Memoirs of private lives: childhood and family, illness and death, identity, survival, faith and spiritual practice, and personal essays.
A daughter's memoir of a California childhood between her mother and Steve Jobs.
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Vlad Tenev
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai
A memoir of surviving Auschwitz and a psychologist's guide to healing from trauma.
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Morgan Housel
Confessions of an American writer who travelled widely and lived unconventionally.
Recommended by: Ryan Holiday
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
A comic memoir of a boyhood on Corfu with an odd family and the island's wildlife.
Recommended by: Paul Graham
The life and spiritual attainment of Ramakrishna in a temple near Calcutta.
Recommended by: Steve Jobs
Life in Nazi concentration camps, and logotherapy: finding meaning to survive.
“I have been deeply influenced by the existentialist and eminent psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who wrote the perennial best seller Man's Search for Meaning, one of the most influential books I've ever…” — Frank Martin
Source: Martin on one of the most influential books he has read and reread
Recommended by: Frank Martin, Mohnish Pabrai, Nat Eliason and 24 others
Recommended by: Richard Branson
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
A naturalist's mother dies of cancer as the rising Great Salt Lake threatens birds.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Richard Branson
Comic essays on a life from a Raleigh childhood to drink- and drug-filled college.
Recommended by: Sophie Bakalar
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Library Mindset
Recommended by: Ev Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Altman
Recommended by: Naval Ravikant
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Chris Sacca, Guy Proops
A professor living with ALS sets out his philosophy of living and of letting go.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Insider account: a fired ad executive's memoir as a barista.
A brain scientist watches her own mind shut down during a massive stroke.
Recommended by: Ray Dalio
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Bill Gates
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai, Warren Buffett
A decade working in hotels, from valet to front desk, and the hustles behind them.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Candid thoughts on illness and mortality.
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson
The Dilbert creator's many failures and what they taught him about success.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and 2 others
Recommended by: Matt Mullenweg, Mohnish Pabrai
A news anchor's panic attack on air leads him to meditation, and what it did for him.
Recommended by: Nat Eliason, Arianna Huffington, Peter Attia and 2 others
A letter to the author's teenage son about living in a black body in America.
Recommended by: Barack Obama, Bob Iger, Jack Dorsey and 2 others
Recommended by: Ali Abdaal, Naval Ravikant
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Aileen Lee, Andrew Wilkinson and 3 others
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Jason Calacanis, Packy McCormick
Recommended by: Richard Branson
A neurosurgeon diagnosed with lung cancer at 36 asks what makes life worth living.
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai, Morgan Housel and 11 others
Recommended by: Zoë Foster Blake
“It's a memoir about the sudden death of a partner and what ripples out from there. Made me want to move to New York ASAP. I pounded through it in a few days while I was on vacation, highly recommend.” — Andrew Wilkinson
Source: Newsletter
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson
Recommended by: Guy Spier, Jim Kwik, Tony Robbins and 1 other
From abused child and 300-pound exterminator to Navy SEAL, and how to get tough.
Recommended by: Nat Eliason, Alex and Books, Ali Abdaal and 7 others
Recommended by: Arianna Huffington, Keith Wasserman
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Claire Diaz-Ortiz
Recommended by: Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, Warren Buffett
“It turns out it's ghost written by J.R. Moehringer, who has written some of my favourite biographies. Highly recommend.” — Andrew Wilkinson
Source: Newsletter
Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson
Recommended by: Marc Benioff, Sahil Lavingia, Steve Jobs
Recommended by: Arianna Huffington
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Sam Altmanrecommends 3 books here
Paul Grahamrecommends 2 books here