"We have been fighting on this planet for ten thousand years; it would be idiotic and unethical to not take advantage of such accumulated experiences. If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you. Any commander who claims he is 'too busy to read' is going to fill body bags with his troops as he learns the hard way.” - James Mattis
“Fools say they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others' experience.” - Otto von Bismarck
I read this quote in Ryan Holiday’s recent blog outlining his suggested reading for 2021. Studying history and reading books (fiction included) will help you “profit by others’ experience” and it will also help develop your empathy and learn about human behavoir.
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change - Marc Benioff
Scaling Up - Verne Harnish
Break Barriers - Bishoy Tadros
The Outsider - Stephen King
Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King
Finders Keepers - Stephen King
End of Watch - Stephen King
What it Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence - Stephen A Schwarzman
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Corp - Robert Iger
The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create a Positive Change - Jon Gordon
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
Broken - Don Winslow
The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday
Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices That Will Make or Break Your Business - Tiffani Bova
Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday
The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus - Richard Preston
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know - Malcolm Gladwell
The Comedians - Graham Greene
Stillness is the Key - Ryan Holiday
The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek
How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X Kendi
Everything is Fucked - Mark Manson
The Down Days - Ilze Hugo
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History - John M Barry
The Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow
The Mist - Stephen King
The Enemy - Lee Childs
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI - Paul R Daugherty
The Gentlemen’s Hour - Don Winslow
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James Nestor
Plum Island - Nelson DeMille
The Death and Life of Bobby Z - Don Winslow
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade - Robert B Cialdini
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
My Bondage and My Freedom - Frederick Douglass
Dare to Lead - Brene Brown
Coaching for Performance - John Whitmore
The Gold Coast - Nelson DeMille
Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday
Underworld - Don DeLillo
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E Frankl
Tripwire - Lee Child
The Lion’s Game - Nelson DeMille
Night Fall - Nelson DeMille
Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work - Steven Pressfield
Running Blind - Lee Child
Intensity - Dean Koontz
Wild Fire - Nelson DeMille