Best Political Books - Understand the world we live in
There certainly isn’t a shortage of political books, especially as there is always so much to learn. With each new president, there are new challenges, new experiences, and new things to be discussed with the masses. Whether you’re looking for more information into a particular party or you want to read opinionated pieces on the current state of the union, there’s certainly a novel for everyone.
Politics can frequently be challenging to follow, especially if you don’t tune into the news every day. However, many find that there isn’t an excuse for not being up to date about the current state of their country, which is where these books come into play.
We recommend finding an assortment of the best political books that are partisan – both sides – and non-partisan. With this, you can differentiate between what is factual and what is based solely on opinion. With a more diversified understanding of how politics works and what it means to represent a particular party (or none at all), you can make more well-informed decisions.
As a voter, it is not only your right but also your responsibility to choose a representative that you believe will do the best for your nation. However, without knowing much about politics, it cannot be effortless. The vast knowledge brought to you by experts can open your mind and bring you into new realms that you never knew existed.
The variety of political books on the market will appease any reader’s appetite, as you can find factual accounts from past presidents, candid memoirs from people who served under the heads of state, and more.
We also recommend titles that talk about current and relevant issues, such as immigration, gender, and race, to get a clearer understanding of where the country stands. Not to mention, plenty of these books are filled with historical factoids to teach you more about the development of the nation and what has made it what it is today.
There is much more to the best political books than to be coffee table reads for guests. With these, you can become a better citizen with all of the information you are bound to take in on every page.
Best Political Books
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class

The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

The Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics

Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age
Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior)

Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations
Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?
American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes

How Democracies Die

Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything

The Political Economy of Participatory Economics
Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
- The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
- The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
- Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition
Power Base Selling has been the most pragmatic and effective guide in my professional services career. Jim and Ryan's new concept of Unexpected Value is fundamental to differentiating your product and defending your margins.
A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great
Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling

The Fight to Vote

Why Liberalism Failed

Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy
Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, and the Scandal of the Century

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media

Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate — The Essential Guide for Progressives

The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium

Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos
This is an outstanding book on the side effects of interventionism, written in extremely elegant prose and with maximal clarity. It documents how people find arguments couched in moralistic terms to intervene in complex systems they don't understand.
These interventions trigger endless chains of unintended consequences --consequences for the victims, but none for the interventionistas, allowing them to repeat the mistake again and again. Puri, as an insider, outlines the principles and legal mechanisms, then runs through the events of the past few years since the Iraq invasion; each one of his chapters are models of concision, presenting the story of Ukraine, Syria, Lybia, and Yemen, among others, as standalone briefings to the uninitiated. It was high time that somebody in international affairs has approached the problem of iatrogenics, i.e. harm done by the healer.
This book should be mandatory reading to every student and practitioner of foreign affairs.

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines

The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian).

Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World
Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
- The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
- The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
- Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884-1933
Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter

The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
With Russia fever at Defcon 2, I’ve made it about half-ways through the biography The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin. It’s a great refresher on post-WWII history, the cold war, KGB, but above all, on the forces present in Russia.
There are many lines to draw between Russia’s struggles after the fall of Communism with the fundamental political theories of Fukuyama (Origins of Political Order / Political Order And Political Decay). When taken together, they lend an all the more human and sympathetic story to why things played out the way they did. While still appreciating just how immense the level of brokenness, corruption, and brutality that journey has brought with it.

The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy

The Fifth Risk

In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – but Some Don’t
Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity
Ronald Reagan: The American Presidents Series: The 40th President, 1981-1989

The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea

The Internet of Money
It's difficult to pinpoint an exact moment because all of the books helped me in a way. Probably a recent example was the book The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. He is talking about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. After reading this book I was, damn that's the future and I need to start investing in this technology. Didn't stop ever since.
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. IV

Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld

Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons

Being Nixon: A Man Divided
The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age

The Golden Notebook
When asked what books he recommended to his 18-year-old daughter Malia, Obama gave the Times a list that included The Naked and the Dead and One Hundred Years of Solitude. “I think some of them were sort of the usual suspects […] I think she hadn’t read yet. Then there were some books that are not on everybody’s reading list these days, but I remembered as being interesting.” Here’s what he included:
- The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
- One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
- The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
- The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston

Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope

Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon

Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats

This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality

The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties

Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe

Priced Out: The Economic and Ethical Costs of American Health Care

Overconfidence and War: The Havoc and Glory of Positive Illusions

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis–and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance

The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World
America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare
Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic

Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises

Ending The War On Drugs
The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy’s Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici
The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats
The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

On the Genealogy of Morality

Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back

Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America
American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

The Great Convergence
The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor
The fact that top-down development methods are great on paper but have not produced benefits (so far) is a point Easterly has made before, heavily influencing yours truly in the formation his own argument against naive interventionism and the collection of humanitarians fulfilling their personal growth and shielding themselves from their conscience... This is more powerful: the West has been putting development ahead of moral issues, patronizingly setting aside the right of the people to decide their own fate, including whether they want these improvements, hence compounding failure and turning much of development into an agenda that benefits the careers (and angst) of humanitarians, imperial policies, and, not least, local autocrats *without* any moral contribution. Talking about a sucker problem.
***
To put it in an aphorism, they didn't ask the people if they would rather get respect and no aid rather than aid and no respect.
Eleanor Roosevelt : Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938
The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks

The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia

The Soros Lectures: At the Central European University

On War

The Magus

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
One of the very few books I think about all the time is Robert Wright’s Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny.
Nonzero is an intriguing lens through which to view current events (which is why it’s often in my thoughts). As Chopra notes, cooperation isn’t always the norm…Trumpist Republicans and Brexit proponents are both veering towards the zero sum end of the spectrum and I don’t think it will work out well for either country in the long run.

The Senility of Vladimir P.: A Novel

In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History

Lincoln Unbound: How an Ambitious Young Railsplitter Saved the American Dream—And How We Can Do It Again

The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World
The Age of Migration has been the main textbook for migration studies since it first appeared in 1993; I have relied on it both as a resource for my own research and a text for my upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses on the politics of immigration. The fifth edition continues the excellent coverage of migration theories and history, the politics of immigration, and issues such as race and ethnicity, while bringing in new material on topics like the impact of climate change. The authors are to be commended for addressing critical issues in a time of global change.

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business

Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals
Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Models of My Life

When the Body Says No: The cost of hidden stress
Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge
The book is about the concept of common knowledge and how people process the world not only based on what we personally know, but what we know other people know and our shared knowledge as well.
This is an important idea for designing social media, as we often face tradeoffs between creating personalized experiences for each individual and crafting universal experiences for everyone. I'm looking forward to exploring this further.

Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion

The Ego and His Own: The Case of the Individual Against Authority

Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

Tai-Pan

The European Identity: Historical and Cultural Realities We Cannot Deny

Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War

The Good Earth
The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives

No Logo

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
It took me 15 days to read all 1,165 pages of this monstrosity that chronicles the rise of Robert Moses. I was 20 years old. It was one of the most magnificent books I’ve ever read. Moses built just about every other major modern construction project in New York City. The public couldn’t stop him, the mayor couldn’t stop him, the governor couldn’t stop him, and only once could the President of the United States stop him. But ultimately, you know where the cliché must take us. Robert Moses was an asshole. He may have had more brain, more drive, more strategy than other men, but he did not have more compassion. And ultimately power turned him into something monstrous.

The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
A fascinating read about when bridges were still in beta.

1421: The Year China Discovered America

How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
My next book for A Year of Books is The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley.
Two of the books I've read this year -- The Better Angels of Our Nature: and Why Nations Fail -- have explored how social and economic progress work together to make the world better. The Better Angels argues for that the two feed off each other, whereas Why Nations Fail argues that social and political progress ultimately controls the economic progress a society makes. This next book argues the opposite -- that economic progress is the greater force is pushing society forward. I'm interested to see which idea resonates more after exploring both frameworks.
This is also the second one of Ridley's books I've read this year. Here's a photo from a few weeks back of me reading his book Genome with my dog Beast.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
How Change Happens

The Lorax
The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
Seneca: Tragedies II: Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, Hercules on Oeta, Octavia

Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding
The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Edison: A Biography
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East

The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II

Thick: And Other Essays

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Society Of The Spectacle
Thank You for Arguing: What Cicero, Shakespeare and the Simpsons Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens

Long Walk to Freedom

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63
According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, these titles are among his most influential forever favorites:
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Song Of Solomon, Toni Morrison
- Parting The Waters, Taylor Branch
- Gilead, Marylinne Robinson
- Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam
- The Federalist, Alexander Hamilton
- Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois
- The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
- The Quiet American, Graham Greene
- Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Gandhi’s autobiography
- Working, Studs Terkel
- Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
- Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith
- All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

Thinking, Fast and Slow
This book is amazing—it didn't change my mind, so much as it has changed the way I think. It helps to understand the difference between the way you make quick decisions, versus considered decisions—it takes different mechanisms in the brain. Understanding which you're doing at any given time can have a profound impact on what you ultimately decide.
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

The Post-American World: Release 2.0
- Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Evan Osnos
- Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
- Moral Man And Immoral Society, Reinhold Niebuhr
- A Kind And Just Parent, William Ayers
- The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria
- Lessons in Disaster, Gordon Goldstein
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
- Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American, Richard S Tedlow
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, Katherine Boo

The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness

The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
There’s one book that I’ve given that it was just Christmas, that I’ve given away a lot of copies. This is a book about Winston Churchill by Boris Johnson. A very talented guy.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb
My favorite book is The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It's a book that covers a vast range of topics over a fifty year period. It talks about the scientific advances that led to the bomb, the personalities that made those advances, and at the same time covers the political choices and escalation of violence over the course of the first half of the 20th Century that paint the use of the atomic bomb on Japan as an almost inevitable conclusion of that escalation. The prose is as incredible as the story. It's really a treat to rea
How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

Letters Written by Lord Chesterfield to His Son

From Third World to First: Singapore and the Asian Economic Boom
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
Historian David McCullough wrote one of the most factually accurate and detailed books about the construction of the Panama Canal. Why would such a book interest a leader? Because it shows how a great thing was achieved, and what it took to take the project from the paper and make it a reality.
Great things are never simple and easy to achieve. It takes creativity. Mistakes happen and losses are sustained. You have to rethink your strategy. You need a B, C or even a D plan. You do whatever it takes to make it happen. This is a valuable lesson for any leader and entrepreneur.

The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita – A Commentary for Modern Readers
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965

The New Geography of Jobs

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
A more centric version of Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe (or the other way around).

Devils

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction
- The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past) by Cixin Liu
- The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman
- Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies by Arvind Narayanan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten, Andrew Miller, Steven Goldfeder

Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients

The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor

Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam
Fact or fiction, the president knows that reading keeps the mind sharp. He also delved into these non-fiction reads:
- Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Evan Osnos
- Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
- Moral Man And Immoral Society, Reinhold Niebuhr
- A Kind And Just Parent, William Ayers
- The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria
- Lessons in Disaster, Gordon Goldstein
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
- Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American, Richard S Tedlow
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, Katherine Boo

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds

Strategy

Things Fall Apart

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

Nonviolent Communication

A Theory of Justice
Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
- The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
- The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
- Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Reputation Rules: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset

Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life

The Prince
Of course, this is a must read. Machiavelli is one of those figures and writers who is tragically overrated and underrated at the same time. Unfortunately that means that many people who read him miss the point and other people avoid him and miss out altogether. Take Machiavelli slow, and really read him. Also understand the man behind the book–not just as a masterful writer but a man who withstood heinous torture and exile with barely a whimper.
Machiavelli is a glimpse into a time when power was literal and out for public viewing–when he talks about making an example of someone, he doesn’t mean calling them out, he means putting their head on a pike. Don’t let that scare you because we’re not as far from that world as we’d like to think. Deny that at your own peril.

Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
I read this book twice. The first time, I thought that it was excellent, the best compendium of ideas of social science by arguably the best thinker in the field. I took copious notes, etc. I agreed with its patchwork-style approach to rational decision making. I knew that it had huge insights applicable to my refusal of general theories [they don't work], rather limit ourselves to nuts and bolts [they work].
Then I started reading it again, as the book tends to locate itself by my bedside and sneaks itself in my suitcase when I go on a trip. It is as if the book wanted me to read it. It is what literature does to you when it is at its best. So I realized why: it had another layer of depth --and the author distilled ideas from the works of Proust, La Rochefoucault, Tocqueville, Montaigne, people with the kind of insights that extend beyond the ideas, and that makes you feel that a reductionist academic treatment of the subject will necessary distort it [& somehow Elster managed to combine Montaigne and Kahneman-Tversky]. So as an anti-Platonist I finally found a rigorous treatment of human nature that is not Platonistic --not academic (in the bad sense of the word).
Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes and Thinking Big

Montaigne

Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt and the Golden Age of Journalism

The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Eisenhower in War and Peace

Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America

Churchill: A Life
Churchill, A Life by Martin Gilbert is the most impactful book I've read this year. I generally enjoy reading biographies, as they're a great way to understand history in a more personal viewpoint, while also getting a glimpse of how influential figures overcame adversities and pursued their ambitions.
Churchill's life stood out to me for a couple reasons. When you think about the personal decisions made before, during, and after World War II, it's really amazing to realize how much one person's vision and leadership influenced the outcome of world affairs during the 1900s. During his long public career of 50+ years, it is admirable to see how he navigated politics and overcame setbacks to reach the pinnacle of his career as a war time prime minister.
Overall, it was very humbling to learn about Churchill's work ethic. As a political leader as well as an author, he is a true example of a public servant who envisioned a better (and more peaceful) world order and worked hard throughout his career to carry out that vision while also securing his legacy in history.

The Infinite Game
In my view, this is Simon Sinek’s biggest idea yet. If you think success is about winning and losing, you’ve already lost. It works in sports because you're playing a finite game, but business is an infinite one. He argues that the companies that last aren't the ones that play to win. They're the ones that play to keep playing.
The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism
Rifkin poses that the plummeting costs of doing business, brought on by dramatic increases in productivity and the Internet, are driving us toward a hybrid economy of capitalist market and collaborative commons--a place where shareable value is as important as exchange value.
The Influentials: One American in Ten Tells the Other Nine How to Vote, Where to Eat, and What to Buy

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Portrait in Light and Shadow: The Life of Yousuf Karsh
The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future
How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

The Art of War
The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World

The Trial

Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business

My Early Life: 1874-1904

The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences

Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen

My Bondage and My Freedom

The Legacy of Chernobyl

A Terrible Country: A Novel

The Tao of Pooh
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Liar’s Poker
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Other People’s Money: Inside the Housing Crisis and the Demise of the Greatest Real Estate Deal Ever Made

The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith
Nicomachean Ethics

21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Harari is such a stimulating writer that even when I disagreed, I wanted to keep reading and thinking. All three of his books wrestle with some version of the same question: What will give our lives meaning in the decades and centuries ahead? So far, human history has been driven by a desire to live longer, healthier, happier lives. If science is eventually able to give that dream to most people, and large numbers of people no longer need to work in order to feed and clothe everyone, what reason will we have to get up in the morning?
It’s no criticism to say that Harari hasn’t produced a satisfying answer yet. Neither has anyone else. So I hope he turns more fully to this question in the future. In the meantime, he has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century.
Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

The Truth
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It’s Too Late

I, Asimov: A Memoir
In I, Asimov I’ve discovered a genuine happy person, someone that did what he loved his entire life. I discovered that one of the biggest authors of Science Fiction actually stopped writing fiction novels almost completely for 20 years. I discovered that he enjoyed writing mystery short stories a lot. And this shouldn’t surprise me since most of the books in his SF series are, actually, mysteries. Especially the Robots ones.
His autobiography reads like the archive of a blog, with anecdotes and short stories of the author’s life. It made me smile so often, I didn’t believe it. I was reading in bed and I would read out loud to my fiancée something that made me laugh loudly.
Besides the laughs, I also appreciated the power of Asimov’s convictions. I’m taking example, as well, since sometimes I forget to support my opinions as strongly as I should. If you enjoyed Asimov's books, you're gonna love this one.

Merchants of Doubt

Teaching to Transgress

The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge

War in European History
The best way to understand how the world resolves its conflicts and its tensions is by looking at how a conflict that has been studied thoroughly, like World War I, unfolded and resolved. Business is like this too. If anyone were to ever get to the heart of Coke vs. Pepsi, they would see a parade of mistakes in the same way World War I looks in retrospect—so many ways you could have done better.

Adjustment Day

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

The Forest Passage

Doing Harm

Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate

The Rise of the Creative Class
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
All the King’s Men

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
What would a messiah be like if he lived now. Would he care about politics? Would he care about the constant things people scream about on social media?
Or would he care about peace in the heart. And peace in our every day activities. And beauty. And being calm. And trusting the universe around us.
I go with the latter and so does this book.

Revolutionary Wealth: How it will be created and how it will change our lives
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path?
Answer:
- Anything by Peter Senge.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
- Once you are Lucky, Twice you are good – Sara Lacey
- Revolutionary Wealth – Alvin Toffler
- Black Swan – Taleb
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, by Ellen Pao.
- Creative Class – Richard Florida
- Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
- American Government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, Everything You Need to Know About US Politics – Kathleen Spears
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Any book by Herman Hesse
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves

Why America Misunderstands the World: National Experience and Roots of Misperception
Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
- The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
- The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
- Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Confessions of an Advertising Man

Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de’ Medici

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Robert Kuok A Memoir

The Muqaddimah

Energy and Civilization: A History

The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad
I was the head of internal communications for a Fortune 50 company that had just begun to expand internationally when I read The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria. This gripping historical analysis provided tremendous insight on the geopolitical forces shaping our world, and opened my eyes to the tremendous risks and opportunities that lie ahead for businesses operating on a global scale.

Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change
Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
Reading has given me more perspective on a number of topics — from science to religion, from poverty to prosperity, from health to energy to social justice, from political philosophy to foreign policy, and from history to futuristic fiction.
This challenge has been intellectually fulfilling, and I come away with a greater sense of hope and optimism that our society can make greater progress in all of these areas.
It's fitting to end the year with The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch, about how the way we explain things unlocks greater possibilities.

The Complete Essays

The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Where How to Break Up with Your Phone took a pretty tame view of social media – hey, maybe it’s not great, so let’s just do a bit less – this book goes for the jugular. Reviewing all the ways social media companies are conspiring against us, selling our attention to the highest bidder (whether that be an ad for a new car or a new president), and how the algorithms that drive social-media engagement are self-optimizing for the worst of everything.
There wasn’t that much new information here, especially for someone who’s been paying close attention to the social media landscape for years, but there was a renewed sense of outrage and purpose and contextualization. The idea that you don’t have to believe that Zuckerberg or Sandberg are evil masterminds plotting to derail civilization to accept that social-media engagement algorithms that run on auto-pilot much of the time could very well get us there.

Total Recall
Schwarzenegger's autobiography is, first and foremost, a really really great rags-to-riches story. But it's true. And it's surprising: he didn't make his first million dollars by acting. And it's inspiring: he goes a little into how one should think, when pursuing a particular goal. And, lastly, it's very well written. It'll completely redefine your idea of the man. And it may give you a glimpse into how you might better sculpt your idea of you.
Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don’t Have To

Brown Girl Dreaming
It Can’t Happen Here
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Pinker is at his best when he analyzes historic trends and uses data to put the past into context. I was already familiar with a lot of the information he shares—especially about health and energy—but he understands each subject so deeply that he’s able to articulate his case in a way that feels fresh and new.
I love how he’s willing to dive deep into primary data sources and pull out unexpected signs of progress. I tend to point to things like dramatic reductions in poverty and childhood deaths, because I think they’re such a good measure of how we’re doing as a society. Pinker covers those areas, but he also looks at more obscure topics.
Here are five of my favorite facts from the book that show how the world is improving:
- 1. You’re 37 times less likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than you were at the turn of the century—and that’s not because there are fewer thunderstorms today. It’s because we have better weather prediction capabilities, improved safety education, and more people living in cities.
- 2. Time spent doing laundry fell from 11.5 hours a week in 1920 to an hour and a half in 2014. This might sound trivial in the grand scheme of progress. But the rise of the washing machine has improved quality of life by freeing up time for people—mostly women—to enjoy other pursuits. That time represents nearly half a day every week that could be used for everything from binge-watching Ozark or reading a book to starting a new business.
- 3. You’re way less likely to die on the job. Every year, 5,000 people die from occupational accidents in the U.S. But in 1929—when our population was less than two-fifths the size it is today—20,000 people died on the job. People back then viewed deadly workplace accidents as part of the cost of doing business. Today, we know better, and we’ve engineered ways to build things without putting nearly as many lives at risk.
- 4. The global average IQ score is rising by about 3 IQ points every decade. Kids’ brains are developing more fully thanks to improved nutrition and a cleaner environment. Pinker also credits more analytical thinking in and out of the classroom. Think about how many symbols you interpret every time you check your phone’s home screen or look at a subway map. Our world today encourages abstract thought from a young age, and it’s making us smarter.
- 5. War is illegal. This idea seems obvious. But before the creation of the United Nations in 1945, no institution had the power to stop countries from going to war with each other. Although there have been some exceptions, the threat of international sanctions and intervention has proven to be an effective deterrent to wars between nations.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North
In November 2014, Obama took a trip to D.C. independent bookstore Politics and Prose to honor small businesses and add to his personal library. Accompanied by daughters Malia and Sasha, POTUS picked up novels from the Redwall fantasy series by Brian Jacques, as well as some from the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park. He also added these titles to his heavy bags:
- Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Nora Webster, Colm Toibin
- The Laughing Monsters, Denis Johnson
- Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, Evan Osnos
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Dr. Atul Gawande
- Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, Katherine Rundell
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
- Redwall series, Brian Jacques
- Junie B. Jones series, Barbara Park
- Nuts To You, Lynn Rae Perkins
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
- The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
- The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
- Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Heart of Darkness
In November 2014, Obama took a trip to D.C. independent bookstore Politics and Prose to honor small businesses and add to his personal library. Accompanied by daughters Malia and Sasha, POTUS picked up novels from the Redwall fantasy series by Brian Jacques, as well as some from the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park. He also added these titles to his heavy bags:
- Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Nora Webster, Colm Toibin
- The Laughing Monsters, Denis Johnson
- Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, Evan Osnos
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Dr. Atul Gawande
- Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, Katherine Rundell
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
- Redwall series, Brian Jacques
- Junie B. Jones series, Barbara Park
- Nuts To You, Lynn Rae Perkins

Reveille for Radicals

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms

Letters to a Young Contrarian

The Wisdom of Crowds

Frankenstein

Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

The Harder They Fall

Sex Object

Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot
