5 Classic Book Recommendations by Real Entrepreneurs
When was the last time you read something that filled you up to your neck with ambition and wisdom?
That made you aim for the win only?
The topics covered in these timeless books are the mindset, productivity, and leadership, that can help catapult you to the highest of your goals. And best you’ll not be wasting your time mindlessly swiping up the infinite feeds on social media while missing out on tonnes of great knowledge.
1. Moby Dick
The story of Moby Dick is often viewed as the metaphor for overcoming the impossible. The book surely inspired the young Steve Jobs, starting out Apple Computers. Being at odds with the “status quo” of personal computing, Steve Jobs can be argued as the restless rebel just like the protagonist of the book, Captain Ahab.
The book tells the story of a crew of whalers (hunters of whales), in the mid-19th century, who set out to hunt down the notorious sperm whale, Moby Dick. It is included in classics among world literature and is a must-read for anyone setting out to achieve the impossible.
2. Business adventures
‘The best business book I’ve ever read’ — Bill Gates
The book is famous among entrepreneurs and business people for its telling of interesting stories about businesses. Among many such stories, one is of Xerox Corp. It gives an account of how the company was started after facing so many failures from initial investors and customers.
It’s an interesting read for anyone from a management undergrad to a hustling entrepreneur to an established business mentor. The book provides insightful — and often overlooked — details about the nature of businesses and markets.
3. Influence
Written in 1984, the principles described in Influence don’t fall short even today while describing human psychology and behavior. The author, Robert B. Cialdini, is a world-famous professor of psychology, owing to a great deal of his popularity to the content of this book.
As described by serial-entrepreneur Naval Ravikant in his podcast, the book unfolds the vulnerability of human behavior and how, at times, it is easily influenced or manipulated. The book is a handbook for anybody whose job is to deal with people. With that said, It is a must-read for everyone.
4. Meditations
When books on some 2000-year-old text become bestsellers, it’s hard to get past and not read it. Written by one of the most powerful men ever lived on earth, Marcus Aurelius, the book is actually just a compilation of personal advice and notes.
Marcus Aurelius, a follower of Stoicism, was among the last emperors of the Roman Empire. The book is filled with aphorisms, advice, and simple points to remember to live a great life.
Ryan Holiday, a marketing maverick and author of bestsellers including Ego is the Enemy and Obstacle is the Way, claims to have read it more than a hundred times, and gifts it to his friends frequently.
5. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
When the earliest investor of Facebook and founding member of PayPal — Peter Thiel — recommends something, one can’t help but pay attention to it.
Things Hidden is written by Rene Girard, Thiel’s professor of philosophy while he was still studying at Stanford. Does the book deal with practical as well philosophical questions like why do humans compete among themselves? Why is a history filled with examples of extreme violence? Why does society need a king-like figure?… among many others.
It’s a must-read for anyone looking to manage people, run organizations, compete in the market, and want to have a better understanding of the world, to put it simply.
These books might seem intimidating at first, but as you make your way through, you will sooner realize the common insights that are hidden from the majority of people. That’s the advantage of reading what the best of the best is reading.
