Book Recommendations

I get asked about book recommendations on a range of topics a lot. Sometimes people ask what the best book is on something specific.

Other times, they're asking me to select a book that will help them think about a much broader topic, such as their career, worldview or personal finance.

I therefore thought it was about time that I made a list of some of the most worthwhile books I've read are, in the hope that it might trigger your curiosity about something new.

When I read a book, the mental process I try to go through is to open my mind to the information, sentiments and advice being expressed, but with my discerning hat on. I try to filter what I read through my Coherence Stack, assessing where my values, beliefs and actions need to change, or where I need to stand my ground.

Although these are all cracking books, these recommendations shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of everything they teach or encourage (indeed, there are mutual contradictions between some of them).

This is a small selection of the books which I've found to be the most insightful, influential, interesting, thought provoking or practical over the years.

Work, Entrepreneurship & Creativity

• Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon (📔 Read Book Summary)
• The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries
• Start With Why, by Simon Sinek
• Virtual Freedom, by Chris Ducker
• One Simple Idea, by Stephen Key
• Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
• The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss
• KNOWN: Building and unleashing your personal brand in the digital age, by Mark W. Schaefer

Productivity & Mindset

• Atomic Habits, by James Clear
• Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink
• Crazy Busy, by Kevin DeYoung
• The Great Mental Models (vol. 1), by Shame Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien
• Getting Things Done, by David Allen
• Life Leverage, Rob Moore
• Speed Reading, by Kam Knight
• Ultralearning, by Scott H. Young
• Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World, by David Epstein

Life, Family & Adventure

• Make Time, by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown
• 12 Rules for Life, by Jordan Peterson
• The More of Less, by Joshua Becker
• Things I with I'd Known Before We Got Married, Gary Chapman
• The Meaning of Marriage, by Tim Keller
• The Gentle Art of Tramping, by Stephen Graham
• Microadventures, by Alistair Humphreys

Personal Finance

• Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin
• Property Magic, Simon Zutshi
• The Legacy Journey, by Dave Ramsey
• Playing with FIRE, Andrew Kleen
• Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, by Chris Mamula, Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa
• The Simple Path to Wealth, by JL Collins

Faith, Philosophy & Worldview

• The Bible, by various authors
• The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan
• The Reason for God, by Tim Keller
• Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis
• Real Christianity, William Wilberforce
• The Cross of Christ, by John Stott
• Can We Trust The Gospels?, by Peter J. Williams
• God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?, John C. Lennox
• A Universe From Nothing, by Lawrence M. Krauss
• Confronting Christianity, by Rebecca McLaughlin
• Just Do Something, Kevin DeYoung
• The Design Inference, by William A. Dembski
• Did Jesus Exist?, by Bart Ehrman

Science, Technology & The Future

• 2084: The Future Of Humanity And The God Question, by John C. Lennox
• Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari
• Life 3.0, by Max Tegmark
• The Great Mental Models (vol. 2), by Shame Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien
• How Innovation Works, Matt Ridley
• Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport

Politics, History & Culture

• William Wilberforce, by William Hague
• Dominion, by Tom Holland
• The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• How We Invented Freedom and Why it Matters, by Daniel Hannan
• Where Does Money Come From?, by Ryan-Collins, Greenham, Werner and Jackson
• The Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson
• Politics, by Nick Clegg
• The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, by Douglas Murray
• More Human, by Steve Hilton
• How to Be a Conservative, by Roger Scruton
• Explaining Postmodernism, by Stephen R. C. Hicks
• A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, by Winston Churchill

In accordance with the 80/20 principle, I've kept it a fairly short list. I'll try to write book summaries for some of them in the coming months. If you're looking for a good book on something more specific, feel free to ask!

If you'd like to recommend me a book you think I'd find interesting, do let me know!