Reading

I enjoy reading biographies and books related to business and self-development. To the ones who aren’t actively reading books, I urge you to start reading!

Below each book title, I’ve put a short reason for reading the book and the rating I’d give it. I’ve noticed over time that reading books recommended by people you revere usually turns out to be good.

In progress

1. Unlimited Power: The New Science Of Personal Achievement
   Tony Robbins is an interesting person. 4/5
2. Principles for Dealing With The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail
   Found the topic interesting and Ray Dalio is a great person. 5/5
3. The Art of Seduction
   Can’t get enough of Robert Greene
4. Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength
   Recommended by Jerry Seinfeld. 5/5
5. Thinking Fast and Slow
   Got it from a relative, recommended by him and Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 5/5
6. Leonardo da Vinci
   Recommended by Bill Gates
7. Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy
   Recommended by Reid Hoffman
8. The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships
   I find LOA interesting. 5/5
9. VC: An American History
   Recommended by Aviral Bhatnagar
10. Lying
    Recommended by Tim Ferriss
11. Mastery
    Recommended by Andrew Huberman and Robert Greene is awesome
12. The Return to the Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs, The Creation of Apple and How it Changed the World
    Mike Moritz is an interesting person
13. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
    Recommenede by Bill Gates. 5/5
14. High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People
    Found it in the Scale AI office, and Elad is interesting. 5/5
15. Michael Jordan: The Life
    The Founders episode was amazing
16. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Completed

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
   Recommended by my mother. 5/5
2. Steve Jobs
   Wanted to know more about Steve Jobs. 5/5
3. Think and Grow Rich
   One of the first books I read, wanted to read something on self-development. 5/5
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People
   One of the first books I read, wanted to read something on self-development. 5/5
5. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny
   Wanted to read something on self-development. 3/5
6. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
   Recommended by Steve Jobs, Ikuo Hiraishi. 5/5
7. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
   Got the book as a gift during the Microsoft internship. 2/5
8. Living with a SEAL: 31 Days with the Toughest Man on the Planet
   Found Jesse Itzler and David Goggins pretty interesting. 5/5
9. Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future
   First book anyone interested in startups should read. 5/5
10. What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence
    Got the book at its promo event at IIT Bombay. 4/5
11. The Hard Thing about Hard Things: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers
    Recommended by many entrepreneurs, Ritesh Agarwal comes to mind. Ben Horowitz is a pretty interesting person as well. 5/5
12. Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
    Got the book as a gift in an internship. 2/5
13. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE
    One of the first books I read, was interested in reading biographies of interesting people. 5/5
14. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
    Interesting title. 3/5
15. Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust
    Heard about this book from many people. 2/5
16. How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It
    Mark Cuban has an interesting story and is an interesting person. 5/5
17. Ego is the Enemy: The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent
    Liked the book title, the concept of stoicism and Ryan Holiday’s videos. 5/5
18. You’ll See It When You Believe It
    Book was lying around at home. 2/5
19. The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm
    Got the book as a gift in an internship. 1/5
20. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
    Got the book as a gift in an internship. 1/5
21. Principles: Life and Work
    Ray Dalio is a great person. 4/5
22. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Recommended by Bill Gates, Saurabh Goyal. 5/5
23. Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future
    Read out of curiosity. 5/5
24. Will
    Read out of curiosity. 5/5
25. The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham
    Some life events made me interested in LOA. 5/5
26. The Hobbit
    Recommended by Peter Thiel, Paul Graham. 3/5
27. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
    Recommended by Michael Siebel. 5/5
28. No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
    Got the book as a gift during the Microsoft internship. 3/5
29. The 48 Laws Of Power
    Recommended by Aviral Bhatnagar, Jay Z. 5/5
30. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose
    Found Tony Hsieh interesting. 4/5
31. Only The Paranoid Survive
    Wanted to read something about Andy Grove. 5/5
32. Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder
    Recommended by Vinod Khosla. 5/5
33. Ask and It is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
    Find LOA interesting. 5/5
34. The Inner Game of Tennis
    Recommended by Bill Gates. 5/5
35. Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
    Tony Fadell has a great background. 5/5
36. The Mamba Mentality: How I Play
    I’m a big fan of Kobe. 5/5
37. Who Is Michael Ovitz?
    Recommended on the Good Time Show by Aarthi and Shriram. 4/5
38. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts
    Recommended by Chamath Palihapitiya. 5/5
39. The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future
    Recommended by Aviral Bhatnagar. 5/5
40. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
    The Founders episode was amazing. 5/5
41. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
    Phil Jackson is interesting. 5/5
42. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story
    The Founders episode was amazing. 5/5

Plan to read soon

1. High Output Management
   Recommended by John Doerr
2. Meditations
   Recommended by Tim Ferriss, Ryan Holiday
3. SUPERINTELLIGENCE: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
   Recommended by Bill Gates
4. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
   Recommended by Bill Gates
5. Stranger in a Strange Land
   Recommended by Bill Gates
6. The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium
   Recommended by Marc Andreessen
7. How Google Works
   Recommended by Aravind Srinivas
8. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
   Heard about it on the Founders podcast
9. Open: An Autobiography
   Looks interesting
10. Crossing the Chasm
    Came across this book in Tony Fadell’s Build, also recommended by Bill Gurly
11. Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
    Recommended by Patrick Collison
12. The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom
    Recommended by Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel
13. Chip War
    Interesting topic, recommended by Niall Ferguson
14. Supermoney
    Recommended by Warren Buffett
15. Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
    Recommended by Bill Gurly

Discontinued midway (didn’t find them interesting)

1. Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World
   Recommended by a random person. 2/5
2. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
   Recommended by Elon Musk. 2/5
3. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
   Recommended by Patrick Bet David. 1/5