Who are the mentors to billionaires, chess prodigies, rockstars, and mega-bestselling authors? Who teaches them to do what they do? To achieve the success they achieve? Oftentimes…it’s books.
On The Tim Ferriss Show (iTunes, SoundCloud), I dissect world-class performers to find the tools and tricks you can use. Here’s a full list of guests. One of the questions I always ask is:
“What book have you gifted most often to others, and why?”
Below is a list of answers from people like billionaire investor Peter Thiel, Tony Robbins, Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, etc.. (And here are my own current answers, if you’re interested.)
You’ll see several books that appear more than once. Can you guess which they are?
The Ultimate To-Read Book List
Kevin Kelly is the founding editor of WIRED magazine, real-life Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man In The World.”
Favorite book(s):
- Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James Fadiman
- The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
- Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts
Peter Thiel, billionaire investor (first outside investor in Facebook) and co-founder of PayPal, Palantir…
Favorite book(s):
- Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World by René Girard
Tony Robbins, performance coach to Bill Clinton, Serena Williams, Paul Tudor Jones, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, and more.
Favorite book(s):
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E.Frankl
- The Fourth Turning by William Strauss
- Generations by William Strauss
- Slow Sex by Nicole Daedone
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
Peter Diamandis has been named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune Magazine. In the field of Innovation, Diamandis is Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, best known for its $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight. Today, the X PRIZE leads the world in designing and operating large-scale global competitions to solve market failures.
Favorite book(s):
- The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles A.Lindbergh
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- The Man Who Sold the Moon and Orphans of the Sky by Robert Heinlein
- The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil
Joshua Waitzkin – Considered a chess prodigy and the basis for Searching for Bobby Fischer, Josh has perfected learning strategies that can be applied to anything, including chess, Brazilian jiu-jutsu (he is a black belt under phenom Marcelo Garcia), business, and Tai Chi Push Hands (he is a world champion).
Favorite book(s):
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
- Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Translation
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
- The Complete Short Stories Of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Larry W. Phillips
Ed Catmull is a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios (along with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) and president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation.
Favorite book(s):
- The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
- One Monster After Another by Mercer Mayer
Neil Strauss has written 7 New York Times bestsellers, including The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.
Favorite book(s):
- On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Gregory Rabassa
- The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
- Life Is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera
Tracy DiNunzio is the self-taught founder and CEO of Tradesy.com, which has attracted legendary investors like Sir Richard Branson and John Doerr.
Favorite book(s):
- Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
Mike Shinoda is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and one of the two vocalists of the band Linkin Park, which has sold 60+ million albums worldwide.
Favorite book(s):
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
- Becoming a Category of One by Joe Calloway
James Altucher is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and bestselling author.
Favorite book(s):
- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina
- Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
- Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
- Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson
- Jesus’ Son: Stories by Denis Johnson
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Joe De Sena is the co-founder of The Death Race, Spartan Race (1M+ competitors), and more.
Favorite book(s):
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Shogun by James Clavell
- The One-Minute Manager by Ken H.Blanchard
Brian Koppelman is a screenwriter, novelist, director, and producer. He is best known as the co-writer of Ocean’s Thirteen and Rounders, as well as a producer of The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones.
Favorite book(s):
- What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg
- The Artist’s Way – Morning Pages Journal by Julia Cameron
- Daily Rituals by Mason Currey
- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Chase Jarvis is a master photographer and the CEO of CreativeLIVE.com.
Favorite book(s):
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim
- Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
- Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon
- The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
Jason Silva , called the “Timothy Leary of the viral video age” by The Atlantic, host of Brain Games on National Geographic Channel.
Favorite book(s):
- The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
Ryan Holiday is an American author and the media strategist behind authors Tucker Max and Robert Greene. Former Director of Marketing for American Apparel.
Favorite book(s):
- Meditations: A New Translation by Marcus Aurelius
- Wilderness Essays by Epictitus
- The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Fragility by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Cherow
- How to Live by Sarah Bakewell
- The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen
- Tough Jews by Rich Cohen
- Edison – A Biography by Matthew Josephson
- Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity by Brooks D. Simpson
- The Control of Nature by John McPhee
- Giving Good Weight by John McPhee
- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Ramit Sethi is an American personal finance advisor and entrepreneur. Sethi is the author of the 2009 book on personal finance, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a New York Times Bestseller, and a co-founder of PBworks, a commercial wiki website.
Favorite book(s):
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
- The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier
- Age of Propaganda by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson
- The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson
- Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
- Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca and William Novak
- What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive by Mark H. McCormack
Did you find this post valuable? If so, please let me know in the comments. If you dig it, I’d compile more posts that spot patterns across top performers.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
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Great list man – should keep my busy. Thanks!
Some nice books and people but this list leaves me wanting… gender plus race. Maybe in the future… “Dude buddy” as reflected by many commenters. Thanks for the lists.
Mareesha
Just finished listening to “The Science Of Personal Achievement” audio recordings from Napoleon Hill – 20 years of tried and tested truths from incredibly successful humans, including America’s first ever billionaire – incredible content. Thanks Tim for inspiring us to keep reaching!
Thanks for this post – a great list of inspirational books to add to the list,
Just want to add:- Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way is book 1,and The Artists’s way At Work book 2,are both required to maximise the benefit.
Be interested on their thoughts on sleep patterns and the importance of it
on their daily productivity.
Why are there no women on this list?
Fantastic input with lots of great books, I cannot wait to start reading them.
Thanks Tim for the blog post
Which one was the book that Rolf said he made all his ex-girlfriends read? Very interested to have a look at that one!
Very jZzed that I have read some of these. Thank God for audible. Anyone know a really really good speed reading method? Really 🙂
What an awesome compilation Tim! I am a huge lover of audiobooks – I consume them all of the time while working, so you have definitely added quite a few to my reading list. I am always on the lookout for motivational or personal development books to take my business to that next level! “The Four-Hour Workweek” however, is most definitely one of my all-time favorites. 🙂
Tim, this is a great collection of suggestions! As I go into the Christmas holidays, this will give me some great ideas on what to read. I’ve enjoyed Holiday’s suggestions in the past (read “Meditations” and the Benjamin Franklin biography – plan to finish “Titan” by Chernow this weekend).
This article also reminds me to pick up some of the books I already have and get down to reading them (e.g. “Man’s Search for Meaning”).
Some of these books are life-changing; The War of Art by Pressfield is a personal favorite. Glad you had James Altucher on the show. Great guy and even though he’s a bit eccentric, he’s got amazing things to say.
I just discovered the Tim Ferriss podcast and have listened to 24 or so in rapid succession! I’m trying to find a book mentioned in one of them– I can’t remember by whom, though, and it’s not listed here (though I think it’s Kevin Kelly)– it’s a graphic novel for teens on how to be indispensable. I think it starts with the letter K. Ring a bell, anyone?
Thank you so much for this great abundance of knowledge! I have many of these books on Kindle, audible or Librivox and others will be pick up from the library! I love how the universe conspires with us!
Atlas Shrugged is mentioned twice. Not surprising. Amazing book.
Genius blog post. Not a detail left untouched.
Amazing that Atlas Shrugged is mentioned more than once. Several other non-billionaire guests have mentioned it too — my guess is that it’s the most recommended book on the show! I know Tim is aware of Ayn Rand and I think he mentioned he was reading her non-fiction writing course but I’ve never heard him talk about Atlas Shrugged. Curious if he’s a fan too??
Oh..this is cool. I love this…I didn’t know about it. I found it your via facebook post. Thank you 🙂
Hey,
Under Peter Diamandis, you posted the Tony Robbins interview again. 🙂
Excellent Post!
Thank you for such an invaluable post the podcast is awesome by the way keep up the good work
Hi from Spain
Im reading with the most interest your blog and book, I really love it. You talk about things people like: liberty to do what you want. But im still lost, I dont know how start.
What kind of muse can I have? I need some other help. Any recomendation? Who can i ask to be my master or friend to start?
Im sorry if im not more accurate , i don’t wanna bore anyone.
Thanks in advance and congratulations for your blog and new TV show.
Pura vida!!
Is there an updated version of this list?
Highly Recommended – This is a movie/documentary. “Senna” very passionate and inspiring. Not just for Racing fans at all.
There was a book mentioned on the podcast that I remember the person saying it was pretty hard to find because it is out of print but you could get it on Ebay sometimes and then joking about the price of it going up after people hearing it on the podcast. I think they also mentioned a book by the same author that half way through reading the book, you then flip the book upside down to read the second half. Does anyone remember which book / author / podcast this was on?
Omg could write a book about books to read!
Fantastic, love the list. I was already doing some research on a few billionaires and some of the books here are the same ones they read.
A lot of books I haven’t heard of before. Looking forward to reading a few of these. Love the type of content that is coming out these days, very progressive.
Many young, educated Americans go through an Ayn Rand phase. Most grow out of it. The ones that don’t are a worry. Her philosophy contains nothing that brings genuine peace of mind.
Many young, educated white Americans go through an Ayn Rand phase. Most grow out of it. Those that don’t can be a worry. Her philosophy contains nothing that brings genuine peace of mind.
This list is awesome. Now just give me a coffee and 15 minutes and it’s shelved on goodreads!
My ‘Off the top of my head’ top 10.
1. I AM THAT
2. Who Dies? (because the author passed away today and the book stayed in my backpack for 2 whole years)
3. The Essential Rumi
4. The Windup Bird Chronicles
5. 100 Years of Solitude
6. On Writing
7. The Liars Club
8. The Tropic of Capricorn
9. Swann’s Way
10. The Knee of Listening
Love the list. Please keep more coming like this one
If your into history Ramit Sethi also recommended “Sapiens” and “The Rational Optimist”. I have listened to the audio book versions and they are both awesome!
This is extensive and I’m going to have bookmark with hopes that it will take me under a few years to read all of these. Thank you for being so thorough.
PLEASE KEEP THIS POST GOING TIM! Super valuable, if someone compiled a GoodReads List that would also be awesome.
LOVE that you compiled this list. Please keep it going. So Awesome!
So I’m going to be re-reading “Atlas Shrugged” and buying “Rise of the Superman” and “War of Art”. Excellent.
Tnank you VERY MUCH for your books, thoughts and ideas!
Yes, Yes, thank you! I went hunting for something like this a while back after realizing I hadn’t written down everything from the podcasts I’d listened to! I’m building a list of 1001 books to read before I die (or in the next 10 years or less, ideally) that’s based on what the people I actually care about the experiences and opinions of actually reccomend, and this contributed a beatiful chunk. Thank you Tim!
Tim, joining the tsunami of praise for your compilation of books and for presenting them to us.
Many thanks,
Carl Kruse
List is nice to have but I’m kinda disappointed that it’s dominated by males. I would like to know what inspires women. What touches a woman’s heart and ignites her mind?
I don’t know if you’re still checking these replies, but this post is super helpful. As a matter of fact if your team made a more current edition that would be even better. You’ve done so many amazing interviews and there is so much great content it is difficult to go through it all. Thanks for making all this great stuff and giving us access to such an amazing group of individuals!
We need a social network on top of book platforms like Amazon and Audible. These lists should be publicly accessible, directly shared by the readers!
Louise Hay, you can heal your life. So many people struggle with low self esteem and have health issues. Louise shines light on how you can change it. Her book help me tramensly that in my own personal development it lead me to write a book which is being launched this week. Thursday, 9/22. Titled ,Harness your Purpose, Power, and Peace. Discover the Leader within You”. You see at one point in my life a doctor opened my heart because of health issues but the greatest story is how the horse heals my mind.
Check it out Tim!
Any chance that you might have these in an excel or google sheet? 🙂
Great list….of all these books Tim, which have you read and which are your favorite? You probably won’t see my message…but would love to get an answer.
Are these really unusual books though? They seem to me to be fairly standard self-improvement books. There’s nothing wrong with that, and in fact it’s a very good endorsement of mainstream self-improvement tomes that so many successful people read and implement them. If we all had to read unusual books, or rare books, or esoteric books to get ahead, we’d be screwed. Overall, becoming successful is easier than people make it out to be, and the books Tim has compiled here proves that. I, for one, am glad there is no secret knowledge required for success, but just the requirement of using easy to implement knowledge.
Thanks for sharing this list. I put some of them on my reading list. With so many articles and books to read nowadays, one needs to be picky. Fall and winter, perfect time to curl up on the couch with hot tea and read some good novels with the sound of rain outside.
Best x
i am looking for a book mentioned in one of the podcasts but can’t remember title 🙁 It is a first person perspective book and author I think had an unusual surname (like if that helps..). Moreover it was I think his first book and Tim also recommended it strongly after reading. The strong clue is that narration is first person and someone in the podcast described it as ”You wake up in a hotel room, your eyes are hurting and red” or something like that..
Sorry if this doesn’t make much sense but its been while since that podcast.
Thank you and all best!
It would be nice to find a woman’s recommendation here as well, all people listed are men, can’t harm with some diversity! Even though of course I appreciate the lists, but this stares at me…
I don’t know if you planned to put this list in front of me as I need more books to read and with Christmas right around the corner. Or if it was just the right time for me to see it.
You taking the raw data that gets teased out of your show and turning it into condensed and categorized information makes it much more useful to me. Especially because I never remember which show contains what when i think back on things.
Awesome post. I really enjoy all the material you out out there!
Excellent, Tim. Thank you!
Great article Tim, I appreciate all of your hard work.
Your blog is always hugely helpful.
I’ve set for myself a 100 books-in-a-year challenge, and I think I’ll be visiting this blog from time to time. 🙂 Great compilation!
You list of people you asked is so sexist and so are their answers. Jesus. Only one woman and two female authors. I find you so predictable and still a total bro. It is nauseating. You don’t ever reflect on how you continue to push a largely (by far) white male agenda and thinking.