Reading List

The summer before my junior year of college I picked up my first personal development book, The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason, and since that time I have been continuously educating myself through books. Interestingly enough, after five years of college and obtaining a CPA license, I would have to attribute most of my personal growth and business ideas – including the creation of this site, my real estate efforts, and entire marketing plan to the lessons learned directly or indirectly from the books I read. I am including a list of books I have read and recommend to those interested in self-education and personal development.

Top 5

I have been continuously reading for a few years now, and that adds up to a whole lot of books. I picked a list of the top five books I found essential for aspiring entrepreneurs and investors picking up personal development books for the first time.

Honorable Mention

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Now for those that claim they do not have time to read I encourage you to try audiobooks. You can listen to them while driving, jogging, at the gym, at work, or when you are getting ready in the morning. Whats even better – you can get a free 30-day Audible trial by clicking here.

The List

Wealth & Personal Finance

1. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
2. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
3. The Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
4. The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley
5. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
6. The Millionaire Booklet by Grant Cardone
7. Tax Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright

Investing

1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
2. The Four Pillars of Investing by William J. Bernstein
3. One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
4. Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
5. Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Peter D. Kaufman
6. Investing in Apartment Buildings
7. Wheelbarrow Profits by Jake Stenziano & Gino Barbaro
8. The Apartment Syndication Book by Joe Fairless
9. The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
10. Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat by David M Greene
11. Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David M Greene
12. Recession Proof Real Estate Investing by J. Scott

Business

1. The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump
2. Think Big by Donald Trump
3. Sell or Be Sold by Grant Cardone
4. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
5. If Your Not First Your Last by Grant Cardone
6. No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs
7. No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs
8. The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
9. Buy then Build by Walker Deibel
10. Cracking The Code: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Growing Your Business Through Mergers And Acquisitions For Pennies On The Dollar by John Bly

Sales & Marketing

1. The Secrets Trilogy by Russell Brunson (DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets, Traffic Secrets)
2. No B.S. Marketing to the Affluent by Dan Kennedy
3. The Ultimate Marketing Plan by Dan Kennedy
4. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy
5. All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
6. Guerilla Marketing by Houghton Mifflin
7. The Art of Selling to the Affluent: How to Attract, Service, and Retain Wealthy Customers and Clients for Life
8. The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible
9. How to Master the Art of Selling Financial Services
10. The Art of Raising Capital: for Entrepreneurs and Investors 
11. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuck
12. Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuck
13. The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells
14. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition
15. Sales EQ: How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal
16. Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
17. Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday

Leadership & Management

1. First-Time Manager by Jim McCormick
2. The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
3. The New One Minute Manager by by Ken Blanchard, Dan Woren
4. The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
5. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
6. Traction by Gino Wickman
7. No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits by Dan Kennedy
8. The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
9. 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by John C. Maxwell
10. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Teams
11. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing People
12. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t
13. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
14. Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership
15. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
16. Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers 
17. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Biographies

1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
2. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
3. Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw
4. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
5. Sam Walton, Made in America by Sam Walton
6. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Issac
7. Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office by Zack O’Malley
8. Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy
9. Monkey Business by John Rolfe and Peter Troob
10. Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
11. When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub
12. Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
13. Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell

Personal Development

1. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
2. Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
3. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
4. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida
5. The Science Of Self Confidence by Brian Tracey
6. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
7. The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey
8. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
9. The Definitive Book of Body Language by Barbara Pease & Allan Pease
10. The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
11. Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
12. Born Rich by Bob Proctor
13. Emotional Intelligence 2.0
14. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
15. Ego is the Enemy

Other

1. The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
2. The Art of War by Sun Zhu
3. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
4. The Secret by Rhonda Bryne
5. The Game by Neil Strauss
6. Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think
7. The Wealth of Nations by Andrew Smith

Anti-Library 

Leadership & Management

1. The Coaching Effect
2. Big Shifts Ahead: Demographic Clarity For Business
3. HBR Emotional Intelligence
4. Crucial Conversations
5. Conversational Intelligence
6. The Laws of Human Nature
7. The Checklist Manifesto
8. Thinking Fast and Slow
9. The 80/20 Principle
10. If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself!: The Power of Effective Delegation
11. The Culture Code
12. Virtual Freedom
13. 5 Dysfunctions of a team
14. How to Become CEO
15. Scaling Up
16. Build a Business Not a Job
17. Drive
18. Extreme Ownership
19. The entire HBR Must Reads Collection
20. The Essential Drucker

Business Development  

1. Blue Ocean Strategy
2. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
3. Influence (read again)
4. Made to Stick
5. Contagious
6. Fanatical Prospecting
7. Win Friends and Influence people
8. Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts
9. The New Strategic Selling
10. Negotiation X – Stefan Aarnio
11. Pre-suasion
12. The Science of Selling
13. The Power Broker

1. The Little Book on Common Sense Investing
2. Excess Returns: A comparative study of the methods of the world’s greatest investors
3. Poor Charlie’s Almanac
4. The Hands-Off Investor
5. The Real Estate Game
6. How to Underwrite MF deals
7. Real Estate Finance and Investments: Risks and Opportunities Edition 5.1
8. Investing in Apartment Buildings
9. Joe Fairless – Syndication
10. Syndication is a Bitch
11. Principles of Real Estate Syndication