100+ non-fiction books

Books are magic

Before ChatGPT, before YouTube, before podcasts, before audiobooks, there were books.

One of Tim Ferriss’ common question during interviews is “Which book do you most often gift to others?”  In a similar way, I asked readers and friends which books they recommend.  (all affiliate links)

Caveat: this list is all non-fiction

Yes, this is all non-fiction. Some people would say it’s boring business books, but I would disagree.  Just be advised this does not have any John Irving, Anne Patchett, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Lewis, Phillip K Dick, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, or Amor Towles. Who are all awesome.

make it useful

Life is a bunch of S-curves, not a straight line. So a book that super resonated with you 20 years ago, might not be what you need today. Also, our situations change. Now, I don’t have direct reports – so reading a detailed book on managing, one-on-ones, feedback, coaching, and crucial conversations might not be needed. 

Books are a portfolio, a reservoir of thinking and learning. Use what’s useful, and disregard the rest.

YouTube and Podcasts

I know this is heretical, but you don’t have to read the whole book to get the point: a) watch a TED talk or interview with the author b) listen to a podcast interview with the author c) use chatGPT for a summary d) read the Amazon reviews

Libby app

In the United States, there is a free app that allows you to borrow eBooks, and audiobooks for free using your local library card. This dramatically lowers the financial cost (free), opportunity cost (listen to audiobooks while driving), and transaction cost (click, click, click).  Yes, Emory University library is on the app too.

Spotify 

If you have the premium version of Spotify, you get 15 hours of audiobooks every month for free. BOOM 

1) Recommended books, I’ve read

• Atomic Habits – James Clear (5 people)
• Deep Work – Cal Newport
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win – Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently – Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – David Allen
• Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In – Roger Fisher and William Ury
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t – Jim Collins
• How Will You Measure Your Life? – Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon
• Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl
• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World – Adam Grant
• Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell
• Quitter – Jon Acuff
• Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know – Malcolm Gladwell
• The 48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change – Stephen R. Covey
• The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less – Richard Koch
• The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning – Scott Galloway
• The Effective Manager – Mark Horstman
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter – Michael D. Watkins
• The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers – Ben Horowitz
• The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production–Toyota’s Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry – James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos
• The McKinsey Way – Ethan M. Rasiel
• The Millionaire Next Door – Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
• The Psychology of Money – Morgan Housel
• The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking – Barbara Minto
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life – Mark Manson
• The Trusted Advisor – David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford
• Who: The A Method for Hiring – Geoff Smart and Randy Street

2) Recommended books, have not read yet

As I read them, will move them to the list above

• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street – John Brooks
• Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley – Antonio García Martínez
• Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology – Chris Miller
• Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business Without Going Crazy – Clate Mask
• Conversations That Win the Complex Sale: Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate Your Solutions, and Close More Deals – Tim Riesterer and Erik Peterson
• Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication – Vanessa Van Edwards
• Do Epic Shit – Ankur Warikoo
• Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence – Anna Lembke
• How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration – Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
• If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human – Cherie Carter-Scott
• Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms – Ronald J. Baker
• Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life – Nir Eyal
• It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy – Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
• Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual – Jocko Willink
• Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances – J. Richard Hackman
• Leading the Collaborative Way: Overcoming the Seven Most Common Pitfalls – Lloyd Fickett
• Make Epic Money – Ankur Warikoo
• My Years at General Motors – Alfred P. Sloan
• Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond – Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman
• No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering – Thich Nhat Hanh
• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity – Peter Attia and Bill Gifford
• Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others – Andrew Sobel
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking – Susan Cain
• Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness – Jeff Olson
• Storybrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen – Donald Miller
• The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World – Peter Schwartz
• The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching – Dean Smith
• The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World – Frans Johansson
• The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
• The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now – Meg Jay
• The Infinite Game – Simon Sinek
• The Soul of a New Machine – Tracy Kidder
• The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human – Jonathan Gottschall
• Total Competition: Lessons in Strategy from Formula One – Ross Brawn and Adam Parr
• Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization – Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright
• Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success – Rory Vaden
• Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety – Alan Watts

3) Books I’ve blogged about

• Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
• Factfulness – Hans Rosling
• Grit – Angela Duckworth
• Management Principles of the US Marine Corp – David H. Freedman
• Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi
• Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, Happiness – Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein
• Playing to Win – A.G. Lafley, Roger Martin
• Poker MBA – Greg Dinkin
• Rework – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
• Slideology – Nancy Duarte
• Taxes: A Fine Mess – T.R. Reid
• The Inevitable – Kevin Kelley
• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life – Alice Schroeder
• True Professionalism – David Maister
• Whitecoat Investor – James Dahle
• Winning – Jack Welch

4) Books I recommend (on my bookshelf)

• AI SuperPowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order – Kai Fu Lee
• Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance – Atul Gawande
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant – W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
• Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill that Changes Everything – Charles Conn, Robert McLean
• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers – Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
• Consulting Fundamentals: Skills, Tools, Tips – John Kim (yes, me)
• Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers – Geoffrey Moore
• Elon Musk – Walter Isaacson
• Executive Presence: The Missing Link between Merit and Success – Sylvia Ann Hewlett
• Heart: A History – Sandeep Jauhar
• How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert Cialdini
• Managing the Professional Services Firm – David Maister
• Money: Master the Game – Tony Robbins
• Nuts, Bolts and Magnetrons: A Practical Guide for Industrial Marketers – Paul Miller
• Pricing with Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table – Reed Holden
• Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity – Scott Galloway
• Secrets to Closing the Sale – Zig Ziglar
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport
• Start.: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work that Matters – Jon Acuff
• The Author vs. Editor Dilemma: The Leadership Secret to Unlocking Your Team, Your Time and Your Impact – Brandon Smith
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – Michael E. Gerber
• The Great Client Partner: How Soft Skills Are the True Currency in Client Relationships – Jared Belsky
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer – Siddhartha Mukherjee
• The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone – Vivian Lee
• The Lean Memory Jogger for Healthcare – Richard McInnes
• The Marble and the Sculptor: From Law School to Law Practice – Keith Lee
• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment – Eckhart Tolle
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield
• Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts – Annie Duke
• Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers – Tim Ferriss
• What the Best College Teachers Do – Ken Bain 
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You – John Maxwell
• 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Al Reis, Jack Trout