The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter (India, USA):
This book challenges the “thirties are the new twenties” thought that is common among the young adults of today. Your twenties are the most critical decade of your life. This book discusses work, relationships, your body, and your mind. Your brain fully develops around this decade, and your body changes significantly – these are not the years you want to waste on partying and ‘chilling’. The average YOLO people will hate this book.
This is the best book that every entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneur should read. Monopolistic companies thrive. Competition sucks for business profits and sucks especially for the survival of startups. Written by self-made billionaire Peter Thiel, this book will teach you how to think and will challenge traditional lines of thought about starting a company.
One Up on Wall Street (India, USA):
Written by Peter Lynch, one of the most successful investors and mutual fund managers, this book will give you an excellent overview of investing. Notice that I didn’t say “for beginners” because there is no beginner or advanced way of investing, just good investing and bad investing. If you read only one book on investing, make it this one.
More Money Than God (India, USA):
This is a history of the hedge fund industry – from its origins to its highs and declines post the 2008 crisis, this is one of the most exciting finance books that I’ve read. Must read for anyone trying to enter into the finance industry – both for the buy-side and the sell-side.
If you liked More Money Than God, you should also check out The Greatest Trade Ever (India, USA), a book that follows the stories of hedge fund managers and investors who made billions during the 2008 crash.
How to Win Friends and Influence People:
This is, by far, the best book on social skills out there. If you haven’t read it, you’re already paying the price – you just don’t know it. You need to learn how to deal with people – it’s one of the highest ROI skills in the world.
Make sure you read the unrevised edition of this book. Apparently, his wife revised the book after his death and made it gender neutral, deleted the sections on dealing with spouses, and removed anything she deemed “politically incorrect”. The unrevised edition is linked above.
How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them (India, USA):
Written by a political commentator and a lawyer, Ben Shapiro, a man who is perhaps one of the greatest when it comes to making a point. Whether you like him or not, you can learn from him. This book will teach you how to argue and win, especially when a group is hounding you. If you get your ass handed to you every time you argue – you need to read this book. It’s a short read too.
Arnold: The Education of A Bodybuilder (India, USA):
This is the autobiography of Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the worlds best-known bodybuilders. Very inspirational book – it gives you an insight into the kind of passion, dedication, and self-delusion you need to get to the top of any industry. The book is divided into two parts: the first follows Arnold’s career as a bodybuilder, and the next gives you detailed information about various muscles, how to train them, which exercises work better than others, and also throws in some workout plans.
But How Do It Know (India, USA):
This book will teach you how computers work from scratch. Computers are all around us, and most of us don’t even know how they fundamentally work. I recommend reading this just because it’ll enable you to understand the technology behind literally the most pervasive machine on Earth.
Mathematics for Computer Science:
I solved this entire book as a part of my Computer Science degree from the OSSU. It changed how I think about the world.
How do you prove something is true? Is our understanding of math correct (do we have incomplete or contradictory axioms)? If you think 1+1=2, but can you prove it? Are there problems a computer cannot solve?
This is not a lighthearted book you can pick up when you’re bored. It took me 6 months of studying 4+ hours a day to get the most out of it… and in many places I needed help from friends who have degrees in math.
The Female Brain (India, USA):
A fascinating insight into the female mind, it gives a physiological (not psychological) explanation of why women are how they are, and how you should deal with them. It’s easier to psycho bullshit than to physio bullshit. Men should read this to understand women, and women should read this to understand themselves.
Note: The author recommends that women take birth control pills to regulate their hormones. This is bad advice and has negative long term effects.
Back in the early 2000s, there was a man who posted on a PUA forum called So Suave. His basic message was that the PUA techniques were too simple, and focused on external manipulations, and focusing on others rather than focusing on yourself and your own masculinity. Sadly Pook disappeared from the scene, but his teachings live on in this book called The Book of Pook.
This is one of my top 10 books. If I could only read 10 books in my life, this book will be on the list.
The Illimitable Man Audiobook:
This book is full of actionable knowledge a man needs to win in every aspect of life, from women to business to society.
You learn a lot of the hidden motives behind why women do certain things and how you can influence their behavior, and also has a lot of practical advice on improving your value as a man.
The Rational Male (India, USA):
“Women don’t want a man to cheat, but they love a man who could cheat.”
This book is a great assessment of women, intersexual dynamics, and the psychology behind them. The author also gives you guidelines on how you can succeed in your relationships and the principles that will make sure that you have a strong frame as a man. A great read from start to finish – every young man needs to read this book at least once.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (India, USA):
This book has many lessons in its pages. Benjamin Franklin led an interesting life – born into poverty and receiving little education, and rising up in the world through integrity, discipline, and work ethic. Franklin ran away from home at the age of 17 and ended up being one of the founding fathers of America. Read this book along with Franklin’s aphorisms i.e. Poor Richard’s Almanack (India, USA) and you will take home many hard-earned life lessons that you might otherwise end up learning the hard way.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller (India, USA):
John D. Rockefeller is an example of how self-discipline, focus, hard work, and a talent for organization and management can pay off over a lifetime. Born in poverty and raised with strict Christian moral values by this mother, John managed to create the largest ever Industrial conglomerate to exist in his time (Standard Oil), and become the richest man in modern history – with many controversies and many philanthropic deeds to his name. This is his life’s story, and it’s worth the 35 hours of listening (I used the audiobook format for this one).
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History:
This is not a book, it’s a podcast – and it’s the best history podcast out there.
The material released so far is at least 10 books worth and will give you a ton of knowledge of history without making you feel bored.
Most history books are boring – they focus too much on dates and names. This podcast on the other hand teaches you history using in depth stories and narratives – you will enjoy listening to them.
I highly recommend this podcast to anyone who is willing to listen – you will find it to be a good investment of time.
The Peloponnesian War (India, USA):
History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes.
The situation of the Greek world leading up to the Peloponnesian War rhymes with the Cold War (Athens and Sparta forming leagues and fighting proxy wars of democracies vs oligarchies – in the cold war it was capitalism vs communism).
The Peloponessian War the original World War 1 where Germany lost but is not eradicated, and eventually comes back to power for a rematch.
The Delian League turning into the Athenian League rhymes with the USA led NATO of today. (The Delian League started with an alliance of equal members, but as time went on, Athens became the master of all the other members because they were the main party that supplied warriors and sailors, the others just contributed money.)
Phillip and Alexander (India, USA):
These two men changed the history of the world. Their story is worth reading. Their lessons are worth taking from.
What I tell my Indian friends all the time is that the way to be successful is to actually be successful, not argue about the greatness of India with foreigners.
The Greeks considered the Macedonians to be inferior barbarians, and by the time the Macedonians were done conquering most of Greece and Persia, there was no doubt about who was “superior”.
Much later Pyrrhus of Epirus will sight a Roman army and comment, “They may be barbarians, but there is nothing barbarian about their discipline”. You win by winning, not by arguing about your past greatness.
Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism (India, USA)
This is by far the best and most fun book on diet and metabolism I’ve ever read. The author is a leading nutrition researcher and is breaking lots of new ground in the world of nutrition. Much of what we know about nutrition is wrong, for example, more exercise does not result in a proportionate increase in total energy expenditure in the long run.
Industrial Society and Its Future (India, USA):
This is the unabomber manifeso and many of the takeways in it ring true. Technology is non-optional.
Let’s take cars. When they came out, they were optional purchases. You didn’t need to buy one. But as more and more people got cars, things moved further apart. Today the nearest major grocery store could be 10 or 50 kilometers away. You need a car to survive.
The same will apply to all the transhumanist technologies like brain chips, blood nanobots, or whatever else comes out. Everything is optional at first but quickly becomes mandatory to compete and survive.
A very humorous book with a great style of writing. So good in fact that the title made it into the English language. Catch 22 describes a comical situation where an individual is stuck due to contradictory rules (example: You need work experience to find a job, but you can’t get experience because they keep turning you down for not having enough experience).
This book can also teach you a lot about human behavior and motivations. Read this book carefully.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (India, USA):
I listened to this audiobook on a long plane journey and was impressed by what humans can endure when they are forced to. As someone who is into trekking and adventure activities, many of the experiences in this book hit home. (You ever clean your plate with icy cold mountain water? It makes your hands shake.)
Ric Flair: To Be The Man (India, USA):
Although I don’t care about wrestling (never watched a single game), I just happened to pick this book up. It’s the story of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, and his history in the wrestling industry. What really stuck out to me was his work ethic. The most important lesson I’ve learned from this book is that you should treat people how they treat you.
The Accountants Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel (India, USA):
A story of Pablo Escobar, and how he conquered the drug trade, and how he manipulated politicians, governments, and the public, from his childhood to the exciting tales of him hiding in deep forests to evade law enforcement – written by his brother Roberto Escobar. It gives you an insight into the intelligence and mental toughness high-end criminals have.
The Journalist and The Murderer (India, USA):
A lighthearted read with an important message: Never trust a journalist – especially if they’re doing a piece on you.
Most journalists are just a bunch of people seeking fame and popularity, and as we all have learnt in the past few years – they lie all the time (the term “fake news” is becoming really popular).
If you trust journalists and news companies, you might as well also believe that politicians are honest people who do what is best for you and that tobacco companies care about your health.
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games. – Ernest Hemingway
A thrilling book that gives an account of the 1997 Mt. Everest Disaster and also makes you feel like you were there.
A good fun read if you’ve got a few hours to kill. I read it all in 2 days and found it hard to put this book down.
P.S. Give audiobooks a try.
I listen to audiobooks instead of listening to music when walking, and I’ve ended up listening to many interesting books that I would have not picked up otherwise.
They’re convenient, engaging, and cheap. Amazon has a 3 month free trial for Audible!.
Page last edited on 25/12/2025
