My Favourite Business Books At Every Year of My Life (2012-2024)
My Top 50 Books
This isn’t a list of the best books I’ve read (I’ve essentially listed those at the bottom), instead this is a list of the books that were the most important, WHEN they were read in that year.
The books that helped me the most, at that specific time.
Also included how many were read that year in brackets just to get an idea of the competition or lack-thereof these were up against.
Hopefully interesting, cheers.
2012 - Think and Grow Rich (3)
A well known instant classic. Also one of the earliest books I read when starting out towards personal development/business growth. Pretty lucky.
Obviously incredible book, one of only about 3 that were read that year though so wasn’t exactly much competition when you consider the others were industry specific; “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets” albeit a good one, is not going to make the cut.
2013 - The Law of Success In Sixteen Lessons (3)
Another Napoleon Hill book, in my opinion way better than think and grow rich but actually far less talked about in the personal development or business circles.
Probably due to it being about 4 times as long as TGR.
Also this was the final year I was in Uni (not Uni’s final year though….) Spoiler, although that might be due to this reframing starting to happen around these types of books.
Again not many books read in 2013 and the only other notable one was Enemy Number One - A biography of a UK horse bettor, decent read, probably shows how this betting fuel was ingrained long ago.
2014 - The Millionaire Fastlane (6)
Probably the most important book I read ever in terms of timing.
This (along with multiple other triggers) is why I officially quit Uni, didn’t finish my degree and started the business journey officially.
I’d be doing this on and off before, but this is a real turning point for me. Although the official “pause” Uni date and starting to do anything properly in business (or at least trying) started in 2015, this was a really important trigger.
This book was actually recommended to me by someone called Rich Lock (I think), whilst working some bullsh*t placement year earning less than minimum wage, so appreciate that one.
In my opinion, if you dislike your life due to career/business, a must read, right now.
Although not close to ever being knocked off based on how important it was to read back in 2014, some other notable mentions were 2 decent investing ones; Come into my trading room and the naked trader.
2015 - Confessions of an Advertising Man (15)
The first year I really started reading to learn and improve properly.
This one is a little more weird as other mentions that were also pretty important in 2015 were; 48 laws of power, Guerilla Marketing, Unlabel (by Marc Ecko) & Entrepreneur Revolution by Dan Priestley, also pretty key at the time.
But the reason why something like Confessions of an advertising man is higher than something that is a far better book (like 48 Laws) is that in 2015, at 21/22, reading 48 Laws of Power really isn’t going to help me much, whereas a lot of the context and stories in Confessions or strategies in Guerilla marketing, went a lot further.
2016 - The E-Myth & The 10X Rule (19)
Couldn’t split this into 1 this year and this could easily be 5 or 6.
The E-Myth is an absolute staple for anyone in business starting out. It reduces that ignorance debt really quickly. A must read for anyone in business or going into it.
Second was The 10X Rule - A fairly easy to understand one that some people might disagree with but it just helped re-frame exactly how much it takes and also how you should be thinking bigger.
Now, I think if I were to re-build the list just based on best books per year, it would probably be; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the few books I’ve read 4+ times and aim to read every couple of years.
Other notable mentions in 2016 are Mastery by Robert Greene, but I believe this book is one you can re-read at different times in your life. This for me was more important in 2021-22 than when I first read it back in 2016.
A fair few from 2016 make the top 50 list below.
2017 - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (44)
A lesser well known book in the personal development / financial success space and not really sure why.
Its a mix of think and grow rich and millionaire fastlane in an easy to understand way.
My copy has been destroyed as its another of the few books that I’ve read at least 4+ times.
2017 is also the year that I started to ramp everything up. The 12+ hours a day kicked in, on top of reading close to a book a week.
This was the first of maybe 2.5 “real grind years” where the average day spent productively working was close to 10 hours, which is not an exaggeration and to anyone who thinks that sounds low/easy, I mean productive work for 10hours/day not the BS that a lot of people do in coffee shops saying they working….
But, as a result, 2017 was a huge progress year, I think it’s probably the year I read the most good books in as well.
There’s so many notable mentions here it’s tough to fit them in, but I’ll put the ones that make the top 50 in the list below.
The best business books were probably; Built To Sell incredibly good for any agency owner. Mindset by Carol Dweck was also in 2017. A classic.
2018 - The Obstacle is the Way (23)
Interestingly this book definitely wouldn’t make the top book in 2018 looking back, but at the time I remember to importance quite clearly.
There were a lot of business decisions around preventing wealth from increasing in 2018, decisions that I ultimately had bad advice from people about.
Luckily, gut feel and this book helped avoid making those mistakes that definitely would have put me back multiple years if they had not been made.
About 23-25 read in 2018, some other notable mentions are Shoe Dog, Outwitting the Devil and Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling.
2019 - The Fish That Ate The Whale (47)
Another very large reading year, close to a book a week.
Sitting up top in a close finish is “The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King” - Still actually one of my favourite business books.
Close to an biography format, but with very little fluff, it talks about Samuel Zemurray and how he went from "penniless roadside banana peddler to kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary" fascinating read.
In 2019, I’d probably say around 18-20 of these were very niche specific in the sports betting space, so although some of those were somewhat useful (most were terrible), that reduces the amount of generally applicable ones to 25-30 range.
Of those, some notable mentions; The Rational Male & Release your brakes
Also this is the year I read the famous intelligent investor, actually probably one of the books I was most excited to read and I actually think is pretty poor looking back.
2020 - The Man Who Solved the Market (29)
Everyone’s favourite year.
This was probably the first year that didn’t actually have an obvious standout winner. This year contained a lot of very specific, niche relevant readings, as well as some popular ones that had just been put off reading until a… Um…. Pandemic?
Animal Farm
1984
Boundless: Ben Greenfield (health bible)
Limitless (good memory book by Jim Kwik)
The Richest Man In Babylon
The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic (pretend I read all of this)
Extreme Ownership
Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
Hard Thing About Hard Things
Thinking in Bets
Psychology of Money
Mafia Prince
A real massive mix from Mafia to Jocko Willink to statistical logic to Animal farm.
Probably the most diverse year of reading.
2021 - Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (22)
A book that I never see talked about at all but a very good read for anyone in trading/investing.
Also enjoyed; Courage Is Calling, Sure thing (horse racing) & We Were Wise Guys and Didn't Know It (betting)
And found; One Up On Wall Street, Sharper (sports betting), The Most Important Thing (Howard Marks) very useful.
2022: Unknown Market Wizards: The best traders you've never heard of (22)
Not just a book for traders.
More how to approach things in incredibly creative ways from both trading, betting, investing and business.
In my opinion better than the other market wizard books, simply because of how little other people reveal and how dry those strategies can be.
Also in 2022 only read 18 or so new books and instead re-read some classics (mastery, 7 habits, how to win friends), this is also something I recommend more and more each year, the percentage of books I read that are new is decreasing.
Other top level notable mentions;
Naval almanack
The Handicapper (Robert Kalich)
$100M Offers
2023 - Die With Zero (27)
For the new books that were read in 2023 (around 20), there were some interesting ones but none that re-framed actions as much as die with zero by Bill Perkins.
The concepts and general idea spoke to me pretty deeply and changed how I structure quite a lot of the business that I do today and more so how I actually approach things on a day to day basis.
Notable Mentions:
Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk (Billy Walters)
The Little Book That Still Beats the Market
The Setup - Dan Bilzerian
2024 - The Pathless Path (11)
9 new ones read so far in 2024 and a couple of re-reads.
Currently I like the Pathless Path to take 2024 unless something else also comes up. Other interesting reads so far this year are Money Matrix, Nomad Capitalist, Luck Factor and Beyond Wealth.
My Top 50 Books (year read):
Think and Grow Rich (2013)
The Law of Success In Sixteen Lessons (2013)
The Millionaire Fastlane (2014)
Confessions of an Advertising Man (2015)
The 48 Laws of Power (2015)
Guerilla Marketing (2015)
The 12 Week Year (2016)
How to Win Friends (2016)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (2016)
Mastery (2016)
Ego Is The Enemy (2016)
The Slight Edge (2016)
The Lean Start-up (2016)
The 10X Rule (2016)
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (2017)
The One Thing (2017)
The War Of Art (2017)
Zero Excuses (2017)
Blue Ocean Strategy (2017)
Built to Sell (2017)
The Millionaire Booklet (2017)
Mindset (2017)
Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2017)
The Obstacle Is The Way (2018)
Shoe Dog (2018)
Outwitting the Devil (2018)
Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling (2018)
The Fish That Ate The Whale (2019)
4 Hour Workweek (2019)
The Rational Male (2019)
Release Your Brakes (2019)
The Man Who Solved the Market (2020)
Psychology of Money (2020)
Extreme Ownership (2020)
Animal Farm (2020)
1984 (2020)
The Richest Man In Babylon (2020)
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (2021)
One Up On Wall Street (2021)
The Great Mental Models Volume 1-2-3-4 (2021+)
Courage Is Calling (2021)
Gambling Wizards (2021)
Unknown Market Wizards (2022)
Naval Almanack (2022)
The Handicapper (Robert Kalich) (2022)
Die With Zero (2023)
Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk (Billy Walters) (2023)
Elon Musk (2023)
The Little Book That Still Beats the Market (2023)
The Setup - Dan Bilzerian (2023)
The Pathless Path (2024)