“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.” ~~Franz Kafka
There is no doubt that knowledge is power, but how do we obtain that power? Books are the most powerful resource on our planet. Furthermore, books are also one of the most underutilized resources that exist in our day. Maybe it is the constant bombardment of blue-screen social media. Maybe it is the inexhaustible, mindless television, movies and sports. Unlike many of the aforementioned categories, by reading we can help better ourselves to reach a higher level of potential, understand global conflict, help relate to others and make better decisions for our long-run success. These aforementioned reasons are the impetus for me including a periodically updated reading list on thereisnopeak.com. (I will post about any updates I make in the form of book reviews or general blog posts.)
Just like anything on this blog, suggestions and ideas are always welcome!
List:
- Essentials
- Wrong by David Freedman
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Make it Stick by Brown, Roediger III and McDaniel
- The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
- Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
- Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef
- Psychology
- The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- Kidding Ourselves by Joseph Hallinan
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
- Behavioral Economics
- Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- The Honest Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely
- Misbehaving by Richard Thaler
- Nudge by Richard Thaler
- Decision Making
- Pebbles of Perception by Lawrence Enderson
- Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Better by Atul Gawande
- Economics/Finance
- Boomerang by Michael Lewis
- The Big Short by Michael Lewis
- The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis by Ben Bernanke
- Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson
- Classics
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
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