The Ultimate Guide On What Books To Read

[Argue]

• Contagious: Why Things Catch On
• Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist
• Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition
• Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
• Thinking, Fast and Slow

• Cashvertising
• The Boron Letters
• How to Write a Good Advertisement
• Ogilvy on Advertising
• Tested Advertising Methods

• Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat
• Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
• The Lean Startup
• The Millionaire Fastlane
• Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship
• Rich Dad Poor Dad

• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• Building a Story Brand
• Expert Secrets
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
• The 1-Page Marketing Plan
• Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want

• Awaken The Giant Within
• Emotional Intelligence 2.0
• Gorilla Mindset
• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• Psycho-Cybernetics
• The Obstacle is the Way
• The One Thing

• Fanatical Prospecting
• How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling
• SPIN Selling
• The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Way of the Wolf

• Brand Seduction
• Business Model Generation
• Brand Identity Breakthrough
• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
• Kellogg on Branding

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812993012/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812993012/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20Creativity, Inc.
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/0066620996/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20https://www.amazon.com/dp/0066620996/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501124021/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501124021/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20Principles: Life and Work
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/159562015X/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20https://www.amazon.com/dp/159562015X/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20StrengthsFinder 2.0
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/0787960756/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20https://www.amazon.com/dp/0787960756/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

 

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[Argue]

1. Please CLICK HERE before posting. MJ says that you “should only read a book that will help solve YOUR problem.”

2. These books are suggested from the Fastlane Bookstore HERE. Also, some are from the best seller category— from Amazon.

3. The books selected are listed for the following reason(s):

• These books help you solve a problem.
• They're relevant for today’s entrepreneur.
• These books are practical, less theoretical.
• These books help you take actionable steps.

4. Do you have a book suggestion? Nice, please share it in this thread. Thanks.

 

[Saiful]

• Blue Ocean Strategy by Renée Mauborgne. -Marketing

MJ DeMarco is recommended it in a podcast.

MJ DeMarco: Other than my own book, it would be probably “The Blue Ocean Strategy” because it’s highly focused on creating needs, which is a centrist theory to the fastlane, which is solving needs, fixing problems, fixing pain points. The Blue Ocean Strategy kind of trains your eye to see what other people aren’t seeing.

 

[Argue]

Here are some tricks I use to read the books in this thread.

1. Credit to @eGrizzly thread HERE, I start off with an appetizer (yum).

• Get Kindle Unlimited
• Go to Amazon and type "summary + book title"
• For example, "summary + The 4-Hour Work Week"
• Read the summary for main ideas

2. After I've read the summary, I'm desperately hungry for more! I go on audible.com, then I listen to the whole book for the meat and potatoes (potatoes, yum)!

• Get audible
• Listen to the book on your drive to work
• Listen to the book when you're working out
• Listen to the book on the toilet (meat and potatoes can cause an upset stomach)

3. After I've satisfied my hunger, I get dessert. I simply buy the physical book. The author's do a great job sharing KNAWLEDGE. They deserve our support (especially top dawg @MJ DeMarco! Buy the books.

• Physical books are great to take notes in (good ole' fashion paper, ah)
• Great for a quick reference
• You gotta love that new book smell

Want More? Share your thoughts by voting in this poll on how you read! ​

​

 

[AllenCrawley]

Don't forget to also check out the Fastlane Bookstore:
Books Fastlaners Recommend

 

[Silver Silk]

48 laws of power by Robert Greene is key.
The Prince By niccolo machiavelli is also key.
The Art Of War - Sun Tzu

Ive just mentioned a few strategy books but strategy is key, the right plan must be in motion. Life isn't fair and everybody needs to arm themselves with the knowledge to defend against and to swim with the sharks. Business is really about survival and unfortunately anything goes in the real world as I'm sure everyone is aware of, so it is important to always try to get that one step ahead.

 

[S.Y.]

Under mindset:

- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
- Letters from a stoic by Seneca

Both are timeless principles to live, extremely useful to stay compose under pressure and navigate life.

 

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[Dunkafelics]

Boo yeah!

I was looking for this thread for awhile... and then remembered that I had it saved.

Anyways I would like to recommend a new book that is not on the list.

It could be in a category of its own under - Negotiation

It is called - "Never Split The Difference - Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It" by Chris Voss

I've listened to this book twice on audiobook in the last month and have purchased a copy on Kindle. It is written by one of the top FBI Hostage Negotiators of the last 20 years who has recently transitioned into the business world and teaches these same techniques to anyone who is willing to listen. The simple, everyday principles that he teaches in this book will help you negotiate business contracts, a purchase of a new car and if you have kids, with them too!

He charges about $1500 a day for one of his courses, but you can get the book for like $10-30 bucks depending on which avenue you go.

I don't recommend things very often (other than the Millionaire Fastlane and Unscripted ) but this is a book you MUST read.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Interested in Psychology?

Read: Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Notes from Underground
• Crime and Punishment
• The Idiot
• Demons
• The Brothers Karamazov

Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are fantastic.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Where's the Branding section?!

My two main recommendations for Branding:

1. Fascinate - How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist (I see you have it under Consumer Behavior)
2. Brand Seduction - How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brands

Management & Leadership:

• Creativity, Inc. - Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

 

[Argue]

• Designing Brand Identity
• Don't Make Me Think
• HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
• JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development
• The Non-Designer's Design Book

• Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder
• Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life... And Maybe the World
• The Body Fat Solution
• The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

 

[Olimac21]

I would add "Zero to One"-Peter Thiel and "Anything you want"-Derek Sivers in entrepreneurship.

In mindset "Deep Work"-Cal Newport.

 

[The Abundant Man]

Twilight
Twilight: New Moon
Twilight: Breaking Dawn

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
THe Hunger Games: Monckingjay

Fifty Shades of Gray
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed

In all seriousness, biographies such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Losing Your Virginity and Finding Your Virginity by Richard Branson, Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenger(Made his first million from Real Estate and started a landscaping business when he first got to the US) etc.

 

[PedroG]

Great list! I'm currently reading Psycho-Cybernetics. Awesome, awesome book!

While Tony Robbins does mention some of the concepts in this book, Psycho-Cybernetics goes deeper into the notion that everything that you do is consistent with your self-image, so to change your behavior or results you have to change that self-image.

It also covers the use of your imagination to program your automatic mechanism and give it a goal/end result, so it can steer you in that direction automatically.

 

[DustinH]

Which of these books is good for execution?

I would read stuff that talk about "process". TMF talks about being process oriented vs event (result) oriented. The 10X Rule talks about how to structure your daily activities for success. The ONE Thing talks about focusing daily efforts on the thing that leads to the most success in your business. The 4DX book talks about measuring leading and lagging indicators to measure your progress. Sports coaches have really adopted a process-oriented approach to their programs. A very famous American Football coach named Nick Saban talks about their daily process and defines it really well. He has the success to prove it... but I still don't like Alabama.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Marked NOTABLE, one of the top viewed threads on the forum.

 

[CPisHere]

This is a great list. I've added a few of these to my Wish List, have read half of them already.

 

[Maxboost]

Mel Robbins 5 second rule

 

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[Saiful]

Management & Leadership:

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

Recommended by MJ

 

[Olimac21]

Under mindset:

- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
- Letters from a stoic by Seneca

Both are timeless principles to live, extremely useful to stay compose under pressure and navigate life.

Under the same kind of reading, I would also add: On the shortness of life-Seneca

 

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[Argue]

Which of these books is good for execution?

My personal favorite is The Millionaire Fastlane .

 

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[Saiful]

StartUp:
Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers by
Gabriel Weinberg
Gabriel Weinberg is the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, the search engine that doesn't track you with over three billion searches in 2015. Previously he was the cofounder and CEO of Opobox, which was sold for $10 million.

This book draws on interviews with the following individuals:

Jimmy Wales, Co-founder of Wikipedia
Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of reddit
Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup
Rand Fishkin, Founder of SEOmoz
Noah Kagan, Founder of AppSumo
Patrick McKenzie, CEO of Bingo Card Creator
Sam Yagan, Co-founder of OkCupid
Andrew Chen, Investor at 500 Startups
Justin Kan, Founder of Justin.tv
Mark Cramer, CEO of SurfCanyon
Colin Nederkoorn, CEO of Customer.io
Jason Cohen, Founder of WP Engine
Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round
Paul English, CEO of Kayak.com
Rob Walling, Founder of MicroConf
Brian Riley, Co-founder of SlidePad
Steve Welch, Co-founder of DreamIt
Jason Kincaid, Blogger at TechCrunch
Nikhil Sethi, Founder of Adaptly
Rick Perreault, CEO of Unbounce
Alex Pachikov, Co-founder of Evernote
David Skok, Partner at Matrix
Ashish Kundra, CEO of myZamana
David Hauser, Founder of Grasshopper
Matt Monahan, CEO of Inflection
Jeff Atwood, Co-founder of Discourse
Dan Martell, CEO of Clarity.fm
Chris McCann, Founder of StartupDigest
Ryan Holiday, Exec at American Apparel
Todd Vollmer, Enterprise Sales Veteran
Sandi MacPherson, Founder of Quibb
Andrew Warner, Founder of Mixergy
Sean Murphy, Founder of SKMurphy
Satish Dharmaraj, Partner at Redpoint
Garry Tan, Partner at Y Combinator
Steve Barsh, CEO of Packlate
Michael Bodekaer, Co-founder of Smart Launch
Zack Linford, Founder of Optimozo

 

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[Captain04]

Mindset by Dr Carol S. Dweck should also be under the mindset section.

 

[Fruitcake]

Business

“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Eker

“The Millionaire Fastlane ” by M.J. DeMarco

“The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason

“Anything You Want” by Derek Sivers

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey

Life

“Total Recall” by Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Unscripted ” by M.J. DeMarco

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson

“As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

“Solve for Happy” by Mo Gawdat

“The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg

“On the Shortness of Life” by Seneca

“Outwitting the Devil” by Napoleon Hill

“On Human Freedom” by Epictetus

Fiction

“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger

“The Alchemist” by Paolo Coelho

“Post Office” by Charles Bukowski

“The Intolerable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera

 

[Maxboost]

Jordan Belfort "The way of the wolf-Straight Line Persuasion" - Sales

 

[Joaquim]

Thanks @Argue, there are a few new titles I haven't heard of!
@Saiful: 100% agree on Blue ocean strategy.

I think the following titles should also be added:

Customer behaviour:
- Thinking, fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman (this book is from another world, but a bit hard to go through).

Marketing:
- 22 immutable laws of marketing. (short but gold)


Have read these 2 books recently and I can recommend it to everyone!

 

[ShinyCarlos]

@K Bedward Agree!
I totaly recommend The Art of War, which is very clear and approachable.
I've read The Prince, but so hard to understand.. I put it aside and will read it again maybe in few year.

 

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[Olimac21]

Interested in Psychology?

Read: Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Notes from Underground
• Crime and Punishment
• The Idiot
• Demons
• The Brothers Karamazov

Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are fantastic.

100% agreed, tough to read but very very interesting

 

[DustinH]

In the sales category I would recommend "The Secrets of Question-Based Selling" by Thomas Freese. Also, I would recommend "Time Management for Entrepreneurs" by Dan Kennedy.

 

[ironman150]

this, quite literally, is a thread that will never end and could break the internet by sheer weight. Some gems in here though.