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.

 
  1. The Emyth: Why Most Small Businesses Fail and What to Do About It by Gerber

(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" .

  1. Good To Great by Collins

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!

  1. Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Prize) - Fascinating read about Grameen Bank, microlending, thinking outside the box / contrarian. He literally lifted millions out of poverty. Saw him give a speech on this topic. He's quite a character. Brought tears to my eyes.
 

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:

  1. Because you're happier you're better to be around.
  2. When you're better to be around, interesting opportunities present themselves.
  3. You become a more positive person which leads to being a better spouse, parent and friend.
  4. Because you like what you do you have more energy, and therefore either do more of it or are more useful in other areas. (that's a big one- I've personally become quite involved in the community - coaching youth sports yr round for several yrs, becoming an advisory board member to a local law firm, guest hosting on a local financial radio show, etc.
  5. Picked up several personal friends as clients (which may seem easy but when you're dealing with their money, it's not. Lot of folks don't want you to know what they have.) 6 .Because of the revenue engine, was able to hire more staff to free myself up which has allowed more time to workout and improve my health.

I'm sure lots of others.

 
Most Helpful

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.

  1. 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.

  2. Have a look through the list of recommended books in Adler's book. What topics interest you? pick something you think you will like.

  3. 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.

  1. I do enjoy the guilty pleasure of a book written from the age of indoor plumbing from time to time. I think Taleeb is a great thinker. I love all his stuff and highly recommend it. Signal and the noise by Nate Silver did have an impact on my thinking. Interesting book. Charles Duhigg "The Power of Habit" is a shocking little book, 95% drivel, but the concept it talks about is incredibly powerful and understanding habit and using it as a tool has had a big impact for me personally.

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