Best Stock Market Books for Every Level

Recommended by Bogdan Iordache (Co-Founder/How to Web)

Source: Bogdan Iordache: Recommended Books and Learnings

I read this book at a time when Udemy was rapidly growing—over the 18 months where we went from 30 to 200 people. It was helpful to read about Horowitz's challenges, worries, and triumphs when addressing the same types of issues at a similar stage of growth. There are so many big decisions you need to make where there's just no clear-cut, right or wrong answer. There are a lot of gray areas. You gather information from your team, but the hard decisions rest with you. This book helped me realize that while I needed to carefully and objectively consider feedback, I was responsible for making a decision in the end—even when it was an unpopular one.

Dennis Yang

CEO/Udemy

The funny thing is that the books that had the biggest impact (like my Verne’s favourite) are not necessarily the best books, objectively speaking. They were good enough to present a new worldview that I was not aware of. Timing probably was more important than their intrinsic literary qualities. They “managed” to fall into my lap at the right time. Such a book was Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, a mediocre book by my standards of today, but deeply inspirational by the ones from yesterday.

Vladimir Oane

Founder/UberVU

Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table. Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future. Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Recommended by Sir Martin Sorrell (CEO/WPP)

Source: Books CEOs Will Be Reading This Summer

Recommended by Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)

Source: Books That Changed My Mind This Year: CEO Selections

It taught me so much about marketing and human psychology. I keep referring back to that book all the time. It has been instrumental in inspiring the marketing strategies I used to propel Rails and Basecamp.

David Heinemeier Hansson

Co-Founder/Basecamp

Ray Dalio has provided me with invaluable guidance and insights that are now available to you in Principles.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

This book is amazing—it didn't change my mind, so much as it has changed the way I think. It helps to understand the difference between the way you make quick decisions, versus considered decisions—it takes different mechanisms in the brain. Understanding which you're doing at any given time can have a profound impact on what you ultimately decide.

John Lilly

Partner/Greylock Partners

If given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur.

Mark Cuban

Co-founder/HDNet & Broadcast.com

"Collins briefed Amazon executives on his seminal management book before its publication. Companies must confront the brutal facts of their business, find out what they are uniquely good at, and master their fly wheel, in which each part of the business reinforces and accelerates the other parts," Stone writes.

Jeff Bezos

CEO/Amazon

It's important that we make this transformation, because of what Clayton Christensen calls "the innovator's dilemma," where people who invent something are usually the last ones to see past it, and we certainly don't want to be left behind.

Steve Jobs

Founder/Apple

Follow these precepts and you will revolutionise your life.

Steven Pressfield

Author/The War of Art

It’s unusual for modern biographies to be this good. It’s especially unusually for the subject of the biography to approach the biographer in the way that Steve Jobs did (thinking that he was the intellectual heir of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein). But despite those two things, this bio is and will likely forever be a classic. It shows Jobs at his best–determined, creative, prophetic–and at his worst–petty, selfish, tyrannical and vicious. You can learn just as much about what kind of leader you probably don’t want to be from this book as you can from anything else. That’s what is so strange about Jobs and this biography. You read it and you’re blown away and impressed but I think very few of us think: yeah, I want to be that guy. I want to treat my kids that way, I want to be obsessed with trivial design things that way, I want to hate that way, and so on. You admire him but you also see him as a tragic figure. That’s how you know that Isaacson did an amazing job with this book. TC mark

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Recommended by Ola Olusoga (Co-founder/Populum)

Source: Interview with Ola Olusoga: How Books Have Guided His Path To Self-Discovery

After reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, I decided that extreme questions were the forcing function I needed.

Tim Ferriss

Author & Entrepreneur

I do goal-setting. The first time I read about this was in Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich,' I was 16 years old.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

Recommended by Marc Goodman in "Tools of Titans".

Marc Goodman

Founder/Future Crimes Institute

I chose this book because it taught me how important it is that your business represents you and that you passionately believe in it. I also learned from it the importance of organizational culture, and that the endpoint of a sale should always be customer's happiness, not the money-product/service exchange.

Robert Hajnal

Founder/Trail Running Academy

Recommended by Dragos Novac (CEO/Nordic 9)

Source: Dragoș Novac Sharing His Favorite Books

This primer on how to hack the media zeitgeist is so incredibly accurate, it just might render mainstream media completely useless. As opposed to mostly useless like it is now.

Drew Curtis

Founder/Fark.com

This is a key component in my Purple Cow thinking, but with a twist. I'm not as worried about the chasm as I am about the desire of marketers to go for the big middle.

Seth Godin

Author & Entrepreneur

I encourage you to read his autobiography “Losing My Virginity” as well as his book “Business Stripped Bare” if you haven’t gone through them yet. Uber-inspiring. For people who want to become Remarkable Entrepreneurs – and express their absolute best.

Robin Sharma

Founder/Sharma Leadership International

Harari’s new book is as challenging and readable as Sapiens. Rather than looking back, as Sapiens does, it looks to the future. I don’t agree with everything the author has to say, but he has written a thoughtful look at what may be in store for humanity.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

I really enjoyed Brad Stone's The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Anyone who wants to better understand the dynamics of disruption or just gain a better understanding of the website we've come to love, must read this book.

Shane Parrish

Founder/Syrus Partners

Autodidact extraordinaire Ryan Holiday strips away the ridiculous obsession with contemporary bestsellerdom and gets to the heart and soul of individual genius, creating timeless classics that change people's lives year after year after year. For those of us who wish to summon the courage and forgo instant validation in favor of deep and original creation, this book offers not just the Why, but the Who. A must-read for creators of all persuasions.

Shawn Coyne

Co-founder/Black Irish Books

Recommended by Louis Nyffenegger (Founder/PentesterLab)

Source: Interview with Louis Nyffenegger

Beth Comstock has written a wonderful book, full of excellent insights and lessons from her hugely successful career. She has recently been elected to the advertising all of fame, and after reading this you will know why. This book is of great value to almost virtually any leader and her stories and examples are told in a breezy way that makes it a joy to read.

Phil Knight

Founder/Nike

In terms of web design, Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug — so important for anyone learning how to build websites.

Tracy Osborn

Founder/Wedding Lovely

There is no living writer (or person) who has been more influential to me than Robert Greene. I met him when I was 19 years old and he’s shaped me as a person, as a writer, as a thinker. You MUST read his books. His work on power and strategy are critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. In life, power is force we are constantly bumping up against. People have power of over us, we seek power ourselves that we might be free enough and influential enough to accomplish our goals—so we must understand where power comes from, how it works and how to get it. But pure power is meaningless. It must be joined to mastery and purpose. So read his book Mastery so that you can figure your life’s task and how to dedicate yourself to it.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Kim Perell has written a very personal and compelling guidebook on entrepreneurship, how to execute with excellence, and on the importance of resilience. It's an extremely readable, powerful, and personal narrative that I would highly recommend to all aspiring entrepreneurs. I already have a dozen people in mind with whom I'm going to share this work.

Jonathan Auerbach

Chief Strategy and Growth Officer/PayPal

This book wants you to be rich: in money, in time, and in life. You have come to the right place. Kristy and Bryce take you through the process step by step, with actionable things that you can do no matter what your age, location, background, or education.

J L Collins

Author

Several friends, who know I both love to sleep and am intrigued with how sleep works, recommended that I read Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. It was excellent. While my self-assessment of my sleep habits are very positive, I learned a few things. More importantly, I now have a much better understanding of the “Why” surrounding sleep, especially around sleep’s importance to a healthy and long life.

Brad Feld

Co-Founder/Foundry Group

The future of work is distributed. Automattic wrote the script. Time for rest of us to read it.

Om Malik

Founder/GigaOM

The case studies you’re about to explore and the tools you’re about to gain have never been more relevant. This is an ideal moment to be reading this book.

Bill Gates

Founder/Microsoft

Recommended by Bogdana Butnar (Head of Strategy/Poke)

Source: Bogdana Butnar - The Ultimate Books to Read List

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those entrepreneurs who has discovered the secret to combining passion with business. He is always an inspiration and always entertaining. You owe it to yourself to read this book!

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos

Ruimin mentions this book in response to a question about long-term success. From Ruimin's point of view, the chief challenge is for leaders to maintain their entrepreneurial spirit, year after year. He admits it isn't easy:

Zhang Ruimin

CEO/Haier Group

I don't know how many times I read that book when I was broke but, of course, the sidewalk, slow, and fast lane, I borrowed that for the SSF method that I talk about sidewalk, slow, and fast lane for lead generation. He talks about it from a financial perspective, so almost completely, entirely unrelated but that book was very, very life changing for me. So, two of those books, by far, the best books that from a level of changing my life at the right time.

Scott Oldford

Founder/LeadCraft

Sell More Faster is the sales playbook every startup founder needs to read. Whether you're searching for product-market fit or have found it and are starting to scale, this book will give you the play by play approach of what you need to do to build an awesome sales organization.

Brad Feld

Co-Founder/Foundry Group

One book that actually helped me a great deal in the way I was communicating with my products and marketing, is Contagious by Jonah Berger, in which he describes “why things catch on” or “how to create viral content”. I did apply lots of his ideas and even inspired my team to work on those principles both online and offline. I remember reading it and taking notes (things I actually rarely do when I read, I like to be in it and absorb without being distracted by nothing) and really trying to soak in those principles. and I think I did.

Nicolas Jouvenceau

CEO/Pink Diamonds Boutique

Recommended by Barack Obama (Former USA President)

Source: Every book Barack Obama has recommended during his presidency

The other book on selling is an oldie but goldie, never goes away: SPIN Selling, by Neil Rackham. It's the one when a founder is trying to learn how to sell, belly to belly, I tell them to check out Spin Selling.

Mark Roberge

CRO/Hubspot

My favorite business book is the Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. No question. Business literature is full of nonsense. Drucker doesn’t tolerate nonsense :)

Drucker defines an effective executive as anyone who gets the right things done (an “executive” for Drucker is broad — it’s essentially what we would call knowledge workers). It’s actually a really important point: being effective is not about your personality. The only thing that matters is if you get the right stuff done.

Steve Benjamins

Founder/Site Builder Report

If you are reading to learn skills that can be implemented in your startup, I’d recommend The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful by Eric Reis and actually avoid its predecessor The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Win by Steve Blank until later in your career.

Craig Pearce

Co-Founder/Kid Genius

If you want to get into stock trading or in case you want to become an investor, then I definitely would recommend to read the book I already mentioned and in addition: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

Michael Hebenstreit

Founder/MH Themes

In addition to walking you through, in great detail, how a board functions, Brad has adopted many of the Lean Startup approaches to building, operating, and managing your board in a way that resembles continuous deployments. Any practitioner of Lean Startup would do well to use this approach to building their board.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

As someone who’s helped a small company become a huge, valuable company, I know firsthand the power of the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship. This book is the definitive book on navigating VC as part of that.

Eric Schmidt

Ex-CEO/Google

This might feel like a weird book to include, but I think it presents another side of strategy that is too often forgotten. It’s not always about bold actors and strategic thrusts. Sometimes strategy is about subtle influence. Sometimes it is framing and small tweaks that change behavior. We can have big aims, but get there with little moves. This book has excellent examples of that kind of thinking and how it is changing politics, government and business. My favorite example is about the bumblebee that they started putting on urinals–which drastically reduced the amount of spray and spillage because it changed where men aimed when they peed. It’s not exactly the coolest strategy but it solved a problem. So we can learn from it.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Recommended by Ola Olusoga (Co-founder/Populum)

Source: Interview with Ola Olusoga: How Books Have Guided His Path To Self-Discovery

Finally, a book that tells you how to put up a velvet rope in front of your business and get more of the clients you want and deserve! Whether you're building a services business or a personal brand, this book provides a roadmap to making bank, in a smart and authentic way. Pia is a total pro (and a laugh riot). I can't wait to recommend this book to every entrepreneur who feels stuck. Pia got unstuck, and so can you.

Julia Pimsleur

Founder/Little Pim

Recommended by Jeff Gibbard (Chief Brand Officer/From The Future)

Source: Social Business Strategist Jeff Gibbard Shares the Books That Formed His Business Perspective

The book shares several theories and tips which can be easily implemented in life for a success journey.

Haris Siddique

Co-Founder/Artimization

Rand Fishkin is the real deal. This book is an honest, generous and useful look at what actually happens when you build a company, including the downs as well as the ups... I wish I had read it thirty years ago.

Seth Godin

Author & Entrepreneur

I am currently reading two business books: Radical Candor by Kim Scott which I expect can help me build better relationships with my colleagues, and Lean Customer Development by Cindy Alvarez which helps me have more open conversations with clients and better define our product roadmap.

Thomas Graziani

Co-founder/WalktheChat

How Google Works is a good insight to a large corporate in the tech world.

Gary Bury

Co-Founder/Timetastic

For non-business, my favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird. It's the first book I ever read over and over until the cover fell off. It changed how I thought about leadership and courage.

Jennifer Rock

Co-author/B.S. Incorporated

Entrepreneurs largely celebrate the end of the dreaded 9-to-5 and are ready to dive headfirst into a world where they call the shots. The End of Jobs argues that rapid advancements in technology and globalization are leveraging points in the accumulation of wealth, meaning and freedom. This eye-opening book will give reluctant entrepreneurs the nudge they need, with sobering statistics on why the century-long growth in wages stopped in 2000, and why MBAs and JDs can't land jobs, let alone pay off their significant debt.

Sujan Patel

Co-Founder/Web Profits

This book belongs in the hands of every small business owner serious about beating their competition and becoming more successful than ever imagined. Building a Big Small Business Brand shows how with real-world examples and plenty of eye-candy to make it worth reading over and over again. It also belongs in the hands of every graphic designer, providing tools to help communicate to their clients the ever increasing importance of branding.

Glenn Taylor

Owner/ChromaGraphics

I find it difficult to say I have a favorite business book, there is no perfect book in my opinion, each has its own elements to take away, and each will inevitably have elements that don’t apply to you or you disagree with. Getting Real by 37Signals is undoubtedly a book I refer back to and recommend to others. [...] was an important book for me, the ideas were defying conventional wisdom and teaching. I’m not a fan of large multi national businesses and the focus on corporate transactions, so to read something that aligned with my small business beliefs and focused on simplicity was gratifying. It was the kind of book that I read thinking, ‘yes, this is what I’ve been thinking all along, but never been able to vocalise’.

Gary Bury

Co-Founder/Timetastic

This book is an exceptional step-by-step guide any entrepreneur can learn from because Stacy does an awesome job covering the right lessons with the right detail. The end of each chapter includes "Sign Posts" to help you take action on critical points along your path. And Chapter Two, in my opinion, is where the rubber meets the road for any business owner--learning how to deal with self-doubt, negativity, self-sabotage, and then the lessons of how to define your priorities and giving yourself permission to fail. Outstanding!

Stephen Woessner

CEO/Predictive ROI

I am currently reading The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. I was introduced to the author, Scott Galloway during his appearance on the aforementioned Recode Decode podcast, specifically episode released on September 14. His opinion and thoughts on the big 4 (Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google) lead me to research him. I put a hold on his book from my local library and waited a few weeks. A great thing about this book is its recency, for example, it includes Amazon’s recent acquisition of WholeFoods. So far, it has covered, in entertaining detail, Amazon and Apple. The author writes with great knowledge, mixed with the right amount of wit. The author argues that Apple is sex, Google is God, Facebook is love and Amazon is our gut. By aligning with these roles in our lives, they have become wildly successful. I hope to hear an expansion of his positions he discussed on the podcast, and hope to apply some of strategies into my own startup.

Craig Pearce

Co-Founder/Kid Genius

How do you explain Warren Buffett? Everyone knows that in a deep and liquid capital market like that of the US, it is just about impossible to beat the stock market averages over anything more than the short term. But Buffett has been ahead of the curve for most of the past 50 years, making him one of the world’s richest people. Alice Schroeder’s massive authorised biography, The Snowball, provides some clues about how he’s done it.

Richard Lambert

Director-General/Confederation of British Industry

Just as the The Lean Startup has become a must-read for founders, Entering StartUpLand should be required reading for any joiner. The book is a sweeping and insightful view into a startup's full range of operations and entry points. I highly recommend it.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

A fantastic, proven formula for moving from idea to prototyping to decision making within five days, based on a process he developed while working at Google and later GV.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

I don't think there are many people who know more about small business marketing than John does, and I'm certain that there's no one more generous in sharing tips and insights. What, exactly, are you waiting for? This book will pay for itself in one day

Seth Godin

Author & Entrepreneur

If Brené Brown and Simon Sinek had a book baby together, you’re looking at it right now. Stop Making Sense is a new manual for learning true leadership. Fanuele’s set of simple principles that changed my life over the last quarter century will change yours in a matter of hours

Andrew Zimmern

Chef, Co-creator/Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

Question: What books do you recommend for people starting out or just resources? What are the ones that you go to?

Answer: First book that I think of is Mark Roberge's book, Sales Acceleration Formula. Mark came from an engineering background and really thought about things mathematically, and not just from like a sales dude sleezy car sales perspective. That's the first one and it's really good. And it also talks a lot about who are your first hires for your sales organization, how do you incentivize them, ultimate sales machine.

Anton Sepetov

VP of Sales/Sumo

I expected a book written by the person who has led Disney for decades to be defined by both gripping storytelling and deep leadership wisdom. Bob Iger delivers, and then some! The Ride of a Lifetime is leadership gold—you won’t forget the stories or the lessons.

Brene Brown

Author

Most recent (like several years ago) was about blockchain technology. After reading many articles about blockchain, bitcoin and cryptocurrency I had a "Eureka" moment when reading Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott. That moment when I realized the potential of this technology and the massive changes that can literally transform the world we are living. A true paradigm shift.

Antonio Eram

Founder & CEO/NETOPIA mobilPay

Steven Pressfield shares his #1 lesson for anybody in the working world.

Ben Casnocha

Founder/Comcate

Chaos Monkeys was a fun one that I read recently. About kind of M&A, and growing a business in Silicon Valley over the last five years.

Mike Dudas

Co-founder/Button

Recommended by Richard Branson (Founder/Virgin Group)

Source: My top 65 books to read in a lifetime

An important examination on how technology can shape a better future by one of the smartest thinkers on the subject.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

I'm currently reading a biography of Alan Sugar, a U.K. entrepreneur who created Amstrad from scratch. I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing on launching a new product and this very much sets that tone.

Scott Johnson

Freelance Software Engineer

A prominent whistleblower chronicles her experience fighting discrimination against women and people of color in tech.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

If you want to get into stock trading or in case you want to become an investor, then I definitely would recommend to read the book I already mentioned and in addition: A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel.

Michael Hebenstreit

Founder/MH Themes

A fascinating book about the one thing that the greatest sports teams in history have in common and the critical aspects of leadership they share.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

Kelly spent a record-breaking year in space and this book is a fascinating account of that time and what he learned about humanity and himself.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

The Islamic population of the world has been neglected by marketers in a totally unwarranted way for far too long. Paul Temporal knows the subject and knows the consumers. This masterful book fills a huge gap in the understanding of this 'last frontier' of marketing.

Miles Young

CEO/Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

In my opinion this book is one of the best investment books ever and I highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in stock and commodity trading. The book is a biography of Jesse Livermore who is such an interesting character and the book is full of insights and advice while you learn about the crazy life of Jesse Livermore.

Michael Hebenstreit

Founder/MH Themes

Recommended by Ola Olusoga (Co-founder/Populum)

Source: Interview with Ola Olusoga: How Books Have Guided His Path To Self-Discovery

Torossian's For Immediate Release is a fearless, bold, clear, honest, and practical look at how PR shapes minds, ideas, and businesses. It is required reading for any business or brand interested in making an impact in today's 24/7 media world.

Daymond John

Founder & CEO of FUBU

If you want to do social media start with “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook” and move forward to “Ask Gary Vee” by Gary Vaynerchuk. Even if Gary has admitted that he has a ghostwriter writing his book, you can see Gary’s personality and also his experience in the social media field in this book. These are some great books to start with in social media.

Robert Katai

Founder/Instagramology

Michael Lewis's ability to boil down the most complicated subjects is like a magic trick. You can't believe your own eyes. He takes on important issues - from the 2008 Wall Street crash in "The Big Short" to parenting in "Home Game" - and breaks them down to the deepest truths. His combination of an extraordinarily analytical mind and a deep understanding of human nature allows him to weave together data and events to offer a fresh and insightful narrative. Whatever the topic, the result is always compelling and even thrilling. I am in awe of him.

Sheryl Sandberg

COO/Facebook

Recommended by Louis Grenier (Podcaster in Chief/Everyone Hates Marketers)

Source: Everyone Hates Marketers - How Louis Grenier Built a Podcast Out of Love for True Marketing

It's solid, realistic advice from someone who definitely knows what he's talking about.

Kristen Hamilton

Co-founder/Koru

How to make amazing products. Super fun to read too.

Lewis Smith

Entrepreneur & Developer/BodyTracker

Marketing no longer means advertising, and brand no longer means logo. Your brand is the promise, the experience, the interactions, and the expectation people have for you. Maria Ross understands this, and teaches you how to think about this essential element of your business.

Seth Godin

Author & Entrepreneur

"Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T Harv Eker has also had a radical impact on me in recent years and on my attitude towards money. I find it almost embarrassing to recommend because the ideas are very radical and "woo woo", but if you stick with it, it can change your perspective totally.

Lewis Smith

Entrepreneur & Developer/BodyTracker

Recommended by Vincenzo Ruggiero (CEO/Prospect.io)

Source: Vincenzo Ruggiero, CEO of Prospect.io, Shares an Emotional, Entertaining, Educational Book List

Recommended by David Henzel (Co-Founder/MaxCDN)

Source: Why David Henzel Sold His Business for $10M+ and Started a Podcast Called ‘Managing Happiness’ (Growth Everywhere podcast)

Matthew Paulson is the real deal. I've made millions using the same strategies that he outlines in Internet Business From Scratch, and this guide will give new and experienced internet entrepreneurs alike a roadmap for success and profit. The best part is that this model is incredibly sustainable - this will work today, tomorrow, and for years to come - unlike most strategies that most people teach. Had I been given this roadmap when I started my career, I would have avoided years of struggle and lost revenue. This is a must read for anyone who has something to share and wants to get paid for it.

Ryan Daniel Moran

Founder/Freedom Fastlane

It's difficult to pinpoint an exact moment because all of the books helped me in a way. Probably a recent example was the book The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. He is talking about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. After reading this book I was, damn that's the future and I need to start investing in this technology. Didn't stop ever since.

Ionut Danifeld

Co-Founder/DevMark.co

Great book on pitching, and more generally, sales. Funny too. Has some ideas very reminiscent of Thinking Fast and Slow.

Michael Herrmann

Founder/Terminerinnerung

An amazingly thorough compilation of distilled wisdom regarding the elements for success in consulting. The most experienced consultant will harvest many valuable tips, and the newcomer won't be able put it down.

Jack Zenger

CEO/Zenger Folkman

The most recent business book I found that had a transformative impact on my business is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which completely changed the way we manage our finances at Grammar Factory.

Jacqui Pretty

Founder/Grammar Factory

If you want to make the transition into business, sales is a must. Most sales books are bloated and spand many thousands of pages without much insight, but there are a few that are different and you MUST read:

• Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
• SPIN Selling

Santiago Basulto

Co-Founder/rmotr.com

This [reading something helpful] happens with pretty much every book I read. Most recently it happened to me when I was reading “Mastering Bitcoin” by Andreas Antonoupolous. I had no idea what the components of a Bitcoin wallet address were and he elegantly explains them in detail in chapter 4. It’s particularly relevant because we started CBlocks and we focus almost exclusively on wallet generation for our customers.

Auston Bunsen

Co-Founder/CBlocks

The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream by Tyler Cowen who is not only one of my favorite authors, he is a personal hero.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

Recommended by Jeff Gibbard (Chief Brand Officer/From The Future)

Source: Social Business Strategist Jeff Gibbard Shares the Books That Formed His Business Perspective

Recommended by Marvin Liao (Partner/500 Startups)

Source: Marvin Liao, Partner at 500 Startups, Shares a List of More Than 40 Books That Inspired Him

For those interested in the stock markets ~G.C Selden's 1912 (yes 1912!!) The Psychology of the Stock Market. Human emotions and thought processes remain the same. Greed and fear. Even though my business is in fitness and wellness most of the books are pretty awful and I haven't been influenced by individuals in this sphere. i keep hearing younger trainers talking about bodybuilders and their online presence, videos, etc but that doesn't interest me. No I haven't watched Pumping Iron. There are some very good marketers to be sure such as Pat Rigsby and Ryan Lee who I have bought material from but no book per se has influenced this career.

David Sisk

Founder/David Sisk Fitness

In his 2014 shareholder letter, Buffett recommended reading this book over listening to the advice of most financial advisers.

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire Hathaway

I remember reading this shocking book and thinking, holy shit. This book will make you sick.

Charlie Munger

Vice Chairman/Berkshire Hathaway

She’s talking about how business schools teach students, the best and brightest business students in America and the world, they teach them to manipulate the stock market, not to grow businesses. That’s why I dropped out of business school. They’re teaching kids to be financial engineers, which creates derivatives, and all these toxic things. Student loan debt and all this. But they don’t teach them how to grow a business. Today our stock market is propped up because CEOs are using debt to prop up the stock price and sell their options and exit. It screws the investors and the workers. That’s what they’re teaching at business school today.

Robert Kiyosaki

Best-selling Author

Maggie Mahar had the courage to take a look at what was behind all of this religious belief in markets. Clearly I do not understand how she was able to work as a journalist when she has the attitude and mindset of a truth-seeker. I spent some time looking at the difference between her book and Lowenstein's: not even possible to start comparing. One needs to be a trader to value her work.

Read this book now; wait a while then read it again.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Flaneur

Read this if you want to learn more about the stock market.

Pat Walls

Founder/StarterStory

As Secretary of the Treasury, Bob Rubin ranked with the best. This drama-packed account of his years on the job should be read by all who are interested in what happens when politics and economics intersect.

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire-Hathaway

The reason why this is my favorite book is that it is an advanced version of Rich Dad Poor Dad which explains in further details how the rich are getting richer by understanding the tax system and real financial education. [...] When I chanced upon "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer", I finally understand why I have been running my own tax consulting practice for such a long time. The global tax system is set up to benefit the rich people because they are the ones who contribute to the growth of the economy by putting investments into the economy as well as creating job opportunities.

Jack H. M. Wong

Trainer & Author

I am relieved to finally find a book that deals with Black Swan Events in a new way. Ayache brings a reverse-probabilistic perspective: instead of considering that a price is the result of probabilistically derived expectation, he reverses the issues and investigates these artificial constructs as "probabilities" and "expectations" as secondary, derived, fictitious concepts that we bring about to explain prices, decisions, and other things.

This, of course, is just the beginning, so one has to be understanding about the speculative aspect of the effort --so view this as a gutsy look at the "end of probability" and how we will need to envision the world once we get rid of this artificial, antiquated tool. I am also glad to see that those of us trained in the trading of options can have views original enough to influence the philosophy of probability and the philosophical understanding of contingency.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Flaneur

This book is a great attempt at finding some universality based on systems in a "critical" state, with departures from such state taking place in a manner that follows power laws.

The sandpile is a great baby model for that. Some people are critical of Bak's approach, some even suggesting that we may not get power laws in these "sandpile" effects, but something less scalable in the tails. The point is :so what? The man has vision. I looked at the reviews of this book. Clearly a few narrow-minded scientists do not seem to like it (many did not like Per Bak's ego).

But the book is remarkably intuitive and the presentation is so clear that he takes you by the hand. It is even entertaining. If you are looking to find flaws in his argument his pedagogy allows it (it is immediately obvious to us who dabble with simulations of these processes that you need an infinite sandpile to get a pure power law). Another problem. I have been ordering the book on Amazon for ages.

Copernicus books does not respond to emails. I got my copy at the NYU library. Bak passed away 2 years ago and nobody seems to be pushing for his interest and that of us his readers (for used books to sell for 99 implies some demand). This convinces me NEVER to publish with Springer.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Flaneur

As a speculator I learned to take the best from books and ideas without arguments (many readers seem to be training to be shallow critics)--good insights are hard to come by. One does not find these in the writings of a journalist. There are some things personal to the author that might be uninteresting to some, but I take the package. The man is one of the greatest traders in history. There are a few jewels in there.

The man did it. I'd rather listen to him than read better written but hollow prose from some journalist-writer.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Flaneur

This reads like a thriller, but is an urgent and important story about the dangers of Putin’s Russia and the events leading to the Magnitsky Act.

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

Anyone interested in politics may be attracted to Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don't. Silver is the New York Times columnist who got a lot of attention last fall for predicting—accurately, as it turned out–the results of the U.S. presidential election. This book actually came out before the election, though, and it’s about predictions in many domains besides politics. Silver knows a lot about baseball, and I especially liked his explanation of hold’em poker. A few pages – where he talks about how early computers supposedly made everything less efficient—are utter nonsense. I wish he had gone into more depth on some things, like why it is that voters are increasingly polarized. I liked the book, though I wish he’d gone deeper on a number of topics.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

I already posted a full review of Tap Dancing to Work, a collection of writings about Warren Buffett put together by his friend Carol J. Loomis. I can’t resist an opportunity to recommend this book again. It's very, very good. The pieces go back more than 40 years some of them, and it’s very interesting to see how Warren framed things years ago and how he’s dealt with certain challenges since. You get to see how consistent Warren’s framework has been, how he has always looked at the world in terms of integrity and financial valuation. There are some speeches in here that offer great insights into how Warren evaluates stock markets over time and how to assess the margin of safety available in investments at any point in time. I thought the book was super good.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Four Pillars has a good methodology for thinking about how to save and invest personally so definitely useful.

Bill Earner

Founder/Connect Ventures

Grant Cardone: The 10X Rule, Sell or Be Sold, If You're Not First You're Last and Be Obsessed or Be Average. Grant is the real deal. He helped me realize that I've been dreaming far too low!

Mark Struczewski

Host/The Mark Struczewski Podcast

Not exactly a business related book but to me the concepts and lessons highlighted within are highly relatable in the business world such as the value of patience in striking at the right market timing and also reading the price tape which equates to understand the flow of the market your business is in in order to better deal with it and grow as a business.

Aviers Lim

CEO/Gashub

A few books had affected how I run the company [...] Play Bigger.

Mikhail Dubov

Founder & CEO/Chattermill

Recommended by Robert Hajnal (Founder/Trail Running Academy)

Source: Interview With an Ultrarunner: Robert Hajnal Sharing his Favourite Books

Middle Market M&A is a must-read for business development professionals serving the middle-market M&A sector. This is a comprehensive resource that provides valuable insights that are certain to increase your deal-making success.

Patti Gillenwater

CEO/Elinvar

Recommended by Vincenzo Ruggiero (CEO/Prospect.io)

Source: Vincenzo Ruggiero, CEO of Prospect.io, Shares an Emotional, Entertaining, Educational Book List

Recommended by Jeff Gibbard (Chief Brand Officer/From The Future)

Source: Social Business Strategist Jeff Gibbard Shares the Books That Formed His Business Perspective

The book starts like a punch in the gut, but the story and the reality dose of this book are something that we all need from time to time in the Tech Startup Age. It helped me look beyond the excitement of working on new projects as a goal in itself and keep at least one foot on the ground. Plus the writing is extraordinary!

Irina Marinescu

Product Manager & Co-Founder/Save Potatoes

Recommended by Fabrice Grinda (Serial Entrepreneur, Investor)

Source: Serial Entrepreneur & Investor Fabrice Grinda Reads Almost 100 Books Each Year

Recommended by Dan Lok (Serial Entrepreneur)

Source: Dan’s Book Shelf - What He Reads That You’ll Find Invaluable

John thinks that Digital Marketer founding CEO Ryan Deiss' 2015 book is a great introduction to sales tactics for the new entrepreneur.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

Recommended by Bogdana Butnar (Head of Strategy/Poke)

Source: Bogdana Butnar - The Ultimate Books to Read List

Wall Street"-esque battle between Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn over unlikely target Herbalife. Sip a delicious Herbal Aloe Shake while reading.

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Recommended by Jeff Gibbard (Chief Brand Officer/From The Future)

Source: Social Business Strategist Jeff Gibbard Shares the Books That Formed His Business Perspective

In Buffett's 2002 shareholder letter, he explains "how accounting standards and audit quality have eroded in recent years." Specifically, he cites the downfall of Arthur Andersen accounting. "The details of this sordid affair are related in Levitt's excellent book, Take on the Street," Buffett writes.

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire Hathaway

A book called Design to Grow studies the difference of large corporations who have scale versus small startups who have agility. As the CEO of Mailbird, a small tech startup looking to take on email domination for the world, there were some valuable lessons to learn from how big corporations like Coca Cola learned to design their systems, localize them and iterate to scale their business going from a cola company to an all beverage company.

Andrea Loubier

CEO/MailBird

Reading Keynes will make you smarter about securities and markets, I'm not sure reading most economists would do the same.

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire Hathaway

Recommended by Cristian-Dragos Baciu (Direct Response Copywriter)

Source: Cristian-Dragos Baciu, Direct Response Copywriter, Offers an Insightful Reading List for Marketers & Copywriters

Recommended by Richard Branson (Founder/Virgin Group)

Source: My top 65 books to read in a lifetime

Scott will open your eyes to a different way of doing work that matters. His generous, persistent, consistent belief in our ability to level up and contribute comes through. This is time well spent.

Seth Godin

Author & Entrepreneur

Digital gold presents the most extensive history of bitcoin thus far, making it an invaluable page-turner for crypto aficionados and newbies alike. This is a must read for anyone interested in understanding what many consider to be the greatest invention since the internet.

Hong Qi Yu

Founder/TOKENIZE Exchange

In this look at how telepresence and telerobotics will increasingly let people cross international borders from the comfort of their own homes, Nadella sees analogies to Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, especially as the technology matures and its cost comes down.

Satya Nadella

CEO/Microsoft

Essentially a reference book for product designers, the universal principles is a smartly curated and neatly presented guide to the key terms you'll come across as a designer, with examples and diagrams. A beautiful book.

Benjamin Humphrey

CEO & Co-Founder/DoveTail

Recommended by Christopher Lochhead (Host/Legends and Losers Podcast)

Source: Christopher Lochhead, Host of Legends and Losers Podcast, Shares the Reading List That Shaped His Youth & Career

Chernobyl: A Documentary Story by Iurii Scherbak has some amazing stuff from a Ukrainian and Soviet perspective, including some remarkable exchanges with Legasov himself.

Craig Mazin

Creator, Writer, Producer/Chernobyl TV Series

For business insight, check out Alibaba's World by Porter Erisman and Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant.

Vanessa Keng

Co-Founder/The Golden Concepts

Recommended by Antonio Eram (Founder & CEO/NETOPIA mobilPay)

Source: Antonio Eram, Founder of NETOPIA mobilPay, Shares the Books that Help Him Change, Rediscover, Reshape

Re-reading a classic :)

Ovidiu Drugan

Owner/Set Sail Nautic School

Recommended by Christopher Lochhead (Host/Legends and Losers Podcast)

Source: Christopher Lochhead, Host of Legends and Losers Podcast, Shares the Reading List That Shaped His Youth & Career