Personal Design & General Knowledge

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1. Psycho-Cybernetics: Updated and Expanded by Maxwell Maltz - a blueprint to understanding your self-image and building confidence (without positive thinking)

2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

3. The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles

4. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie - the timeless book that you need to read about successful human interactions (somehow jives with all modern research 100 years later)

5. Atomic Habits by James Clear - foundational and mandatory for organization, time management, and moving to a systems-based approach

6. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris - somewhat idiotic, somewhat genius, necessary for fundamentals of lifestyle design; an eye-opener for newbies

7. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - the modern negotiation handbook that has toppled the Harvard giants

8. The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor - how happiness influences creativity and success with simple tools and case studies

9. A Master's Secret Whispers: For those who abhor the noise and seek The Truth about life and living by Kapil Gupta - a new way to view the mind and argument to seek a state of "no-mind"

10. Atmamun: The path to achieving the bliss of the Himalayan Swamis. And the freedom of a living God by Kapil Gupta - the best case against “hard work culture”

11. Happy by Derren Brown - introduction to Stoicism and useful philosophy 

12. A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine - further reading on Stoicism from a modern author

13. The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti - a completely new way to think about the mind, desire, and fear

 

Advanced (Business Design)

 

1. The E-Myth by Michael Gerber - the 70’s classic about building a business that will work for you, not the other way around

2. Start at the End by Dave Levinsky - a simple, yet overlooked model for building your businesses backward

3. Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis - ignore the technical stuff and absorb the iterative mindset that fueled billion-dollar startup growth

4. Zero to One by Peter Thiel - a mish-mosh of taking advantage of randomness to business design and risk; if you’re working on something visionary and scalable read this

5. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - understanding our own cognitive limitations can help both you and your business

6. The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb - this gets very math-heavy, but the idea is to “not be fooled by randomness” or be the turkey before Thanksgiving; useful to model the world around you, or realize what actually can’t be modeled; brilliant work

7. Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb - this book changed my life for how I look at risk and the people actually taking it

8. The One Thing by Gary Keller - a long-winded, yet worthwhile discussion of the importance of focus that yields unequal results

9. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable - your one-stop shop to understanding marketing as a beginner