Books I Frequently Recommend To MBAs

Note: This post contains updates

I am frequently asked by MBA students I work with what books I recommend. Many of these students are like myself: generalists interested in startups, entrepreneurship and venture capital. This list is for you.

The following is a good starting point, but contains few surprises. My list likely overlaps with many others. For other great suggestions, search for lists by Tim Ferriss and Patrick O’Shaughnessy.

Non Fiction – Startups and Venture

• Venture Deals
• Zero To One
• Technical Revolutions and Financial Capital
• Modern Monopolies

Non Fiction – Management and Strategy

• High Output Management
• The 7 Powers
• High Growth Handbook
• The Checklist Manifesto
• Extreme Ownership
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• Atomic Habits

Non Fiction – Mental Frameworks

• AntiFragile + Fooled by Randomness (& All Nassim Taleb)
• Sapiens
• Range
• The Upside of Stress
• The Obstacle is the Way (& All Ryan Holiday)
• The Accidental Superpower
• The Fourth Turning
• Thinking in Bets
• Man’s Search for Meaning

Fiction

• Atlas Shrugged
• Siddhartha
  
• New York

I love to read and you can see my full list on Goodreads.

Some Reading Advice:

• You don’t have to read cover to cover. Number of books read is just a vanity metric. 
• According to Nassim Taleb, the older the book, the better (lindy effect).
• I have found successful reading is about timing: sometimes you read a book at exactly the right time for you — that is when magic happens. But since you can’t know if there will be magic in advance, just keep reading!