The Best of Farnam Street 2019
We read for the same reasons we have conversations — to enrich our lives. Reading helps us to think, feel, and reflect — not only upon ourselves and others but upon our ideas, and our relationship …
Book Recommendations
Fiction that Influences and Inspires
Reading nonfiction is a fantastic way to expand your mind and give you an edge in this world. It’s especially useful when we have a specific idea or concept that we’d like to learn more about. …
Book Recommendations by the Legendary Washington Post CEO Don Graham
“My goal in reading a book is to entertain myself and perhaps to learn. You won’t read much unless what you read is enjoyable for you.” — Don Graham *** In 1973, Warren Buffett famously …
A Short List of Books for Doing New Things
Andrew Ng has quite the modern resume. He founded Coursera, a wonderful website that gives anyone with Internet access the ability to take high level university courses on almost any topic. He founded …
A Year of Books: 23 Book Recommendations from Mark Zuckerberg
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg did something slightly unusual for a CEO of a major technology company: He started a book club! In that year, Zuckerberg ended up recommending and discussing 23 books with the …
What Books Would You Recommend Someone Read to Improve their General Knowledge of the World?
Inspired by a reader’s question to me, I thought I’d ask our followers on Facebook and Twitter for an answer to the question: What books would you recommend someone read to improve their …
Spring 2016 Reading List — More Curated Recommendations For a Curious Mind
We hear a lot from people who want to read more. That’s a great sentiment. But it won’t actually happen until you decide what you’re going to do less of. We all get 24 hours a day …
The Best Non-Fiction Books of 2015: The Year of the Biography
One of my favorite sources of reading material is Tyler Cowen. He’s consistently finding exceptional things that I’ve never heard of. His 2015 non-fiction list is no exception. If he had …
The 2015 Farnam Street Members Book List
Today’s book list is based on recommendations by Farnam Street Members on Slack over the last few months. If you’re not familiar with it, our community on Slack is a discussion area for members, and …
Reads for the Curious Mind
Out of the 44 books I read from January to June, here are the 7 that resonated with me the most. (For the curious see the 2012, 2013, I can’t find the 2014 edition.) Pebbles of Perception: How a …
Books Everyone Should Read on Psychology and Behavioral Economics
Earlier this year, a prominent friend of mine was tasked with coming up with a list of behavioral economics book recommendations for the military leaders of a G7 country and I was on the limited email …
Rory Sutherland Offers 4 Interesting Reads
I asked Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman: Ogilvy & Mather) what books stood out for him last year. I’ve had the privilege of chatting with Rory a few times now and I think you’ll agree, …
40 Books that Improve your Ability to Make Decisions
Who can you ask for book recommendations on decision making? At Re:Think Decision Making, I asked a crowd that one former ivy league professor called “the best public crowd he’s ever …
The Seven Books Bill Gates Thinks You Should Read This Summer
Bill Gates is out with his annual summer reading list and, while longer than last year’s, it’s a great place to kick off your summer reading. “Each of these books,” Gates writes, …
Stephen King Shares His (Long) Reading List
At any question and answer session, a reader inevitably asks Stephen King what he reads. Everyone, myself included, wants to know what’s on Stephen King’s reading list. Now we know. In On …
The Books That Influenced Edward O. Wilson
Too often life gets in the way of reading and thinking. Rarely are we given a chance to look back at what influenced our thinking. Sometimes these are small fragments — words, thoughts, marginalia, …