Here’s the one biggest catalyst for most of my successes in life: being a voracious reader. My weapon of choice is the Kindle, I’m constantly on the lookout for new books and articles and sending them to my Kindle for reading later. Coming from a small and pretty isolated island I can definitely say that if I hadn’t read so much I would never have enjoyed the success in life and business that I have.
Although I have three University degrees, I must confess that I skipped most lectures, simply because I felt they were too boring for me. Instead, I spent time in quiet places devouring book after book on the topics that interested me most.
So if you want to be successful and don’t yet have a habit of reading, start now, read something daily, and allocate time during the week for extended reading sessions of 45 minutes to one hour.
Extra bonus tip: Make sure you keep a blog/journal/diary where you can write down new concepts that you learn or ideas that you get while reading.
I’ve used Goodreads to try and build a virtual bookshelf of sorts, however, it’s been very difficult to maintain, mostly since I read a lot of books every year. My average is around 6-8 per month. So instead, I’ll be trying a different approach and just listing the most impressive books I’ve read about the several topics I’ve gotten into over time.
If I had to ever quit using my Kinde and install a library in my home, you can bet these books will be populating its bookshelves.
Religion & Spirituality
- Waking Up and The End of Faith by Sam Harris
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton
- New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
- The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield
- Why We Believe in God(s) by Richard Dawkins
I would also encourage reading books from Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, he has several good ones.
Business
- The 4-hour workweek by Tim Ferriss
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- Rework by DHH and Jason Fried
- Remote by DHH and Jason Fried
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
- Built to Sell by John Warrillow
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- Work the System by Sam Carpenter
Psychology & Behavioral Economics
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- Mindwise by Nicholas Epley
- The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters
- The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
- Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, and Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Outliers, Blink and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Philosophy
- Genome, The Rational Optimist and The Red Queen by Matt Ridley
- The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman
- A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine
- The Republic by Plato
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Investing
- Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
I would also recommend going through the investing curriculum for other great investing books.
Cryptocurrency
- Cryptoassets by Chris Burniske
- The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous
History & Future
Health
- Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
- Sleep by Nick Littlehales
Sports & Sports Psychology
- Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? by Alex Hutchinson
- The Champion’s Mind by Jim Afremow and Jim Craig
- The Brave Athlete by Simon Marshall and Paterson Lesley
- Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison
- The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
Economics
- The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
- Misbehaving by Richard Thaler
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
Biographies
- Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
- Giocare da Uomo by Javier Zanetti
Padel
- Padel – Lo Esencial by Jose Javier Remohi
- Sentido Comun by Nito Brea
Politics
- Political Order and Political Decay and The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama
Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Check out these Science Fiction and Fantasy lists on Goodreads
Looking for more books? While I continue to update the list above, check this great list of books, many of which I’ve also read and can recommend.
