This is Part 2 of The Top 10 Books I Read In 2017. Click here to see books 10-6.
5. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
The world is changing. We are becoming more and more interconnected with each other through multiple mediums of communication. Because of this, it’s more important than ever to know how to communicate with people and get your message heard. There is plenty of noise in the world, so you have to be diligent in how you convey yourself to receive adequate attention.
Originally published in 1936, this is one of the most popular self-help books ever written. This book is a how-to guide on better communication while also a lesson in human compassion.
It contains basic principles to help you connect with people simply by showing more of an interest in them and their lives.
Carnegie tells you to smile more, be a better listener, and become genuinely interested in people’s lives. There isn’t much in this book that is inherently profound, but it does serve as a good reminder that to be interesting to other people, you have to be interested in something other than yourself.
A quote to ponder:
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
4. The 48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene
Just like the book described above, this book helps teach you how to deal with other people. Unlike the book described above, the principles in The 48 Laws of Power do not encourage you to smile more or show more interest in people’s lives.
If Dale Carnegie is the angel on your shoulder, Robert Greene is the devil on your other shoulder.
This book outlines 48 ways that a person can exert power over other individuals. Greene uses historical examples across many eras to showcase the ways in which people successfully exerted power using these laws and also the repercussions for those that transgressed them.
It includes principles such as never outshine the master; get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit; use absence to increase respect and honor; plan all the way to the end; never appear too perfect.
This is a very useful book to read even if you have no desire to gain power over other people. By studying the ways in which a person can manipulate those around them, you will be better prepared if it happens to you. It will also help you counteract the forces at work.
This is definitely the longest and most detailed book on this list. It reads more like a historical text than a self-help book. But if you work at a job that includes a high degree of office politics or interpersonal negotiation, then you will definitely want to study the contents of this book.
A quote to consider:
Law 4 – Always Say Less Than Necessary
“When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.”
3. Ego is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday
Oh, ego; the epitome of good and evil encapsulated in what it is to be a functioning, prosperous human being.
Ryan Holiday describes his version of ego as, “an unhealthy belief in our own importance. Self-centered ambition. The need to be better than, more than, recognized for far past any reasonable utility.” Ego is the force that compels someone to be great while also taking them down the path towards failure by allowing them to believe they are greater than they are.
This book is split into the 3 stages of any conquest in life: aspiration, success, and failure. Holiday writes about the ways that ego can sabotage you as you traverse through each of the 3 stages. From talking about what you’re going to do instead of actually doing it, to becoming complacent and inflating self-worth after just a small taste of success, to blaming everyone and everything but yourself when experiencing failure.
I believe this book is useful to anyone in any stage of this cycle, but I found it to be especially useful as someone aspiring to improve. It is an important reminder to always aim to remain grounded and humble in your quest to and from success.
A quote to ponder:
“No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.”
2. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
This book is a collection of journal entries written almost 2000 years ago by a Roman Emperor that was just trying to remind himself how to live a good and noble life.
Marcus Aurelius never intended for any of his writings to be released for publication. Luckily, someone decided that the wisdom found in those journal entries was worth sharing with the world. Two millennia later, we continue to be the beneficiaries of that wisdom.
Meditations contains a shocking number of axioms that are still incredibly relevant today; wake up on time, change is good, life is fleeting, aim to be as good as you can possibly be. Written as rules to live by for himself, Marcus Aurelius offers a unique look inside the mind of a man trying to maintain and wield tremendous power in a balanced and just way. Each entry offers a reflection of a mistake made and ways to avoid doing it again in the future. It is a foundational text in the philosophy of Stoicism and as such, it is an excellent guide for how to operate in an ever-changing world.
Ryan Holiday calls this book the best book ever written. I haven’t read enough books to give it that distinction quite yet, but it is a book I will revisit for the rest of my life.
A quote to ponder:
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.”
Meditations 2.1
1.Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss
This was my favorite book of 2017. This is likely due to the fact that I discovered Tim’s podcast just a few months before this book came out. Tools of Titans is the ultimate companion resource if you’re even remotely interested in Tim Ferriss’ work (which I think you should be if you’re not already).
This book is a compilation of what he calls, “tools, tricks, and tactics,” from the over 200 podcast guests he’s interviewed. It’s segmented into 3 themes: Health, Wealth, Wise. Each section offers its own distinct principles from a wide variety of interesting and successful people from many diverse walks of life. Mixed in throughout are plenty of practical pieces of advice from Tim himself including morning rituals, productivity hacks, journaling tips, fear-setting, and many more.
Mark Manson, who credits Tim Ferriss as an integral influence on his own success, criticized the book, saying he found the parts he read to be a cash grab. But for someone like me, who is just starting out on a journey of self-improvement, I found this book incredibly useful. The people on the Tim Ferriss podcast are very successful in their own ways. I find it enlightening to see how these individuals operate their lives. Beyond that, the book contains an expansive list of resources, podcasts, and books to check out.
If you’re well-read and content with where you are in life, maybe this book isn’t for you. But if you are looking for insights into how high achievers do what they do and ways you can start to do the same, then you should definitely read this book.
In the introduction, Ferriss himself says that not everyone will enjoy the book. He claims that his goal is for each reader to enjoy 50%, love 25%, and never forget 10%.
Personally, I read through the book reading a couple of profiles from one section at a time and then going ahead to read from the next section and so on. It kept things diverse and helped keep me from getting too bogged down by similar themes. I found the Wise section to be the most relevant to my interests, but I think there is something for everyone.
In lieu of a quote, because there is way too many to choose from, here are some of my favorite profiles in the book: Jocko Willink, Derek Sivers, Scott Adams, Tony Robbins, Josh Waitzkin, and Brene Brown just to name a few.
1b. Tribe of Mentors – Tim Ferriss
The last book I read in 2017 is essentially a companion or part 2 for Tools of Titans. The main difference being that the majority of guests in this book have not been on Tim’s podcast.
Tim Ferriss sent 11 questions to over 100 influential and successful individuals, most of whom he had never corresponded with before. These individuals ranged from the Dalai Lama to Jimmy Fallon. He asked them to answer 3-5 of their favorite questions or as many as they had the time and energy for.
Many people didn’t respond, some declined to participate, but from those that did get back to him, he was able to compile a book with a fantastic amount of practical advice and insightful wisdom.
My two favorite questions were 1) what advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore? And 2) In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?
Like in Tools of Titans, Tribe of Mentors is chock-full of practical and actionable advice from some of the most successful people in the world. It allows you a glimpse into the minds of people who developed systems and ways of operating that far exceed the average person. You come to realize there isn’t so much a secret to their success as much as an intense focus on what they excel at.
For anyone looking to find small, easily-digestible tactics and habits that can be used to improve your own life, I guarantee this book contains something for you.
This book is a tome of quotes that most people would do well to incorporate into their own philosophy on life. I will end this list with a line from Tim Ferriss in his closing thoughts from the book:
“If you want to have more, do more, and be more, it all begins with the voice that no one else hears.”
Tim Ferriss
Originally written & published Feb 19, 2018
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