The Key Takeaways from 61+ Great Books I’ve Read

Below you’ll find a narrowed down selection of some of the best books I’ve read–and each book’s #1 key takeaway, in one paragraph. 1

I’ve divided these 61+ books over the following categories:

1. Investment philosophy
2. Contrarianism
3. Trends, Manias, and Great Hoaxes
4. Cognitive Biases
5. Philosophy, History, Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Psychology
6. Self-Development & Success.
7. Become “future proof”, Education, and Politics
8. Entrepreneurship & You.Inc Think
9. Management, System-building, and Leadership

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Investment Philosophy

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1) The Most Important Thing

This is the best newbie book on investing I’ve come across. And in case you’re wondering, “the most important thing” is knowing how to manage risk.

(Credit goes to Mikael Syding for letting me borrow and read his copy.)

 

2) Fooled by Randomness

Most people don’t perceive reality as probabilistic. Most people misinterpret results and mistake cause for effect. This leads to all manner of problems in popular culture and investing.

 

3) Margin of Safety 2

In everything you do–especially investing–you want to have a margin of safety to protect you from unforeseen problems. Buffett says to not cross a bridge that can only carry 5 ton if your truck weighs 4,9 tons. It’s not worth the risk. If that doesn’t help, here are two quotes to illustrate what margin of safety means:

Never forget the 6-foot-tall man who drowned crossing the stream that was 5 feet deep on average.

—Howard Marks

In engineering, people have a big margin of safety. But in the financial world, people don’t give a damn about safety. They let it balloon and balloon and balloon. It’s aided by false accounting.

–Charles Munger

 

4) The Black Swan

More often than we would like to believe, unpredictable and unexpected things happen. A person I know was set to make LOTS of money on his airline business, then they launched it. . . on 9/11. That was a black swan incident.

 

5) Fools Die

This is the #2 best novel I’ve read (by the author of the Godfather). It’s basically the 4 books above, but put into an entertaining plot. You have to be patient and think ahead to become successful and lead a life of your own design. Fools–who live for the moment–die from their silly mistakes.

Contrarianism

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6) The Art of Contrary Thinking

The crowd is rarely right when it comes to the timing of trends or cycles:

The human herd, like the Gadarene swine, loves to go stampeding off “together” after some real or imagined goal, and nearly always goes too far.

This book has a ton of practical tips for thinking MORE, thinking differently, and becoming a more creative thinker.  Some of the best examples:

• So-and-so think X will happen, but what if the opposite happens?
• What other scenarios are possible?
• What don’t I know about [. . .] that I need to know?

 

7) Call me Ted

Extremely inspiring and actionable. Ted Turner is the MAN. This book has 100x examples of how it pays to be a contrarian both in thinking and as a long-term business strategy (vis-a-vis your rivals).

 

8) Different

The best marketing/branding book I’ve read. Differentiation is tricky.

People love to delude themselves into thinking they’re different, unique, and special. But in 99% of the cases, they’re really not. Unfortunately, this is true in marketing and branding as well 3. The average person misunderstands (and sucks at) marketing and branding.

Trends, Manias, and Great Hoaxes

9) Extraordinary Popular Delusions of the Crowd

A bunch of historical examples of bubbles, mad hysteria, and irrational mass-movements. In all of these crowd-induced happenings–especially money-schemes–at least 90 % of the people lose. Only a minority of people profit from bubbles, and they typically profit from the stupidity of the other people 4.

–This book will inevitably make you question what’s going on today. . .

 

10) Lessons of History

Probably the best (introductory) book about history. Some key takeaways:

• Common mistakes to avoid (when reading history).
• Wealth distribution is a function of talent distribution, which is extremely unevenly distributed.5
• Pros & cons with different forms of government.

Highly recommended.

 

11) Propaganda

Most people are brainwashed without knowing it. The best propaganda and PR is already baked into popular culture. Especially in the U.S.

 

12) Crystallizing Public Opinion

Practical methods for creating public opinion (which is a must in a democracy). These methods are followed down to the last detail in election campaigns.

 

Cognitive Biases

13) Poor Charlie’s Almanack & Seeking Wisdom

(These two books are a summary of Charles Munger’s biggest ideas)

PCA:

Read Munger’s speech “Psychology of Misjudgment” to get a basic understanding of how cognitive biases (profoundly) influence society.

Seeking Wisdom:

Currently the best book on cognitive biases and how to think rationally6, but it’s a harder read than PCA. 7

 

14) Michele de Montaigne — Complete Essays

Almost all of Montaigne’s essays are about cognitive biases or other psychological effects. Read this book as a way to practice cognitive biases. Plus it’s fun, educational, and practical.

 

15) The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Aphorisms about how to create contrast, scarcity, and raise perceived value. Often this is done through the golden mean. Sometimes you can even obtain the dual path of greatness8. Read this to practice cognitive biases too. Most of Gracian’s aphorisms are about psychological effects.

 

16) The Screwtape Letters

From the author of Narnia! Short and fun book about cognitive biases, coping mechanisms and fundamental needs–as rationalized by a Christian person. This book will help you identify and overcome many excuses.

 

17) Rules for Radicals

Pragmatism and psychology for creating societal change9. For badasses only. Good practice for cognitive biases and crowd psychology here too.

 

18) Thinking Fast & Slow

Good book, but overrated (in comparison to the books above). You’ll learn a bunch of cognitive biases and other mental shortcuts that you need to overcome to become smarter. Seeking Wisdom & PCA are superior.

 

19) Influence

Same as 18)–but easier to read, and contains more memorable trivia.

Philosophy, History, Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Psychology

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20) Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged

It’s impossible to be a leftist after reading these two books. 10

Fountainhead:

The best novel I ever read. The fundamental mindset it takes to become successful and self-oriented. Especially the part about Gail Wynand is good.

Atlas:

This is a longer, less potent, version of Fountainhead. But it’s still great. Especially Francisco D’Anconia’s “money speech” and John Galt’s TV speech 11

 

21) Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations

Get perspective on your life with the best book on Stoicism. Contains lots of practical exercises/mindsets for:

• Letting go  / outcome-independence / action-taking.
• Appreciating life more.
• Dwelling on the shortness of life.
• Reflecting on life’s inherent meaninglessness12

 

22) Francis Bacon–Essays

Smart tips on all matters imaginable–from love to persuasion to letter writing. Lots of psychology and cognitive biases underlie these tips.

 

23) Seeking Wisdom

Read the introduction–(the first 30 pages)–for the best explanation I’ve come across regarding evolutionary theory, and how you need to change your thinking in accordance. Must-read if you don’t understand evolution.

 

24) The Selfish Gene

The most famous book on evolutionary theory. Read after you read Seeking Wisdom. This book will probably inspire you to some pretty crazy thoughts. Forget EVERYTHING you were taught in school about equality, tabula rasa, and that B.S–because it’s not true. 13

 

25) The Extended Phenotype

A good mental model to have. Lots of things and phenomena in the world can be seen as an external manifestation of some inherent genetic drive.

 

26) The Story of the Human Body

We’re fundamentally mismatched for the modern world. This book explains why. It’s a pretty heavy read. Or you can just read my (much more practical) article on evolutionary mismatches.

 

27) The Wisdom Paradox

Pattern recognition = Wisdom.

Only those who practice their craft, and start to lead a reflective life from an early age, become wise and retain their ‘crispness’ of mind14. Most people only get dumber and/or less adaptive after age 30-40. Cicero had it right when he said that old age sucks for most, but that it is something to be enjoyed for those who have spent their youth in preparation for it.15

 

Self-Development & Success

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28) Law of Success in 16 Lessons + Wisdom of Andrew Carnegie

The bible(s) of self-development. You only need to read one or both of these books to learn the fundamentals. Other books in the genre are copies.

 

29) The Godfather

You probably saw the movie, but the book is even better. You are instilled with the basic knowledge and values required to become a MAN–an executor and leader. Encapsulated in an entertaining story, as with “Fools Die”.

 

30) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The first half is really good, the second half is bad. Key takeaways:

• Perception is reality. 16
• Work hard and become financially free early in life, so you can dedicate yourself to bigger things and leave a legacy.
• A lot of people cannot be trusted, avoid them.

 

31) How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

Great book by Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert. It has a bunch of general tips for self-development, great for beginners:

• Combine multiple talents for a unique skill set (and differentiation)
• Learn cognitive biases ASAP.
• Learn accounting.
• If you’re attractive, talk less and let the halo effect work for you.
• Set up Google Alerts for useful stuff (like your name).

 

32) Winston Churchill–My Early Days

Super entertaining. It cements the importance of having a good creation story as a political leader/celebrity. If you read Fooled by Randomness, you’ll realize Churchill is a statistical anomaly. He got lucky a lot.

 

33) Made to Stick

This book contains–what I think is–the best framework for effective communication. If you want to learn how to write or speak better, start by reading this book and practicing the formula17.

Become “future proof”, Education, and Politics

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34) The Great Stagnation

Why the job market will never look the same in the US–and probably in the rest of the world too. Short and great read. Like 60 pages. Recommended.

 

35) Average is Over

The follow-up to The Great Stagnation, with focus on automation and robotics–and how technological progress will affect the job market. The middle class is likely to be eliminated. (Average is over.) Here are 3 things Cowen believes will rise in value, given the technological progression:

• Quality land and natural resources.
• Intellectual property or good ideas about what should be produced.
• Quality labor with unique skills. 18

BONUS quote:

And to be blunt—while I know I can’t prove this—I wonder how much of the middle class consists of people in government or protected service-sector jobs who don’t actually produce nearly as much as their pay.

 

36) The Netocrats

Similar to Average is Over, but 15 years earlier, and much broader. The key takeaways from this book is that you want to diversify your wealth from just money to social network, authority, and credibility. You also want to do work that scales off the Internet. Mind-blowing book, a real paradigm-shifter.

For more info, read my interview with the author 19.

 

37) How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes

The economy is based on production20 of value. What is deemed valuable is up to the consumer to decide. Contrary to popular belief, politicians do not “create” jobs, and printing money typically does not help the economy. It is more likely to result in the destruction of wealth (over the long-term).

 

38) Den Politiska Adeln

A very good book about Swedish politics, which is corrupted HUGELY by nepotism. This is horrible–and many incompetent people undeservedly exert power over their betters. Sweden must be changed, drastically.

 

39) Den Härskande Klassen

A newer book about the same topic as the book above. Goes into some more recent examples of the incompetencies of (mostly Swedish) politicians, and how most of them are leeching value. Again, this is absolutely horrible.

 

40) Det Sovande Folket (the Sleeping People)

Written a long time ago by the former Swedish Prime Minister when he was ca 30 years old. We’re headed for a future of extreme inequality (see Average is Over) where probably–tragically enough–the definition of creating value (see How an Economy Grows) may turn towards entertaining the vast masses of brainwashed consumtarians (see The Netocrats), to give them some vague purpose in life, and stop them from rebelling or killing each other.

 

41) Dumbing us Down

USA’s public education system (as most other countries) was constructed to produce obedient workers. Frederick the Great came up with public education, then Napoleon improved on his system, spread it to most of Europe, and then the U.S copied parts and pieces of it.

Critical thinking is dangerous for society, and therefore isn’t taught in school. It wasn’t–(and still isn’t)–in the interest of industrialists and politicians21.

 

42 (+) Books about Napoleon22

Learn about all the things that can happen when you let a genius (who spearheads meritocracy) govern.

 

43) Talleyrand

Talleyrand was Napoleon’s #1 diplomat, and an early mentor in politics. He later “betrayed” Napoleon, when Napoleon was at his zenith. If he hadn’t done that, the world might be a very different (probably better) place today.

Despite being an asshole for betraying Napoleon, Talleyrand was a really smart and interesting guy. The author (who was an English politician of note) provides interesting input on the political decisions of Talleyrand and Napoleon. These were Napoleon’s two biggest mistakes:

1. He let his casualties and costs in war determine diplomatic conditions.23
2. He got too megalomaniacal, and thought no one man could stop him. 24

 

44 (+) Books about and by Lee Kuan Yew

Learn MORE about what happens when you let a genius govern, and put a meritocratic system in place.

—The success of Singapore, as a country, is unprecedented in history!

If this is new to you, please read my article on Lee Kuan Yew (that went viral).

 

Entrepreneurship & You.Inc Think

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45) Titan — John D. Rockefeller

The best biography I’ve ever read. Fun fact: Rockefeller didn’t come up with the idea to create the Standard Oil Trust, his business partner Henry Flagler did!

This book holds SO many lessons for:

• Business & entrepreneurship.
• Management.
• Contrarian thinking.
• Hard work and mindset.
•  And lots of other stuff worth emulating!

I’m going to write a long summary of this book. Stay tuned.

 

46) Grinding it Out: The Makings of McDonald’s

Short business biography by the man who made McDonald’s big. I don’t like McDonalds, but Ray Kroc was a genuine badass.

The book is entertaining and shock-full of good tips for business and entrepreneurship. Most people who become rich after age 40 do so due to reaching mastery 25 in business. Kroc symbolically calls this process to “grind it out,” and to “build your monument in the name of capitalism“.

 

47) How to Get Rich + The Narrow Road

These two books were written by billionaire Felix Dennis, who founded Maxim Magazine.

The Narrow Road:

Inspired by Bacon’s pragmatic essays, Felix Dennis wrote a similar set of essays on one topic: Making money and building your business. If you want to succeed at this, you must stay on the narrow road–and not go astray.

Walking the narrow road. @oskarfaarkrog, @fabfitover40 & @georgecordova_realestate

A photo posted by LudvigSGM (@ludvigsunstrom) on Oct 16, 2015 at 9:29am PDT

How to Get Rich:

A longer–and biographical–version of The Narrow Road containing (mostly) the same advice. Read it if you liked TNR. Making money is a (mostly) meaningless game, but with very serious rules. Don’t get too caught up in it.

Key takeaways from these two books:

• The #1 difference between an employee and a successful entrepreneur is not necessarily skill or intelligence, but the ability to overcome fear.
• If you lose lots of sleep over taking risks you probably will not succeed.
• You are unlikely to get rich if you do not have ownership.

 

48) The Millionaire Fastlane

This is probably the best introductory book to entrepreneurship/business. It’s basically a summary of popular business books. Definitely read this if you’re a novice in these areas. It pinpoints all main differences in mindset and behavior between employees, entrepreneurs, and. . . well, total bum-ass losers.

 

49) Wolf of Wall Street

A fun book with lots of good business and success tips baked into it. An easy read. Some key takeaways:

• Get a business partner with a complementary skill set.
• Dress well to sell well. Belfort had custom-made suits for employees.
• Befriend potential future rivals/enemies to minimize risk.
• Study the history of your industry. Learn from success and failure.
• Keep people dependent on you.
• Don’t do drugs. 26

 

50) Double Double

Super actionable book on how to grow your biz. If you’re in a managerial position or you have a decent-sized business, read it.

 

51) 4-Hour Work Week

It hammers in the importance of thinking 80/20 in all things, ignoring the shit that doesn’t matter27, and delegating the things you suck at.

 

Management, System-building, and Leadership

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52) Work the System

An introductory book to systems-thinking in business. Your job as the manager/founder is to build systems and improve on them until they run themselves, not to micromanage stuff. A toilet roll is a system.

 

53) Ray Dalio–Bridgewater Principles (free)

Second part of the book contains 200+ practical tips for company culture, decision-making, and getting stuff done. Highly recommended. A must-read for anyone in managerial position (and anyone who wants to be successful).

 

54) PCA (again)

How to govern an organization. How to avoid bad behavior. How to implement the right policies and systems. And all manner of other business things. Super good book, that’s why I recommended it again!

 

55) Essays of Warren Buffett to American Industry

Lots of great advice on business analysis and governance.

 

56) Cable Cowboy

John Malone took TCI to a monopolistic position in the cable industry. You’ll learn how he did it, and lots of trivia. Includes cool stuff like:

• The history of the cable industry.
• Setting the right incentives.
• Building strategic alliances in business.
• If you’re a consultant, the fastest way to getting promoted is by collecting other people’s ideas and presenting them as your own to the management.

 

57) The Prince

Smart and timeless tips for achieving, increasing, and keeping power and influence. Highly relevant for anyone in a leadership position, or serious about business. Also contains lots of interesting historical trivia. E.G:

• Fear is (a lot) stronger than love.
• Don’t use henchmen (consultants) to build your kingdom (business).
• A good Prince gets good advice. 28

 

58) Sam Walton–Made in America

Like Kroc’s book about McDonald’s, it is entertaining and has many actionable tips for business. One of the key takeaways is the importance of not taking on bigger opponents than you can defeat–A.K.A: not competing where you can’t win–and thereby ensuring steady, uninterrupted growth.

 

59) The Essential Drucker

Interesting (historical) trivia and tips for business managers and entrepreneurs:

• When speaking, use metaphors your listeners can identify with. When Jesus preached to fishermen about wealth, he gave them the example of teaching a man how to fish, instead of giving him a fish for the day.
• You’re probably overestimating your efficiency. Try doing time-logging (and journaling how you spend time) for a week.
• Drucker predicts that the trend of big cities, big corporations, and big offices will not hold. He thought the Internet and information-technology would change it, and we’re living through this now.

 

60) Jack Welch: Winning

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

Jack Welch is one of the most successful CEOs of our time and he wrote this book for maximum impact: No B.S, only actionable tips for management, recruitment, and creation of policy in corporations, given in checklist fashion. Recommended for managers and entrepreneurs. Includes tips such as:

• Reward the best and fire the rest (almost) 29.
• What to look for in hiring (of both employees and managers).
• It’s the leader’s job to get collective buy-in at every level of the organization. This is very hard to do in a big company, and that’s why great managers probably do deserve their paychecks and bonuses.

 

61) Steve Jobs’s Biography

As a founder, your #1 job–(other than systems-building and setting incentives)–is to identify, attract, recruit, and develop talent. Especially in industries where the difference (in productivity) between an “A player” and a”B player” is LARGE–like in IT and programming30.

Another important thing is that you maintain the right competence in your company, and take protective measures against its eradication. Jobs thought the reason Apple would die (after he was kicked out) was because they’d lost their best “product people” (as a result of promoting their sales and marketing people). He was probably right.

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What to do next:

Read at least 5 of these books over the next few months.

P.S

In my opinion, the top 5 books out of these are:

1. Munger’s Poor Charlie’s Almanac
2. Peter Bevelin’s Seeking Wisdom
3. Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Principles (free)
4. Will Durant’s Lessons from History
5. Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations