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: 5,044 recommendations of 2,630 books by 1,076 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.

The Lean Startup45How to Win Friends and Influence People40The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, a...38Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build t...36The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Busi...35Rich Dad Poor Dad28Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fan...25Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind25Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to...24The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People24Rework20Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion19Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyon...19Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap a...18Principles: Life and Work18Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike18Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habit...18Mindset: The New Psychology of Success17Steve Jobs17The Alchemist17

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 (463 books)

  1. The Alchemist 17 recommenders
  2. 1984 9 recommenders
  3. Dune 8 recommenders
  4. The Foundation 8 recommenders
  5. The Fountainhead 8 recommenders

Arts & Photography (72 books)

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

Biographies & Memoirs (336 books)

  1. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future 25 recommenders
  2. Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust 24 recommenders
  3. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike 18 recommenders
  4. Steve Jobs 17 recommenders
  5. Losing My Virginity 11 recommenders

Biology Books (16 books)

  1. Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance 3 recommenders
  2. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 3 recommenders
  3. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex 2 recommenders

Business Books (505 books)

  1. The Lean Startup 45 recommenders
  2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 38 recommenders
  3. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future 36 recommenders
  4. Rich Dad Poor Dad 28 recommenders
  5. Rework 20 recommenders

Computers & Technology (72 books)

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

Engineering & Transportation (41 books)

  1. Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think 5 recommenders
  2. The Innovators – How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution 4 recommenders
  3. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything 3 recommenders
  4. The Right Stuff 3 recommenders
  5. Connected Strategy: Building Continuous Customer Relationships for Competitive Advantage 2 recommenders

History Books (104 books)

  1. The Art of War 13 recommenders
  2. Alexander Hamilton 5 recommenders
  3. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 5 recommenders
  4. The Power of Myth 4 recommenders
  5. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage 3 recommenders

Management & Leadership (141 books)

  1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers 35 recommenders
  2. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action 19 recommenders
  3. Principles: Life and Work 18 recommenders
  4. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail 16 recommenders
  5. Thinking, Fast and Slow 16 recommenders

Marketing Books (123 books)

  1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion 19 recommenders
  2. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products 15 recommenders
  3. Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator 12 recommenders
  4. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 11 recommenders
  5. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers 10 recommenders

Medical Books (33 books)

  1. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End 5 recommenders
  2. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams 5 recommenders
  3. The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right 3 recommenders
  4. The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care–and How to Fix It 3 recommenders
  5. When Breath Becomes Air 3 recommenders

Political Books (69 books)

  1. The Fifth Risk 3 recommenders
  2. The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age 3 recommenders
  3. Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age 3 recommenders
  4. American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment 2 recommenders
  5. Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats 2 recommenders

Psychology Books (81 books)

  1. Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust 24 recommenders
  2. Outliers: The Story of Success 13 recommenders
  3. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 11 recommenders
  4. Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success 9 recommenders
  5. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones 7 recommenders

Religion & Spirituality Books (84 books)

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

Science Books (105 books)

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

Self-Help Books (147 books)

  1. How to Win Friends and Influence People 40 recommenders
  2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 24 recommenders
  3. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success 17 recommenders
  4. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World 16 recommenders
  5. Think and Grow Rich 16 recommenders

Society & Social Sciences (224 books)

  1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 25 recommenders
  2. The Obstacle is the Way 16 recommenders
  3. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder 11 recommenders
  4. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow 11 recommenders
  5. Meditations 10 recommenders

Sports, Health & Outdoors (59 books)

  1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values 7 recommenders
  2. Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever 5 recommenders
  3. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster 4 recommenders
  4. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics 4 recommenders
  5. The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership 4 recommenders

Writing & Publishing (27 books)

  1. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft 5 recommenders
  2. Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life 4 recommenders
  3. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction 4 recommenders
  4. Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue 3 recommenders
  5. 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.

Ryan Holiday56Tim Ferriss55Eric Ries51Dale Carnegie40Ben Horowitz36Blake Masters36Peter Thiel36Nir Eyal30Yuval Noah Harari30Robert Kiyosaki28Seth Godin28Walter Isaacson26Ashlee Vance25Cal Newport25David Heinemeier Hansson25

Most prolific recommenders

Number of books each person recommends on the site.

Ryan Holiday207Barack Obama114Bill Gates99Marvin Liao75Richard Branson71Seth Godin66Nassim Nicholas Taleb57Ola Olusoga48Bogdana Butnar43Yaro Starak42Adam Grant41David Heinemeier Hansson40Chelsea Frank36Austin Kleon35Fabrice Grinda35

Fiction vs non-fiction

Of the 2,629 recommended books filed under exactly one of the two, 462 are fiction and 2,167 are non-fiction (1 books are filed under both and 0 under neither; they are left out).

Fiction 18%Non-fiction 82%

Share of books

Fiction 13%Non-fiction 87%

Share of recommendations

Most co-recommended pairs

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

  1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future 10 people
  2. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future and The Lean Startup 10 people
  3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and How to Win Friends and Influence People 9 people
  4. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 8 people
  5. Rich Dad Poor Dad and How to Win Friends and Influence People 7 people
  6. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers and The Lean Startup 7 people
  7. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail and The Lean Startup 7 people
  8. The Lean Startup and How to Win Friends and Influence People 7 people
  9. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future and How to Win Friends and Influence People 6 people
  10. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future and Steve Jobs 6 people
  11. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future 6 people
  12. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t and The Lean Startup 6 people
  13. Principles: Life and Work and Principles for Success 6 people
  14. Rich Dad Poor Dad and The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich 6 people
  15. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow 6 people

Methodology

  • Source: The CEO Library database, snapshot of 2026-09-30. The most recent book was added on 2020-04-16.
  • 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: 5,044 recommendations, 2,630 books, 1,076 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 2020; 100% 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: 5,044 book recommendations from 1,076 leaders. https://theceolibrary.com/what-leaders-read