What do billionaires read? As theyre making their plans, building their companies and investing their money, what are the books they carry around, gift to friends, and dip into when they have a moment to spare? Surely these books hold the answers to how we too can become billionaires, or at least successful by our own measure.
The top 10 books billionaires recommend
Richard Reis and Anurag Ramdasan are founders of Most Recommended Books, a simple site that curates the most recommended books of entrepreneurs, athletes, and people of note in a variety of fields. Reis crunched the numbers to work out which books that billionaires most often recommended and discovered the top ten.
Here are the top ten books that billionaires recommend, from data collated by Most Recommended Books.
Coming in top place and recommended by 11 billionaires on Most Recommended Books; Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Daniel Ek, Keith Rabois, Kishore Biyani, Ray Dalio, Reid Hoffman, Richard Branson, Vinod Khosla, Melinda Gates and Changpeng Zhao. From Wikipedia, Harari sees the natural sciences as setting the limits of possibility for human activity and sees the social sciences as shaping what happens within those bounds. Sapiens has sold more than twelve million copies and on Goodreads the book is rated 4.4 out of 5 according to more than 45,000 reviews.
Just behind the top spot and recommended by 10 billionaires, including Drew Houston, Dustin Moskovitz, Howard Marks and Jack Dorsey, Principles has sold nearly one million copies and was named Amazons business book of 2017. Billionaires agree that its good. In the book, hedge fund manager Dalio shares principles he developed while running Bridgewater Associates, sparked by receiving a frank memo from his top lieutenants in 1993 concerning his interpersonal performance as a manager. Dalio originally published a shorter version of Principles online in 2011, where it received over three million downloads.
In third place and recommended by 9 billionaires including Brian Armstrong, Brian Chesky, Larry Ellison and Ron Conway, High Output Management has over 800 reviews on Goodreads and an average rating of 4.3. The book is a crash course for middle managers by the former Intel CEO, with a foreword by Ben Horowitz. The books blurb describes it as a legendary business book and Silicon Valley staple. Marc Andreessen said, "Andy exemplifies the best of Silicon Valley. Andy built the model for what a high-quality Silicon Valley company could be."
Recommended by 8 billionaires, this time including Elon Musk, Ev Williams, Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel depicting a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. According to Wikipedia, Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them". As of 2019 the novel had sold 9 million copies.
Recommended by 7 billionaires including Keith Rabois, Larry Page, Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg, The Hard Thing About Hard Things deals with the trials and tribulations that Ben Horowitz encountered during his career as founder CEO to VC at Andreessen Horowitz in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Horowitz differentiates between what is right and what is easy and has been described as one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, famously funny and straight-talking. From over 3,000 reviews on Goodreads, including one which says, This is one of the best books youll ever read on entrepreneurship and being a CEO. the books average rating is 4.23.
The top 10 books billionaires recommend
Recommended by Bill Gates, Daniel Ek, Drew Houston, Marc Andreessen, Patrick Collison and, of course, Warren Buffet, Poor Charlies Almanack is a collection of speeches and talks by Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman and first published in 2005. The book equips investors with the psychological skills required to keep investing simple and easy. Bill Gates says that Charlie Munger is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered and Drew Houston of Dropbox said Poor Charlies Almanack was one of the best books he had ever read.
The books subtitle is the lightning-fast path to building massively valuable companies and as Hoffman explains, Blitzscaling is what you do when you need to grow really, really quickly. Its the science and art of rapidly building out a company to serve a large and usually global market, with the goal of becoming the first mover at scale. With a foreword by Bill Gates and over 5,000 reviews on Goodreads, this book is a popular recommendation of billionaires. With a 3.95 score on Goodreads, its not a unanimous favourite, but billionaire fans include Brian Chesky, Eric Schmidt, Vinod Khosla, Changpeng Zhao and Sheryl Sandberg.
How to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company, promises the subtitle of the 8th most recommended-by-billionaires book. Only the Paranoid Survive is recommended by Bill Gates, Charlie Munger, Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs, Vinod Khosla and Jamie Dimon and follows the story of Intel under Groves leadership as CEO and president. Strategic inflexion points are explored in the book, which Steve Jobs said, you must learn about, because sooner or later you are going to live through one. Over 8,000 Goodreads reviews give the book an average of 3.96 stars. Famous management consultant Peter Drucker said, "This terrific book is dangerousIt will make people think."
Written by a Harvard professor and business professional, this book expands on the concept of disruptive technologies, a term Christensen coined in a 1995 article called Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave. The Innovators Dilemma received the Global Business Book Award as the best business book of the year in 1997, the year it was published. The Economist also named it as one of the six most important books about business ever written. Known billionaire fans are Drew Houston, Ev Williams, Jeff Bezos, Mark Benioff, Mark Cuban and Steve Jobs and the book averages 4.03 stars from over 48,000 ratings on Goodreads.
A science fiction novel published in 1992, Snow Crash is recommended by Ev Williams, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Tobi Ltke, Cameron Winklevoss and Mark Zuckerberg. Publisher Randomhouse describes the book as, a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous youll recognize it immediately. Stephenson originally planned Snow Crash as a computer-generated graphic novel and Goodreads gives it an average of 4.03 stars from over 10,000 reviews (and 258,000 ratings). The book is said to have sold over a million copies in North America alone.
After the top ten come these twelve, in order of popularity: Shoe Dog, Zero to One, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Becoming Steve Jobs, Measure What Matters, Thinking Fast and Slow, Surely Youre Joking, Mr Feynman!, Antifragile, The Fountainhead, The Art of War, 7 Powers, The Lean Startup. Each of these books has been recommended by at least five billionaires.
Become a billionaire by acting like one. Act like one by thinking like one. Think like one by reading the books that they read and recommend.
Read this article:
The Top 10 Books Billionaires Recommend - Forbes
- Why The Invincible Created New Characters Instead of Using Rohan - GameRant - November 2nd, 2023 [November 2nd, 2023]
- What is Objectivism? Ayn Rand's Philosophy - The Collector - November 2nd, 2023 [November 2nd, 2023]
- Sean Speer: The Left has a self-policing problem - The Hub - November 2nd, 2023 [November 2nd, 2023]
- It's 'Atlas Shrugged' and we're watching it live - Financial Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Jesse Kline: 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' film's reprehensible attempt to mainstream terrorism - National Post - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Atlas (mythology) - Wikipedia - January 17th, 2023 [January 17th, 2023]
- Controversy King Aaron Rodgers Once Willingly F*cked Around With Everyone By Bragging About Owning Atlas Shrugged - The Sportsrush - January 4th, 2023 [January 4th, 2023]
- John Henry Kelley II: Everything you need to know about Michelle Pfeiffer's son - Yen.com.gh - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Five myths about Ayn Rand and Objectivism - Learn Liberty - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest - AynRand.org - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Mike Rowe and Ayn Rand on the Virtues of Thinking and Producing - The Objective Standard - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- The pandemic economy will outlast the outbreak of covid | Mint - Mint - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Much Of The Pandemic Economy Is Here To Stay - Financial Advisor Magazine - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Why I Think The EV Tax Credits In The Inflation Reduction Act Will Work Out - CleanTechnica - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- 25 And Counting - The Source Weekly - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- What is a Libertarian? Part I: The Libertarian Movement - 1819 News - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Heather Nepa: A Desire to be a Difference-Maker - UNLV NewsCenter - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Telling People About Atlas Shrugged Now? - Galt's Gulch - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Ken Griffin Spent $54 Million Fighting a Tax Increase for the Rich. Secret IRS Data Shows It Paid Off for Him. - ProPublica - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- LETTER: Thank cadre deployment and BEE for the mess - BusinessLIVE - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Is American democracy already lost? Half of us think so but the future remains unwritten - Salon - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Atlas shrugged: Getting mad with maps with attitude about latitude - Times of India - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of June 10 - ECM Publishers - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Connecticut conservatives are wary about a misinformation officer overseeing 2022 election - Hartford Courant - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Which Dystopian Story Does 2022 Resemble the Most? - Foundation for Economic Education - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Free Books - AynRand.org - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]
- Atlas Shrugged Is A Feminist Tome - datalounge.com - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]
- Liberalism versus Reaction in Ayn Rand Liberal Currents - Liberal Currents - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]
- Why Critics of Angry Woke College Kids Are Missing the Point - The New York Times - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]
- Digging into the Atom Bomb's Effects on Cold War America - PopMatters - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]
- Bong Joon-ho's Mickey7 Adaptation Has the Potential to Be a Truly Great Science Fiction Movie - tor.com - April 27th, 2022 [April 27th, 2022]
- Thomas Piketty Is Right Out of Ayn Rands Nightmare - The Wall Street Journal - April 17th, 2022 [April 17th, 2022]
- Members Outspoken on The Left's Priorities - AMAC - The Association of Mature American Citizens - AMAC - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- In The Midst Of Election Night Success, There Are Concerns For November - Wisconsin Right Now - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- OPINION | EDITORIAL: Gas on the fire - Arkansas Online - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- The Right Is Still the Enemy of Freedom - Jacobin magazine - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Genetics and Geography Don't Make a Family - The Cut - March 13th, 2022 [March 13th, 2022]
- Adecoagro: The Most Inexpensive And Speculative Farmland One Can Buy - Seeking Alpha - March 13th, 2022 [March 13th, 2022]
- Why The Bioshock Film Adaptation Is Going To Be Huge - The Workprint - February 19th, 2022 [February 19th, 2022]
- The Woman Who Won't, and Wouldn't, Appear on the Quarter - New Ideal - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Letters and feedback: Feb. 13, 2021 - Florida Today - February 15th, 2022 [February 15th, 2022]
- Happy birthday to the great Ayn Rand - Press-Enterprise - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- Ranking the 10 Best Manning Cast Guests During Eli and Peyton Manning's First Season - Sportscasting - January 19th, 2022 [January 19th, 2022]
- Novak Djokovic is a profile in selfishness, and sports leaders are failing us all - ESPN - January 19th, 2022 [January 19th, 2022]
- Atlas Shrugged: Part II - Wikipedia - January 11th, 2022 [January 11th, 2022]
- Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb - January 11th, 2022 [January 11th, 2022]
- Twitter Freaks After Aaron Rodgers Touts 'Atlas Shrugged' - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Leftists completely lose it after Aaron Rodgers says Ayn ... - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Who is John Galt ? | Opinion | murrayledger.com - Murray Ledger and Times - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Wall Street is looking at Fed and the virus the wrong way, analyst says - MarketWatch - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Here's Aaron Rodgers' strong response to one NFL MVP voter - Packers Wire - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Your Opinion: Doomed to live in our mess - Jefferson City News Tribune - December 23rd, 2021 [December 23rd, 2021]
- The Remnant: Bitcoins Game Of Thrones - Bitcoin Magazine - December 23rd, 2021 [December 23rd, 2021]
- The Monster of We : Throughline - NPR - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- Whats New on Netflix & Top 10s: December 17th, 2021 - What's on Netflix - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- John Dutton, the Future First Spite-Governor in U.S. History - The Ringer - December 22nd, 2021 [December 22nd, 2021]
- The New Luxury Vacation: Being Dumped in the Middle of Nowhere - The New Yorker - November 25th, 2021 [November 25th, 2021]
- Top 10 medical exemptions granted to unvaccinated Conservative MPs - The Beaverton - November 25th, 2021 [November 25th, 2021]
- Capitalism's over: The man who made millions by betting the economy would never recover - New Statesman - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- John Galt - Wikipedia - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]
- Review of Edward Younkins, Exploring Atlas Shrugged: Ayn ... - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]
- 'I wasn't an activist before that day' Newly released from prison, Vladislav Mordasov wants to put his time 'on the inside' to use Meduza - Meduza - November 5th, 2021 [November 5th, 2021]
- Elon Musk is just the latest in a long line of insecure billionaires - The Irish Times - November 5th, 2021 [November 5th, 2021]
- Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike (2012) - IMDb - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- Biting the bullet on structural change The Bowdoin Orient - The Bowdoin Orient - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- In the studio with Lucy McKenzie - Apollo Magazine - November 1st, 2021 [November 1st, 2021]
- Atlas Shrugged: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes - October 28th, 2021 [October 28th, 2021]
- Opinion | What 'Dune' Gets Right that 'Foundation' Doesn't - The New York Times - October 28th, 2021 [October 28th, 2021]
- Romney Says Billionaires Will Just Buy Paintings if Taxes Raised - Second Nexus - October 28th, 2021 [October 28th, 2021]
- UT Austin's Liberty Institute? What's that, professors ask - Inside Higher Ed - September 26th, 2021 [September 26th, 2021]
- FROM THE OPINION PAGE My literary palate continues to expand with each passing year - Bluefield Daily Telegraph - September 26th, 2021 [September 26th, 2021]
- Brandy Melville: Behind the Scenes at the 'Evil' Fast-Fashion Empire - Business Insider - September 8th, 2021 [September 8th, 2021]
- The Truly Amazing Al Ruddy Delivers Cry Macho After All These Years - Deadline - September 8th, 2021 [September 8th, 2021]
- 14 Best Books To Read Ever On National Read A Book Day 2021 - International Business Times - September 8th, 2021 [September 8th, 2021]
- On the frontier, trains brought progress. They still do. - Kansas Reflector - August 22nd, 2021 [August 22nd, 2021]
- Forum, Aug. 3: NH government back on a right-wing leash - Valley News - August 4th, 2021 [August 4th, 2021]
- Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? - Wikipedia - August 2nd, 2021 [August 2nd, 2021]
- Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt? (2014) - IMDb - August 2nd, 2021 [August 2nd, 2021]
- Of prophets, patriots, demons and the three C's - Santa Barbara News-Press - August 2nd, 2021 [August 2nd, 2021]
- Atlas Shrugged: All eyes on Jozy Altidore - Waking The Red - July 14th, 2021 [July 14th, 2021]