The CEO Library

What Leaders Read: A Data Study of Their Book Recommendations

The CEO Library collects the books that entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors and other leaders say they recommend, each with a source. This page summarizes all of them: 6,149 recommendations of 3,413 books by 1,090 people, counted from the site's database.

The 20 most recommended books

Number of distinct people who recommend each book. The full top 100, with a reason for each, is on the most recommended books page.

Most recommended by category

The top five books in each category with at least three books recommended by two or more people. Books can sit in more than one category.

Fiction (462 books)

The Alchemist 18 recommenders
1984 11 recommenders
Dune 8 recommenders
One Hundred Years of Solitude 8 recommenders
The Foundation 8 recommenders

Arts & Photography (72 books)

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative 9 recommenders
Show Your Work! 6 recommenders
This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community–a Life in Streetwear 6 recommenders
The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide 5 recommenders
Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us about Economics and Life 4 recommenders

Biographies & Memoirs (330 books)

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future 25 recommenders
Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust 24 recommenders
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike 20 recommenders
Steve Jobs 17 recommenders
Losing My Virginity 11 recommenders

Biology Books (16 books)

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 3 recommenders
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance 2 recommenders
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex 2 recommenders
The Sports Gene 2 recommenders
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past 2 recommenders

Business Books (496 books)

The Lean Startup 46 recommenders
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 42 recommenders
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future 38 recommenders
Rich Dad Poor Dad 30 recommenders
Rework 20 recommenders

Computers & Technology (71 books)

AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order 9 recommenders
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability 8 recommenders
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age 5 recommenders
Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins 4 recommenders
Getting Real 4 recommenders

Engineering & Transportation (41 books)

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think 5 recommenders
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything 4 recommenders
The Innovators – How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution 4 recommenders
The Right Stuff 3 recommenders
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts 2 recommenders

History Books (103 books)

The Art of War 15 recommenders
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 7 recommenders
Alexander Hamilton 6 recommenders
The Lessons of History 5 recommenders
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage 4 recommenders

Management & Leadership (139 books)

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers 37 recommenders
Principles: Life and Work 21 recommenders
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action 20 recommenders
Thinking, Fast and Slow 20 recommenders
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail 19 recommenders

Marketing Books (122 books)

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion 23 recommenders
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products 15 recommenders
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers 11 recommenders
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 11 recommenders
Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator 10 recommenders

Medical Books (33 books)

When Breath Becomes Air 6 recommenders
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams 6 recommenders
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End 5 recommenders
The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care–and How to Fix It 3 recommenders
Brain Rules: 12 Principles of Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School 2 recommenders

Political Books (68 books)

The Fifth Risk 3 recommenders
The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age 3 recommenders
American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment 2 recommenders
Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats 2 recommenders
Diplomacy 2 recommenders

Psychology Books (81 books)

Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust 24 recommenders
Outliers: The Story of Success 13 recommenders
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 11 recommenders
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones 10 recommenders
Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success 9 recommenders

Religion & Spirituality Books (84 books)

Tao Te Ching 9 recommenders
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom 8 recommenders
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment 7 recommenders
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy 5 recommenders
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice 4 recommenders

Science Books (103 books)

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable 12 recommenders
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong about the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Think 7 recommenders
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets 6 recommenders
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society 5 recommenders
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything 4 recommenders

Self-Help Books (143 books)

How to Win Friends and Influence People 44 recommenders
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 25 recommenders
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success 19 recommenders
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World 17 recommenders
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business 17 recommenders

Society & Social Sciences (224 books)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 30 recommenders
The Obstacle is the Way 19 recommenders
Meditations 15 recommenders
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder 11 recommenders
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow 11 recommenders

Sports, Health & Outdoors (59 books)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values 8 recommenders
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster 5 recommenders
Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever 5 recommenders
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics 5 recommenders
The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership 4 recommenders

Writing & Publishing (27 books)

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft 7 recommenders
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life 4 recommenders
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction 4 recommenders
Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue 3 recommenders
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading 3 recommenders

Most recommended authors

Distinct people who recommend at least one book by the author.

Most prolific recommenders

Number of books each person recommends on the site.

Fiction vs non-fiction

Of the 2,601 recommended books filed under exactly one of the two, 461 are fiction and 2,140 are non-fiction (1 books are filed under both and 811 under neither; they are left out).

Share of books

Share of recommendations

Most co-recommended pairs

Pairs of books recommended by the same people, by number of people who recommend both.

Methodology

Source: The CEO Library database, snapshot of 2026-09-30. The most recent book was added on 2026-10-06.
A recommendation is one person recommending one book, with a source (an interview, an article, a post or a book by that person). Counts are of distinct people: 6,149 recommendations, 3,413 books, 1,090 recommenders.
Categories are the site's own book categories. Ties are broken by title.
Roles (founder, investor and so on) are free text on the site and not consistent enough to compare groups such as tech founders and investors, so this study does not split by role.
Books were added to the site between 2017 and 2026; 76% of them before 2021. The data reflects what was collected on the site; it is not a survey of all leaders or of everything they read.

How to cite

The CEO Library (2026). What Leaders Read: 6,149 book recommendations from 1,090 leaders. https://theceolibrary.com/what-leaders-read