My Favorite Books
A short shelf of books that shaped how I think about business, philosophy, ambition, and how to live.
Reading Now
The book currently taking up the most space in my head.
Current pick
The Beginning of Infinity
David Deutsch
Explanations that transform the world. A deep dive into knowledge, progress, and the infinite potential of human understanding.
Recommendations
The books I come back to, recommend most often, or still think about years later.
Zero to One
·Peter Thiel
One of the best life philosophy books disguised as a business book. It challenges you to think for yourself and create value in unique ways.
The Pathless Path
·Paul Millerd
Optimize for adventure over safety. It argues that the 'safe' path isn't truly safe, and the uncertain path isn't as dangerous as we fear—but infinitely more rewarding.
Shoe Dog
·Phil Knight
An incredible example of a life well-lived. Phil Knight's memoir is a raw, honest look at the messy reality of building something great.
The Courage to Be Disliked
·Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
The book I recommend most often. It liberates you with a powerful idea: true freedom is having the courage to be disliked, to accept conflict, and to live on your own terms.
The War of Art
·Steven Pressfield
The ultimate guide to finishing projects. It identifies 'Resistance' as the force that stops us and gives you the tools to push through the hardest part—the last 5%.
Meditations
·Marcus Aurelius
Timeless wisdom that yields new insights with every read. Marcus Aurelius's private notes remind us to focus on what we can control and live with virtue.
Notes
A small reading philosophy: go deeper on the books that keep rewarding your attention.
Reread the books that deepen with time.
I would rather reread a handful of great books than race through hundreds of new ones. The best books keep getting better with time. Every reread shows you something new or helps an old lesson sink in more deeply.
The risk of constantly chasing new books is that you end up absorbing a lot of low-quality thinking from badly written work. I would rather stay close to the classics and the books I already love than fill my head with mental prompt-injection trash.
Life is short. Reading should be enjoyable, not a performance to keep up with what other people think you should read. The best books are timeless, and those are usually the ones worth returning to.