The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Non-Business Book Recommendation Thread

advantagecp

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
146%
Feb 7, 2015
109
159
64
These two are IMO timeless literature and unlike most of the recommended books in this thread are not business books.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Periodic Table - Primo Levi

Neal Stephenson is truly next level writer. I put little tabs on passages that I like and may want to refer back to. My copy of a great book like Little Big Man may have 5 or 6 tabs. Cryptonomicon has 60+.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

dalion1993

PARKED
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
0% - New User
Dec 20, 2019
3
0
So I haven't been able to get into reading business books at all lately. I've read a ton, and I feel I need to execute rather than read. That being said, I know I have a lot more to learn from them, but perhaps I need a break.

Recommend your favorite NON business book. Be it fiction, biography, whatever - as long as it's not related to business or entrepreneurship. List your favorite book, or max, top three.

One of my favorite reads that's under the radar:
Outer Bounds Books: Amazon.com: Fortune's Rising (Outer Bounds Book 1) eBook: Sara King, Lance MacCarty: Kindle Store
- Levels of energy by Frederick Dodson
Great read, hard to put down.

- You are the placebo by Joe Dispenza
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Time of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen

And like @Kak mentioned, biographies of early industrialists: Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.
 

JasonR

Maverick
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
May 29, 2012
2,102
11,425
Las Vegas
These are some great recommendations.

I should have also clarified - no self help books. Habits of Highly Successful people is definitely in the business and self help realm.

I'll add two more to the list:
Open (it is excellent)
Shoe Dog (semi-related to business but doesn't read at all like a business book. More like a story)
 

Raoul Duke

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
324%
Feb 26, 2016
2,209
7,149
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
The Colour Out of Space By H.P. Lovecraft
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MitchC

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
283%
Mar 8, 2014
1,965
5,552
Australia
Atlas shrugged and the richest man in Babylon

both are semi business related.

atlas shrugged is a massive novel.

richest man in Babylon is a nice series of short stories, I listen to the audiobook a lot because I like them so much, I’ve probably listened to it 30 times and I still get something new out of it when I listen to it.
 

Ivan2BAlive

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
146%
May 24, 2017
139
203
Louisville, KY
"The Happiness Trap" by Russ Harris, for those struggling with anxiety and depression. Great read.
 

Ravens_Shadow

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
643%
Oct 2, 2012
1,239
7,961
Austin, TX
My wife has me reading "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. I've got 50 pages or so left and it's a pretty incredible book. I've read almost zero fiction in my life because I didn't think i'd like it, but I'm quite impressed.
 

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,120
43,260
Scottsdale, AZ
I'll add two more to the list:
Open (it is excellent)
Shoe Dog (semi-related to business but doesn't read at all like a business book. More like a story)

Interesting fact. Both books above were written by the same person, J.R. Moehringer.
 

MiloszR

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Dec 13, 2017
11
17
Berlin
"The Happiness Trap" by Russ Harris, for those struggling with anxiety and depression. Great read.
The confidence gap by Harris is next on my list, hope it will be great as well. A friend recommended it to me.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MattR82

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Oct 4, 2015
1,394
2,480
41
Brisbane
American Tabloid by James Ellroy (he also wrote LA confidential, black dahlia).
 

CaptainAmerica

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
244%
Dec 27, 2015
261
637
52
Phoenix OR
Nice choices - and a few I haven't read, so thank you!

I'm currently on:

The Autobiography of Ben Franklin
Acid for the Children (the autobiography of RHCP's Flea)
Greek Myths: A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys (Hawthorne)

Acid for the Children is terrific, mostly because we are almost the same age, and had very similar experiences. He used his power for good, ultimately, while I squandered my youth in foolish dissipation. I didn't even have fun! The nice thing is, I'm not dead yet, and scientists typically have longer careers than rock stars.
 

JasonR

Maverick
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
May 29, 2012
2,102
11,425
Las Vegas
One of the best books I've read - Self Help but it's NOT business:
The Charisma Myth

I just picked up The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari in the Airport. So far so good, will report back when I finish it.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Attachments

  • Photo Jan 13, 08 29 55.jpg
    Photo Jan 13, 08 29 55.jpg
    147.4 KB · Views: 8
  • Photo Jan 13, 07 58 42.jpg
    Photo Jan 13, 07 58 42.jpg
    217.3 KB · Views: 8

Castaway

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
269%
Feb 15, 2014
29
78
The Woods
A quick read but a book I really enjoyed and haven't seen mentioned;

When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi and Abraham Verghese


 

JAJT

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
549%
Aug 7, 2012
2,970
16,306
Ontario, Canada
Some of my favorites with no connection to personal development / business:

Dune - Just great, classic sci-fi. A must read for anyone who loves sci-fi.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The movie may very well be one of the most accurate book-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen but the book is still 100% worth a read.

Hell's Angels - By the same author as Fear and Loathing. Non-fiction. The author spent a year or so travelling with the Hell's Angels and writes about it as only Hunter S. Thompson can.

Catch-22 - An absurd war story. Another classic. Every single page is absolutely hilarious.

Ender's Game - More sci-fi but it's very, very good. What's really cool is the entire book series branches off in two directions as the result of how it ends (the "Ender" series and the "Shadow" series) where one follows Ender and gets further into the sci-fi direction and the other stays on Earth and gets into war and politics.

Slaughterhouse Five - I say this book but really ANYTHING by Kurt Vonnegut is just great reading.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Has nothing to do with either Zen or Bikes, funny enough. Great philosophical read about a father with split-personality disorder going on a cross country motorcycle trip with his son. The father dives deeply into the idea of quality and values.

Trust Me, I'm Lying - Nonfiction book about Ryan Holiday and his role as a media manipulator and how so much of what is considered news today is total bunk and possibly even entirely fabricated by people like him.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,482
Utah

BizyDad

Keep going. Keep growing.
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
416%
Oct 7, 2019
2,885
11,989
Phoenix AZ
These two are IMO timeless literature and unlike most of the recommended books in this thread are not business books.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Periodic Table - Primo Levi

Neal Stephenson is truly next level writer. I put little tabs on passages that I like and may want to refer back to. My copy of a great book like Little Big Man may have 5 or 6 tabs. Cryptonomicon has 60+.

Stephenson doesn't get enough credit. His first book, Snowcrash, is a fast paced thriller of a sci fi book. Love that one. His later work gets more "heady".

Some of my favorites with no connection to personal development / business:

Dune - Just great, classic sci-fi. A must read for anyone who loves sci-fi.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The movie may very well be one of the most accurate book-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen but the book is still 100% worth a read.

Hell's Angels - By the same author as Fear and Loathing. Non-fiction. The author spent a year or so travelling with the Hell's Angels and writes about it as only Hunter S. Thompson can.

Catch-22 - An absurd war story. Another classic. Every single page is absolutely hilarious.

Ender's Game - More sci-fi but it's very, very good. What's really cool is the entire book series branches off in two directions as the result of how it ends (the "Ender" series and the "Shadow" series) where one follows Ender and gets further into the sci-fi direction and the other stays on Earth and gets into war and politics.

Slaughterhouse Five - I say this book but really ANYTHING by Kurt Vonnegut is just great reading.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Has nothing to do with either Zen or Bikes, funny enough. Great philosophical read about a father with split-personality disorder going on a cross country motorcycle trip with his son. The father dives deeply into the idea of quality and values.

Trust Me, I'm Lying - Nonfiction book about Ryan Holiday and his role as a media manipulator and how so much of what is considered news today is total bunk and possibly even entirely fabricated by people like him.

I second Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I'll add The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. If a giant squid attacks, if you ever get frostbite, if you need to drink water and all you have is a vine, or if you need to perform a tracheotomy (it's 5 steps!), you'll know what to do. Fun read. Definitely not like any other book I've read.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Legacyy

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Jan 16, 2020
10
10
Where my suitcase is
If you dont want anything learning related I'd recommend anything from Ken Follet. All of his books are impossible to put down. Especially "The pillars of the Earth"
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top