This is list of books I've read and found very interesting, useful, and enjoyable. I highly encourage to take a look through this list and take a stab at some of these books. Keep checking this section, it will continuously be updated.
Recently Added Books
Anatomy of a Murder
Bad Samaritans
Rogue Lawyer
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
The Armchair Economist
The Most Important Thing Illuminated
The Whistler
Bad Samaritans
Rogue Lawyer
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
The Armchair Economist
The Most Important Thing Illuminated
The Whistler
Biographies & History
Alexander Hamilton
A biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of the US's Founding Fathers. The book provides insightful information into a major economic and political mind in the 18th century who played a major role as the first Secretary of the Treasury for the US.
Churchill
A biography of Winston Churchill. The good thing about this biography is that it's short (around 200 pages) so it provides a good coverage of Churchill's life without going too deep.
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
The book argues against the notion that the Middle Ages were Dark Ages and that the Church was against any sort of scientific improvement, development, and learning. In doing so the author presents the role of monasteries during these times, the development of universities, the effect of the Church on the various sciences, the arts, law, economics, charity, and mortality.
Liar's Poker
The author, Michael Lewis, tells his store when he was fresh out of school and worked as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks. Provides a very fascinating look into the lives of traders and investment bankers. Reads like a novel.
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
A very rich book on the history of the World's economy with a focus on the US, France, Germany, and the UK during the period between the two world wars seen through the lives of the four central bankers of these countries whose actions had profound effects on the world. Reads like a novel.
When Ben Bernanke was asked what was the best resource to understand the 2008 crisis he said this book.
When Ben Bernanke was asked what was the best resource to understand the 2008 crisis he said this book.
Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle
The inside story of two guys fresh out of their MBA programs who work in one of the most prestigious investment banks on Wall Street. Gives a good insider scope into investment banking. Reads like a novel.
Steve Jobs
The very thrilling story of his life.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr.
A very enjoyable biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr, the richest man in history, and his fascinating life. It is simply amazing to read about how he self-made his fortune, his habits, his characters, his thinking, and his family.
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
Provides a financial history of the world.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
The story of the smart people who saw the mortgage problem in the US over the last decade early on and were able to make very smart investment decisions and profit enormously from them. Reads like a novel.
The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, 70-1492
The book present a theory on why the Jewish people are highly educated. The theory is a very interesting one and the authors present very good evidence supporting this theory. The evidence would eventually take you on a trip through over 1400 years in which you see how the Jewish people evolved .
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
As the title says, this is the biography of one of the richest men in history, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the amazing life he led. The book has a slow start but then it picks up. A man most certainly ahead of his time.
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
As the title suggests, the book provides a new historical look and investigation of the Great Depression. This new look is taken from a right-wing (free markets & enterprises) perspective into the various central-planning actions taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his government.
The Great Crash of 1929
As the title suggests, the book provides a very detailed coverage of the 1929 stock market crash in the US.
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
Although this is a huge book, it is definitely worth the read for any one interested in economic or financial history. The book not only goes through the 150 years of the Morgan banks in details but also provides a very close look not just at the evolvement and development of banking since the early 19th century but also at the many historic events in which banks played a major role such as the two World Wars.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
This is a very fascinating book on Hitler's rise to power and subsequent fall. It is a very detailed book written by an individual who was present in Germany during the time. It is a huge book. I was mostly interested in understanding the rise of the Nazis and hence went into half of the book. I'd have to say is a class enlightening book into the topic that one can extend to understand how many other similar regimes come to be.
Business Ethics
The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
A very interesting self-help and ethics book that will show you the importance of trust in our lives, both personal and professional, and how to establish it.
Business Skills
Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior
A very good book on how to communicate with others and how to hold those crucial and important conversations and confrontations we face in our lives every now and then. Also check the next book.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
An excellent book on communications, negotiations, and how to run meetings.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
A top book on time management. It has helped me personally greatly.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
An excellent book to introduce you to the skill of negotiation and help you become a better negotiator.
Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change
A very good book to understand how to influence people. Has many good examples and strategies for influencing people. Very good for any individual who needs to wield influence.
Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
A great book on persuasion and communication.
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal
A very good book on how to deliver presentations and pitches. Sometimes you will feel some of the methods and ideas he proposes are bizarre or don't fit your culture. That's fine. There is in general good knowledge to take away from his techniques and experience. The ideas I read here were definitely reinforced and made think they were valid as they overlapped with those in the book "Influence".
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
A great book on how to overcome procrastination. Has many great suggestions.
Careers & Success
How to Win Friends and Influence People
A classic self-help book on success, how to communicate with others, and how to build relationships.
Think and Grow Rich
One of the best selling books on success. A classic. Filled with stories on Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and many other successful people.
What Got You Here, Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
A great book on the 20 habits that holding you back from continuing your success and how to overcome them.
Economics
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
Although I am more of right-leaning in terms of my economics thinking, this left-leaning book was definitely worth reading. While I disagree with some parts of it which seems to be based on anecdotal evidence when systematic evidence says otherwise, the book has many interesting arguments and evidence on many other economic issues that make you hardly think about. For example, the book tackles very important issues that we in Kuwait face today such as privatization and culture. The book heavily uses success stories from the Asia's far east countries.
Development as Freedom
A very insightful economic development book by the Nobel Laureate and Harvard's Professor of Economics Amartya Sen. The main argument Sen presents in this book that the only way to economics development and the only goals of economic development is freedom itself. Freedom here being the individual's freedom of choice. Because of this he argues that measures that look at GDP per capita only are not good measures since they don't discuss the distribution of GDP across society. A highly recommend book for any one who is interested in political economy or economic development.
Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy
This an excellent book written by a major authority in the fields of Finance and Economics. Rajan does an excellent job discussing many of the structural problems that lead to the financial crisis and in the process of doing that provides a good narrative of what the crisis was and how it happened. The book also addresses the issue of inequality and provides for it and for the various "fault lines" suggested solutions. A must-read for any one with a high interest in economics.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
A very fascinating book that explores several interesting economic and social questions using very smart econometric & statistical designs. A must-read whether you are interested in Economics or not. Some of the questions tackled and answered in this book:
- What is more dangerous, a swimming pool or a gun?
- What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
- Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of World Economy
A highly recommended book for any economist or interested in economics. Discusses the 2008 crisis, its causes, why the stimulus package failed, and what needs to be done. The recommendations of the book go beyond policy measures but also in terms of the discipline of economics. The author's opinion are driven by his belief in a balanced view of markets and regulation.
How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes
An interesting explanation of how an economy works and grows presented in very simple terms and in a story-like manner. The second half of the book also presents a very right-wing (libertarian) view on how to deal with market crashes.
The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
This book is an autobiography written by Greenspan after he left his post as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board. The book details from his early life and childhood to when he left the post. This is the first part of the book. The second part is Greenspan's thoughts on various economic issues and where he sees the major economies of the world headed. It was interesting to hear more about his days at the Fed than his thoughts on various economies. However, I would've wanted to hear more about the challenges he faced and many of the major issues and conflicts.
Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life
Whether someone with advanced knowledge of economics or just starting to, this is a good book for it. It provides simple basic applications of economic concepts to many of the things we face in our daily lives (e.g. why do concerts sell out? Who cares if the air is clean? Unemployment).
The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy
The book chronicles economic policies followed by countries across the globe starting from the end of World War II to the mid 90s when the book got published. I think this book is quite helpful in understanding the evolution of economic policy and the thoughts surrounding it. What seems today as mainstream economics was most certainly not the cast even 20 years ago. The histories of the various countries economic endeavors can be of great value to any economists or public policy designer.
The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street
Chronicles the history of the field of Finance and its development over the past 100 years including the major players that have shaped today's financial thinking and knowledge.
The Road to Serfdom
A great book on economics, political economy, and political philosophy and pillar on free markets. It provides very insightful arguments on why markets and enterprises should be free.
When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany
As the title says, this book tells the story of the hyperinflation of Germany's Weimar Republic, the republic that rose after World War I. A good read for those interested in economic history and economics.
Fiction
Anatomy of a Murder
This one of the earliest legal thrillers ever written. It is a very interesting and enjoyable book. It takes a while though for it to pick up and for you to get hooked.
Inferno
The is a the 4th book in the Robert Langdon series from the same author who wrote The Da Vinci Code. If you liked that book (or the movie in my case), then you will like this novel.
Rogue Lawyer
Another enjoyable John Grisham Novel.
Sycamore Row
To all John Grisham fans who have enjoyed reading A Time to Kill, you will definitely enjoy reading this book. You will go back to 80s Clanton, MS with Jack Brigance, the lawyer from A Time to Kill. This is a very entertaining thriller that you will find your self having a hard time putting down.
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
This is a very sad true story indeed. You will have a hard time putting down this book just like any other Grisham book. The only drawback of the book, and hence the 4 stars, is sometimes I felt it just dwelled on with information that was not very informative to the whole story.
The Litigators
A very enjoyable legal thriller.
The Racketeer
Another fascinating thriller by John Grisham that involves the murder investigation of a federal judge.
The Whistler
As you can tell I am quite a fan of John Grisham, so am kind of biased. Anyhow, this is a good thriller that is not set in a courtroom but instead is within the realms of judicial corruption.
Finance
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing
A top-notch book on investing and personal finance.
A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation
The author provides his perspective as long-time risk manager into the development of the financial industry and its various instruments over the last three decades. In doing so we have an insider look into many of the investment banks the author has worked for and their internal trading action. The author throughout the book argues that financial innovation is why today we observe more frequent market crashes/
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
The story of the largest takeover of its time in Wall Street's history. Provides not just a history of the takeover but a good history of the players in it as well as a perspective into the world of investment banking, private equity, and leveraged buyouts (LBOs). Reads like a novel.
Den of Thieves
How four men nearly destroyed Wall Street, made billions of dollars, and how they got caught.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
An excellent critical thinking book that explores how much luck plays a role in our every day lives and how we can mistakenly take luck (i.e. randomness) for something else.
One Up on Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market
Peter Lynch, the book's author, was a very successful investment manager in the 1980s when he was working with Fidelity Investments. In this book, he details his investment philosophy and some of his strategies. This is a great book for beginners and also for experts to get some idea about what was Peter's secret.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
The book tells the story of a very famous stock trader in the US who lived around a 100 years ago. Even though it has been many years, the tips and lessons that the trader shares remain to be very useful. The book is enjoyable but gets boring after a while as the stories start to seem repetitive. However, traders should definitely consider reading the book and learning from a guy who kept making millions and losing it numerous times.
The Complete TurtleTrader: How 23 Novice Investors Became Overnight Millionaires
The book tells the story of the traders Dennis Richard, a very famous commodities trader back in the 80s, hired to test his nature vs. nurture argument. I felt the story was slow and boring. The only good thing to take out from the book is the investment strategy he taught those novice traders which turned them later into millionaires themselves.
The Intelligent Investor
THE guide on value investing written by its founder, Benjamin Graham, the teacher of Warren Buffett.
The Most Important Thing Illuminated
This book is written by one of the most successful fund managers in the US. He is specialised in value investing. The book is not about some formula or on how to pick stocks. But instead focuses on investment thinking and philosophy that is derived from the memos he sent to his investors over the years.
The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets
A very interesting book that describes the investment strategies and histories of the two most famous endowments with stellar records, those of Harvard University and Yale University. The book then goes to discuss how an individual investor can learn from these endowments in constructing his own portfolio to achieve similar results.
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-term Capital Management
The story of the rise and demise of Long-Term Capital Management, one of the largest hedge funds in its time and run by some of the smartest economic and financial minds both in academia and on Wall Street. Reads like a novel.
Islam
The Fall & Rise of the Islamic State
A very fascinating book for those who are interested in constitutional law, constitutional reform, or Islamic history. Provides an insightful perspective into the working of the constitutional system in the old Islamic state and how it helped create and sustain such a large highly developed and urbanized empire.
Marketing & Sales
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
A very fascinating book for those who are interested in constitutional law, constitutional reform, or Islamic history. Provides an insightful perspective into the working of the constitutional system in the old Islamic state and how it helped to create and sustain such large and highly urbanized empires.
Parenting
Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five
As the title of the book says it. This is book that uses the latest research and scientific finding on babies brain development to provide us with several rules to help us raise smart and happy children.
Positive Discipline
An interesting parenting book that tries to focus on the positive sides of children and encourage it. Furthermore, the author argues against punishment but allowing children to learn from their mistakes while treating them with respect. I highly recommend this book for any parent.
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughers
This was a very touching read. Written by a pediatrician and a mother, the author provides great insight on how to raise girls and how build relationships with them. She provides great examples and scientific evidence. The book obviously emphasizes the importance of a healthy relationship between the two on the long-term success of girls in later on in their lives.
The Whole Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
Another good book on how parents can develop and nurture their children's minds.
Politics & Political Science
All the President's Men
The amazing and thrilling detailed story of the two Washington Post journalists who investigated the Watergate scandal during the early 1970s in the US. Even if you have seen the Redford/Hoffman movie, it's nothing compared to the book which gives a more detailed look into the two journalists investigations and what happened.
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
This is a very fascinating political economy book from a Nobel laureate and one of the major economists in the last century. The book presents the argument for free markets and libertarianism. The book argues for free markets by tacking several of the major economic issues in our world such as union, tariffs, social security, and consumer protection. I highly encourage anyone with an interest in politics or economics to read this book regardless of whether you agree or disagree with it. Friedman in many cases presents through-provoking arguments for how government control can make people and the economy worse off.
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
This is one of the best books I've ever read and one of the most engaging for such a topic. The authors present their very interesting political economy theory on why nations fail. To support their theory they present numerous evidence from across the globe and over various periods of time which makes it a very enjoyable read to observe how countries and civilizations have evolved over time. The authors also put an effort at the start of the book to show how other economic theories fail to explain many examples that their theory does a better job of addressing. Highly recommended for anyone interested in economic development and politics.
Probability & Statistics
Against the Gods: The Remarkable History of Risk
Provides a history of the development of risk and probability and our understanding of them with a special emphasis on the notion and history of risk in Finance.
Psychology
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
An interesting book on 12 facts and rules on how our brains function and how we can use these rules to have better lives and how to use them to be better as students, teachers, in our businesses and in our lives
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
A fascinating read on how to motivate yourself and others using the latest scientific research on motivation.
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
A very fascinating behavioral economics and psychology book. The book is filled with insights on how we consistently tend to make irrational decisions. For example the author through his experiments has investigated why patients are relieved from an expensive panadol but not from a cheap one or why honest people may steal office supplies but not money.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
A great book on how to bring change to you and others around you using several techniques. Filled with great research, evidence, and stories.
The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us
I quiet enjoyed going through this book. The book presents several illusions that we might think we don't have such as the illusion of attention or the illusion of cause. The authors present very interesting experiments that show how human beings can lack in some of these arenas. By knowing that you have such illusions, you are better able to make decisions and know your limitations. People should also try to do the invisible gorilla experiment, it's available on YouTube.
The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
This is Dan Ariely's 2nd book on behavioral economics and consumer psychology. It is definitely interesting and has nice stories to tell. It is not as fascinating as the first book, Predictably Irrational, however. It might be that the first time you read something like this you get fascinated but not the second time around. Nevertheless, the book has interesting ideas that we can all learn from.
Operations Management
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
An enjoyable novel that deals with operations management and improvement.
Real Estate
Investing in Real Estate
An excellent book on the topic.
