# Books I Recommend

## Favourite Books

* [Meditations](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations) by Marcus Aurelius
* [Moral letters to Lucilius](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42457668-moral-letters-to-lucilius) by Seneca
* [Man's Search for Meaning](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning) by Viktor Frankl
* [Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/189989.Finite_and_Infinite_Games) as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse
* [Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23692271-sapiens) by Yuval Noah Harari
* [The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324722-the-righteous-mind) by Jonathan Haidt
* [The Elephant in the Brain](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28820444-the-elephant-in-the-brain) by Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler
* [Behave](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31170723-behave) by Robert Sapolsky
* [Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28815.Influence) by Robert Cialdini
* [Poor Charlie's Almanack](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/944652.Poor_Charlie_s_Almanack) by Charles Munger
* [Incerto](https://www.goodreads.com/series/164555-incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
* [Anything You Want](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11878168-anything-you-want) by Derek Sivers
* [Rework](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6732019-rework) by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
* [Zero to One](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18050143-zero-to-one) by Peter Thiel
* [The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13721709-the-antidote) by Oliver Burkeman (my [notes](https://stojanow.com/the-antidote/)).

## Other Recommendations

### Biographies

* [Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16121.Titan) Book by Ron Chernow
* [Benjamin Franklin: An American Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10883.Benjamin_Franklin) by Walter Isaacson
* [Talleyrand: Betrayer And Saviour Of France](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4446705-talleyrand) by Robin Harris
* [The Autobiography of Charles Darwin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/185404.The_Autobiography_of_Charles_Darwin_1809_82) by Charles Darwin
* [Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1429989.Richard_Feynman) by Richard Feynman
* [What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1334384.What_I_Learned_Losing_a_Million_Dollars) by Jim Paul
* [My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/404747.My_Life_in_Advertising_and_Scientific_Advertising) by Claude C. Hopkins
* [Sam Walton: Made in America](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10631.Sam_Walton) by Sam Walton
* [The Power Broker](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1111.The_Power_Broker) by Robert Caro
* [Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27220736-shoe-dog) by Phil Knight
* [Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14546626-total-recall) by Arnold Schwarzenegger
* [Open](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6480781-open) by Andre Agassi
* [Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40604846-nothing-to-envy) by Barbara Demick
* [American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpin) by Nick Bilton
* [Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37976541-bad-blood) by John Carreyrou

### Economics

* [Wealth of Nations](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25698.The_Wealth_of_Nations) and [The Theory of Moral Sentiments](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25700.The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments) by Adam Smith
* [That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1609227.That_Which_Is_Seen_and_That_Which_Is_Not_Seen) by Frédéric Bastiat
* [Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/162120.Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds) by Charles Mackay
* [Economics in One Lesson](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3028.Economics_in_One_Lesson) by Henry Hazlitt
* [What Has Government Done to Our Money? and Anatomy of the State](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81977.What_Has_Government_Done_to_Our_Money_and_The_Case_for_the_100_Percent_Gold_Dollar) by Murray Rothbard
* [The Evolution of Cooperation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/366821.The_Evolution_of_Cooperation) by Robert Axelrod
* [The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7776209-the-rational-optimist) by Matt Ridley
* [The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life](hhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2423424.The_Art_of_Strategy) by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff
* [Makers: The New Industrial Revolution](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13414678-makers) by Chris Anderson
* [Race Against The Machine](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12952273-race-against-the-machine) by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

### Fantasy

* [Ficciones](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426504.Ficciones) by Jorge Luis Borges
* [The Way of Kings and Perfect State](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7235533-the-way-of-kings) by Brandon Sanderson
* [The Name of the Wind](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186074.The_Name_of_the_Wind) by Patrick Rothfuss
* [The Lies of Locke Lamora](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29588376-the-lies-of-locke-lamora) by Scott Lynch
* [Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10016013-harry-potter-and-the-methods-of-rationality) by Eliezer Yudkowsky
* anything by [Terry Pratchett](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654.Terry_Pratchett)

### Graphic Novels

* [Daytripper](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8477057-daytripper) by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
* [Fleep by Jason Shiga](http://www.shigabooks.com/fleep.php)
* [The Arrival](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/920607.The_Arrival) by Shaun Tan

### History

* [The Lessons of History](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174713.The_Lessons_of_History) by Will Durant
* [The History of the Peloponnesian War](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261243.History_of_the_Peloponnesian_War) by Thucydides
* [Plutarch's Lives](https://www.goodreads.com/series/157208) by Plutarch
* [Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40718726-genghis-khan-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world?ac=1\&from_search=true) by Jack Weatherford
* [The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2714607-the-ascent-of-money) by Niall Ferguson
* [The History of Money](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/103226.The_History_of_Money) by Jack Weatherford
* [Debt: The First 5,000 Years](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt) by David Graeber
* [Guns, Germs, and Steel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1842.Guns_Germs_and_Steel) by Jared Diamond
* [How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20893477-how-we-got-to-now) by Steven Johnson
* [The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17994.The_Code_Book) by Simon Singh

### Marketing

* [The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1258489.Ultimate_Sales_Machine) by Chet Holmes
* [Stealth Marketing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17288278-stealth-marketing) by Jay Abraham
* [The Boron Letters Book](http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/Boron/BoronLetterCh1.htm) by Gary Halbert
* [Breakthrough Advertising](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8662312-breakthrough-advertising) by Eugene M. Schwartz
* [The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost Your Sales](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112466.The_Ultimate_Sales_Letter) by Dan S. Kennedy
* [The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33449.The_22_Immutable_Laws_of_Marketing) by Al Ries
* [Ca$hvertising: How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6238528-ca-hvertising) by
* [Badass: Making Users Awesome](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24737268-badass) by Kathy Sierra
* [Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22091581-traction) by Gabriel Weinberg
* [Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22668729-hooked) by Nir Eyal
* [80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17214272-80-20-sales-and-marketing) by Perry Marshall
* [SPIN Selling](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/833015.SPIN_Selling) by Neil Rackham

### Politics

* [The Law](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1609224.The_Law) by Frédéric Bastiat
* [The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11612989-the-dictator-s-handbook) by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith
* [Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12617.Manufacturing_Consent) by Noam Chomsky
* [The Origins of Totalitarianism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/396931.The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism) by Hannah Arendt
* [On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33917107-on-tyranny) by Timothy Snyder
* [Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20186.Seeing_Like_a_State) by James Scott
* [Democracy in America Book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16619.Democracy_in_America) by Alexis de Tocqueville
* [Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death) by Neil Postman
* [The Social Contract](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12651.The_Social_Contract) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

### Programming

* [Professor Frisby's Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Programming](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25847352-professor-frisby-s-mostly-adequate-guide-to-functional-programming) by Brian Lonsdorf ([read online](https://mostly-adequate.gitbooks.io/mostly-adequate-guide/))
* [You Don't Know JS series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/139311-you-don-t-know-js) by Kyle Simpson ([read online](https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS))
* [JavaScript Allongé](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17154990-javascript-allong) by Reginald Braithwaite ([read online](https://leanpub.com/javascript-allonge/read))
* [Speaking JavaScript](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19484760-speaking-javascript) by Axel Rauschmayer ([read online](http://speakingjs.com/))
* [Functional JavaScript](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17623632-functional-javascript) by Michael Fogus
* [The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20799234-the-principles-of-object-oriented-javascript) by Nicholas Zakas
* [Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Web Development with Rails](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13705557-ruby-on-rails-tutorial) by Michael Hartl ([read online](https://www.railstutorial.org/book))
* [Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13507787-practical-object-oriented-design-in-ruby) by Sandi Metz
* [99 Bottles of OOP](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31183020-99-bottles-of-oop) by Sandi Metz and Katrina Owen
* [Eloquent Ruby](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9364729-eloquent-ruby) by Russ Olsen
* [The Well-Grounded Rubyist](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3892688-the-well-grounded-rubyist) by David Black
* [Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/463882.Why_s_Poignant_Guide_to_Ruby) by Why The Lucky Stiff ([read online](https://poignant.guide/))
* [Pro Git](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6518085-pro-git) by Scott Chacon ([read online](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2))
* [The Linux Command Line](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11724436-the-linux-command-line) by William E. Shotts ([read online](http://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php))
* [Don't Make Me Think!: a Common Sense Approach to Web Usability](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18197267-don-t-make-me-think-revisited) by Steve Krug
* [But How Do It Know? - The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18276352-but-how-do-it-know---the-basic-principles-of-computers-for-everyone) by J. Clark Scott

### Psychology

* [Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/788461.Dan_Ariely) by Dan Ariely
* [Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2652751-kluge) by Gary Marcus
* [Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774981-waking-up) by Sam Harris
* [The Art of Taking Action: Lessons from Japanese Psychology](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24504151-the-art-of-taking-action) by Gregg Krech
* [Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/522525.Mistakes_Were_Made_But_Not_by_Me_) by Carol Tavris
* [Stumbling on Happiness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56627.Stumbling_on_Happiness) by Daniel Gilbert
* [Mindset: The New Psychology of Success](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40745.Mindset) by Carol Dweck
* [The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10865206-the-willpower-instinct) by Kelly McGonigal

### Science

* [The Feynman Lectures on Physics](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5546.The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics) by Richard Feynman
* [A Short History of Nearly Everything](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21.A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything) by Bill Bryson
* [Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time and Reality Is Not What It Seems Book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25734172-seven-brief-lessons-on-physics) by Carlo Rovelli Carlo Rovelli
* [A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18693655-a-mind-for-numbers) by Barbara Oakley
* [The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10483171-the-beginning-of-infinity) by David Deutsch
* [Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10361826-why-we-believe-in-god-s) by J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer
* [The Selfish Gene](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61535.The_Selfish_Gene) by Richard Dawkins
* [The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16176.The_Red_Queen) by Matt Ridley
* [Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23995360-superforecasting) by Philip Tetlock
* [Good and Real: Demystifying Paradoxes from Physics to Ethics](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1096665.Good_and_Real) by Gary Drescher
* [How to Lie with Statistics](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1096665.Good_and_Real) by Darrell Huff

### Science Fiction

* [Stories of Your Life and Others](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others) by Ted Chiang
* [The Player of Games](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18630.The_Player_of_Games) by Iain Banks
* [Foundation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29579.Foundation) by Isaac Asimov
* [The Futurological Congress](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/733473.The_Futurological_Congress) by Stanisław Lem
* [Paradyzja](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/733473.The_Futurological_Congress) by Janusz Zajdel
* [Replay](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341735.Replay) by Ken Grimwood
* [1984](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40961427-1984) by George Orwell
* [Little Brother](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/954674.Little_Brother) by Cory Doctorow ([free download](https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/))

### Technology:

* [Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56829.Hackers) by Steven Levy
* [Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23546676-digital-gold) by Nathaniel Popper
* [The Internet of Money](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31869077-the-internet-of-money) by Andreas Antonopoulos
* [The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28503628-the-attention-merchants) by Tim Wu
* [The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2615.The_Innovator_s_Dilemma) by Clayton Christensen
* [Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20527133-superintelligence) by Nick Bostrom
* [Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility: The Ideas Behind the World's Slowest Computer](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33279.Clock_of_the_Long_Now) by Stewart Brand
* [Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13187824-abundance) by Peter Diamandis
* [Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34272565-life-3-0) by Max Tegmark