Reading
600 Books
Read about ten books a year for the rest of a long life and you finish around six hundred. That is the whole budget of a reading life. Smaller than it sounds. So I keep the list, and I choose each one like it costs me the next, because it does.
Where I stand
93
/ 600
1998
today
2079 · age 80
What I read
93 books, nine themes
When they were written
2,400 years on one shelf
Read
what I have finishedBuilding, Sales & Career
The Lean StartupEric Ries, 2011
Zero to OnePeter Thiel & Blake Masters, 2014
The Sales Acceleration FormulaMark Roberge, 2015
Predictable RevenueAaron Ross & Marylou Tyler, 2011
The Cold Start ProblemAndrew Chen, 2021
Purple CowSeth Godin, 2003
BuildTony Fadell, 2022
Branding That Means BusinessMatt Johnson & Tessa Misiaszek, 2022
The Culture CodeDaniel Coyle, 2018
The Best Story WinsMatthew Luhn, 2018
Never Eat AloneKeith Ferrazzi, 2005
Getting to YesRoger Fisher & William Ury, 1981
Never Split the DifferenceChris Voss, 2016
Le Modèle DioulaMaurice D. Koué, 2019
Investing, Strategy & Decisions
The Intelligent InvestorBenjamin Graham, 1949
Skin in the GameNassim Nicholas Taleb, 2018
Only the Paranoid SurviveAndrew S. Grove, 1996
CommandLawrence Freedman, 2022
The Art of WarSun Tzu, c. 500 BC
Thinking in BetsAnnie Duke, 2018
The Richest Man in BabylonGeorge S. Clason, 1926
Strategy: A HistoryLawrence Freedman, 2013
Poor Charlie's AlmanackCharlie Munger, 2005
Economics & Society
The Wealth of NationsAdam Smith, 1776
Animal SpiritsAkerlof & Shiller, 2009
Narrative EconomicsRobert Shiller, 2019
CollapseJared Diamond, 2005
Social Mobility and Its EnemiesMajor & Machin, 2018
MoneyYuval Noah Harari, 2018
Power, Politics & Persuasion
Manufacturing ConsentHerman & Chomsky, 1988
Rules for RadicalsSaul D. Alinsky, 1971
The Quiet BeforeGal Beckerman, 2022
Petit traité de manipulation à l'usage des honnêtes gensJoule & Beauvois, 1987
Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPCXi Jinping, 2022
LeadershipHenry Kissinger, 2022
The 48 Laws of PowerRobert Greene, 1998
The Little Red BookMao Zedong, 1964
Constitution of the Communist Party of ChinaCommunist Party of China, 2022
History, Biography & Leadership
G-ManBeverly Gage, 2022
King: A LifeJonathan Eig, 2023
Long Walk to FreedomNelson Mandela, 1994
Mao: The Unknown StoryJung Chang & Jon Halliday, 2005
De Gaulle, une vieJean-Luc Barré, 2023
Mafia: A Global HistoryRyan Gingeras, 2026
The Young AlexanderAlex Rowson, 2022
1000 Years of Joys and SorrowsAi Weiwei, 2021
The Story of My Experiments with TruthM. K. Gandhi, 1927
Benjamin Franklin: An American LifeWalter Isaacson, 2003
Philosophy, Wisdom & Spirituality
The RepublicPlato, c. 375 BC
The PrinceNiccolò Machiavelli, 1532
The Hero with a Thousand FacesJoseph Campbell, 1949
Waiting for GodSimone Weil, 1950
Autobiography of a YogiParamahansa Yogananda, 1946
A Little History of the WorldE. H. Gombrich, 1936
Literature & Classics
Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell, 1949
Animal FarmGeorge Orwell, 1945
Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury, 1953
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee, 1960
Moby-DickHerman Melville, 1851
Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad, 1899
InfernoDante Alighieri, c. 1320
The IliadHomer, c. 750 BCaudio
The OdysseyHomer, c. 750 BCaudio
The Red and the BlackStendhal, 1830audio
TroyStephen Fry, 2020
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams, 1979
Stories of Your Life and OthersTed Chiang, 2002
The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky, 1880
Chess StoryStefan Zweig, 1942
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky, 1866
I Am a CatNatsume Sōseki, 1905
ButterAsako Yuzuki, 2017
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya Angelou, 1969
We, the SurvivorsTash Aw, 2019
Atlas ShruggedAyn Rand, 1957
The Shadow over InnsmouthGou Tanabe, 2021
Science, Climate & Systems
A Brief History of TimeStephen Hawking, 1988
How to Avoid a Climate DisasterBill Gates, 2021
The Future We ChooseFigueres & Rivett-Carnac, 2020
Tapestries of LifeAnne Sverdrup-Thygeson, 2020
The UnderworldSusan Casey, 2023
The BodyBill Bryson, 2019
Thinking in SystemsDonella Meadows, 2008
AbundanceEzra Klein & Derek Thompson, 2025
Atlas de l'agricultureJean-Paul Charvet, 2010
Sustainable Food ProductionShahid Naeem, 2021
Mind, Brain & Self
CreativityJohn Cleese, 2020
Life Lessons from a Brain SurgeonRahul Jandial, 2019
Letters to Change the Worlded. Travis Elborough, 2018
The Storyteller EssaysWalter Benjamin, 2019
Conversations on LoveNatasha Lunn, 2021
BlinkMalcolm Gladwell, 2005
Who Moved My Cheese?Spencer Johnson, 1998
A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and MindShoukei Matsumoto, 2011
On the list
what's nextThe ones I have bought, been told to read, or circled. Some have waited years. They get there.
The AnalectsConfucius
The Color of ThingsMartin Panchaud
The WEIRDest People in the WorldJoseph Henrich
Le capitalisme est-il moral ?André Comte-Sponville
Hitler's Private LibraryTimothy W. Ryback
The Four AgreementsDon Miguel Ruiz
HumusGaspard Koenig
Fresh Water for FlowersValérie Perrin
The Guest CatTakashi Hiraide
War and PeaceLéon Tolstoï
In Search of Lost TimeMarcel Proust
Les MisérablesVictor Hugo
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert
Froth on the DaydreamBoris Vian
The Art of LosingAlice Zeniter
The House of ScortaLaurent Gaudé
At Night All Blood Is BlackDavid Diop
A Dry White SeasonAndré Brink
SiddharthaHermann Hesse
Martin EdenJack London
Out of EgyptAndré Aciman
Oedipus RexSophocle
The Epic of GilgameshAnonymous
FictionsJorge Luis Borges
Stranger in a Strange LandRobert A. Heinlein
The Ministry for the FutureKim Stanley Robinson
MeditationsMarcus Aurelius
Thus Spoke ZarathustraFriedrich Nietzsche
The Book of Five RingsMiyamoto Musashi
The Art of Worldly WisdomBaltasar Gracián
An Introduction to Zen BuddhismD. T. Suzuki
The Bible
The Book of Psalms
The Tanakh
Team of TeamsStanley McChrystal
The Kill ChainChristian Brose
The Technological RepublicAlexander C. Karp
Why the West Rules, for NowIan Morris
The Stages of Economic GrowthW. W. Rostow
The Crash CourseChris Martenson
The Better Angels of Our NatureSteven Pinker
Strange DefeatMarc Bloch
Joseph FouchéStefan Zweig
Why We Can't WaitMartin Luther King Jr.
Up from SlaveryBooker T. Washington
How Will You Measure Your Life?Clayton Christensen
Deep WorkCal Newport
How to Solve ItGeorge Pólya
Les Décisions absurdesChristian Morel
DoveRobin Lee Graham