Books Recommended by Ali Abdaal

In essence, it’s a fantastic book and had a transformative effect on my life. If you have a passing interest in entrepreneurship or just want to get a fresh perspective and critique of the stereotypical 9-5 lifestyle of the modern world then read this book.

Really engaging, good narration. Lots of lessons about running a business, particularly the emotional side of it.

A classic book that I only just got round to listening to on Audible in December. It’s genuinely amazing – a brief history of humankind.

This book helped me understand the difference between systems and goals and why the former is more important. By making small habits a part of our identity we can over time get to our goals no matter how big or small they are.

Really good. One of my most highlighted books of all time. I learned so much about being a manager, and my management skills (and our team’s effectiveness and happiness) immediately improved after I started to do some of the things that Julie recommends.

An absolute productivity classic. I don’t use many of David’s techniques, but I refer to his book pretty often.

I think anyone could gain quite a lot from reading this book and it certainly had an enormous impact on my own life.

I’d heard so many good things about the book that I had to give it a read, and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I’m typing this in a haze because I was up until 4am last night finishing it. It’s really good.

I’d highly recommend this to anyone who’s interested in learning about success, whether in business or in life.

This is one of the three books that most changed my life (the others being The 4-Hour Work Week and Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur ). It completely changed the way I thought about sharing stuff online, and encouraged me to start my blog in January 2016.

Despite the click-baity title, it’s a solid guide to wealth creation.

it’s about being a doer, not a don’t-er

I would 100% recommend it to anyone who’s leading a team in any capacity and it’s really been helping me on this journey.

I recently devoured the audiobook of The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Seriously good, recommended by my friend Dan Murray-Serter. It’s about the author’s spiritual awakening, and decision to “let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots”. Made me think more about how I set priorities.

Another was A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, which was excellent as well, although in a different way.

All in all, I massively recommend Die With Zero. Here’s the key message: don’t save so much that you forget to enjoy your life.

So – if you’re interested in growing a business, and you haven’t read Russel’s stuff, I can highly highly recommend it.

This is an enormous book, but it’s one of my favourites of all time. It’s my most highlighted book on Kindle (by a very long way) and while I was reading it, I found myself nodding my head like a lunatic on almost every page.

This book has transformed my relationship with note-taking. I took copious notes while reading it, and everytime I review my highlights, I discover new nuggets. I’d say it’s a must-read for anyone who reads a lot.

This is one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read and has already changed my outlook on the stories that happen every single day in our lives that usually just pass us by.

If you want to get better at writing online, this book is currently my no.1 recommendation.

Been highlighting this like crazy, halfway through at the moment. It talks about what to do if you feel you’re wandering down the wrong path in life, and how to figure out what you really want. It’s got me feeling more OK with my decision to quit medicine.

He’s sitting opposite me reading a book that I recommended (The Third Door by Alex Banayan).

But there are a lot of genuinely good insights on creativity, working distraction-free, and not chasing the wrong things in life.

I’ve been having my ears and mind completely blown away and am rethinking my whole childhood. 10/10 would recommend this read.

This book completely changed my relationship with money.