Top Picks

When it comes to relationships, you just expect yourself to be good at it… but being in a real relationship with someone is a skill.

A friend gave me Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse when we started travelling together. It makes a lot of sense to me. I think it's a really important book.

I would suggest you read if you haven't read it already. It's really beautiful.

I think that was the first book I read twice.

It was the first book, maybe ever, where all I wanted to do all day was read this.

The Secret History, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Bel Canto are a few of my all-time favorites.

The Secret History, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Bel Canto are a few of my all-time favorites.

This is a book that takes you to another world entirely. Set in a future ruled by power and control, it's a love story wrapped in rebellion, about one woman daring to choose her own heart in a world that wants to choose for her.

Little Wonder completely swept me up and transported me into River and Song's world. I loved every minute of this story, and I cannot wait for all of you to experience it for yourselves.

That book made me realize books have the power to help create empathy. They're a catalyst for conversation and empathy and compassion, which is such a powerful tool.

I think that people will hugely love this book. It's a big, sweeping, Irish, multi-generational story. The writing's wonderful. There's magic elements to it. It's a real crowd-pleaser of a book.

Subtly told and finely made, The Correspondent is a portrait of a small life expanding. Virginia Evans shows how one woman changes at a point when change had seemed impossible. That change, like this novel, turns out to be a cause for celebration.

Barbara Kingsolver could never have pushed herself farther—and then she came out with Demon Copperhead, which I gotta say, nothing prepared me for Demon Copperhead.

Alice McDermott has always been one of our greatest writers but here she exceeds every expectation. Absolution is one of the finest contemporary novels I've read. It is a moral masterpiece.

Who should read this book? Every single person in the country

Caro is probably the most talented biographer of our age; he writes like a brilliant novelist and has the reporting skills of Bob Woodward. The Power Broker is assigned reading at quite a few American universities and it should be. It's amazing. But it's not a light read.

Because I have an MBA a lot of people inevitably ask me if they should pursue one. If it's knowledge and not credentials you're after, save your money and read [this book].

Reading [this book], along with Seneca, has really helped foster my interest in philosophy. So much of what they say speaks to me that I'm often left with entire pages underlined and margins filled with thoughts.

A concise book of lessons drawn from the survey of history. The book comes highly recommended by someone I met at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting last weekend. I can't believe I haven't read this before. I'll be re-reading this a few times and I've started listening to the audio version in the car as well.

A must read for anyone who wants to turn history's hindsight into their current foresight.

It might require a bit of work but The Argonauts rewards us with an expansive way of considering identity, caretaking, and freedom

This month I am choosing a book which I confess I have already read. It is so brilliant though. It deserves to be read more than once... I read it on a plane from London to New York and I laughed out loud and cried so much I think the whole of my cabin, airline staff included, thought I was losing my mind.

Great book called buy back your time by Dan Martell. You gotta get your time back. You need to learn how to delegate.

What I love about this book is he explains what people really want in their leadership. They want to be coached.

it's simple repeatable and a proven formula for executing your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the day-to-day whirlwind

If you want to get more prospects to reply to your ads for less advertising dollars, and get them to say YES to breathtaking prices... then grab this book, use its contents, and see for yourself.

In 2008, I got handed this book and it changed my life forever. It really taught me that you cannot be the technician in the field you've got to be the entrepreneur.

No excuses. No bad teams. Just leadership. Own everything and change your results.

how to think, act and build when everyone else is scared.

How to see disruption before it destroys you. Success breeds complacency. Complacency kills companies. Strategic paranoia is the edge.

Had the biggest influence on how I write.

One of the best investing history books that few people have heard of.

A look at how life in America changed from 1900-1950, got me interested in the social and cultural part of economic growth.

Written in 1907, totally changed how I think about personal finance and life goals.

The best economics book I've read, written by a person who didn't know he was writing one.

It's a gem of a book... his description of the two sets of needs that pull us in different directions [security and adventure] shifted a paradigm for me.

Offers a fascinating excavation of the intricacies of love and desire, where they conspire and where they conflict. Read this book. You will forever rethink the erotics of women.

Outlive completely transformed my approach to growing old. Peter Attia is among the most brilliant people I've ever met, and he's succeeded in packing a life's worth of insights into this book.

The book that we all need to read to create more thriving and intimate connections.

The titular concept — that we have two thinking systems... is something that has saved me from… me, dozens of times.

The Psychology of Money is one of those iconic books that is sort of must-reading.

One of my best books of 2019.

A landmark book, Richard is my Yoda on the topic.

My NYU colleague Jonathan Haidt published The Anxious Generation... making the most forceful case yet that social media is hurting our children.

I read this book. It was compelling as hell. And I'll tell you why. There's three words I would say after I read this book: the American dream... I consider myself the American dream. But Straight Shooter... go get it.

A Tribute to the Greatest of All Time - Rush Hudson Limbaugh III.

Forget what you thought you knew about education in America—this book will rock your consciousness. Battle for the American Mind exposes the insidious and hidden Marxist takeover of America's classrooms, and arms every citizen, parent, and grandparent with a plan to fight back. For the sake of our Republic, read Pete Hegseth's book.

I'm surprised they haven't tried to destroy the reputation of Alexis de Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America. Just a matter of time. You notice the Democrats want to keep centralising power... Alexis de Tocqueville comes to America... and he says there's no conceivable way America could ever have such an all powerful centralized government.

The Federalist Papers represent a great source of the political thought of America's founders and the best explanation and defense of the Constitution as understood by the founders themselves. It sits on my desk next to my computer, where I write my books and prepare for my radio show, as it gives me inspiration.

This epic saga sweeping through four generations of life among Kenya's Kikuyu tribe is a novel of Steinbeckian stature neglected by literary connoisseurs.

The people of this sci-fi novel live underground in darkness. ... they worship Light... and their theology includes demonic figures... called Strontium, Cobalt, and the arch-devil, 'Hydrogen Himself.'

I re-read Waugh's books again and again, mesmerized by the chiseled craftsmanship of every sentence.

I was one of those who had unthinkingly bought into the hectoring myth that science can say nothing about morals. To my surprise, The Moral Landscape has changed all that for me. ... It will turn their world exhilaratingly upside down.

I wish I had written The Demon-Haunted World.

I read it and it's bewitched me ever since. I'm spellbound.

You will not be able to buy a more beautiful book for Christmas for somebody you love.

Astonishing... an amazing book... absolutely chocker full of things that we need to know.

If there's one book you read this year, make it this one.

Unbelievably good book. Jaw dropping from the first word to the last. Best £9.99 I've spent in ages.

Denounced as tabloid trash when first published, this 1981 bio is anything but. Goldman has a brilliant eye for detail and larger-than-what-you-see analysis. And the descriptions of the way this hillbilly lived are just laugh-out-loud funny.

Some say Jay McInerney partied too much and it hurt his output, but the fact that the party produced this brilliant, hysterically funny description of the party makes the partying worth it in my book.

The fact that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have been ripped off as Ralph Kramden/Ed Norton and Fred Flintstone/Barney Rubble should tell you something about why this first great novel endures.

The man who wrote many Marx Brothers movies was the greatest wordsmith America has ever produced. This collection brings together his comic essays, most of which originally appeared in The New Yorker. You have to read him with a dictionary, but it's worth it.

My all-time favorite, even before Francis Ford Coppola turned it into Apocalypse Now. The ultimate topic, the ultimate metaphor. What great book couldn't have been called Heart of Darkness?

It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. There is of course much to argue about, but that’s what makes this book so interesting.

Do you want to understand how humans think? Read this book. It is one of the best starting points for exploring the tangled web of the human mind.

Probably the most funny science book I have ever read. A must-read for politicians of all species!

A book of big questions, and big answers. It turned me from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind.

The most prophetic book of the 20th century... Today many people would easily mistake it for a utopia. If you have time for just one book, this would be my top choice.

Then we could get into finding as a teenager getting into Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Notes from Underground, The Brothers Karamazov.

As a kid... We could start with the Lord of the Rings.

I remember reading The Count of Monte Cristo as a kid... and that was probably the first time I felt that kind of transportation.

A classic of our time.

The good writers are Melville, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner. They deal with issues of life and death.

The good writers are Melville, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner. They deal with issues of life and death.

The ugly fact is books are made out of books. The novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.

The definitive book on the Federal Reserve.

This is the most important book of our time.

The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country.

The easiest-to-read primer on the New World Order.

This is a book I can wholeheartedly recommend... it's fucking amazing. I just want to tell you, this shit goes deep and it's fascinating.

Phenomenal book about the war in Afghanistan.

The absolute best book that's been written about the terror wars... I highly recommend everybody if you haven't read Enough Already make sure to to buy it and read it.

The book Democracy: The God that Failed is unbelievable. I highly recommend it. I think it's one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It's a masterpiece.

When I'm recommending Rothbard to people, I usually start with Anatomy of the State... There's my book recommendation.

One of my favourite stories by Lovecraft... the concepts and themes of Lovecraftian stories tend to be difficult to pull off in a visual medium.

Unrelentingly dark and emotional. Compulsive reading. Would kill to make it on film.

I would say Bleak House... is an absolute masterpiece truly transcendent.

It is a book that I read and reread. It is a book that I think is essential to understanding Mexico.

I've lived with Mary Shelley's creation all my life. For me, it's the Bible.

A blueprint for achieving financial success and personal fulfillment. It emphasizes the power of mindset and goal setting.

This is the only fiction book on the list and sets the foundation for all other books. It emphasizes the importance of having the courage to follow one's purpose.

I've had the same copy since 2015, this always stays by my bedside. I just read it again and again and again. For me, Marcus Aurelius is one of the greatest minds in history.

Don't let the title put you off... I've given this book away probably 25 times. If you want to understand me and the way an entrepreneur thinks, this book is amazing. It gave me permission to embrace my authentic self.

I've read 15-20 habit books... this is the one that is really just the most punchy. It's not about who thinks of a concept first, it's about who can explain it the best. And that award goes to James Clear.

A tremendous book... It seemed to be an academic validation of things that I and other marketeers had thought for a long time.

By the end you will realise it contains a kind of wisdom which has deserted most organisations.

Decoded is the only behavioural science book I've ever read twice. This new edition is a great reason to make it three times.

The most perfect work of artistic creation in the history of the world, far, far superior to the Sistine Chapel or Chartres Cathedral... I must have read The Clicking of Cuthbert more than 30 times.

The bible. If you read nothing else, read Kahneman's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

The 10X Rule is basically a concept about how we set goals and targets, and we find places of comfort that are too small.

Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. We have got to stop telling grandma not to go outside because it's too hot or too cold. This is collapsing all of our own natural defense mechanisms.

The presence of oxygen is the absence of disease. [Breathwork] is the most essential thing we do as humans.

These books had a profound impact on my thinking.

These books had a profound impact on my thinking.

One of my favorites from the time I was young.

That phrase became absolutely crucial in thinking about pretty much anything within the domain of psychology and politics for me.

I read Benjamin's text as a bridge between political theory and psychoanalytic practice. In so doing, I hope to recognize Benjamin's profound influence on my thinking about recognition and destruction.

Just finish - Lucy Barton (Elizabeth Strout) - a Carver-like beautiful novel.

Sebald - Austerlitz. Amazing meditation on memory, and collective trauma.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

In their groundbreaking book, Tribal Leadership, management consultants Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright lay out the five stages of tribal development... My goal in my first year as head coach was to transform the Bulls from a stage 3 team of lone warriors... to a stage 4 team.

You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.

This was written in 2006 and really describes a technocratic uh supposedly a utopia based around transhumanism.

He predicts the coming of the technocratic age... genetic modification mutation on a mass level nanotech.

One of the most important books that you could ever read... it lays a blueprint for understanding the global elites and their approach to the world order.

This one is the book that really sold me on Orthodoxy.

It kicked off the entire Global Elite series... it lays a blueprint for understanding the global elites.

I realize that there are thousands of business books on the subject, but, trust me, this is the first to really answer the question [of what makes great CEOs stand out].

I don't need to say much here. This book invented an entire genre. Economics was never supposed to be this entertaining.

I reread Malcolm's 'Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession' just to remind myself how nonfiction is supposed to be done. She writes with the confidence that the reader has no choice but to keep following along.

Lewis is the finest storyteller of our generation, and this is his best book. Supposedly about football... it's actually an extraordinary story about love and redemption. It is as close to perfect as any work of nonfiction.

That book changed my life. If you read that book, you'll see the template for the genre of books that 'The Tipping Point' and 'Blink' and 'Outliers' belong to. It offers a way of re-ordering ordinary experience.

This is the first book that I read this year in June and this is what got me into reading... this is what got me from buying one book to this entire wall that we have now. It's just my comfort book.

It's basically the Super Bowl for me every time that Emily Henry comes out with a new book... I definitely gave it an auto five stars... it was just so good I was tied between that and Love and Other Words but Happy Place was such a good romance.

Possibly my favorite book... top two actually. This is childhood friends to lovers... they feel like soulmates in this and it just feels like... I cried at the end.

My favorite book of 2023 should be very obvious... coming in at number one we have The Seven Year Slip. I loved this book so much, it's not anything groundbreaking... but if you just want a sweet, wholesome, fun, magical realism romantic time, pick up this book.

This is probably in my number one spot for favorite book of the year... I've talked everyone's ear off about this book. It did everything right for me... I am obsessed with how whimsical the world is and also how the crumbs of romance you get is so angsty.

If I had to pick one favorite book, it would probably be Nine Princes in Amber.

When I read those words for the first time, a chill went through me, and I sensed that SF would never be the same. Nor was it.

I can't read those words without having a shiver. I read this book and it spoke to me so powerfully.

This was the original game of thrones. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire, you will love The Accursed Kings.

I admire Tolkien greatly. His books had enormous influence on me... The battle of good and evil is a great subject for any book and certainly for a fantasy book.

I am a rock singer and your book travels around with me.

I don't read French that easily... I am a rock singer and your book travels around with me.

I think Nietzsche is the only one who's really understood where it's at.

The question is not about rich or poor, the question is about short term vision vs long term vision.

One of my all-time favourites. I am sure you will love it too!

This book tells you how to control your inner self, how to control your attention, how to control your inner world.

It is one of the most amazing books that I have ever read. It is a small book, a thin book, but it is amazing.

Undoubtedly, the best book ever written on becoming successful in the materialistic world!

These pieces have been, and will I think during my life continue to be, to me, the source of daily and exalted pleasure. The tender and the sublime emotions of the mind were never before so wrought up by the human hand. I am not ashamed to own that I think this rude bard of the North the greatest Poet that has ever existed.

The merit of this work will, I hope, place it in the hands of every reader in our country. By diffusing sound principles of Political Economy, it will protect the public industry from the parasite institutions now consuming it.

Don Quixote... I read it twice or three times before I can read one of [novels of the present day].

The best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written.

In political economy, I think Smith's Wealth of Nations the best book extant.

Though a lot of leaders talk about this stuff, in Everybody Matters you'll see what happens when you actually do it.

I'm a huge fan of his & learn A LOT from him. Marquet presents his ideas in a superbly practical way — perfect for implementing.

One of my favorite non-fiction books of all time.

I read your book Finite and Infinite Games many many years ago and it so profoundly influenced my view and changed my view of the world.

The book I say every human being should read.

I would say for sure The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. First time I read it I cried. Looks like a children's book, but it's a book about life.

One of my favorite books of all time.

I love so many books. ...like Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

The book that saved me was 'Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah' by Richard Bach.

The Prophet by Kalhil Gibran just might be my favorite book. ... During the Winters of my life it has consoled me. Amid the Summers of my journey it has inspired me.

He was a good servant of the Lord and proponent of Sovereign Grace in a time when such doctrines were rarely heard. I personally would recommend The Sovereignty of God.

R. C. Sproul's teaching on the holiness of God brought me face-to-face with the awful splendor of God's majestic holiness in a new and fresh way.

In an age when so many preachers seem so unsure of what preaching is, in Martyn Lloyd-Jones we find a minister that leaves no doubt.

I have had this book for a long time and have read off and on from these prayers... There is no better place to begin than this collection of prayers.

I didn't know it was possible to have that many thoughts about God. It is inexhaustible.

This is one of the most important books I’ve ever read.

One of the most important books I've ever read―an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.

A grandmother from New Jersey uses genetics, ethnography, and child psychology to refute the dogma that parents shape their children's personalities. A turning point in the history of psychology.

This 21st-century statement of the ideals of the Enlightenment offers fresh insight on a vast number of topics, including the workings of human cognition, the ways of science, and the drivers of progress. A major inspiration for 'Enlightenment Now.'

Perhaps the best display of expository scientific prose of the twentieth century. It gave me the idea to try my hand at the genre in 'The Language Instinct,' and had a strong influence on my own writing.

I refer to it all the time hoping to get people to read it.

If you only read one book on culture, read this one.

I would go so far as to say this is the most important book written in a 100 years on justification.

C.S. Lewis was very important to my development in college.

When people ask me how often I have read The Lord of the Rings, the answer is, I actually never stop. I'm always in it.

And then the other was a play called the Cost of Living, which is a beautiful play.

I bought a Joan Didion book... She's so beautiful. It's a tiny little book. She had a recent anthology about the American West.

I also read Homer's The Odyssey while I was here, because I felt like going on some kind of adventure. I loved it... So that was a massive joy, reading that.

Donna Tartt definitely has my heart... I believe it to be her best work. It's so good. And I would die to see that as a movie.

I'm also a huge Sartre fan... It seems to be about a dude who thinks way too much about everything. So it's incredibly relatable.

It's about the transformative power of a relationship and a friendship across the generations to heal a heart... the descriptions of the nature in the summertime in England are just fantastic.

You will love this book because it takes place in the 50s in England... I highly recommend it.

A really great compilation of different writings... I think is a great gift too. I recommend it and I'm really enjoying it myself.

I love historical fiction... and it's based on the story of Estée Lauder. And how she grew up in New York, how she started her business making cosmetics in a sink... It's a beautiful book, I highly recommend it.

If you want a quick read and a fabulous read... I read it in one day. The stakes are high for all of these people that are involved.

Pick up the f***ing book, don't be a peasant. This is how I know how to make money... I did millions of dollars in sales.

If you haven't read this, literally a G book that has revolutionized companies and has revolutionized individuals at some of the highest levels in society.

I would recommend on a daily basis that people read... a book by an ancient samurai known as Miyamoto Musashi.

Ray Dalio is talking about what's happening around the world and how to prepare for the demise of America.

This book resonates a lot with me... it gives you an understanding as to where you are in business and where you are in your career.

Obviously Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

I'm a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson's books... The Stormlight Archive is incredible.

And Lady of the Lake, because all its events are unbelievable. There is real magic in it.

My favorite books? The Last Wish, because it hooked me, broke my heart, put it together, and then broke it again.

These Days is an intimate celebration of sisterhood and a moving tribute to childhoods cut short by war.

A luminous literary debut following two dreamers, one intercultural family, and the diasporic pursuit of home.

A gripping literary puzzle that unwinds the private lives of ten women as they confront tragedy in a small Massachusetts town.

Incredible because it's a history lesson about the Northern Migration but also a deeply moving, funny, epic story of America.

A glorious, pondering, heartbreaking, extremely funny, very special book.

It remains one of my top five recommended novels of all time... Historical fiction is a fantastic way to pass on the lessons of history, and The Winds of War is among the very best.

My most gifted book after Once an Eagle... Its premise is one that should frighten all Americans regardless of party affiliation.

It cemented me on my path into the SEAL Teams and also confirmed that I would one day do exactly what I'm doing now.

My favorite book as an adult... I must have read it 15 times. I read it every time I write a new book. I read it before I start the first draft... It gets me in that zone.

This is probably my most recommended book; it's also my most gifted book... It's a case study in leadership. I used to give this to my junior officers... The virtues extolled in this brilliant work are truly inspirational and its lessons will stay with the reader throughout their lives.

In understanding the theology unique to the New Testament no one has influenced me more than George Ladd.

The other works I have read in the order of their impact are Religious Affections...

This book has caused many things to fall into place for me.

Next to [Freedom of the Will] in shaping my thought would be his Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World.

The most influential book was Freedom of the Will which, so far as I know, has not been shown wrong.

An amazing book on copywriting and really how to understand human behavior and human drive.

One of the most surprising books on psychology, which is exactly why I love it.

I got to say The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson... It just blew my mind in social psychology.

One of my favorite books on understanding why we behave the way we do. Aronson, the co-author, guest-lectured at Stanford and his class was one of the most thought-provoking ones I ever took.

The grandfather of all persuasion books. Cialdini put his years as the world's foremost persuasion expert into this book. Impressively, this book is equally interesting to the ordinary reader as it is to persuasion experts.

Essential reading for the deep worker.

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

I recommend Edmund Morris’s biography of Theodore Roosevelt.

The concepts in this book are critical.

It shows how ordinary people can be convinced to do terrible things.

One of the most powerful books ever written.

This book is a manual for life.

The benchmark for leadership.

To read The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time is overwhelming... it wakes up things inside you that you didn't know were in there fast asleep.

You will not read a more dazzling book this year than David Eagleman’s Sum. If you read it and aren't enchanted I will eat 40 hats.

Probably Right Ho, Jeeves. It is a book that provides solace for times of everything from flu to fractured fibulae.

There's plenty to choose from, but on balance I'd go for The Code of the Woosters. Written in 1938, the book has, as do almost all of them, a wonderful cast of characters running amok in the English countryside.

Best book I've read in a very, very long time! An incredible analysis of the success of all the organizations we see ruling our phones today.

I love, love, love this book... It's almost like a journal that takes you through different exercises whilst also explaining the Gita to you in very simple language.

If you want to dive into the original, do it because you can read it over and over again as life goes on and it will give you something different each time.

For me, it changed my life. I applied it to my life and even today I'm constantly refining my 'why'.

This is a book that I have given to people of all ages... every single person that has received it feels like they've received a gift in so many more ways than just the book.

He says that in any civilized society the government is going to have to intervene to prevent the division of labor from making people as 'stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to become.'

The most illuminating book on the topic... essential reading.

I think it's Orwell's greatest work, much more interesting than 1984 or Animal Farm.

There’s a marvelous literary portrayal of this in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, the Grand Inquisitor section... It describes Jesus coming back to earth... and the Grand Inquisitor... sentences him to death.