My Top 10 Books

After reading 50+ books in the past 18 months, I am increasingly appreciating books not only for great entertainment, but also as a source of knowledge and inspiration.

I also notice that many people are interested in the below covered topics and looking for some hints on what material is worth spending their time. Aware of existing professional services such as GetAbstract a personal take on my Top 10 books and what I take away from them.

Waste to Wealth by Peter Lacy and Jakob Rutqvist: Best (and only) book I know that manages to integrate business model innovation, down-to-earth, but long-term company and political strategy with an enforcing consequence towards leaving our planet in good shape for future generations (of all creatures, not only homo sapiens). For those of us who need additional incentives for striving to only utilize what is sustainably available: This video helps putting our role on earth into perspective.

The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin: Great to gain or deepen one’s holistic understanding of how our society evolved from 1’000 A.D up to today and what could be coming next. I don’t know any other book that better manages to explain the complex interdependencies of society, technology, business, politics and reigning paradigms – and that over a time span of 1’000+ years. We amazingly managed to decouple productivity and real wage growth and still work 40+ hours a week. Glad to see a growing understanding and acceptance that an unconditional basic income might be desirable upon in some areas exponential technological advances and connected shift from humans to machines.

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss: Amazing density of insights from 150+ world-class performers (entrepreneurs, investors, athletes, actors etc.), offering a great variety of actionable, high-leverage methods, routines and knowledge that can really improve your life. As any other Tim Ferriss book also just very entertaining and, in a good way, often a bit controversial. Discipline is nice, but building habits is better, just why are we struggling so much to develop the healthy ones?

How Google Works by Eric Schmidt: Best business book I know on culture, strategy, talent, decision-making, communication and innovation. All concepts are thoroughly but practically outlined enabling you to implement them in your own organization. Great human-centric, but data-driven approach to run a company. There are no business problems, only people problems.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki: Highlighting the importance of financial education and “literacy” that should be part of our basic educational curriculum but is actually not. Best explanation on the difference between assets ($) and liabilities ($) and how to focus on building assets. Crucial to understand in complementary to the concept of Antifragility in today’s (financially) increasingly unpredictable, volatile and fast-moving world. The importance of being able to delay gratification for long-term success is well-proven (and entertainingly demonstrated here).

Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo: Frank, well-researched and thoroughly illustrated book showing that people react on incentives (see also Nudge and Superfreakonomics) and why it is crucial to focus on tangible, sustainable outcomes instead of short-term effects. Autonomy and equal opportunities will only originate from reducing external dependencies, not creating and sustaining them. Also interesting to witness the shift in orientation of today 1.2 billion (2050: est. 2.4 billion) people from the western, democratic world towards China. Sustainable support can usually only work with a deep understanding of the to be supported entity.

The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss: Powerful, simple (but not easy) use cases showcasing that life is much about doing the right things and not (only) working harder every day. Also really helpful towards a more honest conversation from “It is not possible” to “It is not important enough to me so I would be willing to commit and deprioritize other things”. Doing stupid things twice as efficient is actually making things worse. In other words: Shit In -> Shit Out, so Elimination -> Effectiveness -> Efficiency, not the other way around.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Paints an immersive, holistic picture on how a future with Virtual Reality as an integral part of everyday life could look life. It will be interesting to see how we as a society will cope with the potential to switch to a potentially very attractive alternative “reality”. I think VR is hugely underestimated compared to machine learning, genetic engineering and nanotechnology as its effects are difficult to intellectually grasp (same for e.g. sex, love, fighting). Try it (VR I mean here) and you will understand.

On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman: I guess everybody agrees that killing people is a horrible thing, but this book is unique in its psychological findings that killing humans is against human nature and if still forced has devastating effects such as life-long post-traumatic stress disorder for the killer. I think there would be far less killings if the people commanding them would need to commit them themselves from close distance. So why not agree on very simple rules for violent conflict: 1:1 between the actual aggressors (or delegates if need be), leaving civilians in the position they should be: peaceful and unimpacted by the mostly political agenda of other people.

How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen & Co.: Great guidance to answer essential questions on how to develop a successful career, to develop deep personal relationships (see also Who’s Got Your Back) while maintaining one’s integrity. While Christensen coined the term “disruptive innovation”, urging organizations to stay agile and open in a fast-paced environment, this book makes a – very convincing – argument that doing so requires a continuous awareness of one’s personal values.

If you enjoyed reading until here, I encourage you to grab a book and start reading – it costs you nothing more than 5-20 USD per book and some of your time. 

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Update: The other 40+ books of the last 18 months (A->Z):

100 Deadly Skills, Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, Antifragile, Chasing Daylight, Chess: From Beginner to Advanced at Warp Speed (Vol. 1+2), Conversation Tactics, Create or Hate: Successful People Make Things, Darm mit Charme, Dein bestes Training: 150 Tipps, Ego is the Enemy, Erstellung eines Kindle-Buches, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Faszientraining, Getting to Yes, Hillbilly Elegy, Hotel K, Humans Need Not Apply, Klartraum: Wie Sie Ihre Tr?ume bewusst steuern, Man's Search For Meaning, Marching Powder, Mass Made Simple, Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel, Our Final Invention, Peace is Every Step, Predictable Revenue, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Rise of Robots, Scaling Up, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Sleep Smarter, StandOut 2.0, The Art of Learning, The Book of Five Rings, The Checklist Manifesto, The Checklist Manifesto, The Coaching Habit, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, The Industries of the Future, The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance, The Obstacle is the Way, The One Thing, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, The Way of the Iceman, The Zero Marginal Cost Society, Think Like a Freak, What Every BODY is Saying, When Breath Becomes Air, Who's Got Your Back, Zero to One