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Uncommon books that you'd recommend?

For any book discussion

allen0879

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I'm looking for something new to read, but I'm tired of reading popular books that you find on all of the "lists" that everyone else is reading.

Do you have any good book recommendations that are off the beaten path?

I just read The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King
and loved the hell out of it.

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." --Haruki Murakami
 
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csalvato

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I'm looking for something new to read, but I'm tired of reading popular books that you find on all of the "lists" that everyone else is reading.

Do you have any good book recommendations that are off the beaten path?

I just read The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King
and loved the hell out of it.

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." --Haruki Murakami

This is the most obscure book that I recommend most often: THE STRUCTURE OF MAGIC VOLUME I

 

Primeperiwinkle

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What is the goal you’re trying to accomplish by reading?

Are you building vocabulary while trying to see the world from a different point of view?
Are you hoping to refresh your soul or challenge your mind?
Are you wanting information downloaded into your brain so you can make better choices for a topic?
Do you want to understand the connections between the past and the present?

There are too many books in the world to read them all.. you gotta have some idea of what your goal is.
 

allen0879

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What is the goal you’re trying to accomplish by reading?

Are you building vocabulary while trying to see the world from a different point of view?
Are you hoping to refresh your soul or challenge your mind?
Are you wanting information downloaded into your brain so you can make better choices for a topic?
Do you want to understand the connections between the past and the present?

There are too many books in the world to read them all.. you gotta have some idea of what your goal is.
All of the above.
 

c_morris

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I really like The Next 100 Years by George Friedman. He's a geopolitical expert and forecaster. The book is his take on what the 21st century will bring. It is not a self help or entrepreneurship book, but an interesting read nonetheless.
 
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ZF Lee

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I would recommend 12 rules for life by Jordan Peterson and principals by ray dalio. Not very obscure books, but they’re dense and most people won’t read through them.
Don’t forget Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio.
Presents some frameworks of how he and his firm look at debt cycles to foresee crashes and opportunities.

To fully understand the finance lingo, it took me a few college classes on Commercial Banking and Portfolio Management- and I found it to be a great study book on historic crashes, and how they might relate to today.
 

Kak

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The Wright Brothers- David McCullough

Zero to One- Peter Thiel

Good Profit- Charles Koch
 
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Kevin88660

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lewj24

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The Way to Willpower by Henry Hazlitt.

Was written 100 years ago by Henry Hazlitt who is a famous Austrian economist. I haven't read a better book on willpower yet.
 

AdamUK

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"Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life,"

is an interesting book. I think someone recommended it here
 
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Kevin88660

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"Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life,"

is an interesting book. I think someone recommended it here
“Thick Face Black Heart” is the Chinese version of machiavellian art. It is the kind of stuff that people would nor talk about too openly.
 

Johnny boy

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My biggest book recommendation is “pimpology” by “pimpin’ Ken”

My favorite book about management and people skills.

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JIRS

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Antifragile by Nassim Taleb.

I absolutely hate the author, but if you are able to digest the book, the message in it is pretty deep and revealing, and it is a nice complement to The Millionaire Fastlane .

I'd have to read the book again, but one of the messages it left me is the following regarding businesses and the way you structure your life project:

Things that are fragile:
  • Have small multiple payouts but hidden big risks. For example 9-5 job with paycheck with debt, and a looming recession coming your way without knowing it.
Things that are robust:
  • A small business where you are shielded from a recession, but will never really give you any big upsides. May still be fragile.
Things that are antifragile:
  • The contrarian investment instruments in his' fund portfolio, which are designed to make his investors rich in the case of a major shit hit the fan calamity financial recession.
  • Any business where you risk little daily, provides some money, but is positioned to explode (big expected return in specific events).
 

Bryan James

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"The Code Breakers" by David Kahn is the greatest book of all time.

It's a history of coded messages and the folks who created and broke them, and the consequences they've had on the world throughout history.
 

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GoodluckChuck

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This book completely changed the way I view the world when I was 18. Presented a speech on this book in Comm class. Definitely an interesting peak into the formation of the federal reserve.
 
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GoodluckChuck

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Someone else mentioned antifragile by Nassim Taken which is a cool book. I've read a few of his books and I have to say they are pretty disorganized at times and fill of tangents. With that said, I've never read an author that made me sit back and think as much as Nassim.

My fav book of his is Skin in the Game. It's a shorter read than Antifragile and very interesting for those interested in business and economics.

After reading this I began structuring deals that made sure everyone has skin in the game to avoid some of the pitfalls that come with people not having real consequences to their actions. It made it easier to lower the risk for my clients because I emphasized that I had skin in the game too and would want the project to succeed for my own well being, not just theirs.
 

FierceRacoon

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"Managing through the entrepreneurial fog" by Tim Koprowski. Chances are you haven't read that one. The guy whom I've spoken to personally a number of times was a hospital administrator in the Air Force and subsequently quit to found his own company selling materials management software to huge hospital chains. He has visited 49 out of 50 states in the course of running his business. He had to eventually quit and retire due to health issues.

"My wicked, wicked ways" by Errol Flynn. Warning: this autobiography does not mesh well with traditional morality and may be considered offensive. However, it describes outlandish entrepreneurial experiences, including running a coconut plantation, making money on cockfights, navigating a passenger boat, digging for gold and much more, all done by a guy with very little schooling who went on to become a successful Hollywood actor.
 

raritee

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"Why You are Still a Slave" is a book that I borrowed in my kindle library that was surprisingly good and somewhat original.

I like the books by the creator of "Dilbert" Scott Adams: "How to Win Bigly", "How to Fail and Succeed" and "Loserthink".

I also like the Nassim Tallib books.

"Deviate" by Beau Lotto is an interesting book on neuroscience.
 

allen0879

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raritee

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Is this book legit? Or is this mostly conspiracy theory?

I just read the free sample on Amazon .... so I am no expert on it. But .... if you put conspiracy aside ... it seems legit to me. And really .... conspiracy is a matter of degree. A group of people who look out for their interests conspire by definition. It is only a matter of degrees.

I thought that it was interesting that the book I recommended "Why are You Still a Slave?" may have used the premise of "The Creature of Jekyl Island" as foundation material. It is also interesting that "The Creature of Jekyl Island" predicted the future.

The acid test of whether something is true or not is how well it predicts the future? I get that from the Scott Adam's books.
 

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