Borrowed shelves

Recommended by

The people worth reading usually tell you what they read. These are the books from the index that notable thinkers return to and recommend, with a word on why each one earns the place.

Bill Gates
Co-founder of Microsoft
01

The Microsoft founder turned full-time reader , sweeping history and the science of how we think.

6 books recommendedView picks
Naval Ravikant
Founder of AngelList · investor
02

Angel investor and philosopher of wealth , first-principles books on the mind, evolution, and the good life.

5 books recommendedView picks
Tim Ferriss
Author · host of The Tim Ferriss Show
03

The relentless interviewer , tactics, negotiation, and Stoic fundamentals distilled from hundreds of deep dives.

5 books recommendedView picks
Warren Buffett
Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
04

The world's most famous investor, who credits one book with shaping everything he did with money.

3 books recommendedView picks
Charlie Munger
Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
05

Buffett's partner and the great evangelist of mental models drawn from every discipline.

3 books recommendedView picks
Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
06

The reader-in-chief, whose annual lists mix big history with lives told from the inside.

3 books recommendedView picks
Mark Zuckerberg
Co-founder of Meta
07

His 2015 A Year of Books club read one serious book a fortnight, heavy on how societies work.

3 books recommendedView picks
Sheryl Sandberg
Former COO of Meta · author of Lean In
08

Management thinker and champion of the psychology-of-work shelf, from growth mindset to candour.

3 books recommendedView picks
Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon
09

Built the everything store partly out of business classics he made his executives read.

3 books recommendedView picks
Ray Dalio
Founder of Bridgewater Associates
10

The hedge-fund founder who reads history for its repeating patterns, then turns them into principles.

2 books recommendedView picks
James Clear
Author of Atomic Habits
11

The habits author whose public reading list quietly powers half the internet's book recommendations.

4 books recommendedView picks