I only read "best-selling" books which gives me a curated, narrow viewpoint.

[Black_Dragon43]

I encountered this problem when I was looking for books similar to, ironically, mentioned by you Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. Most recommendations looked as if copied from the bestseller lists without the author of the post ever reading them. There were always the same books on the list and always the ones I had seen hundreds of times before. Many weren't even that related to Can't Hurt Me. Two books may share the same genre but be for completely different readers, like Can't Hurt Me and Atomic Habits.

I eventually created my own list (and keep adding new books to it regularly) and am always trying to find new "underground" hits.

I think the problem is that these lesser known books are often a hit or miss. For example, I only add to my list books that I really enjoyed reading that contained something valuable that stood out. Usually I only recommend 1 out of 3-4 books I read and out of 25+ that I recommend there are just a few that I think everyone should definitely read.

I have a lot of time to read and treat it almost like a job so it's not a big deal to me to read some average books but I can imagine that people with little time want to be guaranteed a good read (or as close to a guarantee as you can get).

Granted, limiting yourself to big bestsellers only definitely limits your thinking and makes you sound a bit like a stereotypical business/self-help/whatever genre you read reader.

I'm definitely not saying "don't read bestsellers" but it does make me a little suspicious when someone says that their favorite book is a book that happens to be one of the big bestsellers (and definitely when their top3 are all 3 super well-known books).

Here’s one you’ll enjoy @MTF

Relentless, by Tim Grover

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

I think the best books always find a way of getting out there even if they don't get on the best seller list. Look at all the people on this forum that read Fastlane Millionaire.

While I thank you for the compliment, I know for a fact that isn't true.

 

[Antifragile]

While I thank you for the compliment, I know for a fact that isn't true.

I cannot remember exactly how I got your book in the first place, but it had to have been from some list or a recommendation. It was Unscripted .

Before I bought, I checked ratings and guess what:

{REMOVED}

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Halbert, Kennedy, and the rest of bro-marketing gang

I agree about Halbert, and also about Hormozi. If you have read the direct marketing greats, you won’t get much out of Hormozi’s book.

I think Kennedy is a bit more nuanced though. He does think marketing is the most important function of a business, but at the same time he knows that the most important type of marketing is the marketing you get from satisfied, even impressed customers. His biggest quirk with most businesses is that they invest so much in acquiring new customers and so little in reselling to existing customers, getting referrals & keeping them happy… even though it’s about 10x as hard to acquire a new customer than to resell to an existing one.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[S.Y.]

Looking forward to the list that you have compiled.

In terms of books that should be recommended:
- Beyong Good and Evil and The Genealogy of Morals - both from Nietzsche (no clue if they are on Best sellers, I pick Nietzche because of the polemic about his works. No regret)
- The Lessons of History (Will and Ariel Durant)
- Storyworthy (Mathew Dicks)
- The prosperity paradox
- The Way of Men
- Work Clean (Dan Charnas)
- Civilized to Death (Christopher Ryan)
- Thank you for arguing (Jay Heinrichs)
- Xenophon's Cyrus the Great (Larry H)

 

[Johnny boy]

Stumbled upon some books when I was a young'n, and it has made all the difference.

Pimpology - Pimpin Ken



Bold and determined volumes



I'm basically done reading most books except for specific things like if I need to read up on laws for an industry I'm in. For a classic car leasing company I plan on starting soon I read the 'truth in lending' act and regulation M. For franchising my current company I've been reading some lengthy old books written about being a franchisor and doing it the right way, the same books the lawyers that handle that stuff read.

I already know what I need to do I'm just busy executing on it for the next few years.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Weird debates on this thread that don't make sense. Lots of all or nothing thinking. It don't work dat way (yes, dialect intentional).

Sometimes curation and reviews are good, sometimes they aren't. Sometimes you find a hidden gem, lots of times the books that aren't popular are crap. Many of the bestsellers are pretty good, many of them are the same old junk (who has the biggest marketing budget? That's who is at the top of the list). You get the idea.

It's not so cut and dry, but the gist of this thread is pretty much true as far as I'm concerned. Not that anybody asked me, just adding myself to the thread

But yeah, the majority of written works do not become NYT bestsellers, meaning the majority of what's out there isn't a NYT bestseller, meaning the majority of great books are not NYT bestsellers... am I saying this right...

Just because something is popular doesn't make it true, and just because something is rare doesn't make it special.

I came across TMFL from a random Youtube channel about how to make money! The book won on merit!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[David Fitz]

I think it was Joe Rogan saying recently about the Cameron Hanes book Endure, it sold more copies than any other new released self development book but the New York Times put it in a different sector so it doesn't become number 1. He said it's got to do with politics. Hanes is conservative and NY Times are libs.

So this can effect how books get their names out there too but that book is still very popular.

 

[luniac]

Or 'The Use Of The Self' by F.M. Alexander.
Quite tough reading but shows the vast extent to which he developed the Alexander Technique through relentless self-observation, questioning and conscious constructive control. It won't exactly help one in the sense of learning AT but is very enlightening reading the 'theory' of the deep mental processes behind it all. Worth noting that Feldenkrais took inspiration from AT, just repackaging it more simply - not as deeply, as far as I know. Though I only study AT (so far have been for over 2 years) so can't comment too much on the subject of Feldenkrais.
Neurodynamics by Ted Dimon might be an interesting read too

I have read "mans supreme inheritance" by FM Alexander, im familiar with his work.

You are incorrect about Feldenkrais "repackaging it more simply, not as deeply". Its the exact opposite, Feldenkrais came after Alexander and developed the work far beyond alexander. Feldenkrais had actually met alexander.

One of the limitation of Alexander was overly focusing on Pelvic and Head relationship, and that noone can do the practice on their own, that they need an Alexander Technique teacher in person to guide them to proper self usage.

In Feldenkrais this is not so, there are countless(literally hundreds and hundreds) of "Awareness Through Movement" lessons available for you to do on your own to refine your functioning.

So in short, Alexander is immortalized as one of founders of this whole field of work in the West, but has long been surpassed by more robust modalities such as Feldenkrais.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Please stop posting your "hidden-gem" recommendations here, these can now be posted here:

HOT! - BOOKS - Great books that are NOT best-sellers. Share yours.

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...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Please do not recommend something that is a best-seller as in doing so, your post is subject to deletion. Follow the criteria listed.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Ganglion]

I've read many books that gave me great ideas and made me think that book was amazing! But none of them have made me rich.

For as long as I am not rich, I am in no place to recommend (or rate on amazon) a book on wealth creation.

The vast majority of people who rate a wealth creation book on amazon, or fervently recommend one on online forums, are not wealthy, so their rating/recommendation counts for nothing.

I tried looking on online forums for recommendations on books that help you get rich, only to realise that all these people recommending the likes of The Millionaire Next Door and The Richest Man In Babylon, are STILL POOR.

The question is, what books are RICH people recommending? Are they even recommending that books were a key to their success?

The proportion of RICH people leaving amazon reviews is very small. The proportion of RICH people hanging around on online forums making recommendations for books is very small.

When I read wealth creation books now, I read books by verified self made RICH people. I also find value in listening to podcast interviews of self made RICH people.

 

[David Fitz]

I've read many books that gave me great ideas and made me think that book was amazing! But none of them have made me rich.

For as long as I am not rich, I am in no place to recommend (or rate on amazon) a book on wealth creation.

The vast majority of people who rate a wealth creation book on amazon, or fervently recommend one on online forums, are not wealthy, so their rating/recommendation counts for nothing.

I tried looking on online forums for recommendations on books that help you get rich, only to realise that all these people recommending the likes of The Millionaire Next Door and The Richest Man In Babylon, are STILL POOR.

The question is, what books are RICH people recommending? Are they even recommending that books were a key to their success?

The proportion of RICH people leaving amazon reviews is very small. The proportion of RICH people hanging around on online forums making recommendations for books is very small.

When I read wealth creation books now, I read books by verified self made RICH people. I also find value in listening to podcast interviews of self made RICH people.

Jeff Bezos is known to have used Good to Great by Jim Collins to help Amazon. He's also a fan of Nassim Taleb.

You'll find that rich people recommend books because they actually use them. People who aren't rich read books and don't use them, hence why they stay broke.

 

[James Mayhew]

I have read "mans supreme inheritance" by FM Alexander, im familiar with his work.

You are incorrect about Feldenkrais "repackaging it more simply, not as deeply". Its the exact opposite, Feldenkrais came after Alexander and developed the work far beyond alexander. Feldenkrais had actually met alexander.

One of the limitation of Alexander was overly focusing on Pelvic and Head relationship, and that noone can do the practice on their own, that they need an Alexander Technique teacher in person to guide them to proper self usage.

In Feldenkrais this is not so, there are countless(literally hundreds and hundreds) of "Awareness Through Movement" lessons available for you to do on your own to refine your functioning.

So in short, Alexander is immortalized as one of founders of this whole field of work in the West, but has long been surpassed by more robust modalities such as Feldenkrais.

So - I was thinking about writing a long piece refuting your points, of which there are many that are easily refutable, but decided it better to leave this particular debate on the wayside. The reason being that I suspect such an exchange would only serve to embolden both our contrasting views on the matter, and would quite simply be a waste of thought, failing to bring any benefit to either side when we both appear to be entrenched in our respective opinions.

Let me, however, leave you with my notion, which is that I have been having lessons with one of the best AT teachers around for just over 2 years, resulting in the most utterly spectacular and truly life-changing transformation of the use of my self on all levels. (If you want I can detail the transformation should you wish). And that it would be an understatement of the severest manner possible to call it a deeply affecting teaching, that is, Alexander’s teachings.
Call me ignorant but I find it hard to see it being long since surpassed by more robust modalities. If that were so, I would be an angel floating transcendentally, had I used them instead. Basically, experience proves to be the best teacher here in matters involving the labyrinth of bringing about our habitual workings into a consciously-directed condition.

P.S. I’ve managed to write a long-ish piece anyway…
Also out of curiosity have you had teaching of either Feldenkrais or Alexander?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CDM]

That said, to many of the people who DID respond with some great underexposed, underground books, I will post the results of survey before the end of the month. Really had some great responses and I will likely need to live to 120 to read them all.

@MJ DeMarco Very interested in seeing the full list.

 

[Fasoon]

Oh wow! This thread is amazing. I've actually never realised but I've been affected by the group think because I've worried that if it's not on the list then it hasn't made past the filtering of so many people and thus would be boring.

In hindsight, the best books that I've ever come across like MFL, Never Split the difference and Breath all have come from personal suggestions, podcasts or a friend and I've never seen these books on the recommendation list.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Best-seller lists are all editorial decisions made by media powers.
Best-seller lists shape public perceptions.

Hence proving what I've been saying all along.

Hitting a "best seller" list doesn't mean "this is what everyone's reading" -- it means "this is what we want everyone to think, everyone is reading."

In other words, your best sellers are curated so you think, what the powers need you need to think.

What Counts as a Bestseller? - Public Books

A fundamental truth about bestseller lists? They are not a neutral window into what the public is really reading.

www.publicbooks.org

Books on a best-seller list, in other words, are therefore stamped with "narrative approved" or "not dangerous to the narrative" -- because if they were, they wouldn't be on the best-seller list in the first place.

Which is why I always approach any "national" best-seller with caution and skepticism.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Simon Angel]

Best-seller lists are all editorial decisions made by media powers.
Best-seller lists shape public perceptions.

Hence proving what I've been saying all along.

Hitting a "best seller" list doesn't mean "this is what everyone's reading" -- it means "this is what we want everyone to think, everyone is reading."

In other words, your best sellers are curated so you think, what the powers need you need to think.



View attachment 45515

What Counts as a Bestseller? - Public Books

A fundamental truth about bestseller lists? They are not a neutral window into what the public is really reading.

www.publicbooks.org

Books on a best-seller list, in other words, are therefore stamped with "narrative approved" or "not dangerous to the narrative" -- because if they were, they wouldn't be on the best-seller list in the first place.

Which is why I always approach any "national" best-seller with caution and skepticism.

Who needs TMF when all you have to do is drink water instead of coffee and save every penny you can to become as rich as Mark Cuban.