Look, there is no way you are going to read all of the books on this insanely huge book list curated by Tim Ferriss. I have grabbed the list and categorized them a little bit.
There are some super obvious books that I think everyone has already read and they are a part of our societies language now. If you haven’t read them you are either trying to be contrarian to current thinking or are just completely out of the loop. Then there are the really interesting books that no one has ever heard of or thought would be amazing, but I have either read them and can say that they are or have read all the reviews and think they would be. Lastly there are the classics that are often not recommended, but worth the time if you have the patience. Finally there’s the everything else bucket… Seriously it is a huge list so not everyone is going to read everything. All the links go to Tim Ferriss’ affiliate account… I’m not trying to make money off of his hard work here.
Let’s start with the obvious ones – great books that I’m sure you’ve heard of being recommended by smart people:
- The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Fragility by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina
The not so obvious ones – great books that you may not have heard of being recommended by smart people:
- The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
- The Man Who Sold the Moon and Orphans of the Sky by Robert Heinlein
- Age of Propaganda by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson
- Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World by René Girard
There are tons of other great books on the list, these just stood out to me. Make sure you listen to his podcast as well, definitely worthwhile.