| [1] Balthasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" Timeless classic, 300 short maxims containing sage advice, written in beautiful prose. One of those books you can read just a few pages whenever you feel like. Currently re-reading it for the third time since I first read it 10 years ago. Still updates my mental model. [2] James Allen, "As a man Thinketh" At 21 pages, by far the most impactful piece of work on an impact-to-effort ratio. Very simple, yet very true. Changed my mental model completely, also 10 years ago, and also a book I'm re-reading for the third time. [3] Nassim Taleb, "Black Swan" A much more modern business book on the now-mainstream concept of "Black Swan" events. But the true value of this book goes beyond the concept – it changed my view of statistics, knowledge, empirical scepticism, philosophy, cognitive biases, societal dynamics, and sure, made me quit investment banking. [4] Brian Greene, "Fabric of the Cosmos" Mind-blowing primer on physics, all the way from Newtonian physics, to General Relativity, to Quantum Mechanics, to String Theory (and beyond). Concepts explained without a single equation. [5] Douglas Hofstadter, "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" What a unique masterpiece. Covers a wide range fascinating concepts through the three geniuses in Math, Art, and Music. Most mind-blowing is his meta-writing style, using short fictional dialogue interludes (sprinkled with easter eggs) to convey each concept in very subtle manner. The joy when you see it. [1] http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/index.htm [2] https://wahiduddin.net/thinketh/as_a_man_thinketh.pdf [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book) [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach UPDATE: format |