I often recommend five books that span finance, psychology, mortality, inequality, philosophy, and evolution. Below is the list with my rating (out of 10), a short appraisal, and the core thesis I highlighted.
| Book | Author | Rating (out of 10) | Appraisal | Core thesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Psychology of Money | Morgan Housel | – | good book and an easy read | Behaviour, emotion and habits like patience matter more for money outcomes than intelligence or technical skill. |
| The Denial of Death | Ernest Becker (1973) | 8 | my book of the year | Human ambition, culture and relationships are unconscious attempts to escape death. |
| Caste | Isabel Wilkerson | 7 | Caste, like the world ain’t got enough issues already | Hidden ranking systems shape opportunity across societies. |
| Stillness Is the Key | Ryan Holiday | – | good read for the pandemic | Inner calm yields clarity, creativity and better decisions, drawing on Stoic and Eastern philosophy. |
| The Selfish Gene | Richard Dawkins | 6 | – | Evolution viewed from the gene’s perspective; self‑less‑appearing behaviour can serve genetic survival and introduces memes. |
If I could pick only one, I choose The Denial of Death as my flagship recommendation.
Reading it at age 34, I worked out from average life expectancy that I had about 36 years left.