Hand selected books to help explore Financial Independence, Early Retirement, growing a business, and enjoying life
These are the best books that I have personally read. Given the wealth of books available to us this day in age, no one can possibly read enough to be able to make a definitive list and I’ll never be able to read everything I want to read.
Here is my best shot at organizing the books that I have read, changed my life, influenced my thoughts and have helped to put me in the position that I am today.
And, if you read as much as I do, you may want to consider a couple of options to save some money:
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Without further adieu, here are my recommended books:
Best Books on Investing and Wealth Creation
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle (my review)
- The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life by JL Collins (my review)
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (my review)
- The Millionaire Next Door by William D. Danko
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- The F.I.R.E. Planner: A Step-by-Step Workbook to Reach Your Full Financial Potential by Michael Quan (my review)
- The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson (my review)
Best Books on Real Estate
- The Book on Rental Property Investing, by Brandon Turner
- Crushing it in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate, by Brian Murray
Best Books on Personal Growth
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear (my review)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins (my review)
- The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life by Boyd Varty
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Best Books on Business and Entrepreneurship
- The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
- The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker
- Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
- Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
- The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
- The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
- Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall
- Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
- Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker
- Steve Jobs The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight (my review)
- The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
- World is Flat (A Brief History of the Twenty- first Century) by Thomas L. Friedman
- The Hard Things About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Best Books on Happiness and Enjoying Life
- Loving What Is by Byron Katie (my review)
- A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (my review)
- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
- The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
- Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony De Mello (my review)
- Rediscovering Life: Awaken to Reality by Anthony De Mello
- Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
- Getting to Yes with Yourself: (and Other Worthy Opponents) by William Ury
- Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within by Chade-Meng Tan
- Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- Meditations – A New Translation by Marcus Aurelius (my review)
- The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu translated by Witter Bynner (my review)
Books on History, Science, and the Future
- Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (my review)
- The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant
- The God Equation by Michio Kaku (my review)
Books to Read on Vacation
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
- Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- Exhalation by Ted Chiang
- Game of Thrones Series by George R. R. Martin
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Love books? Get Unlimited Reading/Listening:
- Start a free trial of audible to get access to podcasts, best selling audio books and more
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My reading list now often comes from The Tim Ferriss Podcast. His interviews and book recommendations by guests, have given me a wealth of new knowledge to explore over the course of the past few years. I highly urge you to give his podcast a listen.
You realized Rich Dad Poor Dad has been debunked, right?
Meh. Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s essense is correct. You want to own assets, not liabilities. It is largely what really cemented to me that I wanted to be an Entrepreneur and own my own business, my own assets. Even if the story was made up, the facts are that you do want to invest in appreciating assets. The tone of the book is why I still have it listed, even though his sales tactics post-book are not something I would endorse.