Ryan Holiday's books to base your life on

his own reading-list page, trimmed to the ones he calls formational. long page, this is the extract (sourced)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

he has said this twice, it's basically his whole worldview in one book

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

read it after a rough year. still recomend it after a good one

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

controversial to recommend now. he still does, no hedging

Mastery by Robert Greene

The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh

not really a sports book, it's a management book that happens to be about football

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow

long. worth it for the last third, where he gets old and gives it all away

The Power Broker by Robert Caro

1200 pages about a guy who built highways. doesn't sound like it should work

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

he's cited this one more than almost anything else on the list (sourced)

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

his pick for the novel that defines a generation. not mine, but I get why

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Plutarch's Lives by Plutarch

The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

required reading for anyone who studies history, per his own list. don't binge it

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

his favorite president, and it shows in how he writes about him

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