Great books that are NOT best-sellers. Share yours.

[MJ DeMarco]

@MJ DeMarco is there an ETA for this? Really looking forward to it!

@MJ DeMarco, please, is there any date for the list? Thank you for responding MJ.

The document is done but on hold since technically, it is sponsored by GoalSumo.com. When that property is beta-released, the document will also be released. So it looks some time next week. Also, about 15 books listed in this thread are listed in this document. The document itself lists 101 books.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Book: The Road Less Stupid
Author: Keith J. Cunningham
Genre: Business - Strategy
Subject/Description: Learn the principles and strategies of making great decisions and minimizing risk. The structure of Thinking Time will enable you to minimize reacting emotionally and defaulting to the most obvious "best idea" available in the moment. The series of short chapters and subsequent Thinking Time questions are designed to maximize clarity and create better choices...either of which will result in fewer stupid mistakes.
Amazon Link: Amazon.com: The Road Less Stupid (Audible Audio Edition): Keith J. Cunningham, Keith J. Cunningham, Keith J. Cunningham: Books

Book: Who
Author: Geoff Smart
Genre: Business - Hiring
Subject/Description: In business, you are who you hire. In Who, Geoff Smart and Randy Street offer simple, easy-to-follow steps that will put the right people in place for optimal success.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345504194/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Book: The Patron Way: from Fantasy to Fortune - Lessons on Taking any Business from Idea to Iconic Brand
Author: Ilana edelstein
Genre: Business Biography
Subject/Description: Details the unorthodox building of the brand, the extraordinary creativity and marketing ingenuity of Patrón's cofounder, Martin Crowley, and his life partner, Ilana Edelstein, and the way Patrón single-handedly transformed the face of the liquor industry. Edelstein was involved in every aspect of the business--from the brand’s iconic bottle to designing the sexy and attention-getting outfits worn by the famous "Patrón Girls" at promotions and parties to running the back office.
Amazon Link: The Patron Way: From Fantasy to Fortune - Lessons on Taking Any Business From Idea to Iconic Brand: From Fantasy to Fortune - Lessons on Taking Any Business From Idea to Iconic Brand: Edelstein, Ilana: 0884843845871: Books - Amazon

Book: Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist
Author: Sally Hogshead
Genre: Business Branding
Subject/Description: A step by step system that reveals how to make any brand, message, or idea impossible to resist by using one or more of the seven Advantages described in the book.
Amazon Link: Fascinate, Revised and Updated: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist: Hogshead, Sally: 9780062206480: Books - Amazon

Book: How to Create a Million Dollar Unique Selling Proposition
Author: Bill Bodri
Genre: Marketing
Subject/Description: Details 10 different ways you can create the perfect USP for your business, product or service. If you work through these ten methods, you can create a killer USP in record time and then use it to increase your sales and align your entire marketing strategy.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1452869375/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Book: The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (and Why They Don’t)
Author: Sean D’Souza
Genre: Marketing and Customer Pyschology
Subject/Description: Shows you how the customer makes decisions and what you need to put in place, so that the customer feels happy to buy products or services from you. The Brain Audit isn't about persuasion or any mind tricks. Instead it shows you the information that your customers need in order to make a decision. It shows you how to present that information, and thereby enable the customer to intelligently go through a purchase sequence.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0473175045/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Book: Brand Seduction: How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brands
Author: Daryl Weber
Genre: Brand Building
Subject/Description: Daryl reveals the latest psychological and neuroscientific discoveries about how our minds process brand information and make decisions, and the important roles our emotions and unconscious play in our selections.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1632650134/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Book: The Micro-Scripts Rules: How to tell your story and differentiate your brand in a sentence or less.
Author: Bill Schley
Genre: Marketing
Subject/Description: Biggest takeaway for me is chapter 8 which provides step-by-step instructions on how to build your Dominate Selling Ideas and "The Five Ingredients of Your DSI" makes building and evaluating your brand incredibly clear.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732748802/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

None of my books have ever hit the New York Times best-seller list, and yet, I have sold more than most NYTs best sellers. Interesting don't ya say? That means, you were likely RECOMMENDED the book by a trusted friend, or a YouTube channel.

Recently in the Unscripted Text Network, I asked people to share their best book recommendations that are NOT best-sellers. And by BEST-SELLER I mean something from a NON-FAMOUS author that that isn't widely known.

That said, what is a great, "must read" book that is not widely known, hyped, or publicized? If you have a great book recommendation that is NOT widely known, like an underground *hidden-gem* favorite, please post and I will compile the data and share later.

DO NOT SHARE A BOOK THAT HAS OVER 2,000 REVIEWS AT AMAZON.
DO NOT SHARE A BOOK THAT LIKELY HAS BEEN RECOMMENDED OVER, AND OVER.
DO NOT SHARE A BOOK FROM A FAMOUS AUTHOR

If I see anything by Clear, Napoleon Hill, Goggins, Hormozi, Greene, Taleb, I will puke. Then I will delete the post.

Please use this format:

Book:
Author:
Genre:
Subject/Description:
(optional) Amazon Link:

My intention is to compile this data in an easy to read format organized by subject and then share.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

The official PDF document on this will be released on Friday, December 9th.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Hey, @MJ DeMarco , I'm curious about the official PDF document.

any updates?

Great Underground Books That Aren't Best-Sellers

 

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[fastlane_dad]

Although not the 'greatest' book ever written

'Built To Sell' - is a very fastlane oriented book, with a great story to help many readers make sense of the running a business --> selling a business transition. Story is told in a similar way to the Great Rat Race Escape .

Book: Built To Sell
Author: John Warrillow
Genre: Business
Description: How to get into the mindset of transitioning yourself out of being 'the' business - and instead move towards a model where you are no longer the centerpiece and have a great asset for sale with everything in place. This was a key read during my time of selling my fastlane business, and shared many similarities with what we were going through at the time.

Amazon.com: Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You (Audible Audio Edition): John Warrillow, Erik Synnestvedt, Gildan Media, LLC: Books

Amazon.com: Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You (Audible Audio Edition): John Warrillow, Erik Synnestvedt, Gildan Media, LLC: Books

www.amazon.com

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I know you sent out a text the other day about this thread and I was wracking my brain. Came up with a few but my tastes are pretty eclectic.

Sleight of Mouth by Robert Dilts - NLP book from probably one of the best practitioners out there. It's NOT an easy read by any means, and I found myself taking notes every other paragraph. This book is so advanced there's another book out called "Understanding Sleight of Mouth" ... you might want to pick that one up, too.

The Ellipsis Manual by Chase Hughes - Chase is probably the most talented interrogator alive. He has been able to get true confessions out of terrorists, serial killers, and every other type of crazy on the planet in minutes when others take hours or days... the best part? He literally never asks a question.

The 16-Word Sales Letter by Evaldo Albuquerque - A must-read for copywriters.

My Voice Will Go With You by Milton Erickson/Sidney Rosen - The stories Erickson used in his hypnotherapy sessions to transform beliefs. Fascinating Guy. If you didn't know, he's one of the most successful therapists of all time. He was a quadriplegic so all he had was his voice. And he sure as hell learned how to use it well.

Relationship Breakthrough by Cloe Madanes - Cloe is the most successful Family Therapist on the planet. She's actually the secret behind Tony Robbins becoming so successful at his interventions. Incredible gem here. And she's funny as hell.

One To Many by Jason Fladlien - I don't THINK this book was actually a best-seller. But it's certainly on of the best on structuring presentations that influence.

 

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[SDE]

Book: You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar

Author: David H Sandler

Genre: Sales Training

Description: Sales methodology where prospects try to convince YOU why they should buy what you sell

Amazon Link: You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar : The Sandler Sales Institute's 7-Step System for Successful Selling: David H. Sandler, John Hayes, PhD., Sandler, David H.: 9780967179902: Books

 

[S.Y.]

Book: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Author: Matthew Dicks

Genre: Storytelling

Subject/Description: Tips to find, craft and tell stories in every day life.

Book: Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress
Author: Christopher Ryan

Genre: Culture / Anthropology

Subject/Description: Fresh take on the narrative about progress

Book: Everything in Its Place: The Power of Mise-En-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind
Author: Dan Charnas

Genre: Productivity

Subject/Description: Insights from one of the most organized and under-pressure place in earth: the kitchen.

Book: Beyond Good and Evil
Author: Nietzsche

Genre: Philosophy

Subject/Description: A call against conformity from a very misunderstood philosopher

Book: On the shortness of life
Author: Seneca

Genre: Philosophy

Subject/Description: Life doesn’t pass too quickly, we rather squander it. It is a reminder to live our lives, on our own terms.

Book: The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations out of Poverty
Author: Efosa Ojomo, Clayton M. Christensen

Genre: Social Entrepreneurship

Subject/Description: A Fastlane take on lifting communities out of poverty

 

[Angler]

It's not a HOW TO book, it's more so a BOOK WITH GUIDING PRINCIPLES.

Book: The War Of Art
Author: Steven Pressfield

Genre: Bullet Proofing Your Mindset Towards Your Process & Whatever You Want To Build.

Description: This is an amazing read for people looking for better questions to ask themselves and by doing so find tune clarity towards their goals and ambition. Only with clarity can you pursue your goal without self-sabotaging and dabbling. If you can pick all the golden nugget from this book, your mindset is unbreakable. I still revisit this book every weekend...

The writer is a "failure" who never listened to those around him even as he failed, and eventually he became a success. His failures are more severe than anything I've experience at this point. Cliché, sure. But it gave me insights on what it takes to hit a home run.

And that is never EVER give in to RESISTANT.

Resistant comes in many form... you will find out what these forms of resistant's are in the first half! The second half of the book is quite spiritual so take it as you will.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Just to update, this report of books that are great reads, but not a best-seller, is still delayed.

 

[Gepi]

Book: Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

Author: Sam Carpenter

Genre: Business, Mindset, Practical Knowledge

Subject/Description: Sam, the author, overworked himself by just "winging it" and getting nowhere until he realized the simple yet powerful truth that every business needs:
processes. This shift in his mindset and outlook on reality helped him propel his enterprise forward and made it run just like a well-oiled machine, making him more money than ever.

Reading about his own experience, this book really gave me some major goosebumps of realization similar to The Fastlane Millionaire. It helped me clear my own thinking about business and seeing systems where before, was chaos.

Good read.

Amazon Link:

Amazon.com: Work the System (Fourth Edition): The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less (Audible Audio Edition): Sam Carpenter, Sam Carpenter, Greenleaf Book Group: Books

Amazon.com: Work the System (Fourth Edition): The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less (Audible Audio Edition): Sam Carpenter, Sam Carpenter, Greenleaf Book Group: Books

www.amazon.com

 

[MTF]

So many bestsellers and famous authors in this thread it's no longer making much sense.

 

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[Fomo]

Book: The satvic food book
Author: Subah Saraf
Genre: Health
Subject/Description: Healing the body with plant-based food, without any medicine. Includes detox salads, healing soups. All recipes are free from refined oil, sugar, pungent spices, milk & milk products and processed foods. They are made using ingredients straight from nature, the way you find them in nature.
Packed with beautiful photography, the Satvic Food Book invites you to change your relationship with food and radically enhance your health, digestion, radiance and bliss.

Amazon link: Amazon.com: Satvic Food Book : 45 Healing Recipes to Cure Any Chronic Disease eBook : Saraf, Subah: Books

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

And here people are recommending books with thousands of reviews or written by well-known people.

A book by Richard Branson. I'm sure good old Richard will be happy that I included his book in my "hidden gem" report so I can increase his multi-billion dollar net worth by a few bucks.

 

[Temerity]

Edit: Oops - just saw your post above, MJ. Sorry about that! Possible to move this to the new topic?

Them: It's popular!
Thoughtful folks: So what?

The more exposure I get to it, the more I have come to disdain the mainstream and its endorsements, including books. This became especially stark for me post-COVID. They are the #1 reason the world fell apart for 2+ years, but I digress...

Just because something is called "bestseller" doesn't make it good or even useful, it just makes it popular because the New York Slimes Times decided it needed something to write about. I highly doubt the reviewers of those books read through them with any veracity or barely applied its principles to see if they work, if at all. They needed eyeballs on headlines, and that's that.

Knighting something "bestseller" is on the same level as a participation trophy. It's meaningless. It's only meaningful to people who don't want to go through the bothersome trials of thinking things through and arriving at sound conclusions.

Not only that, most of the books I have read are stuffed with filler. They have only a couple of basic concepts which can be explained in a few pages. The rest is padded with painful prattle. That's why I like summary books, like Cliffnotes.

Original thought, pioneer thinking, wisdom - it's hard to come by in books, but there are some gems for me, and not many of them have to do with business or making money. I'm not even certain of their bestseller status. Here they are:

Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini.

I didn't even have to look up the title or author of the book to remember it here. It is one of the most insightful, well-grounded books I have ever read on human behavior. I have started reading his follow-up Presuasion [sic] and it is turning out to be just as revolutionary.

I've read a couple of books Stoicism which really helped me from a mental and emotional point of view.

The Little Book of Stoicism
The Daily Stoic

Of course, The Millionaire Fastlane absolutely shook my world years ago. I've applied it these past couple of years to build a business. Took me one year and a half of grueling effort to just get my first sale!

 

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[Moritz_J]

Book:
My children will be born rich. This is what I will teach them: How to win in capitalism and morality.

Author:
Saygin Yalcin

Genre:
Business

Subject/Description:
Transform your mindset from a mere idea to the reality of a successful business.

Amazon Link:

My children will be born rich. This is what I will teach them.: How to win in capitalism and morality.: Yalcin, Saygin: 9789948193968: Amazon.com: Books

My children will be born rich. This is what I will teach them.: How to win in capitalism and morality. [Yalcin, Saygin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. My children will be born rich. This is what I will teach them.: How to win in capitalism and morality.

www.amazon.com

Very good read! I have already met Saygin Yalcin in person.
He had multiple successful exits, one of them to Amazon >500 Mio USD

Many things in the book fit perfectly in the area of MJ's Fastlane Entrepreneurship, for example
- Saving all your money will not make you rich
- Your passion is a not a good area for your business. Before becoming a successful entrepreneur, he often worked as a DJ. Saygin himself reports in interviews that he used to undercut all other DJs because he did it for very little money or even just for drinks

 

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[Fox]

I really like this book...

177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class: The Thought Processes, Habits and Philosophies of the Great Ones: Steve Siebold: 9780975500309: Amazon.com: Books

177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class: The Thought Processes, Habits and Philosophies of the Great Ones [Steve Siebold] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class: The Thought Processes, Habits and Philosophies of the Great Ones

www.amazon.com

 

[Speculatooor]

So many bestsellers and famous authors in this thread it's no longer making much sense.

This lol

Here’s my actual hidden gem book

Book: The Sovereign Individual - Mastering the transition to the information age
Author: Davidson & Rees-Mogg
Genre: History/Politics/Economics
Subject/Description:
This book was written before the internet became mainstream, and basically predicted everything that has happened since correct. Why? The authors have deep knowledge about power systems, and the effect disruptive technology has on them. Think about the printing press and the church for example.
The authors project the future and how to prepare yourself for it (because a LOT of people will get left behind and rekt)

This book is the most paradigm shifting experience I have had apart from MJ DeMarco’s books.

 

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[MTF]

This lol

Here’s my actual hidden gem book

The Sovereign Individual is also super well known and often recommended.

IMO only something with no more than 100-200 reviews AT MOST (and more like maybe a few dozen) can be called a hidden gem.

And here people are recommending books with thousands of reviews or written by well-known people.

What constitutes a bestseller is subjective but come on...

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Book: Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Author: Lindsay Gibson
Genre: Self-development
Subject/Description: Helps adults who have had immature parents during their upbringing heal from emotional neglect and other causes. We as children growing up need emotional support for various use cases or events that occur during our lifetime. If this is not provided by our parents when we become adults. It will be hard for us to communicate with others and express how we feel. We also get this huge self-worth problem as if people just don't care at all. This book opened my eyes to what has happened in my upbringing. I was neglected by my parents, I was the kid on the computer. My parents barely checked in with me. I was "straight as an arrow" as they will say, meaning that I always knew what I wanted to do growing up. I was the kid they never had to worried about which thus created that exclusion feeling I felt back then of not being paid attention to. Definitely a good book for anyone who needs self-healing and might I add my parents were the distant parents.

Definitely a great book, a must read. Yes, I've read it. I think @Red recommended this one to me.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Was actually going through the list people provided on my internal query... my reading list just grew by 10X. Had over 500 responses. About 25% were auto-disqualified for already being best sellers. Normally I don't read books for the sake of reading, but I found some real interesting stuff.

As for when I'll have the official PDF file for reading, it is still being compiled. Obviously I have a lot of other things going on in my life, so it is a bit lower-priority.

 

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[luniac]

Book: The Elusive Obvious
Author: Moshe Feldenkrais
Genre: Somatics
Subject/Description: The science of somatics, more specifically the Feldenkrais Method.
(optional) Amazon Link:Amazon.com

 

[YearnForMe]

Book: The Tactical Guide to Women: How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage

Author: Shawn T. Smith

Genre: Financial Risk Management / Mate Seeking / Dating

Subject/Description: For a forum (of mostly men) that is building or have built significant wealth, this is a good guide on how to keep the wrong women out of your life (and avoid financial ruin) while allowing the right ones in.

Amazon.com: The Tactical Guide to Women: How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage: 9780990686446: Smith, Shawn T.: Books

Amazon.com: The Tactical Guide to Women: How Men Can Manage Risk in Dating and Marriage: 9780990686446: Smith, Shawn T.: Books

www.amazon.com

• 729 reviews
• Author not very well known

 

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[Speculatooor]

The Sovereign Individual is also super well known and often recommended.

IMO only something with no more than 100-200 reviews AT MOST (and more like maybe a few dozen) can be called a hidden gem.

And here people are recommending books with thousands of reviews or written by well-known people.

What constitutes a bestseller is subjective but come on...

Well, your standards are more rigid than what MJ posted. But whatever, here is the MTF certified hidden gem:

Book: God Wants You Dead
Author: Sean Hastings
Genre: hard to say
Subject/Description:
This book is about how ‘ideas’ and more importantly ‘ideologies’ have their own biological-esque survival/evolving strategy that can work with or against the biological mission of the human itself. Think suicide bombers as ‘against’.
After reading this book you’ll understand how much we are driven by ideology, how it works, and how to defend yourself against it, or even use it in your favor.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I started to look at some of the data on this and lets just say, if your recommended book has 6,000 reviews on Amazon, it's not a "hidden gem" and likely has some big money, big lists, and/or big recommendations behind it. "Essentialism" = 10000 reviews. LOL.

 

[BaiAnrui]

'THE MACHINE - UNDER THE SPELL OF BOOKING.COM​

Booking.com, one of the richest and most successful internet companies in Europe, has been a mystery for twenty-five years. Everyone knows the website, but no one knows the people and the stories behind this deeply Dutch company in U.S. hands. Until now. Three journalists from the major Dutch NRC newspaper present a detailed reconstruction of the dark internet fairy tale of Booking.com, from an idea built by a group of engineering students in Twente in the late 1990s to its development into the largest and most powerful hotel booking platform in world.

This is the never-before told story of Booking's rise, zenith and moral decay; of extravagant parties, runaway internet experiments, duped shareholders, manhandling managers and boardroom squabbles. Above all, it is the story of a company that built the supreme online money-making machine, but in the eternal quest for more, forgot the human beings behind it.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Excited to check this one out!

Good luck! I seriously say picking up "Understanding Sleight of Mouth", too. Actually there are some really old videos of Robert Dilts on Youtube. But the books obviously go into so much more depth

 

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[Johnny boy]

Modern Business Volumes 1-24
Alexander Hamilton Institute
Everything business
If you’re already a businessman and you want to understand the real, deep, esoteric information about how REAL business is done, then read these books.

I have the entire set, printed in 1919. This is just the list of volumes. The whole thing is literally a big box of books.

 

[Johnny boy]

Wow. Have you read the entire series??

I just got it. Like 8000 pages. It’ll keep me busy this year lol.