I love books! but not just any book.
Books that inspire, books that when you read you know your IQ is getting better.
Books solve problems – something you are struggling with has been written about in a book by someone not knowledgeable than you.
It is not a secret that successful people read a lot. The most successful people I know(not just in monetary terms) are vast readers.
The key question is what sort of books should young and ambitious people who want to follow in their footsteps read.

The type of books that will expand your brain and help you make life changing decisions. There are a thousand of these types, but I list 5 of my favorites.
These are books that have made me smarter and have changed my life. I still go back to them when I’m confused on issues or going broke. Enjoy!

Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
If you would read only one book for the remainder of this year, read this book.
Victor Frankl survived the worst horrors and tortures as a prisoner of war from concentration camp to concentration camp (including Auschwitz) in the 1930s.In Man’s search for meaning, you will learn that there is meaning in suffering.

We as humans are desperate to live a stress free life believing that happiness comes when suffering is gone.
Victor looked at the fence that was guarding him, the fence that If he approached, he’d be shot and killed. He looked at that fence and pictured how happily he would be when on the other side of that fence he would see his wife again.
That is motivation. To live. To help people. To survive the worst kind of tortures and let people know that it’s possible. To deliver this special message from the deepest part of hell, almost from the grave, from the city of all lost hope.
This book will definitely change your mindset.

ZERO to One by Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is a genius! I’ll bet on anything he bets on.
In 1998, Peter Thiel co-founded the pioneering e-commerce payments company Paypal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
In 2004, he gave 20 year old Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout who had never held a steady job $500,000 in exchange for 10.2% of the company then called Thefacebook.com. That investment has made him more than $1 billion in cash, while he remains a Director at Facebook.

In 2016, Peter gave $1.25 million to support the Trump campaign when it seemed like Trump was going to lose the elections. We all know how that turned out.
Other notable Thiel investments include; LinkedIn, Airbnb, SpaceX and spotify to name a few.
Now lets get to his book –
Reading his book, Zero to One, was very enlightening; so many concepts in this book will change your attitude about business and capitalism.
This book is just about 200 words and 14 chapters long. Peter Thiel outlines the features of a business that can create and sustain monopoly power, growth and Cashflow. Having a purpose, vision and long-run planning are paramount to building a successful company.
He also talked about Secrets in business – All great businesses have secrets. “A world without secrets is boring, stagnated and has no room to improve upon. Our world is full of injustice and inefficiency, so it cannot be one without secrets”.

From Third World to First World by Lee Kuan Yew
I want to visit Singapore. This country has been referred to as an economic miracle, because of what it achieved in a short time.
The per capita income for its 3.7m citizens exceeds that of many European countries, education and health care system can compete with anything in the West, government officials are largely free of corruption, 90% of the households own their own homes, taxes are relatively low, the quality of roads is amongst the best worldwide and unemployment rate is less than 3%.

All these have been made possible today, thanks to the vision of one man – Lee Kuan Yew.
Not all of us will attain Government positions in this country, but the lessons in this book are invaluable for everyone to building anything worthy of note from scratch.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Meditations, to me is one of the greatest books ever written. It was not originally intended to be published as it consists of notes written by one of the most powerful men in history – Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius to himself.

It covers a diverse range of topics which include; personal ethics, humility, discipline, self-actualization, strength, power and responsibility.
Rumors have it that Bill Clinton reads it every year.
Reading this book will definitely make you a better person and be able to manage the success you desire.

Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

Only a few people in history will match Elon Musk’s relentless drive and vision, the man behind Space X, Tesla Motors, Solar City and PayPal.

Why wouldn’t you want to read about a man who has built 3 billion dollar companies in completely different industries.
This book makes taking risks look easy and will convince you that nothing really is impossible.

You want more?

Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham:
A masterpiece if you are interested in investing.
The shortest 400 page long book you’ll read on strategies used by the greatest investor of our lifetime.
It’s really simple – Go for good businesses, but at good prices and keep them for a long term.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham:
First published in 1949 and written by the father of value investing and a mentor to Warren Buffett. This book will teach you the differences between investing and speculating.

Mastery by Robert Greene:
Robert Greene conducted many interviews with accomplished individuals and studied biographies of numerous influential figures in history and how they became the best at what they did.

The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Feriss:
Make more money by working less. This book will improve your productivity.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Mindset by Carol Dweck

On Writing by Stephen King

Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson.