charlie's Almanack is a collection of speeches and talks by Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman.

Charlie Munger is the long serving vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. This book brings together his investing thoughts beyond his famous statement "I have nothing to add." Munger is an admirer of Benjamin Franklin, and the book's title is a tribute to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack.

Net proceeds from sales of the book go to the Munger Research Center at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Our favourite quote from Poor Charlie's Almanack

Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.

The Fountainhead

The revolutionary literary vision that sowed the seeds of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's groundbreaking philosophy, and brought her immediate worldwide acclaim. This modern classic is the story of intransigent young architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite...of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy...and of the fanatic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. As fresh today as it was then, Rand’s provocative novel presents one of the most challenging ideas in all of fiction—that man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress...

“A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly...This is the only novel of ideas written by an American woman that I can recall.”—The New York Times

Our favourite quote from The Fountainhead

To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul - would you understand why that's much harder?

Antifragile

By nassim nicholas taleb.

From the bestselling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost philosophers of our time, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a book on how some systems actually benefit from disorder.

In The Black Swan Taleb outlined a problem; in Antifragile he offers a definitive solution: how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. For what he calls the "antifragile" is one step beyond robust, as it benefits from adversity, uncertainty and stressors, just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension.

Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, and proposing that things be built in an antifragile manner. Extremely ambitious and multidisciplinary, Antifragile provides a blueprint for how to behave-and thrive-in a world we don't understand and which is too uncertain for us to even try to understand. He who is not antifragile will perish. Why is the city state better than the nation state, why is debt bad for you, and why is almost everything modern bound to fail? The book covers innovation, health, biology, medicine, life decisions, politics, foreign policy, urban planning, war, personal finance, and economic systems. Throughout, the voice and recipes of the ancient wisdom from Phoenician, Roman, Greek, and Medieval sources are heard loud and clear.

Our favourite quote from Antifragile

The psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer has a simple heuristic. Never ask the doctor what you should do. Ask him what he would do if he were in your place. You would be surprised at the difference.

The Art of War

Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on Sun Tzu to warfare and civilization have adapted these teachings for use in politics, business and everyday life. The Art of War is a book which should be used to gain advantage of opponents in the boardroom and battlefield alike.

Our favourite quote from The Art of War

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

The Lean Startup

By eric ries.

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. ‍

The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

Our favourite quote from The Lean Startup

The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.

Good to Great

By jim collins.

To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The findings will surprise many readers and, quite frankly, upset others.

Our favourite quote from Good to Great

Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"

By richard p. feynman.

One of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national bestseller that "buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist" (Science Digest).

Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work that “can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist” (Detroit Free Press), Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets―and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman’s life shines through in all its eccentric glory―a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.

Our favourite quote from "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

By daniel kahneman.

In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

Our favourite quote from Thinking, Fast and Slow

A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.

Measure What Matters

By john doerr.

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive.

In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered.

Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked.

In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization.

The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention.

In Measure What Matters , Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

Our favourite quote from Measure What Matters

We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. —Steve Jobs

The Rational Optimist

By matt ridley.

For two hundred years the pessimists have dominated public discourse, insisting that things will soon be getting much worse. But in fact, life is getting better; and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.

In his bold and bracing exploration into how human culture evolves positively through exchange and specialization, bestselling author Matt Ridley does more than describe how things are getting better. He explains why. An astute, refreshing, and revelatory work that covers the entire sweep of human history; from the Stone Age to the Internet.

Our favourite quote from The Rational Optimist

It is strange to me that most people assume companies will be imperfect (as they are), but they assume that government agencies will be perfect, which they are not.

The Better Angels of Our Nature

By steven pinker.

“If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this—the most inspiring book I've ever read." — Bill Gates (May, 2017)

A provocative history of violence—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, and Enlightenment Now.

Believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence. In his gripping and controversial new work, New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly enlightened world.

Our favourite quote from The Better Angels of Our Nature

Challenge a person's beliefs, and you challenge his dignity, standing, and power. And when those beliefs are based on nothing but faith, they are chronically fragile. No one gets upset about the belief that rocks fall down as opposed to up, because all sane people can see it with their own eyes. Not so for the belief that babies are born with original sin or that God exists in three persons or that Ali is the second-most divinely inspired man after Muhammad. When people organize their lives around these beliefs, and then learn of other people who seem to be doing just fine without them--or worse, who credibly rebut them--they are in danger of looking like fools. Since one cannot defend a belief based on faith by persuading skeptics it is true, the faithful are apt to react to unbelief with rage, and may try to eliminate that affront to everything that makes their lives meaningful.

by Adam Grant

With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generation’s most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all?

Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent. Learn from an entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him, and a TV executive who didn’t even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.

Our favourite quote from Originals

In the deepest sense of the word, a friend is someone who sees more potential in you than you see in yourself, someone who helps you become the best version of yourself.

by Sheryl Sandberg

In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace.

Sandberg is chief operating officer of Facebook and coauthor of Option B with Adam Grant. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TED talk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which has been viewed more than six million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

Lean In continues that conversation, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home.

Written with humor and wisdom, Lean In is a revelatory, inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth that will empower women around the world to achieve their full potential.

Our favourite quote from Lean In

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Cryptonomicon

With this extraordinary first volume in an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse—mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy—is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Waterhouse and Detachment 2702—commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe-is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.

Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia—a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails granddaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi submarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy with its roots in Detachment 2702 linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn.

A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought and creative daring; the product of a truly iconoclastic imagination working with white-hot intensity.

Our favourite quote from Cryptonomicon

Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.

Crossing the Chasm

By geoffrey a. moore.

Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet. It's essential reading for anyone with a stake in the world's most exciting marketplace.

Our favourite quote from Crossing the Chasm

There is something fundamentally different between a sale to an early adopter and a sale to the early majority, even.

by Hamilton Helmer

7 Powers breaks fresh ground by constructing a comprehensive strategy toolset that is easy for you to learn, communicate and quickly apply. Drawing on his decades of experience as a business strategy advisor, active equity investor and Stanford University teacher, Hamilton Helmer develops from first principles a practical theory of Strategy rooted in the notion of Power, those conditions which create the potential for persistent differential returns. Using rich real-world examples, Helmer rigorously characterizes exactly what your business must achieve to create Power. And create Power it must, for without it your business is at risk. He explains why invention always comes first and then develops the Power Progression to enable you to target when your Power must be established: in the origination, take-off or stability phases of your business.

Every business faces a do-or-die strategy moment: a crux directional choice made amidst swirling uncertainty. To get this right you need at your fingertips a real-time strategy compass to discern your true north. 7 Powers is that compass.

Our favourite quote from 7 Powers

Getting to Yes

By roger fisher.

Since its original publication nearly thirty years ago, Getting to Yes has helped millions of people learn a better way to negotiate. One of the primary business texts of the modern era, it is based on the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals with all levels of negotiation and conflict resolution.

Getting to Yes offers a proven, step-by-step strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict. Thoroughly updated and revised, it offers readers a straight- forward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting angry-or getting taken.

Our favourite quote from Getting to Yes

Any method of negotiation may be fairly judged by three criteria: It should produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible. It should be efficient. And it should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the parties.

The Changing World Order

From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Principles , who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes—and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well. A few years ago, Ray Dalio noticed a confluence of political and economic conditions he hadn’t encountered before. They included huge debts and zero or near-zero interest rates that led to massive printing of money in the world’s three major reserve currencies; big political and social conflicts within countries, especially the US, due to the largest wealth, political, and values disparities in more than 100 years; and the rising of a world power (China) to challenge the existing world power (US) and the existing world order. The last time that this confluence occurred was between 1930 and 1945. This realization sent Dalio on a search for the repeating patterns and cause/effect relationships underlying all major changes in wealth and power over the last 500 years. In this remarkable and timely addition to his Principles series, Dalio brings readers along for his study of the major empires—including the Dutch, the British, and the American—putting into perspective the “Big Cycle” that has driven the successes and failures of all the world’s major countries throughout history. He reveals the timeless and universal forces behind these shifts and uses them to look into the future, offering practical principles for positioning oneself for what’s ahead.

Our favourite quote from The Changing World Order

The Selfish Gene

By richard dawkins.

The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages. As influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication.

This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research. Forty years later, its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published.This 40th anniversary edition includes a new epilogue from the author discussing the continuing relevance of these ideas in evolutionary biology today, as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews.Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Our favourite quote from The Selfish Gene

The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.

The Outsider

By albert camus.

Meursault will not pretend. After the death of his mother, everyone is shocked when he shows no sadness. And when he commits a random act of violence in Algiers, society is baffled. Why would this seemingly law-abiding bachelor do such a thing? And why does he show no remorse even when it could save his life? His refusal to satisfy the feelings of others only increases his guilt in the eyes of the law. Soon Meursault discovers that he is being tried not simply for his crime, but for his lack of emotion - a reaction that condemns him for being an outsider. For Meursault, this is an insult to his reason and a betrayal of his hopes; for Camus it encapsulates the absurdity of life.

Our favourite quote from The Outsider

I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn't.

by Malcolm Gladwell

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Our favourite quote from Outliers

No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.

The Rise and Fall of American Growth

By robert j. gordon.

How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat.

In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated.

Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.

Our favourite quote from The Rise and Fall of American Growth

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841

The Black Swan

A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was.

The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.

Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities.

We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.”

For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. Now, in this revelatory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don’t know. He offers surprisingly simple tricks for dealing with black swans and benefiting from them.

Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications The Black Swan will change the way you look at the world. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. ‍

The Black Swan is a landmark book – itself a black swan.

Our favourite quote from The Black Swan

It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.

Team of Rivals

By doris kearns goodwin.

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.

Our favourite quote from Team of Rivals

An adult friend of Lincoln's: "Life was to him a school.”

by Carol S. Dweck

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset —those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset —those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love—to transform their lives and your own.

Our favourite quote from Mindset

Becoming is better than being.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

By jared diamond.

"Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."―Bill Gates

In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.

Our favourite quote from Guns, Germs, and Steel

History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.

by Walter Isaacson

By the author of the acclaimed bestsellers Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, this is the definitive biography of Albert Einstein.How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson’s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.

Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk—a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn’t get a teaching job or a doctorate—became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom, and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals.

These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the last century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age.

Our favourite quote from Einstein

A society’s competitive advantage will come not from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.

Becoming Steve Jobs

By brent schlender.

The #1 New York Times bestselling biography of how Steve Jobs became the most visionary CEO in history. Becoming Steve Jobs breaks down the conventional, one-dimensional view of Steve Jobs that he was half-genius, half-jerk from youth, an irascible and selfish leader who slighted friends and family alike. Becoming Steve Jobs answers the central question about the life and career of the Apple cofounder and CEO: How did a young man so reckless and arrogant that he was exiled from the company he founded become the most effective visionary business leader of our time, ultimately transforming the daily life of billions of people?

Drawing on incredible and sometimes exclusive access, Schlender and Tetzeli tell a different story of a real human being who wrestled with his failings and learned to maximize his strengths over time. Their rich, compelling narrative is filled with stories never told before from the people who knew Jobs best, including his family, former inner circle executives, and top people at Apple, Pixar and Disney, most notably Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, Robert Iger and many others. In addition, Schlender knew Jobs personally for 25 years and draws upon his many interviews with him, on and off the record, in writing the book. He and Tetzeli humanize the man and explain, rather than simply describe, his behavior.

Along the way, the book provides rich context about the technology revolution we've all lived through, and the ways in which Jobs changed our world

A rich and revealing account, Becoming Steve Jobs shows us how one of the most colorful and compelling figures of our times was able to combine his unchanging, relentless passion with an evolution in management style to create one of the most valuable and beloved companies on the planet.

Our favourite quote from Becoming Steve Jobs

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Business Adventures

By john brooks.

“Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read.” —Bill Gates

What do the $350 million Ford Motor Company disaster known as the Edsel, the fast and incredible rise of Xerox, and the unbelievable scandals at General Electric and Texas Gulf Sulphur have in common? Each is an example of how an iconic company was defined by a particular moment of fame or notoriety; these notable and fascinating accounts are as relevant today to understanding the intricacies of corporate life as they were when the events happened.

Stories about Wall Street are infused with drama and adventure and reveal the machinations and volatile nature of the world of finance. Longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks’s insightful reportage is so full of personality and critical detail that whether he is looking at the astounding market crash of 1962, the collapse of a well-known brokerage firm, or the bold attempt by American bankers to save the British pound, one gets the sense that history repeats itself.

Five additional stories on equally fascinating subjects round out this wonderful collection that will both entertain and inform readers . . . Business Adventures is truly financial journalism at its liveliest and best.

Our favourite quote from Business Adventures

I don’t think money makes much difference, as long as you have enough.

The Dream Machine

By m. mitchell waldrop.

Behind every great revolution is a vision and behind perhaps the greatest revolution of our time, personal computing, is the vision of J.C.R. Licklider. He did not design the first personal computers or write the software that ran on them, nor was he involved in the legendary early companies that brought them to the forefront of our everyday experience. He was instead a relentless visionary that saw the potential of the way individuals could interact with computers and software.

At a time when computers were a short step removed from mechanical data processors, Licklider was writing treatises on "human-computer symbiosis", "computers as communication devices", and a now not-so-unfamiliar "Intergalactic Network." His ideas became so influential, his passion so contagious, that Waldrop called him "computing's Johnny Appleseed.

In a simultaneously compelling personal narrative and comprehensive historical exposition, Waldrop tells the story of the man who not only instigated the work that led to the internet, but also shifted our understanding of what computers were and could be.

Included in this edition are also the original texts of Licklider's three most influential writings: 'Man-computer symbiosis' (1960), which outlines the vision that inspired the personal computer revolution of the 1970s; his 'Intergalactic Network' memo (1963), which outlines the vision that inspired the internet; and "The computer as a communication device" (1968, co-authored with Robert Taylor), which amplifies his vision for what the network could become.

Our favourite quote from The Dream Machine

Nonetheless, his vision of high technology’s enhancing and empowering the individual, as opposed to serving some large institution, was quite radical for 1939—so radical, in fact, that it wouldn’t really take hold of the public’s imagination for another forty years, at which point it would reemerge as the central message of the personal-computer revolution.

Keeping At It

By paul a volcker.

As chairman of the Federal Reserve (1979-1987), Paul Volcker slayed the inflation dragon that was consuming the American economy and restored the world's faith in central bankers. That extraordinary feat was just one pivotal episode in a decades-long career serving six presidents.Told with wit, humor, and down-to-earth erudition, the narrative of Volcker's career illuminates the changes that have taken place in American life, government, and the economy since World War II. He vibrantly illustrates the crises he managed alongside the world's leading politicians, central bankers, and financiers. Yet he first found his model for competent and ethical governance in his father, the town manager of Teaneck, NJ, who instilled Volcker's dedication to absolute integrity and his "three verities" of stable prices, sound finance, and good government.

Our favourite quote from Keeping At It

The Idea Factory

By jon gertner.

The definitive history of America’s greatest incubator of innovation and the birthplace of some of the 20th century’s most influential technologies

From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born.

Our favourite quote from The Idea Factory

You get paid for the seven and a half hours a day you put in here,” Kelly often told new Bell Labs employees in his speech to them on their first day, “but you get your raises and promotions on what you do in the other sixteen and a half hours.

The Courage to Be Disliked

By ichiro kishimi.

Reading this book could change your life.

The Courage to Be Disliked, already an enormous bestseller in Asia with more than 3.5 million copies sold, demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be.

Is happiness something you choose for yourself? The Courage to Be Disliked presents a simple and straightforward answer. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of nineteenth-century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, this book follows an illuminating dialogue between a philosopher and a young man. Over the course of five conversations, the philosopher helps his student to understand how each of us is able to determine the direction of our own life, free from the shackles of past traumas and the expectations of others.

Rich in wisdom, The Courage to Be Disliked will guide you through the concepts of self-forgiveness, self-care, and mind decluttering. It is a deeply liberating way of thinking, allowing you to develop the courage to change and ignore the limitations that you might be placing on yourself. This plainspoken and profoundly moving book unlocks the power within you to find lasting happiness and be the person you truly want to be. Millions have already benefited from its teachings, now you can too.

Our favourite quote from The Courage to Be Disliked

A healthy feeling of inferiority is not something that comes from comparing oneself to others; it comes from one’s comparison with one’s ideal self.

Skin in the Game

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan, a bold new work that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility.

In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.

Our favourite quote from Skin in the Game

The curse of modernity is that we are increasingly populated by a class of people who are better at explaining than understanding, or better at explaining than doing.

The Mythical Man-Month

By frederick p. brooks jr.

Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time.

The added chapters contain (1) a crisp condensation of all the propositions asserted in the original book, including Brooks' central argument in The Mythical Man-Month: that large programming projects suffer management problems different from small ones due to the division of labor; that the conceptual integrity of the product is therefore critical; and that it is difficult but possible to achieve this unity; (2) Brooks' view of these propositions a generation later; (3) a reprint of his classic 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet"; and (4) today's thoughts on the 1986 assertion, "There will be no silver bullet within ten years."

Our favourite quote from The Mythical Man-Month

Adding manpower to a late software project, makes it later.

Sam Walton: Made in America

By sam walton.

Meet Sam Walton, a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun fabric of America's heartland, who transformed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. Sam, the unchallenged merchant king of the late twentieth century, never lost contact with the average man.

Finally, some unforgettable words. Genuinely humble, but self-assured in his objectives and accomplishments. Sam expresses his thoughts in an honest, off-the-shoulder manner. Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream in a storey rich with anecdotes and the "rules of the road" of both Main Street and Wall Street.

Our favourite quote from Sam Walton: Made in America

Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them. You never know who’s going to have a great idea.

Whole Earth Discipline

By stewart brand.

"This is a very scary book by a very bright man, offering a picture of humanity's future that is both ominous and exhilarating." —Edward O. Wilson

This eye-opening book by the legendary author of the National Book Award-winning Whole Earth Catalog persuasively details a new approach to our stewardship of the planet. Lifelong ecologist and futurist Stewart Brand relies on scientific rigor to shatter myths concerning nuclear energy, urbanization, genetic engineering, and other controversial subjects, showing exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offering a bold, inventive set of policies and design- based solutions for shaping a more sustainable society. Thought- provoking and passionately argued, this is a pioneering book on one of the hottest issues facing humanity today.

Our favourite quote from Whole Earth Discipline

California was a great place to get over mysticism in the 1960s and 1970s. Such an endless parade of gurus and mystics came through, peddling their wares, that they canceled each other out. They couldn't compete with the drugs, and the drugs canceled each other out as well. Fervent visions, shared to excess, became clanking clichés. All that was left was daily reality, with its endless negotiation, devoid of absolutes, but alive with surprises.

The Score Takes Care of Itself

By bill walsh.

The last lecture on leadership by the NFL's greatest coach: Bill Walsh.

Bill Walsh is a towering figure in the history of the NFL. His advanced leadership transformed the San Francisco 49ers from the worst franchise in sports to a legendary dynasty. In the process, he changed the way football is played.Prior to his death, Walsh granted a series of exclusive interviews to bestselling author Steve Jamison. These became his ultimate lecture on leadership.Additional insights and perspective are provided by Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana and others.

Bill Walsh taught that the requirements of successful leadership are the same whether you run an NFL franchise, a fortune 500 company, or a hardware store with 12 employees. These final words of 'wisdom by Walsh' will inspire, inform, and enlighten leaders in all professions.

Our favourite quote from The Score Takes Care of Itself

Like water, many decent individuals will seek lower ground if left to their own inclinations. In most cases you are the one who inspires and demands they go upward rather than settle for the comfort of doing what comes easily.

Dear Founder

By maynard webb.

Wise, practical, and profitable letters to entrepreneurs, leaders, managers, and business owners in every field--from a leading executive, investor, and business founder.

More than 600,000 new businesses are launched each year. How can a start-up find the funding it needs to survive? When, if at all, should a company go public? How does an entrepreneur build and manage a workplace--and create a lasting legacy?

Maynard Webb has helped found, fund, and grow dozens of successful companies, and has driven strategic change at Salesforce, eBay, Everwise, and Visa, among other worldwide corporations. Known for offering savvy insight, encouragement, and a dose of reality in the form of engaging personal letters to a select group of business leaders, Webb now shares his lessons with the rest of America's aspiring entrepreneurs--at any age and stage in their careers--in Dear Founder. ‍

Featuring more than eighty inspiring, informative, and instructive letters, Dear Founder is rich with sound advice on an array of business topics, from turning your idea into a reality to building a culture, to reaching key financial goals. This book is an indispensable guide to navigating the realities, risks, and rewards of being your own boss--and founding the company of your dreams.

Our favourite quote from Dear Founder

The 4-Hour Workweek

By tim ferriss.

What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: "I race motorcycles in Europe." "I ski in the Andes." "I scuba dive in Panama." "I dance tango in Buenos Aires." He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the "deferred-life plan" and instead mastered the new currencies-time and mobility-to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now. Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world.

Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:

How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want?
How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs?
How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist?
How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"?
What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income?
How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it's beyond repair?
What automated cash-flow "muses" are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks?
How to cultivate selective ignorance-and create time-with a low-information diet?
What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are?
How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50-80% off?
How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

Our favourite quote from The 4-Hour Workweek

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually," just do it and correct course along the way.

Built to Last

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?"

Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the 21st century and beyond.

Our favourite quote from Built to Last

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

Masters of Doom

By david kushner.

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart.

Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative.

“To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams

Our favourite quote from Masters of Doom

In the information age, the barriers just aren’t there,” he said. “The barriers are self-imposed. If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don’t need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We waded across rivers.

How To Win Friends and Influence People

By dale carnegie.

You can go after the job you want...and get it! You can take the job you have...and improve it! You can take any situation you're in...and make it work for you! Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnegie's first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie's principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.

Our favourite quote from How To Win Friends and Influence People

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

Benjamin Franklin

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

Our favourite quote from Benjamin Franklin

Knowledge, he realized, “was obtained rather by the use of the ear than of the tongue.”

The Politics Industry

By katherine m. gehl.

The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens.

Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected.

In The Politics Industry , business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today.

Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation.

The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all.

Our favourite quote from The Politics Industry

The Network State: How To Start a New Country

By balaji srinivasan.

We battle for the old when the fresh new is unimaginable. That is where we are now in terms of governments, politics, and most of the physical world. But maybe we can alter it.

This book offers the notion of the network state: a country that can be started from a computer, a state that recruits like a startup, a nation developed from the internet rather than disturbed by it.

The basic idea behind the network state is to create a digital community and arrange it to crowdfund physical territory. But that area is not concentrated in one location; rather, it is distributed globally, entirely decentralised, and linked together through the internet for a common goal, much like Google's headquarters or Bitcoin's miners. And, because every person has opted in, it is a model for 100 percent democracy rather than the 51 percent minimum level of consent established by democracies.

Of course, there are other questions that must be addressed in order to construct something of this magnitude. How does a network state function on a social, technological, logistical, legal, physical, and financial level? How could such a thing be possible?

That’s why you should read this book.

Our favourite quote from The Network State: How To Start a New Country

by Safi Bahcall

What do James Bond and Lipitor have in common? What can we learn about human nature and world history from a glass of water?

In Loonshots , physicist and entrepreneur Safi Bahcall reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs.

Drawing on the science of phase transitions , Bahcall shows why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them, just as flowing water will suddenly change into brittle ice. Mountains of print have been written about culture . Loonshots identifies the small shifts in structure that control this transition, the same way that temperature controls the change from water to ice.

Using examples that range from the spread of fires in forests to the hunt for terrorists online, and stories of thieves and geniuses and kings, Bahcall shows how this new kind of science helps us understand the behavior of companies and the fate of empires. Loonshots distills these insights into lessons for creatives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries everywhere.

Our favourite quote from Loonshots

As teams and companies grow larger, the stakes in outcome decrease while the perks of rank increase. When the two cross, the system snaps. Incentives begin encouraging behavior no one wants. Those same groups—with the same people—begin rejecting loonshots.

Made to Stick

By chip & dan heath.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.

The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to improve your idea’s chances—essential reading in the “fake news” era.

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas—entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists—struggle to make them “stick.”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds—from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony—draw their power from the same six traits.

Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.

Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas—and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.

Our favourite quote from Made to Stick

The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: Break a pattern.

by Sam Harris

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption—even murder and genocide—generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie.

In Lying, best-selling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white" lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.

Our favourite quote from Lying

Lying is, almost by definition, a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. It is both a failure of understanding and an unwillingness to be understood. To lie is to recoil from relationship.

The Ride of a Lifetime

By robert iger.

Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Competition was more intense than ever and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company’s history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger—think global—and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets. Fourteen years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world, counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and he is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our era. In The Ride of a Lifetime , Robert Iger shares the lessons he’s learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership.

Our favourite quote from The Ride of a Lifetime

True authority and true leadership come from knowing who you are and not pretending to be anything else.

by Peter Diamandis

We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions. An antidote to pessimism by tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist, Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler.

Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing—fast. The authors document how four forces—exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion—are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. Abundance establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism.

Examining human need by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis and Kotler introduce dozens of innovators making great strides in each area: Larry Page, Steven Hawking, Dean Kamen, Daniel Kahneman, Elon Musk, Bill Joy, Stewart Brand, Jeff Skoll, Ray Kurzweil, Ratan Tata, Craig Venter, among many, many others.

Our favourite quote from Abundance

Abundance is not about providing everyone on this planet with a life of luxury—rather it’s about providing all with a life of possibility.

by David Epstein

The #1 New York Times bestseller that has all America talking: as seen/heard on Morning Joe, CBS This Morning, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Rich Roll, and more.

Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

“The most important business—and parenting—book of the year.” —Forbes

“Urgent and important. . . an essential read for bosses, parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about improving performance.” —Daniel H. Pink

“So much crucial and revelatory information about performance, success, and education.” —Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet

“As David Epstein shows us, cultivating range prepares us for the wickedly unanticipated… a well-supported and smoothly written case on behalf of breadth and late starts.” —Wall Street Journal

Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.

Our favourite quote from Range

Modern work demands knowledge transfer: the ability to apply knowledge to new situations and different domains. Our most fundamental thought processes have changed to accommodate increasing complexity and the need to derive new patterns rather than rely only on familiar ones. Our conceptual classification schemes provide a scaffolding for connecting knowledge, making it accessible and flexible.

When Breath Becomes Air

By paul kalanithi.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.

This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living?

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

Our favourite quote from When Breath Becomes Air

You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.

The Checklist Manifesto

By atul gawande.

In his latest bestseller, Atul Gawande shows what the simple idea of the checklist reveals about the complexity of our lives and how we can deal with it.

The modern world has given us stupendous know-how. Yet avoidable failures continue to plague us in health care, government, the law, the financial industry—in almost every realm of organized activity. And the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of knowledge today has exceeded our ability as individuals to properly deliver it to people—consistently, correctly, safely. We train longer, specialize more, use ever-advancing technologies, and still we fail. Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument that we can do better, using the simplest of methods: the checklist. In riveting stories, he reveals what checklists can do, what they can’t, and how they could bring about striking improvements in a variety of fields, from medicine and disaster recovery to professions and businesses of all kinds. And the insights are making a difference. Already, a simple surgical checklist from the World Health Organization designed by following the ideas described here has been adopted in more than twenty countries as a standard for care and has been heralded as “the biggest clinical invention in thirty years” (The Independent).

Our favourite quote from The Checklist Manifesto

What is needed, however, isn't just that people working together be nice to each other. It is discipline.

The Catcher in the Rye

By j.d. salinger.

The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

"The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.

Our favourite quote from The Catcher in the Rye

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.

by Jessie Hartland

Whether they’ve seen Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie, read Walter Isaacson’s biography, or just own an iPhone, this graphic novel retelling of the Apple innovator’s life will capture the imaginations of the legions of readers who live and breathe the technocentric world Jobs created.

Told through a combination of black-and-white illustrations and handwritten text, this fast-paced and entertaining biography in graphic format presents the story of the ultimate American entrepreneur, the man who brought us Apple Computer, Pixar, Macs, iPods, iPhones, and more.

Jobs’s remarkable life reads like a history of the personal technology industry. He started Apple Computer in his parents’ garage and eventually became the tastemaker of a generation, creating products we can’t live without. Through it all, he was an overbearing and demanding perfectionist, both impossible and inspiring. Capturing his unparalleled brilliance, as well as his many demons, Jessie Hartland’s engaging biography illuminates the meteoric successes, devastating setbacks, and myriad contradictions that make up the extraordinary life and legacy of the insanely great Steve Jobs.

Here's the perfect book for any teen interested in STEM topics, especially tech.

Our favourite quote from Steve Jobs

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

Our favourite quote from Homo Deus

This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom – we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.

Factfulness

By hans rosling.

Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness , Professor of International Health and a man who can make data sing, Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens, and reveals the ten instincts that distort our perspective.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. ‍

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world.

Our favourite quote from Factfulness

There’s no room for facts when our minds are occupied by fear.

by Karl Marx

Capital , one of Marx's major and most influential works, was the product of thirty years close study of the capitalist mode of production in England, the most advanced industrial society of his day. This new translation of Volume One , the only volume to be completed and edited by Marx himself, avoids some of the mistakes that have marred earlier versions and seeks to do justice to the literary qualities of the work. The introduction is by Ernest Mandel, author of Late Capitalism , one of the only comprehensive attempts to develop the theoretical legacy of Capital.

Our favourite quote from Capital

There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today’s most pressing issues.

“Fascinating . . . a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the twenty-first century.”—Bill Gates, The New York Times Book Review

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari’s unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.

“If there were such a thing as a required instruction manual for politicians and thought leaders, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century would deserve serious consideration. In this collection of provocative essays, Harari . . . tackles a daunting array of issues, endeavoring to answer a persistent question: ‘What is happening in the world today, and what is the deep meaning of these events?’”—BookPage (top pick)

Our favourite quote from 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.

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Discover the Best Billionaires Books in the 2024 Updated Edition

Are you fascinated by the lives of the ultra-wealthy? Whether you’re seeking inspiration, insight into the minds of moguls, or just a thrilling read, there’s a book on billionaires for you. From biographies of iconic tycoons to gripping tales of fictional wealth, these billionaires books offer a fascinating glimpse into the world of extreme affluence. Here are the 20 best books about billionaires that will captivate and inspire you.

1 20 Best Books About Billionaires
2 The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
3 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
4 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
5 The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
6 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
7 The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
8 The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
9 The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
10 The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World
11 The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor
12 The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
13 The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time
14 The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
15 The Richest Man in Babylon
16 The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
17 The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World
18 Steve Jobs
19 Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr
20 Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty
21 King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist
22 Conclusion

20 Best Books About Billionaires

See Best Deals

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

By brad stone.

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone is a captivating book about the rise of the online retail giant and its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos. This billionaires book provides an inside look at Bezos’ relentless drive and determination to build Amazon into the e-commerce powerhouse it is today. Stone delves into Bezos’ early years, his innovative business strategies, and the relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction that has made Amazon a global leader in online retail. The book also explores the company’s expansion into various industries, including cloud computing, entertainment, and artificial intelligence, making it a fascinating read for anyone interested in the world of technology, entrepreneurship, and the remarkable success of one of the most influential companies of our time.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

By ashlee vance.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future is a captivating book about a visionary entrepreneur who has made a significant impact on the world. Written by Ashlee Vance, this book delves into the life of Elon Musk, a trailblazing billionaire known for his work in electric cars, space travel, and renewable energy. Vance provides a detailed account of Musk’s ambitious endeavors, from founding PayPal to revolutionizing the automotive and aerospace industries with Tesla and SpaceX. The book offers an insightful look into Musk’s relentless drive, innovative thinking, and tumultuous personal life. It’s a must-read for anyone fascinated by technology, entrepreneurship, and the relentless pursuit of a better future. This billionaires book is sure to inspire and captivate readers with the extraordinary story of one of the most influential figures of our time.

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

By brent schlender and rick tetzeli.

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli is a captivating book about billionaires that delves into the fascinating journey of one of the most iconic figures in the tech industry. The authors provide an insightful account of Jobs’ transformation from a brash and impulsive young entrepreneur to a visionary leader who revolutionized the way we interact with technology. Through extensive research and interviews with those closest to Jobs, the book offers a nuanced and compelling portrayal of his complex personality and leadership style. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of the man behind the legend and the pivotal moments that shaped his career. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or simply intrigued by the stories of remarkable individuals, this billionaires book offers a compelling narrative that is both informative and inspiring.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

By alice schroeder.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder is a compelling biography that delves into the life of one of the most successful investors of all time. This book about billionaires provides an in-depth look at Warren Buffett’s journey, from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Schroeder offers a detailed account of Buffett’s investment strategies, his personal relationships, and the lessons he has learned throughout his career. The book on billionaires also explores the complexities of Buffett’s character, shedding light on both his successes and his failures. With a wealth of insights and anecdotes, The Snowball is a must-read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the business world and the mindset of a successful billionaire.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

By phil knight.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike is a captivating book about billionaires. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the ups and downs of building one of the world’s most iconic brands. In this candid and inspiring memoir, Knight shares the challenges and triumphs he faced in creating Nike, from selling shoes out of his car to building a multi-billion dollar empire. The book offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a visionary entrepreneur and the gritty realities of building a business from the ground up. With its compelling narrative and valuable insights, Shoe Dog is a must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, business, or the remarkable journey of a billionaires book.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

By william n. thorndike.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike is a captivating book on billionaires that delves into the unconventional strategies of eight extraordinary CEOs. Thorndike explores the success stories of these mavericks who defied traditional business practices and achieved remarkable results. Through in-depth analysis and compelling narratives, the book about billionaires uncovers the unique leadership styles and decision-making approaches that propelled these leaders to extraordinary success. Thorndike’s exploration of these unconventional CEOs offers valuable insights into the principles of effective leadership, capital allocation, and strategic decision-making. The book provides a fascinating glimpse into the minds of these remarkable individuals and offers invaluable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, business leaders, and anyone interested in the strategies of the world’s most successful billionaires.

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance

By ron chernow.

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow is a captivating account of the powerful Morgan family and their influence on the world of finance. Chernow delves into the history of the Morgan banking empire, tracing its roots from its inception in the 19th century to its position as one of the most influential financial institutions of the 20th century. The book offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Morgan family members, their business dealings, and the impact they had on shaping the modern financial landscape. This billionaires book provides a comprehensive look at the rise of modern finance and the role played by the Morgan family in shaping it. With meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Chernow offers readers a deep understanding of the intricate world of high finance and the larger-than-life figures who shaped it.

best books about Billionaires The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

By eric ries.

The Lean Startup is a groundbreaking book about entrepreneurs and their journey to success. Eric Ries introduces a new approach to creating and managing startups in a world of uncertainty and constant change. Ries emphasizes the importance of continuous innovation and the need to adapt quickly to market demands. He provides practical advice on how to test ideas, measure progress, and make adjustments to achieve success. This book on billionaires is filled with real-life examples and case studies that demonstrate the power of the lean startup methodology. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or an established business owner, this book about billionaires will inspire you to rethink your approach to entrepreneurship and pave the way for radically successful businesses.

The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

By david kirkpatrick.

The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick is a captivating book about billionaires. Kirkpatrick provides a comprehensive and insightful look into the rise of Facebook and its impact on society. The book delves into the fascinating story of how Mark Zuckerberg and his team built the social media empire, and the challenges they faced along the way. Kirkpatrick also explores the cultural, social, and economic implications of Facebook’s global reach, making it a compelling read for anyone interested in the power and influence of technology and social media. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, entrepreneur, or simply curious about the inner workings of one of the world’s most influential companies, this billionaires book is a must-read.

The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor

By robert g. hagstrom.

The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom is a renowned book on billionaires that delves into the investment strategies of the world’s greatest investor, Warren Buffett. The book provides a deep insight into Buffett’s approach to investing, emphasizing the principles of value investing and the importance of long-term thinking. Through detailed analysis and case studies, the author breaks down Buffett’s methods, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of how to apply these strategies to their own investment decisions. This billionaires book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning from the wisdom of one of the most successful investors in history and gaining valuable insights into the world of finance and wealth creation.

Recommended for you:

successful companies books. books on successful companies

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

By walter isaacson.

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution is a captivating book about visionaries who shaped the digital age. Walter Isaacson takes readers on a journey through the lives of brilliant minds, exploring their contributions to technology and the impact they had on the world. From Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, this book delves into the stories of innovators who revolutionized the way we live, work, and communicate. It’s not just a book about billionaires; it’s a celebration of creativity, collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of progress. Isaacson’s engaging narrative provides a deep insight into the personalities and partnerships that led to the digital revolution, making it a must-read for anyone interested in the history of technology and the remarkable individuals behind it.

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time

By david a. vise and mark malseed.

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed is a fascinating book on billionaires that delves into the captivating journey of how two young entrepreneurs, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, built one of the most influential companies in the world. The book takes readers on a thrilling ride through the rise of Google, from its humble beginnings in a garage to its status as a global powerhouse. It provides an inside look at the innovative strategies, bold decisions, and groundbreaking technologies that propelled Google to the forefront of the digital revolution. With its gripping narrative and insightful analysis, this billionaires book offers a compelling portrait of the visionaries behind the Google phenomenon and the impact of their unprecedented success on business, media, and technology.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

By michael lewis.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis is a captivating exposé on the financial world’s collapse in 2008. Lewis delves into the lives of a group of savvy investors who foresaw the impending crisis and bet against the housing market. This gripping non-fiction book on billionaires sheds light on the reckless behavior of big banks and the complexities of the financial system. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, Lewis unravels the events leading up to the economic disaster, making it a compelling read for anyone interested in finance, economics, and the inner workings of Wall Street. With its sharp insights and gripping narrative, this billionaires book offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of high-stakes finance and the individuals who profited from the collapse.

The Richest Man in Babylon

By george s. clason.

The Richest Man in Babylon is a timeless classic that offers practical financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. This book on billionaires imparts wisdom on how to build wealth and achieve financial success through the stories of Arkad, the richest man in Babylon, and his friends. The parables cover essential financial principles such as saving, investing, and managing money wisely. Clason’s book about billionaires provides insightful and easy-to-understand lessons that are just as relevant today as they were when the book was first published. Readers will learn valuable lessons on how to grow their wealth and achieve financial freedom, making it a must-read for anyone looking to improve their financial knowledge and build a solid foundation for future prosperity.

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

By scott galloway.

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway is a captivating book about billionaires and the rise of the four most influential companies in the tech world. Galloway’s insightful analysis delves into the strategies and secrets that have propelled Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google to the pinnacle of success. With a blend of sharp wit and astute observations, the author unravels the distinct business models and competitive advantages of these tech giants, offering readers a deep understanding of their inner workings. Galloway’s billionaires book is a thought-provoking exploration of the impact these companies have had on society, the economy, and the future of technology. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or simply curious about the power players in the digital age, The Four promises to be an enlightening and engaging read.

The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

The Upstarts by Brad Stone is a captivating book about billionaires that delves into the rise of disruptive companies like Uber and Airbnb, and the impact they have had on the world. Through in-depth research and interviews with key players, Stone provides a compelling account of how these killer companies have revolutionized the way we think about transportation and accommodation, and the challenges they have faced along the way.

With a keen eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, Stone paints a vivid picture of the intense competition, the high-stakes gambles, and the visionary leaders behind these game-changing startups. As the billionaires book unfolds, readers will gain valuable insights into the ruthless world of Silicon Valley and the disruptive forces that are reshaping our economy and society.

best books about Billionaires Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is a captivating book on billionaires that delves into the life of one of the most influential and enigmatic figures of our time. Isaacson provides a riveting account of Jobs’ journey, from his early days as a college dropout to his groundbreaking work at Apple and Pixar. The book offers a fascinating insight into Jobs’ visionary leadership, his relentless pursuit of perfection, and his tumultuous personal life. Through extensive interviews with Jobs and those who knew him, Isaacson paints a vivid portrait of a complex and driven individual who revolutionized the technology industry. This book about billionaires is a compelling and comprehensive exploration of the man behind the iconic Apple brand, offering readers a deeper understanding of the genius and contradictions of this remarkable billionaires book.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr by Ron Chernow is a captivating book about billionaires that delves into the fascinating life of one of the most powerful and controversial figures in American history. Chernow’s meticulously researched biography paints a vivid portrait of Rockefeller’s rise to wealth and power, from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the richest and most influential men in the world.

Readers will be engrossed by the complex and often contradictory nature of Rockefeller’s character, as well as the profound impact he had on the oil industry and the shaping of modern America. Chernow’s engaging storytelling and in-depth analysis make this billionaires book a must-read for anyone interested in the lives of the ultra-wealthy and the history of American business.

Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty

By daniel schulman.

Sons of Wichita is a captivating book on billionaires, delving into the fascinating story of the Koch brothers and their rise to becoming one of America’s most influential and private dynasties. Written by Daniel Schulman, this billionaires book provides a gripping account of the Koch family’s complex dynamics, their business empire, and their profound impact on American politics and society. Schulman’s insightful narrative sheds light on the brothers’ ambitious pursuits, intense rivalries, and their controversial influence in shaping the country’s economic and political landscape. This book about billionaires offers a compelling exploration of power, wealth, and the enduring legacy of the Koch family, making it a must-read for anyone intrigued by the lives and influence of influential families in America.

King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist

By mark stevens.

King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist by Mark Stevens is a compelling book about the life and career of one of the most renowned figures in the world of finance. This gripping book on billionaires delves into the fascinating story of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, exploring his rise to power and the controversial tactics he used to amass his fortune. With meticulous research and captivating storytelling, Stevens provides readers with a vivid portrait of Icahn’s relentless pursuit of success and his impact on the financial world. From his early days as a stockbroker to his high-stakes battles with corporate giants, this billionaires book offers a revealing look at the inner workings of Wall Street and the extraordinary individuals who shape it. King Icahn is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the complex and often enigmatic world of finance.

In conclusion, these 20 best books about Billionaires offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives and successes of some of the world’s most influential and wealthy individuals. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, insight into the world of business, or simply an intriguing read, these books provide a wealth of knowledge and entertainment. From biographies to business strategies, there’s something for everyone in this collection. Dive into the world of wealth and success with these compelling reads!

Which Billionaires book is best?

The best book on Billionaires can vary with personal preference, but three widely recommended titles are:

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone ,
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance ,
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli .

Each offers valuable insights and could be a great starting point.

What are the best books to learn about Billionaires?

For those looking to learn about Billionaires, there is a wealth of literature that can provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Some of the most highly recommended books include:

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli ,
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder ,
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight ,
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike ,
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow ,
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries ,
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick ,
The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor by Robert G. Hagstrom

These books offer a range of perspectives on Billionaires, covering various aspects and approaches to the subject.

What are the best books on Billionaires?

The best books on Billionaires include:

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson ,
The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed ,
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike .

Each offers unique insights into the subject. While these books on the topic of Billionaires are highly regarded, it’s important to note that any list of ‘best’ books is subjective and reflects a range of opinions.

What are the best Billionaires books of all time?

Choosing the best Billionaires books of all time can vary depending on who you ask, but seven titles that are often celebrated include

The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor by Robert G. Hagstrom ,
and The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson .

Each of these books has made a significant impact in the field of Billionaires and continues to be influential today.

The 10 Best Entrepreneur Biographies of Millionaires

Want to read the best entrepreneur biographies?

Two years ago, I wasn’t really a book reader. I should have been though. The stories of successful entrepreneurs are always worth hearing about. Especially if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur looking to become a success in the business world.

There are only so many short videos you can watch in order to learn more about them. And there comes a point where nothing beats a book written on their stories.

Table of Contents

The 10 Best Entrepreneur Biographies

These books are filled with knowledge and the complete story behind their success in becoming truly great entrepreneurs.

I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t yet read all of these entrepreneur biographies, but have heard nothing but great reviews on the ones I haven’t picked up and read just yet.

Many of the entrepreneurs in this list are successful billionaires, not just millionaires. But I thought I’d categorize the title as millionaires anyway.

These are the 10 best entrepreneur biographies of successful millionaires:

1. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

Steve Jobs truly revolutionized the electronics industry. The new IPhone 7 and Apple Watch have just been released, and it’s amazing to see just how far Apple’s technology has come.

The Steve Jobs Biography, one of the best entrepreneur biographies; was written after the author had conducted over 3 years of interviews with Jobs as well as member of his family, his colleagues and even competitors.

A must read biography for anyone interested in Steve Jobs and his innovative mind that helped him to break barriers in the technology industry.

2. Thrive: The Third Metric to Success (Arianna Huffington)

Thrive is a book I’ve mentioned a couple of times on Wealthy Gorilla. You’re probably getting sick of me talking about it. It’s all about the story of Arianna Huffington , who is the founder of The Huffington Post, and her journey to success.

The reason why this book is such an important one to read, is because it touches on an essential issue to do with success. The fact that success is more than just money and power.

There’s a third metric to success which mainly involves our well-being. Instead of completely exhausting ourselves from working so hard, simply for more money and more power.

Arianna’s reason for writing the book came about from passing out one night due to over exhaustion, whilst still at her desk. She ended up breaking her cheekbone on the corner of her desk, and hence realized that this was not a healthy way to live.

3. Losing My Virginity (Richard Branson)

Richard Branson has become an incredibly successful billionaire, after taking the Virgin brand on a crazy roller coaster, from record stores to airlines.

Branson is the master of branding, and this book is the ultimate read in order to learn more about him and what he has achieved.

‘Losing My Virginity’ is an excellent biography that explains in great detail about how Sir Richard is committed to building not an empire, but simply a better world through many of the different Virgin brands such as Virgin Fuels, Virgin Unite & Virgin Health Bank .

All are dedicated to making the world a better and more sustainable place for others.

As well as this, you can find out how Branson became such a success and which mistakes he learned from along the way. A truly inspiring and motivating story for every entrepreneur.

Richard Branson Best Entrepreneur Biographies Quotes

4. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Lif e

Warren Buffett is one of the richest men in the world, and known as an incredible investor and businessman.

Buffett started out in the business world at a very young age, and was in fact only 11 years old when he bought his first stock. He’s come a long way since then and has achieved a lot within his life time.

Although, this book, arguably one of the best entrepreneur biographies, goes into more detail than just his achievements in the exciting world of business, but more about the man himself.

His opinions, his work, struggles, achievements and wisdom are all revealed in ‘The Snowball’. If you’re looking to find out more about Warren Buffet than just his achievements, have a read of this biography.

5. Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

Bill Gates is now once again the richest man in the world , and it’s all because of his genius creation, Microsoft. But not many people actually know the whole story behind Bill Gates and how he built up Microsoft to the success it is today.

This Biography covers it all and is a great read if you want to learn more about Gates’ story and his amazing success that took him to the position of wealthiest man in the world.

6. The Facebook Effect: The Real Inside Story of Mark Zuckerberg and the World’s Fastest Growing Company

You’ve probably already watched the film ‘The Social Network’, but how about reading the book that gives you the real inside story of what Mark Zuckerberg is truly about and how he built Facebook, the world’s fastest growing company.

Zuckerberg was only 19 years old when himself and a couple of friends created Facebook in their Harvard dorm room.

The book goes into a lot more detail than a film ever could do. And it explains the personal lives of the Facebook founders whilst they were working together in order to build the social network.

This is definitely a book to read in order to completely build your knowledge of just how Mark Zuckerberg and the other co-founders of Facebook made it such a success.

7. Riding the Storm ( Duncan Bannatyne )

Duncan Bannatyne is a Scottish entrepreneur who is famous for his businesses and interest in the health club, hotel and spa industries. A few years ago life was great for Bannatyne. He had a great business empire, a lot of money and a happy marriage.

Recently, all this changed and Duncan had to cope with the stress and difficulties of divorce, as well as a fairly large recession to his proud business empire.

This biography of the successful millionaire covers his incredible journey from having a peaceful happy life, to being setback by divorce and business recession. To then how he overcame these setbacks, and managed to adapt and get himself back on track.

This book is definitely up there with the best entrepreneur autobiographies.

8. Start Something that Matters (Blake Mycoskie)

This is an incredibly important book to read as it’s not just about developing a high revenue business that is all about profit and nothing else.

Blake Mycoskie is an entrepreneur who created the shoe brand TOMs. TOMs are a canvas type unisex shoe. For every pair that sold, another pair would be given to a child in need.

TOMs have become incredibly popular and Blake has managed to build a profitable business that also helps children in need for every pair sold.

This isn’t an easy thing to achieve, since normally you’d expect a small amount from the sale to go to a charity. However, in this case it’s a pair for a pair and every sale means another child doesn’t have to walk around bare foot.

This inspiration all came about from when Blake was travelling in Africa and came across many children unable to afford shoes.

He’s on a mission to prove that you can build a profitable business whilst helping others around you. It’s all explained with his book “Start Something that Matters”.

9. Reallionaire (Farrah Gray)

Farrah Gray became a millionaire by the time he was 14 years old, and has since been named as one of the most influential black men in America, by the National Urban League. Impressive right?

The book ‘Reallionaire’ talks about the nine steps to becoming rich from the inside out. And how they all applied to Farrah and his success in becoming a millionaire at such a young age.

This book is incredibly inspiring and has received amazing reviews from people, saying that they couldn’t put the book down and that they were reading it for the 3rd time.

Farrah may not be as well known as some of the other entrepreneurs on this list, but his story is incredible and this book is definitely worth the read.

10. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Jeff Bezos is another billionaire on this list that I’ve generically labelled ‘Successful Millionaires’. He started out incredibly small with Amazon.com, and began only selling books.

It wasn’t until around a year in that he managed to get his first sale. Which shows just how much dedication Bezos put in before he even got any results from the website.

Amazon has gone from operating in one small room, only selling books; to now having large warehouses, being known as ‘the everything store’ and owning several other companies.

This book goes through it all: Jeff’s story to making Amazon the success it is today, and how he was never content with just selling books.

Image Source: Trackur.com

Hope you enjoyed this list for the 10 best entrepreneur biographies of successful millionaires. Here’s a quick recap on the list:

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
Thrive: The Third Metric to Success By Arianna Huffington
Losing My Virginity By Richard Branson
The Snowball: Warren Buffett & The Business of Life
Hard Drive: Bill Gates & The Making of Microsoft
The Facebook Effect: The Real Inside Story of Mark Zuckerberg
Riding The Storm By Duncan Bannatyne
Start Something That Matters By Blake Mycoskie
Reallionaire By Farrah Gray
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & The Age of Amazon

From personal reading experience, and other reviews I’ve read on the internet, these are concluded to be some of the best entrepreneur autobiographies and biographies ever published.

Be sure to share them with anyone who loves business, reading or both!

Do you have any entrepreneur biographies to add to the list? Leave a comment below.

The 10 Biggest Banks in the World

The 10 Most Evil People in History

Dan Western is the founder of Wealthy Gorilla . Dan has been running Wealthy Gorilla and studying self-development, personal finance, and investment for the last 7 years. To this day, Wealthy Gorilla has become one of the fastest growing wealth infotainment sites in the world; with over 300 million views worldwide. Dan doesn't use personal social media anymore, so you won't be able to find him on Instagram, or Twitter.

Dec 8, 2014 at 10:20 am

Really enjoyed reading the paragraphs you have added to each entrepreneur. I am starting my own business in the janitorial field. I am trying to land government contracts. We will see how it goes. I have 30 years experience in the industry/leadership. It’s time to stake my claim in this prosperous country.

Dan Western

Dec 8, 2014 at 8:43 pm

Thanks Aaron, I wish you the best of luck! Good on you!

Aug 22, 2017 at 4:43 pm

Aug 22, 2017 at 4:44 pm

I mean pls add jack maa’s biography too

May 8, 2018 at 3:13 am

Great inspirations for young entrepreneurs.

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The 10 Best Short Moral Stories With Valuable Lessons

Stories that have morals and messages behind them are always powerful. In fact, it’s crazy just how powerful a 200 word story can be.

Our last article of short stories became so popular, that we decided to create another list, in which every story has a simple moral behind it.

The 10 Best Short Moral Stories

Some of these stories are very short and basic. In fact some are so basic they’re most likely featured in children’s books somewhere. However, the strength of the message remains the same.

Here’s some more of the best short moral stories:

1. An Old Man Lived in the Village

An old man lived in the village. He was one of the most unfortunate people in the world. The whole village was tired of him; he was always gloomy, he constantly complained and was always in a bad mood.

The longer he lived, the more bile he was becoming and the more poisonous were his words. People avoided him, because his misfortune became contagious. It was even unnatural and insulting to be happy next to him.

He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.

But one day, when he turned eighty years old , an incredible thing happened. Instantly everyone started hearing the rumour:

“An Old Man is happy today, he doesn’t complain about anything, smiles, and even his face is freshened up.”

The whole village gathered together. The old man was asked:

Villager: What happened to you?

“Nothing special. Eighty years I’ve been chasing happiness, and it was useless. And then I decided to live without happiness and just enjoy life. That’s why I’m happy now.” – An Old Man

Moral of the story:

Don’t chase happiness. Enjoy your life.

2. The Wise Man

People have been coming to the wise man, complaining about the same problems every time. One day he told them a joke and everyone roared in laughter.

After a couple of minutes, he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled.

When he told the same joke for the third time no one laughed anymore.

The wise man smiled and said:

“You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over. So why are you always crying about the same problem?”

Worrying won’t solve your problems, it’ll just waste your time and energy.

3. The Foolish Donkey

Short Moral Stories - The Foolish Donkey

A salt seller used to carry the salt bag on his donkey to the market every day.

On the way they had to cross a stream. One day the donkey suddenly tumbled down the stream and the salt bag also fell into the water. The salt dissolved in the water and hence the bag became very light to carry. The donkey was happy.

Then the donkey started to play the same trick every day.

The salt seller came to understand the trick and decided to teach a lesson to it. The next day he loaded a cotton bag on the donkey.

Again it played the same trick hoping that the cotton bag would be still become lighter.

But the dampened cotton became very heavy to carry and the donkey suffered. It learnt a lesson. It didn’t play the trick anymore after that day, and the seller was happy.

Luck won’t favor always.

4. Having A Best Friend

Short Moral Stories - Having A Best Friend

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand;

“Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone;

“Today my best friend saved my life.”

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him;

“After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The other friend replied;

“When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Moral of the story:

Don’t value the things you have in your life. But value who you have in your life.

5. The Four Smart Students

Short Moral Stories - The Four Smart Students

One night four college students were out partying late night and didn’t study for the test which was scheduled for the next day. In the morning, they thought of a plan.

They made themselves look dirty with grease and dirt.

Then they went to the Dean and said they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their way back the tire of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back. So they were in no condition to take the test.

The Dean thought for a minute and said they can have the re-test after 3 days. They thanked him and said they will be ready by that time.

On the third day, they appeared before the Dean. The Dean said that as this was a Special Condition Test, all four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last 3 days.

The Test consisted of only 2 questions with the total of 100 Points:

1) Your Name? __________ (1 Points)

2) Which tire burst? __________ (99 Points) Options – (a) Front Left (b) Front Right (c) Back Left (d) Back Right

Take responsibility or you will learn your lesson.

6. The Greedy Lion

It was an incredibly hot day, and a lion was feeling very hungry.

He came out of his den and searched here and there. He could find only a small hare. He caught the hare with some hesitation. “This hare can’t fill my stomach” thought the lion.

As the lion was about to kill the hare, a deer ran that way. The lion became greedy. He thought;

“Instead of eating this small hare, let me eat the big deer.”

He let the hare go and went behind the deer. But the deer had vanished into the forest. The lion now felt sorry for letting the hare off.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

7. Two Friends & The Bear

Short Moral Stories - Two Friends & The Bear

Vijay and Raju were friends. On a holiday they went walking into a forest, enjoying the beauty of nature. Suddenly they saw a bear coming at them. They became frightened.

Raju, who knew all about climbing trees, ran up to a tree and climbed up quickly. He didn’t think of Vijay. Vijay had no idea how to climb the tree.

Vijay thought for a second. He’d heard animals don’t prefer dead bodies, so he fell to the ground and held his breath. The bear sniffed him and thought he was dead. So, it went on its way.

Raju asked Vijay;

“What did the bear whisper into your ears?”

Vijay replied, “The bear asked me to keep away from friends like you” …and went on his way.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

8. The Struggles of Our Life

Short Moral Stories - The Struggles of our Life

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it.

She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners.

He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter.

“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it. Life is all about leaning, adopting and converting all the struggles that we experience into something positive.

9. The Fox & The Grapes

Short Moral Stories - The Fox & The Grapes

One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch.

“Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, “They’re probably sour anyway,” and proceeded to walk away.

Moral of the story:

It’s easy to despise what you can’t have.

10. The Lion & The Poor Slave

Short Moral Stories - The Lion & The Poor Slave

A slave, ill-treated by his master, runs away to the forest. There he comes across a lion in pain because of a thorn in his paw. The slave bravely goes forward and removes the thorn gently.

The lion without hurting him goes away.

Some days later, the slave’s master comes hunting to the forest and catches many animals and cages them. The slave is spotted by the masters’ men who catch him and bring him to the cruel master.

The master asks for the slave to be thrown into the lion’s cage.

The slave is awaiting his death in the cage when he realizes that it is the same lion that he had helped. The slave rescued the lion and all other caged animals.

One should help others in need, we get the rewards of our helpful acts in return.

Here’s a quick recap on the 10 best short moral stories:

An old man lived in the village
The wise man
The foolish donkey
Having a best friend
The four smart students
The greedy lion
The two friends & the bear
The struggles of our life
The fox & the grapes
The lion & the poor slave

If you haven’t seen our original article, with slightly more detailed inspirational short stories , check it out!

Do you have any other favorite short moral stories? Leave a comment below.

The 10 best motivational speakers in the world.

The Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Who are the best motivational speakers of all time?

Motivational speakers have had an enormous impact on my life, and millions of others, no matter what their personal situation in life may be.

Their words are so powerful and inspirational, you just have to listen to their stuff on a daily basis. So it brings me to this post.

I’ve been enjoying a lot of motivational videos recently, have been creating my own, and have ended up listening to a lot of wonderful speeches.

Top 10 Best Motivational Speakers

But who are the best motivational speakers in the world?

Here’s my list of the top 10 motivational speakers in the world.

These are the people you need to be following, listening to and watching on YouTube. They have transformed many people’s lives including mine.

10. Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Nick Vujicic was born on December 4th 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. Vujicic was born with Tetra-Amelia syndrome, a very rare disorder whereby someone is born with an absence of all four limbs.

This no doubt ably, made things incredibly tough for Nick growing up, as he struggled both mentally and physically.

It led to him founding his very own non-profit organization called ‘Life Without Limbs’ . Nick Vujicic is a true inspiration to us all, and if you’ve watched some of his motivational speeches on YouTube, you’ll realize just how much he’s been able to adapt to a life without limbs.

Many people with this disorder might not be willing to work hard in order to truly push their abilities.

He can type 43 words a minute on a computer. That’s right, you heard me correctly. This is a guy who has an absence of all four limbs, but can type 43 words per minute on a computer.

I encourage you to watch some of his videos on YouTube, and see exactly what I’m talking about.

“It’s a lie to think you’re not good enough. It’s a lie to think you’re not worth anything.” – nick Vujicic

9. Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Brian Tracy was born on January 5th 1944 in Vancouver, Canada, and is the CEO of Brian Tracy International , a company that specifically sets out to help individuals and organizations develop, train and grow.

Brian’s ultimate goal is to help other people achieve their goals more efficiently and be able to achieve their full potential.

That definitely sets the foundation for being one of the best motivational speakers in the world.

His lifetime achievements are phenomenal, consulting huge numbers of businesses, hosting huge numbers of seminars and conducting years and years of research in Business, Economics, Psychology and Philosophy.

There’s no more to say other than the title given on his website: Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author, Entrepreneur and Success Expert. Check out some of the best Brian Tracy quotes .

“No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.” – Brian Tracy

8. Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Robin Sharma was born in 1964 in Nepal, and straight out of the Dalhousie University School of Law, became a professional lawyer. But he went much further in his career than being a fully qualified and successful lawyer.

Sharma has written a total of 15 published books, from 1995 – 2011, on the subjects of self-help and leadership. One of his most popular books written; ‘The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari’ , has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The book is all about a character called Julian, who decides to sell his home and Ferrari to go on a spiritual journey, after being the victim to a sudden heart attack.

Some may say that Robin Sharma’s more of a motivational author rather than speaker, but he deserves to be on this list. He’s written 12 global best sellers, and is an expert author in the world of leadership and self development.

“Dreamers are mocked as impractical. The truth is they are the most practical, as their innovations lead to progress and a better way of life for all of us.” – Robin S. Sharma

7. Wayne Dyer

Dr. Wayne Dyer - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Dr. Wayne Dyer was born on May 10th 1940 in Detroit, and spent the majority of his childhood in an orphanage.

Dyer was in the U.S Navy after graduating high school, from 1958 to 1962. He then received his degree in counselling, a profession that he chose to work in for a while before taking it one step further.

Dyer left his teaching job and started pursuing a career in motivational speaking, holding various lectures across the states and becoming an incredibly popular author.

The first book that Dyer ever wrote has now had over 35 million copies sold and he’s proceeded to continue with his lecture tours, release various audio tapes and publish a regular stream of books .

“Passion is a feeling that tells you: this is the right thing to do. Nothing can stand in my way. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says. This feeling is so good that it cannot be ignored. I’m going to follow my bliss and act upon this glorious sensation of joy.” – Wayne Dyer

6. Zig Ziglar

Zig Ziglar - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Zig Ziglar was born on November 6th, 1926 in Alabama, and passed away on November 28th in 2012.

Ziglar has 11 siblings, and at the age of five years old, his father died of a stroke, and his sister passed away two days later. Zig actually served in the army from 1935 – 1946 during World War II.

Ziglar met his wife Jean when he was just 17 years old, and after the war began to work as a salesman for many different companies, eventually becoming the vice president for the Automotive Performance company .

He started taking part in motivational seminars, and also wrote his first book in 1975 titled: ‘See You at the Top’ . This was the first of at least 15 books he’d written during the period of 1975 and 2012.

A lot of wisdom has come from Zig Ziglar over the years and he is definitely one of the best motivational speakers in the world.

“You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” – Zig Ziglar

5. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born on July 30th 1947, in Austria. We all know him as the world famous professional bodybuilding champion, and there’s a very inspirational story behind Arnie’s bodybuilding success.

Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian army at the age of 18 years old for 1 year, which at the time was compulsory for all 18-year-old males.

During this time, he would still manage to fit in his workouts between all the training and drills, whilst most people were resting. He snuck out of the camp to compete in the Junior Mr. Europe contest , which he ended up winning.

Arnold’s discipline towards his training was incredible, and the fact that he was willing to disobey the rules of the army and sneak out of the camp to compete in the contest, just goes to show how badly he wanted it.

Nowadays, he’s an inspiration to many bodybuilders and a great source of motivation for anyone wanting to be successful.

“For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

4. Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Jim Rohn was born September 17th, 1930 in Yakima, Washington, and passed away on December 5th, 2009. He was a very successful entrepreneur, at one time being a Vice President of a very successful sales company, Nutri-Bio.

However, after the company eventually went out of business, he was invited to speak at a meeting of one of his clubs.

After this meeting, he was invited to speak at many other events and began making a name for himself. Rohn was a wise businessman and managed to impart much of this wisdom to others.

He’s definitely earned the right to be on this list of the best motivational speakers in the world.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

3. Les Brown

Les Brown - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Les Brown was born on February 17th, 1945 in Miami, Florida. He was adopted by Mamie Brown, and whilst in grade school, was declared “educably mentally retarded” .

Despite this and the emotional issues, it brought upon him; he was encouraged by others to continue to learn and be the best he could be. Leading him to unlock his full potential.

Les is another motivational speaker who is incredibly popular among the motivational video compilations that others create. Because his speeches are so deep and meaningful that they really get through to people.

His top-selling books: ‘It’s Not over until You Win!’ and ‘Live Your Dreams’ are truly inspirational and well worth the read.

“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up.” – Les Brown

2. Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Tony Robbins was born on February 29th, 1960 in Los Angeles. His life at home when he was young was described by him as abusive and chaotic. It was because of this that he left home at the age of 17.

Originally when starting out in the world of motivational speaking, Robbins was promoting seminars for Jim Rohn. He later decided to begin his own journey by hosting his own seminars.

Tony has affected and changed so many people’s lives in a positive way through his seminars, motivational speeches, inspirational quotes and best-selling books.

Search for him on YouTube and several videos will pop up showing him change someone’s life.

The favorites of mine that I’ve watched, are where he cures a young man’s stutter in 7 minutes and saves another guy’s marriage in 8.

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” – Tony Robbins

1. Eric Thomas

Eric Thomas - Best Motivational Speakers in the World

Eric Thomas, born and raised in Detroit, was homeless at the age of 16 years old. But Eric decided that he wanted to make a better life for himself, to become someone with a life he could be proud of.

E.T did just that, and you can now check out powerful advice from Eric Thomas on YouTube. Including his “Thank God It’s Monday” series.

He also managed to get the education he missed out on whilst he was homeless and pushed himself further to achieve all the qualifications he dreamed of being able to achieve.

Eric Thomas has become one of the best motivational speakers in the world. His YouTube videos are legendary and his best-selling books have taken in millions of dollars in revenue.

E.T’s speeches are so popular, that you’ll find he’s featured in roughly 90% of the motivational videos that others create and upload to YouTube, using compilations of clips, speeches, and music.

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” – Eric Thomas

I hope you enjoyed this list of the top 10 best motivational speakers in the world. Many of these speakers are featured within some of the videos we included in our new list of ultimate gym motivation . Take a look and see what you think.

Here’s a quick recap on the list of the best motivational speakers in the world::

Eric Thomas
Tony Robbins
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dr. Wayne Dyer
Robin Sharma
Brian Tracy
Nick Vujicic

Who’s your favorite of the 10 best motivational speakers? Do you still agree with the current order of this list? Leave a comment below.

The 10 Most Inspirational Short Stories I’ve Heard

Top 10 Most Inspirational Short Stories I’ve Heard

Short Inspirational stories are powerful reads;

The great thing about them is that they’re so easy to digest, and there’s always a moral at the end of the story.

Whether they’re true stories or not is another thing, as many of them are legends supposedly hundreds of years old.

However, the stories that I’m talking about are so powerful and inspirational that many of them really do get you thinking and even leave you speechless at times.

The 10 Best Inspirational Short Stories

I’ve been reading plenty of these short stories in the past couple of weeks and found the lessons behind them truly wonderful. So I’ve decided to write out this article highlighting the 10 most inspirational short stories I’ve heard.

Next to the subheadings, in brackets, I’ve put what the story’s lesson is all about, with a short description of the moral of the story at the end of each section.

10. The Elephant Rope (Belief)

The Elephant Rope (Inspirational Short Stories)

A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains.

All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.

As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all.

Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.

The trainer replied;

“when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.

9. Thinking Out of the Box (Creative Thinking)

Thinking Out of the Box (Inspirational Short Stories)

In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.

He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter.

Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.

The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.

The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.

Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles.

Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.

He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.

The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:

Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.

She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the loan-shark;

“Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.

It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation throughout of the box thinking, and not give in to the only options you think you have to pick from.

8. The Group of Frogs (Encouragement)

The Group of Frogs (Inspirational Short Stories)

As a group of frogs was traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for them.

However, the two frogs decided to ignore what the others were saying and they proceeded to try and jump out of the pit .

Despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they should just give up. That they would never make it out.

Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and he gave up, falling down to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die.

He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?”

The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

People’s words can have a big effect on other’s lives. Think about what you say before it comes out of your mouth. It might just be the difference between life and death.

7. A Pound of Butter (Honesty)

A Pound of Butter (Inspirational Short Stories)

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the right amount, which he wasn’t. Angry about this, he took the farmer to court.

The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure to weight the butter. The farmer replied, “Honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.”

The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?”

The farmer replied;

“Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.”

In life, you get what you give. Don’t try and cheat others.

6. The Obstacle In Our Path (Opportunity)

The Obstacle in Our Path (Inspirational Short Stories)

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. He then hid himself and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it.

Many people loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

A peasant then came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to push the stone out of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

After the peasant went back to pick up his vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been.

The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King explaining that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

Every obstacle we come across in life gives us an opportunity to improve our circumstances , and whilst the lazy complain, the others are creating opportunities through their kind hearts, generosity, and willingness to get things done.

5. The Butterfly (Struggles)

The Butterfly (Inspirational Short Stories)

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.

One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Until it suddenly stopped making any progress and looked like it was stuck.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man didn’t think anything of it and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body.

Despite the kind heart of the man , he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening; were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. To prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.

Our struggles in life develop our strengths . Without struggles, we never grow and never get stronger, so it’s important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and not be relying on help from others.

4. Control Your Temper (Anger)

Control Your Temper (Inspirational Short Stories)

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence.

On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence.

The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased.

He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

“you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

Control your anger, and don’t say things to people in the heat of the moment, that you may later regret . Some things in life, you are unable to take back.

3. The Blind Girl (Change)

The Blind Girl (Inspirational Short Stories)

There was a blind girl who hated herself purely for the fact she was blind. The only person she didn’t hate was her loving boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry him.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her – now she could see everything , including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes dear.”

When our circumstances change, so does our mind. Some people may not be able to see the way things were before, and might not be able to appreciate them . There are many things to take away from this story, not just one.

This is one of the inspirational short stories that left me speechless.

2. Puppies for Sale (Understanding)

Puppies for Sale (Inspirational Short Stories)

A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: “Puppies For Sale.”

Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no surprise, a boy saw the sign and approached the owner;

“How much are you going to sell the puppies for?” he asked.

The store owner replied, “Anywhere from $30 to $50.”

The little boy pulled out some change from his pocket. “I have $2.37,” he said. “Can I please look at them?”

The shop owner smiled and whistled. Out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his shop followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur.

One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, “What’s wrong with that little dog?”

The shop owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn’t have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame.

The little boy became excited. “That is the puppy that I want to buy.”

The shop owner said, “No, you don’t want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I’ll just give him to you.”

The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the store owner’s eyes, pointing his finger, and said;

“I don’t want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for.”

The shop owner countered, “You really don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies.”

To his surprise, the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace. He looked up at the shop owner and softly replied, “Well, I don’t run so well myself, and the little puppy will need someone who understands!”

1. Box Full of Kisses (Love)

Box Full of Kisses (Inspirational Short Stories)

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”

The man became embarrassed by his overreaction earlier, but his rage continue when he saw that the box was empty. He yelled at her; “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried;

“Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child.

Her father kept the gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

Love is the most precious gift in the world.

Summary of the 10 Best Inspirational Stories

Here’s a quick summary of the 10 best short inspirational stories:

Box Full of Kisses (Love)
Puppies for Sale (Understanding)
The Blind Girl (Change)
Control Your Temper (Anger)
The Butterfly (Struggles)
The Obstacle in Our Path (Opportunity)
A Pound of Butter (Honesty)
The Group of Frogs (Encouragement)
Thinking Out of the Box (Creative Thinking)
The Elephant Rope (Belief)

Thanks for reading these inspirational short stories. Some of them left me speechless for a minute or two, and it really does make us think.

If you know of any other inspirational short stories that you think should be featured on the list, then let me know in the comments below or drop me an email and I’ll feature them in part two later on in the year.

Which are your favorite inspirational short stories? Leave a comment below.

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25 books by billionaires that will teach you how to run the world

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Whether you want to launch an empire or become the best in your field, who better to consult than those who have achieved the peak of professional and financial success?

That's why we've rounded up 25 books by self-made billionaires. From the business insights of Bill Gates to the leadership lessons of Richard Branson, the wisdom collected in these pages extends far beyond the classroom.

Learn how these masters of industry achieved the impossible, in their own words.

'The Virgin Way' by Richard Branson

Although Branson confesses he's never read a book on leadership, his nearly 50-year entrepreneurial career has taught him a thing or two about building a business.

In "The Virgin Way," the billionaire founder of Virgin Group offers lessons on management and entrepreneurialism, including the importance of listening to others and hiring the right people. Branson is honest about his successes as well as his failures, such as underestimating Coke's influence when he tried to launch Virgin Cola in the 1990s.

Overall, the book is a compelling glimpse into the life of someone who's never shied away from a challenge.

'Onward' by Howard Schultz

After resigning as Starbucks CEO in 2000, Schultz returned to the post in 2008, just as the company was struggling through a financial crisis. "Onward" details how the billionaire brought the global coffee chain back to life.

Readers will learn how Schultz made tough decisions — like temporarily shutting down more than 7,000 US stores — in order to help Starbucks grow without neglecting its core values.

They'll learn, too, about Schultz as a person, as he weaves together his unique business strategy with anecdotes about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It's an honest and passionate recounting that will inspire entrepreneurs and everyone else to be brave in the face of adversity.

'How to Win at the Sport of Business' by Mark Cuban

In "How to Win at the Sport of Business," Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" investor Cuban fleshes out his best insights on entrepreneurialism from his personal blog.

He writes candidly about how he progressed from sleeping on his friends' couches in his 20s to owning his own company and becoming a multibillionaire. It's a story of commitment and perseverance — Cuban writes that even though he didn't know much about computers, he beat his competition because he spent so much time learning about the software his company sold.

'The Essays of Warren Buffett' by Warren Buffett

The 86-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is considered one of the greatest investors in history.

This book is a collection of Buffett's letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Each one explains a different facet of his business and investment philosophies. While the topics might seem complex, the billionaire's writing is easy to read, and he often explains concepts through personal anecdotes.

'Business @ the Speed of Thought' by Bill Gates

With a net worth of $75 billion, Forbes estimates the Microsoft founder is the richest person in the world. In "Business @ the Speed of Thought," Gates explains how business and technology are inextricably linked.

Using examples from companies like Microsoft and GM, Gates suggests that businesses see technology as a way to enhance their operations. While the book was initially published in 1999, many of Gates' insights remain accurate and relevant today.

'Bloomberg by Bloomberg' by Michael Bloomberg

Published in 1997, five years before he became mayor of New York City, Bloomberg's autobiography details how he built a media empire.

He guides readers through the highlights of his career: how he rose to success at Salomon Brothers, how he was fired from Salomon Brothers in 1981, and how he used part of his severance pay to create the company that is now Bloomberg LP. The book is chock-full of valuable, honest insights on leadership and management, all based on Bloomberg's personal experience.

'Zero to One' by Peter Thiel

"Zero to One" starts from the controversial premise that "competition is for losers" and that entrepreneurs should instead aim to create monopolies.

Thiel, a founder of PayPal and the data-analytics firm Palantir, highlights the importance of building something new and taking over the market, as opposed to simply adding to what's already out there. Regardless of whether you agree with Thiel's philosophy, the book is a clear read with tons of ideas worth discussing.

'Call Me Ted' by Ted Turner

While Turner has led multiple entrepreneurial ventures, he's perhaps best known as the founder of the first 24-hour cable-news channel, CNN, and as the former owner of the Atlanta Braves.

In his autobiography, he outlines his unconventional path to success, from getting expelled from Brown University to running his father's billboard company to turning a small news station into a media empire.

The book also features personal stories about Turner's relationship with his father and the actress Jane Fonda, all of which paint a full picture of the dynamic billionaire.

'Think Like a Champion' by Donald Trump

"Think Like a Champion" is a collection of the president-elect and real-estate mogul's essays on personal and professional success.

Each one combines anecdotes from his own experience with inspirational advice on everything from learning from your mistakes to confronting your fears. Acknowledging his own tendency toward self-promotion, he tells readers to "toot your own horn" when you deserve it.

'The First Billion Is the Hardest' by T. Boone Pickens

"The First Billion Is the Hardest" tells the story of how the now 87-year-old chairman of BP Capital Management overcame personal and professional challenges to achieve tremendous success.

The narrative takes readers all the way from Pickens' experience as a "corporate raider" in the 1980s to his late-life rebranding as an advocate for America's energy independence. Each chapter starts with a "Booneism," or a few words of wisdom on winning in life and business. Example: "I learned early on that you play by the rules. It's no fun if you cheat to win."

'Soros on Soros' by George Soros

That Soros survived the Holocaust to become one of the world's most brilliant investors is no small miracle. Readers learn about his career path in "Soros on Soros," which is technically two extended interviews that combine personal anecdotes with theories on finance and politics.

Soros is honest about his successes and failures as founder and chairman of Soros Fund Management, and is hardly shy about submitting controversial opinions. It's a compelling read, whether you're interested in learning more about Soros himself or global finance and policy.

'Direct from Dell' by Michael Dell

Dell dropped out of college at 19 to found PC Limited, the business that is now Dell Computer Corp. At 27, he became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

In "Direct from Dell," the billionaire entrepreneur explains how he grew his business and the theory behind his unique management style. It's an inspiring rags-to-riches story that also offers valuable leadership lessons.

'Built from Scratch' by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank

In "Built from Scratch," Marcus and Blank chronicle how they changed their fate and turned their dreams into reality. After the two were fired from a home-improvement chain called Handy Dan in 1978, they decided to pursue their idea of creating a discount store. It was called The Home Depot.

The book details the company's founding and growth, and the authors draw on their own experience to provide meaningful lessons for any business leader, including the importance of knowing your customer and giving back to the community.

'What I Know for Sure' by Oprah Winfrey

Few people have a better understanding of passion and dedication than Winfrey. Born into poverty, she launched a career as a talk-show host, actress, and media mogul.

"What I Know for Sure" is a collection of her columns in O, the Oprah Magazine. Each one offers a different life lesson on topics including joy, gratitude, and power, often based on her personal experience.

'Ralph Lauren' by Ralph Lauren

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren grew up as Ralph Lipschitz, the son of Jewish immigrant parents living in the Bronx. The idea for Polo Ralph Lauren was born when he attended a polo match as a young man and was captivated by "high society" style.

In his autobiography, he shares his personal history, the inspiration behind his work, and beautiful photographs.

'Steering Clear' by Peter G. Peterson

At 89, Peterson has had a long and storied career, which includes stints as US secretary of commerce, chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, and cofounder of private-equity firm Blackstone Group.

He's also the founder and chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which focuses on raising awareness about fiscal challenges that the US faces.

In "Steering Clear," published in 2015, Peterson makes the case that we need to take immediate action to reduce long-term debt in the US, projected to hit record highs in the near future. He juxtaposes prose with charts and graphs that illustrate the issue, and offers potential solutions to the problem, including closing loopholes in the tax code.

In the book's introduction, Peterson explains why addressing this issue isn't just economic good sense: "This country has given my family and me — and millions of others — unequaled opportunities to dream and to prosper. And together we have a profound obligation to try to pass on the same opportunity to future generations."

'Simply Rich' by Richard DeVos

DeVos' rags-to-riches autobiography details his transition from Depression-era Michigan schoolboy to multibillionaire cofounder of direct-selling company Amway.

The book weaves together stories about DeVos' personal and professional lives, focusing in particular on the way his Christian upbringing and values paved the way for his success.

Impressions of Amway as a company are mixed — it's been the subject of investigation for having a pyramid-like structure, although the Federal Trade Commission has ruled that the company's activities are legal. But as one fan of the book says, "Whether you like the company or not, you can't argue DeVos' inspiring story."

'How Did You Do It, Truett?' by S. Truett Cathy

To many Americans, Cathy's invention of the chicken sandwich and founding of fast-food chain Chick-fil-A make him a modern hero.

In "How Did You Do It, Truett?" Cathy, who died in 2014, describes his rise to success, starting from the days when he worked behind the counter at the Dwarf Grill in Georgia.

At 95 pages, it's a relatively short read, and the book includes a number of inspirational business and leadership lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

'Charles Schwab's New Guide to Financial Independence' by Charles Schwab

According to Schwab, founder of Charles Schwab Corp., anyone can be a wise investor. All you need to do is learn the basics and apply them in an investing strategy.

In "New Guide to Financial Independence," a revised edition of a book published in 2007, Schwab teaches readers how to set investment goals, monitor their performance, and plan for retirement. His main argument is that, when it comes to investing, doing nothing is the worst thing you can do.

While the lessons in it are applicable to anyone, the book is a helpful road map for beginning investors, breaking down complicated concepts into simpler pieces.

'Fooling Some of the People All of the Time' by David Einhorn

In this book, Einhorn tells his side of a six-year financial saga.

Here's the short version:. In 2002, Einhorn, founder of Greenlight Capital, thought he'd uncovered flawed accounting practices at Allied Capital and started short selling Allied's stock. That didn't work, as the stock climbed. Einhorn tried to expose Allied's unethical behavior, even approaching the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but the SEC ended up investigating him as well. Ultimately, Allied settled with the SEC in 2008 and the accusations were never substantiated.

The book is heavy on detail, and one critic says that some parts read like Einhorn's angry rant. But it nonetheless offers some compelling insights into the general drama that often unfolds on Wall Street.

'Margin of Safety' by Seth Klarman

Instead of succumbing to the latest trends, Klarman, CEO and president of the Baupost Group, encourages readers to understand the rules and logic behind investing.

Specifically, he advocates and explains the rationale behind value investing, a method developed by Benjamin Graham that involves investing in securities trading at a price lower than their intrinsic value. The book takes its title from Benjamin Graham’s advice to always invest with a margin of safety.

"Margin of Safety," no longer in print, now sells for as much as $1,000 on Amazon.

'Made in America' by Sam Walton

"Made in America," by the founder of Walmart, is one of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' favorite books.

Readers get a glimpse into both Walton's personality and the effort it took for him to build what is now the largest retailer in the world.

One reader calls the book "wonderfully folksy" — others say it's solid inspiration for those looking to start their own business.

'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight

Nike cofounder Knight retired as the chairman of Nike in June 2016. In "Shoe Dog," published April 2016, he tells the fascinating story of how he built the world's biggest athletic company.

Knight takes readers along on his personal journey to success, starting from his pivotal decision at age 24 to go the entrepreneurial route instead of joining the corporate world.

Longtime venture capitalist Brad Feld calls the book the "best memoir I've ever read by a business person" and a "must read" for any founder.

'Behind the Cloud' by Marc Benioff

This 2009 book details how Salesforce's founder, chairman, and CEO launched the cloud software company, now worth roughly $50 billion, in 1999.

Woven throughout the story are some 111 of Benioff's management tips, from "integrate philanthropy from the beginning" to "have the courage to pursue your innovation — before it is obvious to the market."

In January 2016, Benioff suggested in a Tweet that he might be working on a sequel: "Beyond the Cloud."

'How Google Works' by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

In 2014, Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman and former CEO, and Jonathan Rosenberg, former senior vice president of products, published this compilation of insights from their experience building the company.

Readers learn the meaning and importance of "smart creatives," and some anecdotes from Google's previously untold history.

Business Insider published a slide presentation that Schmidt and Rosenberg put together highlighting the book's key takeaways. Those include: "We quickly learned that almost everything we know about managing businesses was dead wrong," and "Never forget that hiring is the most important thing you do."

• The 41 most powerful photos from around the world in 2016 • Oxford University offers the 'world's hardest test' — here's how to answer the questions • The 10 most visited cities around the world in 2016

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15 books by self-made billionaires that will show you how to run the world

Learn how these masters of industry — from Bill Gates and Richard Branson, to legendary investor Warren Buffett — achieved the impossible, in their own words

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Whether you want to launch an empire or become the best in your field, who better to consult than those who’ve achieved the peak of professional and financial success?

That’s why we’ve rounded up 15 books by self-made billionaires. Learn how these masters of industry achieved the impossible, in their own words.

15 books by self-made billionaires that will show you how to run the world Back to video

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‘the virgin way’ by richard branson.

Although Branson confesses he’s never read a book on leadership, his nearly 50-year entrepreneurial career has taught him a thing or two about building a business.

In “The Virgin Way,” the billionaire founder of Virgin Group offers lessons on management and entrepreneurialism, including the importance of listening to others and hiring the right people. Branson is honest about his successes as well as his failures, such as underestimating Coke’s influence when he tried to launch Virgin Cola in the 1990s.

Overall, the book is a compelling glimpse into the life of someone who’s never shied away from a challenge.

Buy it here >>

‘Onward’ by Howard Schultz

After resigning as Starbucks CEO in 2000, Schultz returned to the post in 2008, just as the company was struggling through a financial crisis. “Onward” details how the billionaire brought the global coffee chain back to life.

Readers will learn how Schultz made tough decisions — like temporarily shutting down more than 7,000 U.S. stores — in order to help Starbucks grow without neglecting its core values. They’ll learn, too, about Schultz as a person, as he weaves together his unique business strategy with anecdotes about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It’s an honest and passionate recounting that will inspire entrepreneurs and everyone else to be brave in the face of adversity.

‘How to Win at the Sport of Business’ by Mark Cuban

In “How to Win at the Sport of Business,” Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark Tank” investor Cuban fleshes out his best insights on entrepreneurialism from his personal blog .

He writes candidly about how he progressed from sleeping on his friends’ couches in his 20s to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billionaire. It’s a story of commitment and perseverance — Cuban writes that even though he didn’t know much about computers, he beat his competition because he spent so much time learning about the software his company sold.

‘The Essays of Warren Buffett’ by Warren Buffett

The 84-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is considered one of the greatest investors in history.

This book is a collection of Buffett’s letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Each one explains a different facet of his business and investment philosophies. While the topics might seem complex, the billionaire’s writing is easy to read, and he often explains concepts through personal anecdotes.

‘Business @ the Speed of Thought’ by Bill Gates

With a net worth of $79 billion , Forbes estimates the Microsoft founder is the richest person in the world. In “Business @ the Speed of Thought,” Gates explains how business and technology are inextricably linked.

‘Bloomberg by Bloomberg’ by Michael Bloomberg

Published in 1997, five years before he became mayor of New York City, Bloomberg’s autobiography details how he built a media empire.

He guides readers through the highlights of his career: how he rose to success at Salomon Brothers, how he was fired from Salomon Brothers in 1981, and how he used part of his severance pay to create the company that is now Bloomberg LP. The book is chock full of valuable, honest insights on leadership and management, all based on Bloomberg’s personal experience.

‘Zero to One’ by Peter Thiel

“Zero to One” starts from the controversial premise that “ competition is for losers ” and that entrepreneurs should instead aim to create monopolies.

Thiel, a founder of Paypal and the data analytics firm Palantir, highlights the importance of building something new and taking over the market, as opposed to simply adding to what’s already out there. Regardless of whether you agree with Thiel’s philosophy, the book is a clear read with tons of ideas worth discussing.

‘Call Me Ted’ by Ted Turner

While Turner has led multiple entrepreneurial ventures, he’s perhaps best known as the founder of the first 24-hour cable news channel, CNN, and as the former owner of the Atlanta Braves.

In his autobiography, he outlines his unconventional path to success, from getting expelled from Brown University to running his father’s billboard company to turning a small news station into a media empire.

The book also features personal stories about Turner’s relationship with his father and the actress Jane Fonda, all of which paint a full picture of the dynamic billionaire.

Buy it here>>

‘Think Like a Champion’ by Donald Trump

“Think Like a Champion” is a collection of the outspoken real-estate mogul’s essays on personal and professional success.

‘The First Billion is the Hardest’ by T. Boone Pickens

“The First Billion is the Hardest” tells the story of how the now 87-year-old chairman of BP Capital Management overcame personal and professional challenges to achieve tremendous success.

The narrative takes readers all the way from Pickens’ experience as a “corporate raider” in the 1980s to his late-life rebranding as an advocate for America’s energy independence. Each chapter starts with a “ Booneism ,” or a few words of wisdom on winning in life and business. Example: “I learned early on that you play by the rules. It’s no fun if you cheat to win.”

‘Soros on Soros’ by George Soros

That Soros survived the Holocaust to become one of the world’s most brilliant investors is no small miracle. Readers learn about his career path in “Soros on Soros,” which is technically two extended interviews that combine personal anecdotes with theories on finance and politics.

Soros is honest about his successes and failures as founder and chairman of Soros Fund Management, and is hardly shy about submitting controversial opinions. It’s a compelling read, whether you’re interested in learning more about Soros himself or global finance and policy.

‘Direct From Dell’ by Michael Dell

Dell dropped out of college at age 19 to found PC Limited, the business that is now Dell Computer Corp. At 27, he became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

In “Direct From Dell,” the billionaire entrepreneur explains how he grew his business and the theory behind his unique management style. It’s an inspiring rags-to-riches story that also offers valuable leadership lessons.

‘Built from Scratch’ by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank

In “Built from Scratch,” Marcus and Blank chronicle how they changed their fate and turned their dreams into reality. After the two were fired from a home-improvement chain called Handy Dan in 1978, they decided to pursue their idea of creating a discount store. It was called Home Depot.

The book details the company’s founding and growth, and the authors draw on their own experience to provide meaningful lessons for any business leader, including the importance of knowing your customer and giving back to the community.

‘What I Know For Sure’ by Oprah Winfrey

Few people have a better understanding of passion and dedication than Winfrey. Born into poverty, she launched a career as a talk show host, actress, and media mogul.

“What I Know For Sure” is a collection of her columns in O, The Oprah Magazine. Each one offers a different life lesson on topics including joy, gratitude, and power, often based on her personal experience.

‘Ralph Lauren’ by Ralph Lauren

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren grew up as Ralph Lipschitz , the son of Jewish immigrant parents living in the Bronx. The idea for Polo Ralph Lauren was born when he attended a polo match as a young man and was captivated by “high society” style.

In his autobiography, he shares his personal history, the inspiration behind his work, and beautiful photographs.

>", "target_url": "http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Lauren/dp/0847837432/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432649070&sr=1-1&keywords=ralph+lauren&tag=bisafetynet-20", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}'href="http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-Lauren/dp/0847837432/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432649070&sr=1-1&keywords=ralph+lauren&tag=bisafetynet-20"data-evt=click data-evt-typ=click>Buy it here >>

Want to keep reading? >", "target_url": "http://www.businessinsider.com/summer-business-books-2015-5", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}'data-evt=click data-evt-typ=click href=http://www.businessinsider.com/summer-business-books-2015-5>20 books to read this summer that will make you smarter about business >>

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Home / Book Writing / The Best Biography Books of All Time: My 10 Personal Favorites

The Best Biography Books of All Time: My 10 Personal Favorites

I love great biography books. Whether it's about a hero, celebrity, business mogul, or dastardly villain, biographies give an amazing insight into the mindset of success and hard work.

And while biographies aren't necessarily white-knuckle page-turners or complex Lit-RPG , they're sure to provide an interesting read.

In this article, you will learn:

The importance of a biography – both as a writer and a reader
Our top picks for the best biographies of all time

Our Best Biography Books
Biographies for Readers
Biographies for Writers
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by Ben Bradlee Jr
The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
The Stan Lee Story by Roy Thomas
What Do You Think Of Our Best Biography Books List?

Mind you, this is a highly subjective article. If you don't see your favorite biography on this list, let us know in the comments below what you believe deserves to be on this list and why. And with that, let's jump right into some good lessons and even better titles.

Titan: The Life of John D Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury by Leslie-Ann Jones
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by Ben Bradlee Jr.

Why Are Biographies Important?

Often glossed over, a biography holds much more than just the story of someone's life. While the stories can be entertaining, there is another value to reading and writing biography books.

When looking at what can be gained by readers through biographies, three main points come to mind.

Biographies provide real-life lessons.

There's an old piece of advice that I'm sure everybody has heard before, “Learn from others' mistakes.” And while we might not necessarily follow that as we should, it's sound advice. By reading biographies, you can see where other people made their mistakes and learn from them in the process. Biography subjects can be mentors if you'll let them.

Biographies are inspiring.

Most of the time, biographies focus on great people accomplishing great deeds. Reading about them will surely light a fire underneath you and provide the inspiration you need to conquer whatever obstacles stand in your way.

Biographies allow you to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.

Sometimes it's necessary to see things from a different perspective. Doing so can be truly enlightening. Biographies shine a light into why someone acted the way they did, giving you fresh insight.

Increase Your Book Marketing

See the Publisher Rocket effect, when you use the right keywords and categories to help get your book seen more on Amazon.

Readers of biographies aren't the only people to benefit from them. Those who write biographies go through the learning process themselves. Here are a few benefits authors of biographies might glean.

They come with their own subject matter.

While careful research must be done to write a good biography, it can be helpful to have a life's worth of adventures to work with. If you're struggling to come up with a new story for a book, consider telling someone else's story.

They will humble and humanize you.

A biography humbles its author. You may be one of the most successful writers ever; but when writing a biography, you're writing about somebody else's success and their life. It kind of puts things into perspective. You get an outside look at how life operates and how people react to ups and downs. You'll see that you're a part of something much bigger than yourself. This will allow you to learn from your subject's trials and tribulations.

I recommend sharing what you personally learned from your research in the preface part of your book. Let readers know how writing the biography has made you a better person and more aware. That will make readers excited to potentially experience a similar transformation.

Our Top Picks for the Best Biography Books of All Time

Here are our picks for the best biographies of all time. These are listed in no particular order, as it was already hard enough to narrow them down this much.

About the Biography: This biography focuses on the life of Henrietta Lacks. A simple tobacco farmer, Henrietta unwittingly became one of the largest contributors to modern medical science. Back in 1951, Henrietta visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital where a large cancerous tumor was found on her cervix. Samples of these cancer cells ended up being collected and, unbeknownst to her, sent to a nearby tissue lab for experimentation. Her cells (now called HeLa cells) were very special compared to everyone else's. Instead of dying under stressful conditions, hers would double in number! Further experimentation led to many scientific breakthroughs, including the polio vaccine. It was only 20 years later–and after Henrietta's passing–that her family actually found out what happened.

About the Author: Rebecca Skloot has a very interesting writing background. She's been a professor for both creative writing and science journalism at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Memphis, and New York University. And she's got a rather prolific writing portfolio. She's published over 200 short stories and essays, but nothing quite took off like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Why We Chose This Biography: When this book came out in 2010, it was one for the record books. It was not only selected as a notable book by the New York Times — 60 different major publications named it as the best book of the year! This biography has garnered so much attention over the past decade, with Oprah Winfrey even producing an HBO film on it.

About the Biography: When Lincoln won the presidency, his rivals were shocked and dismayed. Lincoln became the victor due to his high capacity to relate to the common folk and his overwhelming sense of poise and decency. That ability allowed him to develop one of the most unusual presidential cabinets in history. One made up of his politically experienced and headstrong rivals.

About the Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin is an American political biographer. She has written biographies for several other American presidents including Lyndon B Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. In 2005, she won the Lincoln Award (Best Book about The Civil War) for Team of Rivals and parts of it were used for the basis of the 2012 Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln .

Why We Chose This Biography: Many people would say that Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest United States Presidents to hold the office. Though his life was shortened by assassination, he made a huge impact on the American Union and history itself. One of the ways he was able to do so was by bringing the people together–friends and enemies alike. And the masterful writing from Goodwin only accentuates how much impact Lincoln actually had.

About the Biography: Titan explores the life of the world's first billionaire — oil magnate, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. This biography talks about Rockefeller's humble beginnings and how he rose through the corporate ladder to become one of the most powerful men in history. The biography has cameos from major players such as Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and many more. This has been touted as one of America's great biographies by Time Magazine .

About the Author: Beginning his career in freelance journalism, Ron Chernow quickly evolved into one of the foremost biographical writers in the United States. Although he pursues writing full time now, he still contributes articles to publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal .

Why We Chose This Biography: Even long after his death, Rockefeller is one of the greatest business inspirations for any budding entrepreneur. He truly defined and set the term “industry titan,” and there's still so much that we can learn from his practices.

About the Biography: This 2008 Audie Award winner tells the story of how an awkward, impatient patent clerk became one of the greatest scientific minds of all time. The book covers the entirety of Einstein's life, from the common misconception that he wasn't good at math to his involvement in World War I and II. Isaacson also covers Einstein's Physics achievements and his formulation of the General Theory of Relativity. This is one of the best biography books for anyone interested in politics, physics, or personal achievement.

About the Author: Walter Isaacson has quite the resume. He's been the managing editor at Time , CEO of CNN, and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He's made a household name for himself through his biographies of Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Ben Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Henry Kissinger.

Why We Chose This Biography: Albert Einstein has become synonymous with the word ‘genius.' If you were to create a top 10 list of the most influential minds in history, there's a good chance he'd be on it. And when you have his life presented to you by the legendary biographical author Walter Isaacson…You're in for one heck of a read.

About the Biography: Warren Buffett is one of the richest men in America and one of the most respected. Known for showing great humility, he has been shrouded in enigma as he lives a very private life (until this biography anyway). Entrusting his life story to Alice Schroeder, Alice writes the book that Buffett claims he never could.

About the Author: Alice is an American former insurance analyst and writer. She caught the attention of Warren Buffett through her writing skills and was entrusted to tell his story. After her success with The Snowball , you'll catch more of her writing in columns for T he Bloomberg News .

Why We Chose This Biography: Warren Buffett is a wildly successful businessman who's made some of the best decisions when it comes to investing in the stock market. And at the same time, he does it with the utmost degree of modesty. He's a huge role model for just about anybody trying to make it in life. So when he finally decided to sit down with someone to tell his story…I'm gonna listen. Or read it.

About the Biography: Bohemian Rhapsody is the Freddie Mercury biography that you never knew you needed. This book primarily focuses on the period in the 1980s where Queen began to fragment–namely before Live Aid. It's been described as an emotional roller coaster, taking the reader through Freddie's childhood in India and Zanzibar to his wilder years in the '70s and '80s.

About the Author: Lesley-Ann Jones is an English author and journalist. Most of her works revolve around rock and roll and pop superstars. She's a top-notch writer and captured Freddie at his most real in this biography.

Why We Chose This Biography: Many would agree that Freddie Mercury had one of the most electrifying voices in the history of rock and roll. However, it wasn't just Freddie's four-plus octave range that made him so controversial. His battles with societal norms, his sexuality, and AIDS keep him in the public light to this day. If you're a fan of Queen or of music in general, this is an amazing look into the life of an even more amazing artist (and one of the best biography books).

About the Biography: Ted Williams is a Boston Red Sox legend. And one of the greatest (if not the GOAT) hitters to ever play the game. He put up numbers so awe-inspiring that players today are still struggling to reach them. Not only that, he served as a US Marine pilot in the Korean War for five years. Ted had a rather volatile domestic life. This biography explores the peaks and valleys of this baseball legend both on and off the field.

About the Author: As the son of the famous Watergate reporter, Ben Bradlee Sr., Bradlee Jr. has made an enormous name for himself through his own writing. Spending most of his career as an editor at The Boston Globe , Bradlee helped see the paper to a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. His biography on Ted Williams became a New York Times Bestseller. Slated to become a TV miniseries, this is a story you'll definitely want to read.

Why We Chose This Biography: For those of you who don't know, I'm an avid Red Sox fan. Seriously, there's nothing like being at Fenway staring down the Green Monster. I chose this biography because you get to see this idolized baseball legend for everything he was. Most people never think about what their sports heroes are like off the field. This one had me reading late into the night as I couldn't put it down.

My Ted Williams signed baseball. You can see it on the white shelves behind me in my videos.

I respect a lot of things about Ted Williams. He was a jet pilot in WWII and Korea. Even when he was at his prime, he still willingly went to war. And really fought…not just signed autographs and paraded around for War Bonds. Even when shot down behind enemy lines in Korea, Ted Williams made his way back to safety and ultimately back to baseball.

This book humanizes Ted and shows every facet of his life–the rough and the polished.

About the Biography: This biography tells the story of prolific Sci-Fi writer Ray Bradbury, from his beginnings in a small town in Illinois to his feuds on the silver screen with various film and television personalities. After hundreds of hours spent with Ray, the author and he became close friends. This adulation can be detected throughout the book in Weller's writing style.

About the Author: Sam Weller has made his career as an accomplished journalist through reporting on the life of Ray Bradbury. He is an LA Times Bestseller and is the recipient of the 2005 Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Biography for The Bradbury Chronicles .

Why We Chose This Biography: As a Sci-Fi enthusiast, I understand the impact that Ray Bradbury made on the genre–even on short stories in general. Influenced by his environment, this biography provides a unique angle into Bradbury's work.

About the Biography: The best Biography books aren't always about the heroes in life. This biography is about one of the most fierce villains of all time: Joseph Stalin. This book primarily focuses on after his rise to absolute power. It goes into excruciating detail about the actions of the madman and his court. Due to the emotionally disturbing scenes littered throughout this book, I recommend this for mature readers only.

About the Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore has a very accomplished and varied resume. Writing fiction and non-fiction books for both children and adults, his career as a British historian spreads across a vast audience. His biography on Stalin, though, received the Best History Book of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards.

Why We Chose This Biography: There's an old adage that says, “Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. ” And while this does sound very cliché… clichés exist for a reason. This book is a tough read — not necessarily because of the language, but because of the subject matter. It's somewhat difficult to imagine one man was capable of so many monstrosities. It's important to understand so we as a society can stop similar events from happening again.

About the Biography: The story of Stanley Leiber–or Stan Lee–is a must-read for every comic lover. This full-feature biography goes through the steps of how Stan Lee and Jack Kirby became the Kings of Comics and beloved worldwide. Co-creator of some of Marvel's (and Earth's) mightiest heroes, Stan Lee helped build the legends of Wolverine, Ultron, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Carol Danvers–aka Captain Marvel–and so many more! This physically over-sized book portrays just how gigantic Lee was. It comes complete with full-sized illustrations and even a note from Stan the Man himself. Excelsior!

About the Author: Roy Thomas is a comic book writer and editor. Among his other achievements, he is also the first successor to Marvel Comics after Stan Lee himself. He is one of the writers responsible for ushering in the Golden Age of Comics.

Why We Chose This Biography: If you're a comic book nut like me, this has got to be on your reading bucket list. Without a doubt, Lee sculpted the modern comic book industry. From blockbuster movies, games, and new weekly comic issues, fans feel Stan Lee's influence in each universe–Marvel, DC, or independent.

Out of all the available stories out there, these are the top ten best biography books I've chosen. However, this list is completely subjective. And I'd love to hear from you. What are your favorites?

Let me know which ones I've missed on social media. I'm always looking for new books to add to my reading list!

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Author vs writer: what’s the difference, how to write an adventure story, parts of a book [from cover to cover], sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

76 thoughts on “ The Best Biography Books of All Time: My 10 Personal Favorites ”

Great idea and great list Dave. I LOVE biographies, they are a wonderful and personal access to history through the life of a leader.My shortlist:1. William Manchester, “The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill,” in 3 volumes, so that counts as 3 ;-)4. Michael Lewis, “The Undoing Project,” about the partnership between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky who single-handedly disrupted economic wisdom and invented the field of behavioral economics.5. Barbara Tuchman, “Stillwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945,” about General Stillwell who was at least as brilliant as Patton or Marshall.6. Blanche Wiesen Cook, “Eleanor Roosevelt”, a 2-volume series about FDR`s first lady who created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That again counts for 2 books ;-)8. Shlomo Avneri, “Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State,” about the visionary who dreamed up and laid the foundation for modern Israel.9. Taylor Branch, “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63,” a compelling biography of the civil rights leader.10. Walter Isaacson, “Steve Jobs” (I also loved Isaacson`s Einstein: His Life and Universe, but since you list that already, I recommend his Jobs biography, which shows the path-breaking entrepreneur, warts ‘n’ all).Enjoy.Thomas D. Zweifel Author of 8 books, including the award-winning “Strategy-In-Action” and “The Rabbi and the CEO”that became bestsellers thanks to Dave Chesson`s insight

Hi Dave,Great list of biographies and good insights into the value of reading bios.May I suggest a biography in the occult genre, Brother XII: The Strange Odyssey of a 20th-century Prophet, the story of Edward Arthur Wilson, mystic, visionary, prophet and prototypical cult leader.The details of this fascinating story are at my website brotherxii.com , which you might like to check out, as it gives a good illustrated synopsis of this strange saga.Josh Gates did an episode on Brother XII recently, œSecrets of Brother XII, though the book itself has far more detail, and is based on interviews with former disciples and Brother XII ‘s private papers.Thanks for all the great work you do for authors.

Thanks and looks great!

Dave… Great list of Biographies! When you said, “Those who write biographies go through the learning process themselves” you were right on. However, there is a special learning process that authors who write their own autobiographies go through. The power of the story depends a lot on if you are writing about happy memories or ones permeated in pain, suffering and abuse. Five years ago as an unknown, first-time, self-published author, I decided to write my true-life story. As you start writing, you remember (and relive) what really happened and not the way you would have liked things to happen. One is factual and the other enters the realm of fiction.If your story is harrowing, as mine is, it is not only difficult to write, edit, and rewrite, but narrating your own audiobook can be an unimaginably disturbing experience. There were many times I broke down and could not continue for days just having to relive what I was subjected to for the first 16 years of my life.However, writing your autobiography is a tremendously healing process and allows you to see that what happened did not happen “to you” but happened “for you” in the end. Insight into Life is the reward for any author who is bold enough to write their pain and for any reader who is brave enough to experience it with them. – Linda Deir, author of “GUIDED” – Winner of the Int’l Body-Mind-Spirit Book Award.

Oh, That is some really good points. have not written an autobiography…not quite there yet but I’ll keep this in mind!

Hi Dave, thank you for an excellent idea, and some Interesting titles. I actually have four in my Audible library or wish list. And I will be keen to get the Ray Bradbury one. My list of 10 are below. Clearly subjective, but by its very nature that is always the case. ERIC`s 10 FAVOURITE BIOGRAPHIES / AUTOBIOGRAPHIESSurname / First Name / Title / Subject Albom Mitch TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE Morrie Schwartz Esterhaus Joe HOLLYWOOD ANIMAL Joe Esterhaus Eyman Scott JOHN WAYNE, The Life and Legend John Wayne Granger Stewart SPARKS FLY UPWARDS Stewart Granger Hotchner A E PAPPA HEMINGWAY Ernest Hemingway Jenkins Roy WINSTON CHURCHILL Winston Churchill McCourt Frank ANGELA`s ASHES Frank Mc Court McCullough Colleen RODEN CUTLER, VC Roden Cutler Parini Jay JOHN STEINBECK, A Biography John Steinbeck Sandburg Carl LINCOLN Abraham Lincoln 6 Volumes Footnotes: Pulitzer Prize for ANGELA`s ASHES and LINCOLN. Roy Jenkins CHURCHILL is arguably the best single volume bio of WSC Great title by Stewart Granger, taken from Job – 5:7 “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upwards.”

Nice – yeah the Churchill one is on my list right now!

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Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21

The 30 best biographies of all time.

Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”

At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction .

All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels , if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation 😉

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.

2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges

Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title ( a nod to his work during WWII ), a great deal of the “enigmatic” Turing is laid out in this book. It covers his heroic code-breaking efforts during the war, his computer designs and contributions to mathematical biology in the years following, and of course, the vicious persecution that befell him in the 1950s — when homosexual acts were still a crime punishable by English law.

3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is not only the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, but also a work of creative genius itself. This massive undertaking of over 800 pages details every knowable moment of the youngest Founding Father’s life: from his role in the Revolutionary War and early American government to his sordid (and ultimately career-destroying) affair with Maria Reynolds. He may never have been president, but he was a fascinating and unique figure in American history — plus it’s fun to get the truth behind the songs.

Prefer to read about fascinating First Ladies rather than almost-presidents? Check out this awesome list of books about First Ladies over on The Archive.

4. Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

A prolific essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Hurston turned her hand to biographical writing in 1927 with this incredible work, kept under lock and key until it was published 2018. It’s based on Hurston’s interviews with the last remaining survivor of the Middle Passage slave trade, a man named Cudjo Lewis. Rendered in searing detail and Lewis’ highly affecting African-American vernacular, this biography of the “last black cargo” will transport you back in time to an era that, chillingly, is not nearly as far away from us as it feels.

5. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

Though many a biography of him has been attempted, Gilbert’s is the final authority on Winston Churchill — considered by many to be Britain’s greatest prime minister ever. A dexterous balance of in-depth research and intimately drawn details makes this biography a perfect tribute to the mercurial man who led Britain through World War II.

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the \'dominion of matter\' with \'a great stillness\'--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee

6. E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

This “biography of the world’s most famous equation” is a one-of-a-kind take on the genre: rather than being the story of Einstein, it really does follow the history of the equation itself. From the origins and development of its individual elements (energy, mass, and light) to their ramifications in the twentieth century, Bodanis turns what could be an extremely dry subject into engaging fare for readers of all stripes.

7. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

When Enrique was only five years old, his mother left Honduras for the United States, promising a quick return. Eleven years later, Enrique finally decided to take matters into his own hands in order to see her again: he would traverse Central and South America via railway, risking his life atop the “train of death” and at the hands of the immigration authorities, to reunite with his mother. This tale of Enrique’s perilous journey is not for the faint of heart, but it is an account of incredible devotion and sharp commentary on the pain of separation among immigrant families.

8. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Herrera’s 1983 biography of renowned painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognizable names in modern art, has since become the definitive account on her life. And while Kahlo no doubt endured a great deal of suffering (a horrific accident when she was eighteen, a husband who had constant affairs), the focal point of the book is not her pain. Instead, it’s her artistic brilliance and immense resolve to leave her mark on the world — a mark that will not soon be forgotten, in part thanks to Herrera’s dedicated work.

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Perhaps the most impressive biographical feat of the twenty-first century, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a woman whose cells completely changed the trajectory of modern medicine. Rebecca Skloot skillfully commemorates the previously unknown life of a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken, without her knowledge, for medical testing — and without whom we wouldn’t have many of the critical cures we depend upon today.

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, hitchhiked to Alaska and disappeared into the Denali wilderness in April 1992. Five months later, McCandless was found emaciated and deceased in his shelter — but of what cause? Krakauer’s biography of McCandless retraces his steps back to the beginning of the trek, attempting to suss out what the young man was looking for on his journey, and whether he fully understood what dangers lay before him.

11. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” From this line derives the central issue of Agee and Evans’ work: who truly deserves our praise and recognition? According to this 1941 biography, it’s the barely-surviving sharecropper families who were severely impacted by the American “Dust Bowl” — hundreds of people entrenched in poverty, whose humanity Evans and Agee desperately implore their audience to see in their book.

12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city. Parallel to this narrative, Grann describes his own travels in the Amazon 80 years later: discovering firsthand what threats Fawcett may have encountered, and coming to realize what the “Lost City of Z” really was.

13. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang

Though many of us will be familiar with the name Mao Zedong, this prodigious biography sheds unprecedented light upon the power-hungry “Red Emperor.” Chang and Halliday begin with the shocking statistic that Mao was responsible for 70 million deaths during peacetime — more than any other twentieth-century world leader. From there, they unravel Mao’s complex ideologies, motivations, and missions, breaking down his long-propagated “hero” persona and thrusting forth a new, grislier image of one of China’s biggest revolutionaries.

14. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson

Titled after one of her most evocative poems, this shimmering bio of Sylvia Plath takes an unusual approach. Instead of focusing on her years of depression and tempestuous marriage to poet Ted Hughes, it chronicles her life before she ever came to Cambridge. Wilson closely examines her early family and relationships, feelings and experiences, with information taken from her meticulous diaries — setting a strong precedent for other Plath biographers to follow.

15. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

What if you had twenty-four different people living inside you, and you never knew which one was going to come out? Such was the life of Billy Milligan, the subject of this haunting biography by the author of Flowers for Algernon . Keyes recounts, in a refreshingly straightforward style, the events of Billy’s life and how his psyche came to be “split”... as well as how, with Keyes’ help, he attempted to put the fragments of himself back together.

16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

This gorgeously constructed biography follows Paul Farmer, a doctor who’s worked for decades to eradicate infectious diseases around the globe, particularly in underprivileged areas. Though Farmer’s humanitarian accomplishments are extraordinary in and of themselves, the true charm of this book comes from Kidder’s personal relationship with him — and the sense of fulfillment the reader sustains from reading about someone genuinely heroic, written by someone else who truly understands and admires what they do.

17. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Here’s another bio that will reshape your views of a famed historical tyrant, though this time in a surprisingly favorable light. Decorated scholar Andrew Roberts delves into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his near-flawless military instincts to his complex and confusing relationship with his wife. But Roberts’ attitude toward his subject is what really makes this work shine: rather than ridiculing him ( as it would undoubtedly be easy to do ), he approaches the “petty tyrant” with a healthy amount of deference.

18. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro

Lyndon Johnson might not seem as intriguing or scandalous as figures like Kennedy, Nixon, or W. Bush. But in this expertly woven biography, Robert Caro lays out the long, winding road of his political career, and it’s full of twists you wouldn’t expect. Johnson himself was a surprisingly cunning figure, gradually maneuvering his way closer and closer to power. Finally, in 1963, he got his greatest wish — but at what cost? Fans of Adam McKay’s Vice , this is the book for you.

19. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anyone who grew up reading Little House on the Prairie will surely be fascinated by this tell-all biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Caroline Fraser draws upon never-before-published historical resources to create a lush study of the author’s life — not in the gently narrated manner of the Little House series, but in raw and startling truths about her upbringing, marriage, and volatile relationship with her daughter (and alleged ghostwriter) Rose Wilder Lane.

20. Prince: A Private View by Afshin Shahidi

Compiled just after the superstar’s untimely death in 2016, this intimate snapshot of Prince’s life is actually a largely visual work — Shahidi served as his private photographer from the early 2000s until his passing. And whatever they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, Shahidi’s are worth more still: Prince’s incredible vibrance, contagious excitement, and altogether singular personality come through in every shot.

21. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Could there be a more fitting title for a book about the husband-wife team who discovered radioactivity? What you may not know is that these nuclear pioneers also had a fascinating personal history. Marie Sklodowska met Pierre Curie when she came to work in his lab in 1891, and just a few years later they were married. Their passion for each other bled into their passion for their work, and vice-versa — and in almost no time at all, they were on their way to their first of their Nobel Prizes.

22. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

She may not have been assassinated or killed in a mysterious plane crash, but Rosemary Kennedy’s fate is in many ways the worst of “the Kennedy Curse.” As if a botched lobotomy that left her almost completely incapacitated weren’t enough, her parents then hid her away from society, almost never to be seen again. Yet in this new biography, penned by devoted Kennedy scholar Kate Larson, the full truth of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy life is at last revealed.

23. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

This appropriately lyrical biography of brilliant Jazz Age poet and renowned feminist, Edna St. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. While Millay’s poetic work was delicate and subtle, the woman herself was feisty and unpredictable, harboring unusual and occasionally destructive habits that Milford fervently explores.

24. Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

Holmes’ famous philosophy of “biography as pursuit” is thoroughly proven here in his first full-length biographical work. Shelley: The Pursuit details an almost feverish tracking of Percy Shelley as a dark and cutting figure in the Romantic period — reforming many previous historical conceptions about him through Holmes’ compelling and resolute writing.

25. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the dark nature of her fiction.

26. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this 2017 book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years. The tale of this so-called “last true hermit” will captivate readers who have always fantasized about escaping society, with vivid descriptions of Knight’s rural setup, his carefully calculated moves and how he managed to survive the deadly cold of the Maine winters.

27. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The man, the myth, the legend: Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, is properly immortalized in Isaacson’s masterful biography. It divulges the details of Jobs’ little-known childhood and tracks his fateful path from garage engineer to leader of one of the largest tech companies in the world — not to mention his formative role in other legendary companies like Pixar, and indeed within the Silicon Valley ecosystem as a whole.

28. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. In this gripping biography, Laura Hillenbrand tracks Zamperini’s story from beginning to end… including how he embraced Christian evangelism as a means of recovery, and even came to forgive his tormentors in his later years.

29. Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff

Everyone knows of Vladimir Nabokov — but what about his wife, Vera, whom he called “the best-humored woman I have ever known”? According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator. And she kept up that trademark humor throughout it all, inspiring her husband’s work and injecting some of her own creative flair into it along the way.

30. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. But that didn’t stop Stephen Greenblatt, who in 2004 turned out this magnificently detailed biography of the Bard: a series of imaginative reenactments of his writing process, and insights on how the social and political ideals of the time would have influenced him. Indeed, no one exists in a vacuum, not even Shakespeare — hence the conscious depiction of him in this book as a “will in the world,” rather than an isolated writer shut up in his own musty study.

If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help books , or this list of the last century's best memoirs !

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9 books to read if you want to be a billionaire

If there's one habit most super-successful people share, it's this: They read. A lot.

Many of them have shared the books that helped shape them personally and professionally. If you want to emulate these titans of industry, reading their faves seems like a good place to start.

From classic literature to business management guides, w e rounded up their top picks, so you can start stocking your shelves.

'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham

Among Wall Streeters, Graham is known as the father of value investing. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett credits Graham's book with laying the foundation for his investment philosophy when he read it at age 19.

"To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information," Buffett said . "What's needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must provide the emotional discipline."

Buy it here >>

'making the modern world' by vaclav smil.

This book by an environmental sciences professor focuses on the costs of increasing material consumption and the potential for dematerialization in the future.

Bill Gates , estimated to be the richest man on earth , calls Smil his favorite author and says the book gave him new insight into the materials that make modern life possible.

"It might seem mundane, but the issue of materials — how much we use and how much we need — is key to helping the world's poorest people improve their lives," Gates writes. "Think of the amazing increase in quality of life that we saw in the United States and other rich countries in the past 100 years. We want most of that miracle to take place for all of humanity over the next 50 years."

'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

This work of science fiction helped billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk through an existential crisis during his adolescence. In the book, a supercomputer deduces the answer to a meaningful life is the number 42, though it's not clear what the original question was.

"It highlighted an important point, which is that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer," Musk said in an interview . "And if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part. So, to the degree that we can better understand the universe, then we can better know what questions to ask."

'The Innovator's Dilemma' by Clayton Christensen

The late Apple billionaire Steve Jobs was inspired by Christensen's book on the importance of disruption. Essentially, Christensen argues that companies often fail when they stop innovating as technology and their customers' needs evolve.

That's why Apple didn't hesitate to introduce the iPhone, even though it had a lot of the same features as the iPod.

In an explanation of why Apple needed to use cloud computing, Jobs said : "It's important that we make this transformation, because of what Clayton Christensen calls 'the innovator's dilemma,' where people who invent something are usually the last ones to see past it, and we certainly don't want to be left behind."

'The Aeneid' by Virgil

Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg told The New Yorker that this epic Latin poem is one of his favorite reads.

It tells the story of Trojan warrior Aeneis and his journey to found the Roman empire. The character's struggles to pursue his dreams are applicable to aspiring entrepreneurs even today.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

Lee's 1960 classic has taught many American students about the meaning of prejudice and justice. Billionaire Oprah Winfrey says reading the book as a young girl may have inspired her to start her book club as an adult.

"I remember reading this book and then going to class and not being able to shut up about it," she said . "I read it in eighth or ninth grade, and I was trying to push the book off on other kids. So it makes sense to me that now I have a book club, because I have been doing that since probably this book."

'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand

According to billionaire investor Mark Cuban , Rand's somewhat controversial novel is required reading for every entrepreneur.

One of its major themes is the tension between individualism and collectivism: A young architect refuses to bow to tradition, even though it means he will sacrifice fame and wealth.

'The Effective Executive' by Peter Drucker

Drucker is considered one of the founders of modern management theory, and this book helps executives develop time-management and decision-making skills so that they can lead their organizations more effectively.

It's one of three books that billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had his senior managers read for a series of all-day book clubs in 2013.

'Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World' by René Girard

PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel says French philosopher Girard is the writer who's influenced him most.

Thiel read this book, which explains how imitation underlies of all human behavior, as an undergrad at Stanford University, and he admits that it can seem intimidating. Yet he also believes that Girard's ideas apply readily to what goes on in Silicon Valley.

"When the payments company Square came out with its flagship credit card reader, competitors jumped in one after the other to do the same thing with triangles or half-moons instead of squares," he said . "That's the comical example I cite in ' Zero to One .' A more dangerous phenomenon is the desire for the same position within a company: Startups are small, they move fast, and roles are fluid, so there is lots of potential for conflict."

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15 books by billionaires that will teach you how to run the world >>

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Billionaires Favorite Books

Learn how to think like the smartest and wealthiest people in the world. Click on the image of the billionaire to see the list of their favorite books.

BILLIONAIRES

WARREN BUFFETT NET WORTH: $104.4+ BILLION

The Intelligent Investor

According to Buffett, reading The Intelligent Investor was the best decision he ever made in his career. This book is a guide to the mindset of a successful stock investor. It can be difficult to read for first-time investors due to fancy financial terminology. A great book to supplement this one if you’re concerned about the difficulty is the 100 Page Summary of the Intelligent Investor . Fun fact: Benjamin Graham was Warren Buffett’s professor at Columbia – and Buffett was the only student to get an A+ in his investment classes – ever! Listen to Preston and Stig’s discussion about this book to learn more.

Security Analysis

This book is the textbook that Warren Buffett used in college when he studied under Benjamin Graham. In fact, the intelligent investor was a spin-off of the ideas found in this larger text. This book is difficult to understand and a summary guide is highly recommended for new or intermediate investors. This book is the legacy of a great thinker and an investor who took on the most difficult aspects of investing and quantified them. Security Analysis is an all-time bestseller, and Warren Buffett has repeatedly praised his investment success and valuation skills in this book. Listen to Preston and Stig further discussing this book in this episode of We Study Billionaires.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

In Warren Buffett’s office, he doesn’t hang his diplomas from college, instead, he has a certificate that says he completed the Dale Carnegie Course. “Dale Carnegie’s writing and courses change my life.” – Warren Buffett

Preston and Stig further discuss How to Win Friends and Influence People in this episode of We Study Billionaires .

Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

His Own Writing: The Warren Buffett Shareholder Letters

This was written completely by Buffett, and it literally has years of information that document his wise decisions. This book has an unprecedented amount of positive reviews because of the ever-flowing amount of insights that are contained in the book. Buffett’s Shareholder letters are actually free and on the Berkshire Hathaway website, but the hardcopy is nice to have in the event the site no longer hosts the information. Check out Preston and Stig’s discussion about this book in this We Study Billionaires episode .

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

“I’m 85% Graham and 15% Fisher” – Warren Buffett. There’s no mistake about it. Buffett was highly influenced by this book . As his investment philosophy evolved through the years – to be more quality-based – this book was one of the main reasons that occurred. This book has been a #1 best seller for decades and it caters to investors interested in the proper valuation of growth companies and finding quality businesses that endure. Listen to this We Study Billionaires episode where Preston and Stig talk more about this book.

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BILL GATES NET WORTH: $130.8+ BILLION

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Bill Gates, as well as the rest of the world, has been amazed by Piketty’s work that outlines the problems with inequality in the world. Gates has personally told Piketty about his concerns regarding the suggested policy descriptions in the book but has also praised him for the spark in the global discussion of the matter.

Bill Gates, as well as the rest of the world, has been amazed of Piketty’s work that outlines the problems with inequality in the world. Gates has personally told Piketty about his concerns regarding the suggested policy descriptions in the book but has also praised him for the spark in the global discussion of the matter.

The Catcher in the Rye

Gates read this book when he was 13 and it resonated with him instantly. Gates stresses that this clever book acknowledges the fact that though young people are a little confused, they can be smart about things that adults don’t see.

The Rosie Effect

Perhaps not the book you’d think a billionaire like Bill Gates would dive into. Nevertheless, Gates says that the book’s strong suit is that it reminds him of relationships and how he has to invest time and energy into making them better.

Making the Modern World

Bill Gates is on a cause. He wants to make the world a better place through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it starts with how we consume. This is a data driven book that shows the catastrophic results of people using more material, silicon, wood, plastic, and cement than ever. This book has really gotten Gates thinking, and it will do the same for you!

Bill Gates is on a cause. He wants to make the world a better place through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it starts with how we consume. This is a data-driven book that shows the catastrophic results of people using more material, silicon, wood, plastic, and cement than ever. This book has really gotten Gates thinking, and it will do the same for you!

ELON MUSK NET WORTH: $186.1+ BILLION

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Franklin has always been one of Musk’s heroes. Although he’s living in a different time and age, Musk says that he has been inspired by Franklin’s success as an entrepreneur who started with nothing, a feat Musk can relate to. If you want to read how a great man can shape both the identity of a billionaire as well as America centuries later, this is the book for you. Listen to Preston and Stig’s discussion on this book in this episode of We Study Billionaires .

Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness

Many people have said that Elon Musk is a modern version of Howard Hughes as they are both obsessed with innovative transportation solution (and both have the means to do something about it). This is the book that breaks through the image to get to the man who inspired the making of ‘The Aviator’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age

Elon Musk doesn’t just sit down and read. Driven by a passion to study any book in detail, Musk believes in absorbing what he reads. Musk’s passion has been no different for this book. Few scientists are known as rock stars that changed the world, but Tesla is probably the closest you can get!

CHARLIE MUNGER NET WORTH: $2.2+ BILLION

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

“Robert Cialdini (the author) has had a greater impact on my thinking than any other scientist. This book demonstrates six to eight ways in which the quirks of your own mind will frequently prove dysfunctional to your best interests.” – Charlie Munger. If you have ever been to a Berkshire Hathaway meeting, you’ll quickly find that Charlie is an extraordinary thinker, so we obviously take his recommendations to heart. Learn more about this book in this episode of We Study Billionaires .

Outliers: The Story of Success

In the 2009 Wesco Annual Meeting, Charlie recommended Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers to the attendees. Check out this episode of We Study Billionaires to learn more!

Conspiracy of Fools

“The evil in this book is so extreme. You see how ordinary people get sucked in by the evil environment around them. You learn so much.” – Charlie Munger in 2007

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

In today’s money, John Rockefeller would have been worth $340 billion dollars. In 1999, Charlie said, “I found this book very intriguing. His life, his company, and his management style are all worth studying.”

MARK CUBAN NET WORTH: $4.4+ BILLION

How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban

His Own Writing: How to Win at the Sport of Business

It seems like all billionaire entrepreneurs are called lucky at some point. Although he built and sold a business that was worth a billion dollars just before the dot com burst, critiques haven’t been gentler on Mark Cuban. This book will reveal just how little luck and how much skill billionaire and Dallas Maverick owner Cuban has in business. It’s pumped with business lessons that any entrepreneur, offline and online, will find extremely useful on their own path to success. One teaser to How to Win in the Sport of Business is Cuban’s insightful thoughts that explain how businesses progress over many years, and not how much you squeeze out of any single deal. Listen to Preston and Stig as they discuss more on this book in this episode .

The Gospel of Wealth

According to Cuban, the best way to display patriotism is to get rich and pay taxes. The Gospel of wealth was originally a reading assignment for Cuban when he took his M.B.A. entrepreneurship class; however, it turned into an inspiration that can probably last a lifetime.

ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Cuban says that he would rather invest in a person who has read Rework than a person with an MBA. Since this book stresses the vitality of focus for any entrepreneur who has just begun a start-up, Cuban encourages everyone to grab this book. Check out this episode of We Study Billionaires to learn more!

The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need

Cuban might have been inspired by the very title of the book when he said that it’s the only investment book that made truly sense to him. This is a book that puts the investor and not the market in the driver’s seat.

The Innovator’s Dilemma

Just like anybody who would wonder about the intricacies of technology, Cuban has also pondered about why some things worked and some didn’t. It wasn’t before he read The Innovator’s Dilemma that he truly understood why. Listen to our episode on The Innovator’s Dilemma now.

STEVE JOBS NET WORTH: $45+ BILLION

Atlas Shrugged

This book takes an abstract look at the United States and investigates a number of theses that explain what would happen if society’s most prominent and successful industrialists abandon their fortunes and the nation itself, as a response to aggressive regulation. No wonder why this abstract and free-thinking Atlas Shrugged has served as an inspiration in Jobs’ work.

Be Here Now

Jobs has stated that “Be Here Now” has changed him and many of his friends. It’s a guide to meditation and was one of the first and most influential books he read about spirituality.

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

In Jobs’ study of Buddhism, he practiced meditation and was deeply touched by the work of one of the first masters to teach his wisdom in the US. Jobs found what so many missed: “In the search for getting close to Zen, so many completely miss what it is all about”.

Only the Paranoid Survive

This is Jobs’ favorite business book for good reason. He recommends anyone to read it as it is about the transition of a company’s competitive position and how to adapt to it. A transition everyone in business will experience at some point in time. Jobs would know!

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

This book comes highly recommended by Jobs, and he wasn’t shy to share it with his friends. It’s a no-nonsense book that takes a critical view of the path to self-development. The reader learns not to be sidetracked in his development, and to stay focused in an ever-changing world.

JEFF BEZOS NET WORTH: $190.7+ BILLION

The Effective Executive

Bezos had top executives reading this book one summer to get a better understanding of how he was building Amazon. The Effective Executive is a study that describes how to develop personal habits of time management and also teaches executives to stay productive and contribute their best to the organization. Listen to our episode about The Effective Executive now!

Built to Last

Anyone who is familiar with how Jeff Bezos built Amazon will tell you that this book is the cornerstone for building the culture of the company. Built to Last shows how the company identity guides successful companies, but only for those who embrace the mission. Those who do not conquer should be excluded at all costs.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Bezos does not only want his executives to read classic business books. He insisted that his executives read this book since it’s about a manager tasked with turning around a failing manufacturing plant. Even though this is not the most obvious plot for a bestseller or a book to inspire billionaires, this is a book that achieves both.

The Remains of the Day

Jeff Bezos says that he learned more from novels than nonfiction. Therefore, when he proclaims that this is his favorite book, you should pay attention! Bezos says that he didn’t think a perfect novel was possible. It’s a book that taught him about life and regret.

The Black Swan

When Brad Stone, the author of the most comprehensive book on Amazon, first approached Jeff Bezos for his permission to write the book, Bezos asked how “Narrative Fallacy” could be avoided. That is exactly what Bezos likes about The Black Swan . It describes how it’s a human trait that allows complex truth to turn into oversimplified stories. Check out our discussion of this book in this We Study Billionaires episode !

JAMIE DIMON CEO OF $483.45+ BILLION BANK

Jack: Straight from the Gut

When Jamie Dimon sent a reading list to his interns one summer, it came as no surprise that this book was on it. When one of the best CEOs of all times, Jack Welsh, speaks about rebuilding a company with the right people, everybody serious about business should listen.

Sam Walton: Made in America

You’ll love the story about a visionary man who saw retail distribution like no one ever before. This is not your average academic management book promising a checklist to becoming successful. Rather Made in America is the openhearted account of how an empire was built with good old-fashioned elbow grease despite all the missteps he made on his way.

Life is What You Make It

As the son of multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, Peter Buffett could set out without a care in the world. Or could he? Peter realized that he could do anything if he really wanted to, and not because of money, but because he chose to find his own way in life.

It doesn’t get any better than this! If accounting is the language of business, this book should be your dictionary. Coming from Benjamin Graham, known as the father of value investing, this comprehensive book will take your understanding of financial statements to a level of proficiency you wouldn’t dream possible. It can be hard to read for novice and intermediate investors, and you might find this summary guide useful.

Widely known as one of the most defining investment books ever written, you shouldn’t pass up the opportunity of reading one of Dimon’s favorite reads. This is a no-nonsense book that teaches the investor how to think for himself, and not get carried away in a volatile stock market. When reading The Intelligent Investor, you’ll quickly see why the decision to buy a stock should be based on thorough analysis and facts, and not on everybody else’s opinion.

PETER THIEL NET WORTH: $5+ BILLION

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World

According to Peter Thiel, the books that have the maximum influence on him are written by René Girard. This book is Girard’s masterpiece and completely blew Thiel away. It’s a guide to understand other people, as well as yourself.

According to Peter Thiel, the books that have the maximum influence on him are written by René Girard. This book is Girard’s masterpiece and completely blew Theil away. It’s a guide to understand other people, as well as yourself.

The New Atlantis

Anyone who knows Peter Thiel’s background in Silicon Valley should not be surprised as to why fiction, and especially this book, resonated with Thiel. It describes a utopian society where people are driven by the passion for scientific discovery.

The American Challenge

Written back in 1967, the same year Peter Thiel was born, the author introduces a bold vision for an accelerated American technological civilization. Peter Thiel says that he likes to investigate why some of the predictions came true while others didn’t.

His Own Writing: Zero to One

Peter Thiel didn’t plan to write this book – it sort of just happened. Thiel gave a series of lectures about entrepreneurship, technology, and competition at Stanford University, and a diligent student made very detailed notes. Zero to One is the result of these notes. Theil’s way of thinking is as unique as the inspiration it delivers. His discussion about how capitalism and competition are completely opposite is both insightful and brilliant. If you want to dig deeper into the universe with technology and business with Peter Thiel, The Investors’ discussion of the book is highly recommended.

CHARLES KOCH NET WORTH: $46.3+ BILLION

His Own Writing: The Science of Success

When billionaire Charles Koch reveals his secrets to success, you better pay attention! The master himself has written THE training manual and it’s extremely helpful for you to understand how to build a successful organization. If you want to hear a free discussion about The Science of Success , check out our episode about it now.

The Wealth of Nations

Few books can be listed as the ones that change the way our society is built, and the Wealth of Nations is truly one of them. This classic was the first to explain why some countries build wealth, and which underlying factors are essential for a country to prosper. At BuffettsBooks, a free executive summary of this entire book is provided in a modern and understandable language. The original book published in 1776 was great, albeit difficult to read.

Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy

In this highly recommended book by Charles Koch, the author Polayi argues and presents the main theme that all knowledge claims, including those that are derived from rules and rely on personal judgment. If you want to understand how Charles Koch develops and evaluates knowledge, you don’t want to miss out on this book.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

The author Schumpeter is one of the main influencers of Charles Koch’s libertarian life perspective. In this book, you’ll see counterarguments to Karl Marx of why Capitalism will not collapse and be replaced by socialism. Schumpeter’s main message in this book is “creative destruction” which explains how old processes will be destroyed and replaced by new ways.

The Ultimate Resource 2

This book is fundamentally challenging the notion that we’re running out of natural resources. If a resource is scarce, the price will increase, resulting in the ultimate resource – the human mind – and an incentive to solve the problem. Solutions include discovering, ration, recycle, or often even substitute the resource.

LARRY PAGE NET WORTH: $118.3+ BILLION

My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

Larry Page already read this book at age 12. He has said that he cried in the end because he realized that this brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla basically was a failure, simply because he couldn’t fund his research. Tesla’s struggles taught Page that all scientists must understand the business side of work, and it also spurred him to achieve a position where he personally shouldn’t be bounded by money to get his own research and inventions out to the world.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

It’s easy for Larry Page to relate with the author Richard Feynman. They’re both highly intelligent and have a curiosity that isn’t limited by boundaries. This New York Times bestseller autobiography about a brilliant Nobel Prize winner is just as funny as it’s insightful about life and knowledge.

What Do You Care What Other People Think?

21 action-packed short essays experienced firsthand by Richard Feynman – undoubtedly one of the most brilliant physicists of the twentieth century. Known as one of the most well-known essays, it’s an investigation of the Challenger space shuttle disaster that is covered in greater detail than any documentary so far. However, this is just one of many anecdotes of a man whose love and compassion matched his intellect.

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

Yet another great book by Feynman, and yet again comes highly recommended by Larry Page. Feynman has a rare talent for making very complex concepts easily accessible to the public. In this book, he provides a detailed and easy-to-read outline of the quantum field theory describing the interactions of light with charged particles.

Just like Page, this highly praised novel is ahead of its time. The novel made to Times 100-best English language novels and is set in the future America that exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states. Snow Crash describes a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

MARK ZUCKERBERG NET WORTH: $130.6+ BILLION

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

You wouldn’t believe that Mark Zuckerberg of all the people would need to read this book today. The core of the book is the concept of collaboration between business and science that has proven to be extremely profitable throughout history. The Idea Factory is as relevant as ever to anyone who has or will succeed in combining the two fields, just like Zuckerberg.

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood

It’s understandable why this book comes highly recommended by Mark Zuckerberg. While some people are cautious about the flood of information as something negative to humanity, James Gleick, sees a plethora of opportunities that are unfolding endlessly. If you are equally curious and drawn to the history and application of information, you don’t want to miss out on this book.

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Whether a future technology genius will be nicknamed ‘Zuckerberg’ is unknown; however, it’s obvious that the nickname “Einstein” will not go away anytime soon. In this comprehensive Einstein-biography, you can study a man who might appear theoretical, but everything else apart from that was uniquely creative.

Physics of the Impossible

It’s seldom that you hear that physicists are great writers, but bestselling author Michio Kaku is surely the exception to the rule. This book takes the reader through predictions of the universe’s physical laws that may occur in the near and distant future.

The Giving Tree

As a children’s book for all ages that will touch you with the tale of sadness, gratitude, and the cost of conditional love, The Giving Tree is both a lesson and a powerful message of the feeling all mothers experience as their children grow up and grow apart.

JOHN TEMPLETON NET WORTH: $1+ BILLION

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

A classic originally published in 1841, it has been republished with foreword by Templeton, and is as relevant as ever. You’ll learn about how it’s a human trait to be delusional, and why we will therefore always see bubbles in financial markets. As Templeton says himself in the foreword: “They abandon critical analysis of the investment’s fundamental value. Like gamblers in a casino they play against the odds, paying inflated prices and dreaming of quick profit”.

His Own Writing: Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness

Templeton, a gifted writer, and human being, has shared his own blueprint for personal success and happiness with the rest of the world in The Templeton Plan . He lays out the twenty-one guiding principles by which he governed both his professional and personal life. His 21 steps will help readers make lasting friendships, reap significant financial rewards, and find personal satisfaction.

Templeton, a gifted writer and human being, has shared his own blueprint for personal success and happiness with the rest of the world in The Templeton Plan . He lays out the twenty-one guiding principles by which he governed both his professional and personal life. His 21 steps will help readers make lasting friendships, reap significant financial rewards, and find personal satisfaction.

His Own Writing: 16 Rules for Investment Success

Templeton is undoubtedly one of the best contrarian stock pickers in the last century. It is said about John Templeton that “he bought low during the Depression, sold high during the internet boom and made more than a few good calls in between”. Templeton is even more humble about his own performance. He rather likes to say that: “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd”.This book is free and can be downloaded through the link above.

Templeton is undoubtedly one of the best contrarian stock pickers in the last century. It is said about John Templeton that “he bought low during the Depression, sold high during the internet boom and made more than a few good calls in between.” Templeton is even more humble about his own performance. He rather likes to say that: “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.” This book is free and can be downloaded through the link above.

Disclosure: The Investor’s Podcast Network is an Amazon Associate. We may earn commission from qualifying purchases made through our affiliate links.

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This illustration shows a grid of 16 book covers.

17 New Books Coming in June

A biography of Joni Mitchell, two hotly anticipated horror novels, a behind-the-scenes exposé about Donald Trump’s years on “The Apprentice” and more.

Credit... The New York Times

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The book cover of “Fire Exit” features a bright illustration of a big red flame on a beige background. In the flame is a drawing of a collection of flowers.

Fire Exit , by Morgan Talty

In Talty’s novel, Charles — who was raised on a Penobscot reservation in Maine before being asked to leave because he wasn’t Native — reflects on his life and what he has lost in the years since his expulsion.

Tin House, June 4

Godwin , by Joseph O’Neill

O’Neill’s new novel is about soccer in the way his acclaimed book “Netherland” was about cricket, which is to say that it’s less about the sport itself than what it signifies in an unfair world. A restless technical writer joins a sports scout on a global search for an African soccer prodigy, whom they’ve seen only on video. The story builds into a study of greed, labor and ambition.

Pantheon, June 4

The Friday Afternoon Club , by Griffin Dunne

His father was the Vanity Fair journalist Dominick Dunne; his uncle the screenwriter John Gregory Dunne ; his uncle’s wife the essayist Joan Didion . With this memoir, Griffin Dunne, best known as an actor and producer, becomes the latest published author in the clan, sharing stories of his family and their celebrity encounters.

Penguin Press, June 11

Horror Movie , by Paul Tremblay

Years after a curse — and deaths of those involved — thwarted the release of an art-house film called “Horror Movie,” Hollywood has decided it’s ripe for a remake.

Morrow, June 11

Margo’s Got Money Troubles , by Rufi Thorpe

Broke, adrift and pregnant — what’s a girl to do? Margo finds an extremely 21st-century solution to her financial bind: OnlyFans. But semi-pornographic internet fame is perhaps the least of the shenanigans contained within the pages of Thorpe’s comic novel.

One of Our Kind , by Nicola Yoon

An established star of contemporary Y.A. (known for her book “Everything, Everything”), Yoon pivots to adult fiction with her latest — a slow-burn thriller that crosses the cinematic vectors of “Get Out” and “Stepford Wives” in a story about a young family that moves to a prosperous Black community, only to find that all is not as utopian as it seems.

Knopf, June 11

Traveling , by Ann Powers

This is a warts-and-all consideration of Joni Mitchell, whose comeback after a 2015 aneurysm and appearance at the 2024 Grammy Awards , have only burnished her exalted reputation in the pantheon of modern singer-songwriters.

Dey Street, June 11

Apprentice in Wonderland , by Ramin Setoodeh

Setoodeh, the co-editor in chief of Variety, goes deep behind the scenes at “The Apprentice,” the show that transformed Donald Trump from a bankrupt businessman and tabloid fixture into a reality TV star.

Harper, June 18

Little Rot , by Akwaeke Emezi

Emezi’s latest is part deep dive into Nigeria’s underworld, part exploration of love and desire. The story opens as Aima and Kalu end their relationship. Each decides to join their friends for an independent night out, but instead of helping them relax, the evening spirals, exposing both of them to a dangerous side of Lagos.

Riverhead, June 18

On Call , by Anthony Fauci

The unflappable doctor who led the United States through public-health maelstroms — including the AIDS epidemic and Covid-19 — traces his six-decade career. Sharing his life story, he said, may “inspire younger individuals in particular to consider careers in public health and public service.”

Viking, June 18

Middle of the Night , by Riley Sager

When he was 10, Ethan spent an evening camping in his yard with his best friend Billy, but when he woke up in the morning, he found that something — or someone — had violently ripped open their tent, and Billy had vanished. Thirty years later, Ethan tries to get to the bottom of what happened.

Dutton, June 18

Parade , by Rachel Cusk

In her new novel, Cusk presents the enigmatic lives and predicaments of several artists identified by the initial “G”: a man who becomes famous for painting his wife upside down; a painter who escapes her troubled childhood, only to wind up in a troubled marriage; a filmmaker considering the legacy of his imperious mother. Throughout the book, Cusk takes on knotty questions about art, family and selfhood.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, June 18

Same As It Ever Was , by Claire Lombardo

Lombardo’s novel takes readers to the heart of domestic drama. As her youngest child prepares to leave home, a middle-age woman looks back on the choices that landed her where she is now.

Doubleday, June 18

When the Clock Broke , by John Ganz

For this account of America in the 1990s, Ganz ditches the familiar narrative about a decade of relative peace and prosperity for a disturbing tale of populists, nativists and demagogues, who, acting on the margins of U.S. politics, helped shatter the post-Cold War consensus and usher in anti-democratic forces that plague the country today.

Bear , by Julia Phillips

Two working-class sisters struggle for happiness on a small island off the coast of Washington. Enter … an enormous bear. The author’s debut, “Disappearing Earth,” was a New York Times Best Book of 2019.

Hogarth, June 25

Cue the Sun !, by Emily Nussbaum

From “Queen for a Day” to “The Real World,” “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” it’s all here in the New Yorker staff writer’s capacious look at the early history and explosive growth of reality TV — the pop-culture genre we love to hate, hate to love and just can’t quit.

Random House, June 25

Frostbite , by Nicola Twilley

The food and science writer travels the length of the cold chain, talking up the people who fill our shipping containers and cheese caves. She meets a frozen dumpling billionaire, explores “the largest concentrated juice-storage facility in North America” and even explains why being chilly really does encourage you to catch a cold.

Penguin Press, June 25

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged .

Don DeLillo’s fascination with terrorism, cults and mass culture’s weirder turns has given his work a prophetic air. Here are his essential books .

Jenny Erpenbeck’s “ Kairos ,” a novel about a torrid love affair in the final years of East Germany, won the International Booker Prize , the renowned award for fiction translated into English.

Kevin Kwan, the author of “Crazy Rich Asians,” left Singapore’s opulent, status-obsessed, upper crust when he was 11. He’s still writing about it .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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The Top 10 Books Billionaires Recommend
The books that billionaires read. After the top ten come these twelve, in order of popularity: Shoe Dog, Zero to One, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Becoming Steve Jobs, Measure What Matters ...
10 Billionaire Biographies You Must Read
4. The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal. Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends-outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies.
9 books written by self-made billionaires to help you succeed
3. "Shoe Dog: A Memoir By the Creator of Nike". By Phil Knight. In "Shoe Dog," Nike founder Phil Knight offers a refreshingly honest memoir about how he built a shoe empire that earned him ...
10 Worthwhile Books Written by Self-Made Billionaires
Here are 11 fascinating and insightful books written by billionaires that you should read if you hope to follow in their footsteps. 1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson. If there's one thing ...
30 books by billionaires that will inspire you to succeed in 2023
Insider compiled a list of 30 books to help you learn how billionaires found success. The list includes "Shoe Dog" by Nike's Phil Knight and "Onward" by ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Sign up to ...
The Billionaire Biographies: Top Secrets Of 30 Richest Billionaires
The Billionaire Biographies: Top Secrets Of 30 Richest Billionaires (The first book of 'The Millionaire Chronicles' series) [Bin Mohd Nor, Ahmad Mokhzani] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Billionaire Biographies: Top Secrets Of 30 Richest Billionaires (The first book of 'The Millionaire Chronicles' series)
200 Books Written By Billionaires (A Constantly Updated, Complete List)
All Books Written By Billionaires: My Life and Work by Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motors) Today and Tomorrow by Henry Ford. The International Jew by Henry Ford. Edison As I Know Him by Henry Ford. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (net worth of $17 Billion according to Forbes) Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio.
Books Billionaires Read (updated 2024)
Homo Deus. by Yuval Noah Harari. Unlock the secrets of success by diving into the literary world of billionaires. Discover the books that have shaped the minds of Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, and Oprah Winfrey, and learn how these influential reads can impact your own path to greatness.
21 Books by Billionaires That Will Teach You How to Rule the Business
5. Business @ the Speed of Thought, by Bill Gates. With a net worth of $79 billion, Forbes estimates the Microsoft founder is the richest person in the world. In Business @ the Speed of Thought ...
Discover the Best Billionaires Books in the 2024 Updated Edition
Contents. 1 20 Best Books About Billionaires; 2 The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon; 3 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future; 4 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader; 5 The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life; 6 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike; 7 The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional ...
Best Books by Billionaires
Amazon. The 84-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is considered one of the greatest investors in history. This book is a collection of Buffett's letters to Berkshire Hathaway ...
The 10 Best Entrepreneur Biographies of Millionaires
Hope you enjoyed this list for the 10 best entrepreneur biographies of successful millionaires. Here's a quick recap on the list: Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography. Thrive: The Third Metric to Success By Arianna Huffington. Losing My Virginity By Richard Branson. The Snowball: Warren Buffett & The Business of Life.
25 books by billionaires that will teach you how to run the world
That's why we've rounded up 25 books by self-made billionaires. From the business insights of Bill Gates to the leadership lessons of Richard Branson, the wisdom collected in these pages extends ...
Biographies to Read If You Want to Get Rich
Chris Jackson/Getty. If you want to get rich, you might want to start thinking and acting like the rich. Success is a learnable skill, self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker emphasizes in his book ...
The most recommended billionaire books (picked by 38 authors)
Meet our 38 experts. Morgan Lennox Author. Laura Wolf Author. Krista Lakes Author. Lucy Pussett Author. M. Malone Author. Robin Hill Author. +32. 38 authors created a book list connected to billionaires, and here are their favorite billionaire books.
15 books by self-made billionaires that will show you how to run the
In "The Virgin Way," the billionaire founder of Virgin Group offers lessons on management and entrepreneurialism, including the importance of listening to others and hiring the right people. Branson is honest about his successes as well as his failures, such as underestimating Coke's influence when he tried to launch Virgin Cola in the 1990s.
The Best Biography Books of All Time: My 10 Personal Favorites
Our Best Biography Books. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Titan: The Life of John D Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.
Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful
An informative and funny deconstruction of how the giants of American capitalism shape our world In Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful, Darryl Cunningham offers an illuminating analysis of the origins and ideological evolutions of four key players in the American private sector―Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and oil and gas tycoons Charles and ...
36 Books to Read If You Want to Become a Billionaire
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. Business (All you need to know about business ...
The 30 Best Biographies of All Time
12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city.
9 books to read if you want to be a billionaire
Amazon. The late Apple billionaire Steve Jobs was inspired by Christensen's book on the importance of disruption. Essentially, Christensen argues that companies often fail when they stop ...
Recommended Books from Billionaire Entrepreneur : r/Entrepreneur
Recommended Books from Billionaire Entrepreneur. Startup Help. Biographies. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance. Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone.
Top Billionaires Favorite Books
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. In today's money, John Rockefeller would have been worth $340 billion dollars. In 1999, Charlie said, "I found this book very intriguing. His life, his company, and his management style are all worth studying.".
17 New Books Coming in June
Best Books Since 2000; ... 17 New Books Coming in June. A biography of Joni Mitchell, two hotly anticipated horror novels, a behind-the-scenes exposé about Donald Trump's years on "The ...

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10 Worthwhile Books Written by Self-Made Billionaires The people who started with little and made a lot have written books to help you do the same.

1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

2. Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates

3. The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett

4. Made in America by Sam Walton

5. What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey

6. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

7. Onward by Howard Schultz

8. How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban

9. How to Be Rich by J. Paul Getty

10. Direct from Dell by Michael Dell

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