Books that Changed Your Perspective on Life
Hi all,
I just wanted to start a thread for great books that people recommend reading in their free time. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Although finance book recommendations are great, I really want to start reading books that will change my perspective on the world.
Cheers!
Start with these: Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky- Covers morality, suffering, and judgement. Not a light read.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie- Great, simple book about dealing with people.
The Death of the West by Pat Buchanan- Essential reading about our current state of affairs.
The g-factor by Arthur Jensen- Psychology book about general intelligence and its heritability (aka think twice about pumping your seed into some dumb slut). Scientifically a very interesting read.
My personal favorite is The Snowball Warren Buffet and the Business of Life. I read it 5 years ago and still remember every page.
How to win friends and influence people is a pretty good book, and The Buyside is another one of my favorites
Seconding Crime and Punishment - read it in AP Lit way back my senior year of hs but it was definitely memorable.
Crime and Punishment is good, but the Brothers Karamazov is fantastic.
Great list! The first two are indispensable.
Too technical though. No soft skills!
Barbarians at the gate highly recommended
How Starbucks Changed My Life Extreme Ownership
Extreme Ownership is fantastic. Highly recommend it to anybody
That's the Jocko Willink one right? I thought it was OK, maybe slightly overrated.
(Have read at least 10 times at various stages of my life. Has completely different meaning at each stage. Captivating story about the evolution of a small business and IDing the various stages. Great read for anyone thinking about going out on their own or just being "entrepreneurial" .
The whole fly wheel thing is brilliant. Aligning what you love, what you're great at, and monetizing it. When aligned, it's a Home Run. When not, can be good but NOT GREAT!
Totally agree on your Good to Great review. Those principles can easily be applied to life.
Also thanks for suggesting the book on Grameen Bank. Was looking for a read on it.
Didn’t half the companies in good to great end up failing. Almost a stock market peak book for them.
Don't know. What I do know is at a personal level, it's a great formula for success. Not just because you ultimately make more money, but it's sustainable. Byproducts (again at the individual level) include:
I'm sure lots of others.
The Big Short. Although I love the movie, nobody really gets deep into thought about it because A) it happens so quickly and B) people want to believe its fiction or never will/had happen. Thats why the book made a big difference when i finished it. I truly got disappointed with the amount of unorthodox actions taken by individuals for their own personal gain. Truly crazy stuff.
Don't understand why MS is getting thrown at you, you truly need to read the book to fully understand what went on
Re: MS about The Big Short: denial is not just a river in Egypt ;-)
Clifford the Big Red Dog, teaches you a lot about diversity.
[Double Post]
Read Ashley Vance's autobiography on Elon Musk. Delves deep into his thinking and puts forth the good and the bad. A lot of things to take away from it.
Playboy
"Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. "It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States". Very insightful read imo
Agree that it's deeply moving, and he writes like an angel.
An edible history of humanity. Quick read you can crank out in a day or two. I enjoyed it a lot. t shows how food has affected countries to succeed or fail. https://www.amazon.com/Edible-History-Humanity-Tom-Standage/dp/08027199…
Thinking Fast and Slow. This is one of the best books about figuring why people act the way they do, and how you can use psychology to your advantage. Very fun to read lots or little games or example to show you how each system works in your brain. https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555…
The origin of species: Darwin. Classic biology book. World changing.
Ben Franklin an american life: Walter Issacson. Favorite book ever.
Candide: Voltaire Funny book could be read in about 2-3 hours. While breaking it down it is very dark.
The United States Constitution- If you have not read though the constitution you should not read anything until you do. (You do not have to read all the amendments this would take you ages) Most important document in modern history.
The concept of Two liberties is not a book but rather a speech that was then printed. This document I read for the first time in college, and I recommend it to everybody. This will truly help you to learn what freedom really is and why nobody is actually free. If you close read this document it should take about a week to completely comprehend everything that is stated withing these pages. But when you do you will question everything. https://is.cuni.cz/studium/predmety/index.php?do=download&did=138013&ko…
If you want more suggestion PM me.
Fun fact about the declaration being one of the most important documents in modern historische: It copies/borrows a lot from the "plakkaat van verlatinghe", which is the dutch declaration of independence.
Just letting you know that the constitution is different from the declaration of independence.
Definitely Black Swan. Reinforced some theories I had which was nice. Also a little humbling!
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
Bought this last week to Read on my vacation, can't wait!
The Happiness Advantage - Shawn Achor . Truly influential for me
Also - the Stranger by Camus - Principles - Ray Dalio
And not a book, but just general biological anthropology and evolutionary psychology
On a similar note, The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
3 books I've read recently that have really changed my perspective on different issues (non-finance): Chasing The Scream - looking at the war on drugs The Happy City - looks at happiness and how our environment is affecting it Eating Animals - you can probably guess the issue explored in this one
Someone once said that if God didn't want us to eat animals He wouldn't have made them so delicious.
book of zhuangzi - "Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness."
book of liezi - "Strength should always be complimented by softness. If a branch is too rigid, it will break. Thus, the strong person knows when to use strength and when to yield, and good fortune and disaster depend on whether one knows how and when to yield."
The only book you need is THE HOLY BIBLE.
The Complete Guide To Divorce Law
HAHAHA! Should be required reading for any man looking to get married.
"If you have never considered the possibility of killing another person then you have never been through a divorce!" - Christopher Titus.
The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
Philosophical in its nature, but it was a really great read for me. You can either be the type who maintains your own motorcycle or the type who pays someone to.
All three of the books below have affected the way I think about life,
Ok slightly lit but compelled to reply.
I have read a lot of shit over the last 10- 15 years and I have come to the conclusion (props to Taleeb for helping me along the way) that if you want meaningful go old. Really old.
If something has stuck around for hundreds of years there must be a reason. Hell, even if it's utter shite the fact that is it has stuck around means it has had a meaningful impact on the development of thought in the modern world so it is at least useful from that perspective.
The thing that has struck me about reading older material is that these were people who actually thought about how they lived their lives, what makes a good life and how they can live a good life. This was not about scoring a mutli-million dollar book deal or getting your balls licked by Jimmy Kimmel. This was the most serious shit in the world to these guys.
That is incredibly valuable insight and it is timeless. Revisiting the works of great thinkers throughout history has had an immense impact on my life.
So here is my advice.
Read "How to read a book" (I know) by Mortimer Adler. This is not exciting stuff but it really helped me to get more from reading.
Have a look through the list of recommended books in Adler's book. What topics interest you? pick something you think you will like.
If you want some suggestions I would recommend the stoics. Stoic philosophy is incredibly relevant to the modern times we live in. There is a lot of good shit about the world today but as a society we face unique challenges unseen previously and a lot of aspects of Stoicism are tailor made for dealing with this shit. As a start read Seneca and Marcus Aurelius Meditations.
It is my opinion that from the perspective of living a good fulfilling happy life there is no more useful single book in the history of mankind than Meditations.
this one was an absolute game changer for me.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Written decades ago by a fellow who spent his career interviewing successful people including Andrew Carnegie. The principles in this books quite literally change your mind and thinking for the better.
*A Healthy Dose of LSD. *
It isn't a book, but definitely the truth.
The Intelligent Investor - Ben Graham. Warren Buffett says this is the best book written on investing.
Wild at Heart - John Eldredge
You are Not Your Brain - Jeffrey Shwartz
Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle
Each book radically changed my thinking and my life.
Wild at Heart is a great book. Definitely up there for me as well.
originals - adam grant
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell- Tucker Max. It's transcendent.
The Power of Habit changed my life.
I've always enjoyed reading, so I do it a lot and I can relate to a lot of the books on this list. So I'll leave out the ones that are already on here and I'll eliminate the "really, really good" books from the ones that really changed my life (as the OP intended).
So that comes down to only one book (and I'm surprised no on has mentioned it):
Mastery by Robert Greene.
This book gave me a completely different outlook on what to do with the rest of my life, how to invest my time, views on mentors, views on learning & persevearance. I really think that my life has changed for the better (not that it was terrible before!) since reading this book.
Plus, this book covers a lot of ground. I would challenge anyone to read this book and have that person say, "I didn't learn anything". Theres literally something everyone can learn from this book.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson - https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuitive/dp/006245…
The Rational Male by Rollo Tomassi - https://www.amazon.com/Rational-Male-Rollo-Tomassi/dp/1492777862
Cheers to The Rational Male. Great book.
ration male will give you a paradigm shift ^^
7 habits of highly effective people was a good one for me.
also enjoyed the fountainhead
shoe dog
meditations
I'm glad you and TheROI enjoyed it. I've recommended it to a few friends and it has been a game-changer for me.
The Great Gatsby - Despite being written in the 20s, the story sheds light on social issues that are still relevant today like wealth inequality. It's one of the few books that still gives me a different perspective after having read it 5+ times. Also helps that it's a quick read.
Principles (by Ray Dalio) - Working through this one and it has a lot of great lessons that someone can apply to their careers as well as their personal lives. Not a challenging read.
Will sound silly but "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki completely changed the way I view money and the importance of being an owner of capital vs. labouring for someone elses' capital. I also really enjoyed both Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. I'm not a huge fan of Ayn Rand but I found both books give a really interesting take on the concept of individualism and the libertarian mindset.
If you read both it gives you a really good look into two completely different perspectives.
You may also like Conard's Unintended Consequences.
"How to Read a Person Like a Book" -forget the author... body language; most important book I read in college "The Art Of War" Sun Tzu "(Letter to) The Prince" N. Macchiavelli "Emotional Intelligence" Daniel Goleman
I read the book The Gene recently and it was quite enlightenining to say the least.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Completely changed how I think about almost all choices humans make.
Agree that "Fast & Slow" is one of the most influential books I've ever read.
Yeah, the entire study of behavioral economics and body of research around how we make decisions is so interesting. Reminds me of a scene in WestWorld where they say something along the lines of how all human choices are just the interaction of ~10k different variables and easy to be mapped [sorry for a small spoiler if anybody isn't up to speed]. A bit frightening to learn how we're all susceptible to the same pitfalls
To kill a mockingbird is an all-time favorite. Others that come to mind are
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys And the mountains echoed by Khalid Hosseini How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie The monk who sold his Ferrari.. Don't remember the author
Re: MS about The Big Short: denial is not just a river in Egypt ;-)
If you're considering the entrepreneurial path: * The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz (founder turned VC) * Zero to One - Peter Thiel (another founder turned VC) * Creativity Inc - Ed Catmull (CEO of Pixar) * Becoming Steve Jobs - Brent Schlender (a better perspective of Jobs' entrepreneurial Hero's Journey than Isaacson's biography)
If you're wondering why public policy is so crazy: * Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman * The Undoing Project - Michael Lewis (if you're too lazy to read Kahneman's original ;-) * The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt * The Fatal Conceit - F. A. Hayek * Human Action - Ludwig von Mises
I just started reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck seems pretty good so far hopefully I can finish it because I have started many books but haven't finished
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseni are two of the best books I have ever read.
The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon is terrific, It is about group psychology. The moon and sixpence is also good. Because I read books in a near distance, I have a poor eyesight now, I have bought one glasses named KAL at Leotony https://www.leotony.com/?utm_source=13.7.248. Would you mind seeing the glasses is good?
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