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80+ Non-Fiction Books That Have Made Me: From Life Design, Sleep, to Startups and Much More

Updated: Dec 4, 2023



I have compiled and categorized a list of more than 80 books which I am certain will improve some aspect of your personal or professional life at some point of your life just as they have changed mine. Some of these books will challenge, reshape, and make you reflect upon your ideas, habits, relationships, or ambitions. They will also provide you with invaluable knowledge whether you are an aspiring or seasoned entrepreneur or intrapreneur.


While a good book is perhaps one of the best gifts someone could ask for, a trusted book recommendation comes very close, especially when such a book has a transformative impact on your life. Nowadays, I discover more and more books from computer algorithms created by Amazon, however I still find that the best books in my e-library are those that someone else shares with me.


Life (Re)Design

  1. Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

  2. Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

  3. Full Permission Living: The Journey from 3rd to 5th Dimensional Consciousness Peter Loffredo

  4. Think Like a Monk Jay Shetty

  5. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear Elizabeth Gilbert

  6. The Buddha and the Badass: The Secret Spiritual Art of Succeeding at Work Vishen Lakhiani

  7. The Almanack of Naval Rivikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness Eric Jorgenson

  8. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

  9. Algorithms to Live By Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

  10. Man's Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl

Habits and Success

  1. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change Charles Duhigg

  2. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results James Clear

  3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Steven Covey

  4. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals Oliver Burkeman

  5. Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Scott Young

  6. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell

  7. Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell

Public Speaking and Interpersonal Relationships

  1. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds Carmine Gallo

  2. Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time Keith Ferrazzi

  3. Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal Oren Klaff

  4. The Culture Map Erin Meyer

  5. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters Priya Parker

  6. The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection and Courage Brené Brown

  7. How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie

  8. The Definitive Book of Body Language: The Hidden Meaning Behind People's Gestures and Expressions Barbara Pease and Allan Pease

Love and Relationships

  1. The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Gary Chapman

  2. The Mastery of Love Don Miguel Ruiz

Sleep and Mindfulness

  1. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Matthew Walker

  2. Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time Arianna Huffington

  3. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art James Nestor

Innovation

  1. The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton Christensen

  2. The Startup Way Eric Ries

  3. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days Jake Knapp

  4. The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovations Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon

  5. Startup Nation: The Story Behind Israel's Economic Miracle Dan Senor and Saul Singer

Stories on Entrepreneurship

  1. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Phil Knight

  2. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Ben Horowitz

  3. Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days Jessica Livingston

  4. Super Founders Ali Tamaseb

  5. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Brad Stone

  6. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Ashlee Vance

  7. Start Something That Matters Blake Mycoskie

  8. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose Tony Hsieh

  9. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman Yvon Couinard (Patagonia Founder)

  10. Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle

  11. Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson

  12. The Virgin Way: If It’s Not Fun, It’s Not Worth Doing Richard Branson

Leadership and Company Culture

  1. The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential John C. Maxwell

  2. What You Do is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture Ben Horowitz

  3. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead Sheryl Sandberg

  4. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't Simon Sinek

Co-Founding

  1. Slicing Pie Handbook: Perfect Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups Mike Moyer

  2. Co-Founding the Right Way Jana Nevrlka

  3. The Founder's Dilemmas Noam Wasserman

Venture Capital

  1. Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer an Venture Capitalist Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson

  2. Secrets of Sandhill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It Scott Kupor

  3. Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups - Timeless Advice From an Angel Investor Who Turned Jason Calacanis

Startup Frameworks and Playbooks

  1. Where to Play: 3 Steps for Discovering Your Most Valuable Market Opportunities Mark Gruber and Sharon Tal

  2. The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries

  3. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

  4. The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win Steve Blank

  5. Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Greg Bernarda, and Alan Smith

  6. Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs John Doerr

  7. The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Guy Kawasaki

  8. Nail it Then Scale it: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation Paul Ahlstrom and Nathan Furr

  9. The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn if Your Business is a Good Idea When Everyone is Lying to You Rob Fitzpatrick

  10. The $100 Startup: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love and Work Better to Live More Chris Guillebeau

  11. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Tim Ferris

  12. The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to Join The Ride Darren Hardy

  13. Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About It Tien Tzuo and Gabe Weisert

  14. The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transactions, and Build Recurring Revenue Robbie Kellman Baxter

Business Scaling

  1. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It ... and Why the Rest Don't Verne Harnish

  2. Blitzcaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies Ried Hoffman, Chris Yeh

  3. Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Startups Companies Drive Breakout Success Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

  4. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Other Don't Jim Collins

  5. Exponential Organizations: Why New Organizations Are Ten Times Better, Faster, and Cheaper Than Yours (And What to Do About It) Salim Ismail, Michael Malone, Yuri Van Geest

  6. Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

Sales, Negotiation, and Marketing

  1. How to Master the Art of Selling Tom Hopkins

  2. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It Chris Voss with Tabi Raz

  3. Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman

  4. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

  5. Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know Malcolm Gladwell

  6. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Chip Heath and Dan Heath

  7. Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products Nir Eyal

  8. The Art of War Sun Tzu

Past, Present, and Future of Human-Kind and Technology

  1. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power Shoshana Zuboff

  2. Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

  3. Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

  4. The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Businesses, Industries, and Our Lives Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

  5. Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind Yuval Noah Harari

  6. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari

  7. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari


Books Waiting to be Read In My Audible or Kindle Library

Last updated: March 2023

  1. The Desire Map Experience: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul Danielle LaPorte

  2. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World Adam Grant, Sheryl Sandberg

  3. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Marty Cagan

  4. Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries Safi Bahcall

  5. The Untethered Soul Michael A. Singer

  6. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself Joe Dispenza

  7. Tracking Wonder Jeffrey Davis

  8. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment Daniel Kahneman

  9. The World for Salle Javier Blas, Jack Farchy

  10. Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond

  11. Predictably Irrational Dan Ariely

  12. The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume Josh Kaufman

  13. Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game Walker Deibel

  14. The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success Darren Hardy

  15. Extreme Ownership: How US Navy Seals Lead and Win Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

  16. Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  17. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution Walter Isaacson

  18. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned From 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company Robert Iger

  19. Dare to Lead Brené Brown

After having gone through this list think about what are books that have most influenced you or transformed your life? What are you currently reading or planning to read soon? I'm always happy to learn about the books that others can recommend!


Read my blog post on 10 Things You Can Do to Start Reading More Books

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