203 Books Written By Billionaires (A Constantly Updated, Complete List)

If you read all of these, you will not come out the same person you came in (in a good way), from experience.

Here is the best list on the web of all the books written by billionaires.

I have looked all over the Internet for a list, and I’ve yet to find a list that comes close to what I’ve compiled here. That’s because no one seems to be as plugged into the billionaire universe and the books out there as me. Nor have many people set out to read most or any of these books.

Richard Branson made a good point in one of his books that news, social media, and internet estimates of net worth are usually wildly off in both directions from what he knows their real net worth is. I tried my best to make this list as accurate as possible by emphasizing more credible sources. I put more weight on the two net worth sources I trust: Forbes Net Worth Billionaire List and Fortune.

Media and influencers tend to slap the billionaire label on rich people to get more clicks even if it’s not true or verifiable, and these people don’t deny it to get more clout and status. So, it’s tough to verify, but I want to at least see a Forbes verification, as they can audit public companies and make rough estimates of private companies. Even they are not going to be completely accurate, but it’s better than random claims from strangers online.

I acknowledge some people can surpass the billionaire level and then fall off later on. I’m setting a rule that I’m putting them on the main list if at some point in their life, they hit the mark.

If I had any doubt if people were billionaires, I put their books in a separate list in a section at the bottom.

If you know of a book by a billionaire not on this list, leave a comment. I will keep updating this page. 

If you go through any of the following links to buy a book, I will get a commission at no extra cost to you. It really helps support the life of this site and hosting fees.

All Books Written By Billionaires:

1. My Life and Work by Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motors)
2. Today and Tomorrow by Henry Ford
3. The International Jew by Henry Ford
4. Edison As I Know Him by Henry Ford
5. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (net worth of $17 Billion according to Forbes)
6. Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
7. Made in America by Sam Walton (founder of Walmart)
8. Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates
9. The Road Ahead by Bill Gates
10. Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell
11. Random Reminiscences of Men and Events by John D. Rockefeller
12. John D. Rockefeller: The Autobiography of an Oil Titan and Philanthropist by John D. Rockefeller
13. Quotations by John D. Rockefeller
14. Attack and Win in Business by John D. Rockefeller
15. The Colorado Industrial Plan by John D. Rockefeller
16. John D. Rockefeller on Making Money: Advice and Words of Wisdom on Building and Sharing Wealth by John D. Rockefeller
17. Dear Father, Dear Son: Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller and Jr. by John D. Rockefeller
18. Built, Not Born: A Self-Made Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs by Tom Golisano (net worth $5 billion+)
19. Zero To One by Peter Thiel (tech investor)
20. Lean In For Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg (female billionaire, one of the first employees at Google and Facebook)
21. Lean In: Work, Women and The Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
22. Lean In for Grads by Sheryl Sandberg
23. How to be The Startup Hero: A Guide and Textbook for Entrepreneurs and Aspiring Entrepreneurs by Tim Draper
24. Love, Pain and Money: The Making of a Billionaire by John Caudwell
25. The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking by Eli Broad (net worth of $7.3 Billion)
26. Jimmy: An Autobiography by Jim Pattison (net worth of $6.9 Billion)
27. Birth: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together by Shari Arison (female billionaire)
28. The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time by Jim McKelvey, cofounder of Square
29. Activate Your Goodness: Transforming the World Through Doing Good by Shari Arison
30. The Doing Good Model: Activate Your Goodness in Business by Shari Arison
31. The Link: How Doing Good Connects Us to Ourselves, Each Other…and Everything! by Shari Arison
32. From Red Tape To Red Carpet And Then Some by Gina Rinehart
33. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by Phil Knight (founder of Nike)
34. The Wanda Way: The Managerial Philosophy and Values of One of China’s Largest Companies by Jianlin Wang (net worth of $25 Billion)
35. Start Small Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start – and Run – Your Own Successful Business by Fred Deluca (founder of Subway, $3 Billion)
36. Always Fresh by Ronald Joyce (founder of Tim Horton, a doughnut chain, net worth of $1.39 Billion according to Forbes)
37. How to Make a Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs
38. Little Black Stretchy Pants by Chip Wilson (Lululemon)
39. Simply Rich by Rich Devos (founder of Amway)
40. Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People by Rich DeVos
41. Believe! by Rich DeVos
42. Compassionate Capitalism by Rich DeVos (this may be confusing since another billionaire wrote a book of the same name)
43. Hope From My Heart by Rich DeVos
44. The Essays of Warren Buffett
45. The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership by Richard Branson
46. Screw It Let’s Do It: Lessons In Life, Like A Virgin by Richard Branson
47. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
48. Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson
49. Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson | Book Summary
50. Reach for the Skies by Richard Branson
51. Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School by Richard Branson
52. Finding My Virginity by Richard Branson
53. What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey – My Book Summary Of This Book
54. The Snowball (biography of Warren Buffett)
55. Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad (Net Worth of $33 Billion according to Forbes)
56. The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
57. Eat More Chikin by S. Truett Cathy (the founder of Chick-Fil-A, Net Worth of $6.2 Billion according to Forbes.)
58. Wealth: Is It Worth It? by S. Truett Cathy
59. How did you do it, Truett? by S. Truett Cathy
60. It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men by S. Truett Cathy
61. It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail by S. Truett Cathy
62. Measure What Matters by John Doerr
63. The Generosity Factor: Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure by Ken Blanchard (author of One Minute Manager) and S. Truett Cathy (this is a mini-parable explaining the benefits of generosity.)
64. Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took On Microsoft by Jim Clark (a.k.a. James H. Clark – net worth $1.3 billion, founder of three billion dollar tech companies)
65. Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank (Home Depot)
66. How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers by David M. Rubenstein
67. The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians by David M. Rubenstein
68. Winners Never Cheat by Jon Huntsman
69. Barefoot to Billionaire: Reflections on a Life’s Work and a Promise to Cure Cancer by Jon Huntsman Sr. (Net Worth of $1 Billion according to Forbes, after giving away $1.2 billion)
70. Ralph Lauren by Ralph Lauren
71. The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
72. Driven from Within by Michael Jordan
73. For the Love of the Game: My Story by Michael Jordan
74. I Can’t Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence by Michael Jordan
75. I’m Back!: More Rare Air by Michael Jordan
76. The Entrepreneur: 25 Golden Rules for the Global Business Manager by William Heinecke (net worth of $1.7 Billion according for Forbes)
77. The Entrepreneur: Twenty-One Golden Rules for the Global Business Manager by William Heinecke (it seems to be an older version of the same book)
78. How To Win At The Sport of Business by Mark Cuban
79. Onward by Howard Schultz (Starbucks)
80. Steering Clear by Peter George Peterson (COE of Lehman Brothers, 1.6 Billion net worth)
81. Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built A Company One Cup At a Time by Howard Schultz
82. Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg (Made his money from Bloomberg terminals)
83. The Business of Happiness by Ted Leonsis
84. Bailout Riches!: How Everyday Investors Can Make a Fortune Buying Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar by Bill Bartmann
85. Pizza Tiger by Thomas Monaghan (founder of Domino’s)
86. How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty (Fortune named him the richest living American in 1957.)
87. How to be a Successful Executive by J. Paul Getty
88. As I See It: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty
89. My Life and Fortunes, the Autobiography of One of the World’s Wealthiest Men by J. Paul Getty (apparently he wrote two autobiographies?)
90. The Joys of Collecting by J. Paul Getty (this is more about his priceless art collecting hobby)
91. Ernest and Julio: Our Story
92. Shut Up and Listen!: Hard Business Truths that Will Help You Succeed by Tilman Fertitta
93. Charles Schwab’s Guide To Financial Independence by Charles R. Schwab (net worth of $5.3 Billion)
94. You’re Fifty, Now What? by Charles Schwab
95. How to be Your Own Stockbroker by Charles Schwab
96. Reinventing the Market by Charles Schwab
97. Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman (investor)
98. Dream No Little Dreams by Clayton L. Mathile
99. The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham (a curation of Warren’s shareholder letters)
100. Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner)
101. Call Me Ted by Ted Turner (media business)
102. The First Billion Is The Hardest by T. Boone Pickens
103. Boone by T. Boone Pickens
104. Fooling Some of the People All of the Time by David Einhorn (investor)
105. Soros on Soros by George Soros (probably the densest and most difficult of them all. This guy was born with a genius mind for macro-economists far beyond my comprehension.)
106. Direct from Dell by Michael Dell
107. The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman
108. The Science of Success by Charles G. Koch (net worth of $42 billion. #7 richest man in the world according to Forbes. 
109. Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World’s Most Successful Companies by Charles G. Koch
110. Better India: A Better World by Narayana Murthy
111. Compassionate Capitalism: How Corporations Can Make Doing Good an Integral Part of Doing Well (2004) by Marc Benioff (net worth $3.9 Billion+)
112. The Business of Changing the World: Twenty Great Leaders on Strategic Corporate Philanthropy (2006) by Marc Benioff
113. Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company-and Revolutionized an Industry by Marc Benioff
114. Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change by Marc Benioff
115. Habit of Labor: Lessons from a Life of Struggle and Success by Stef Wertheimer
116. Man at a Machine by Stef Wertheimer
117. What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence by Stephen A. Schwarzman
118. Red Zone: Cars, Cows, and Coaches by Red McCombs
119. Big Red: Memoirs of a Texas Entrepreneur and Philanthropist by Red McCombs
120. The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street, and Beyond by Peter G. Peterson
121. Finding America’s Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy (2010) by Peter G. Peterson
122. Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It (2005) by Peter G. Peterson
123. Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America–and the World (2000) by Peter G. Peterson
124. Will America Grow up Before it Grows Old: How the Coming Social Security Crisis Threatens You, Your Family and Your Country (1996) by Peter G. Peterson
125. Facing Up: How to Rescue the Economy From Crushing Debt & Restore the American Dream (1993) by Peter G. Peterson
126. Sharing the Wealth by Alex Spanos
127. I Love Capitalism!: An American Story by Ken Langone ($3.4 Billion according to Forbes)
128. How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud by Ken Fisher
129. The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don’t by Ken Fisher (I highly disagree with many points in this book; I prefer Warren Buffett’s style and Ken’s father’s book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits)
130. The Little Book of Market Myths: How to Profit by Avoiding the Investing Mistakes Everyone Else Makes by Ken Fisher
131. Plan Your Prosperity: The Only Retirement Guide You’ll Ever Need, Starting Now–Whether You’re 22, 52 or 82 by Ken Fisher
132. Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit from It — Seeing Through Wall Street’s Money-Killing Myths by Ken Fisher
133. Markets Never Forget (But People Do): How Your Memory Is Costing You Money—and Why This Time Isn’t Different by Ken Fisher
134. The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) by Ken Fisher
135. Beat the Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently by Ken Fisher
136. Battle for Investment Survival by Ken Fisher
137. 100 Minds That Made the Market by Ken Fisher
138. How Google Works and The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Alphabet (formerly Google), 138th richest man in the world. (What I find interesting about him is that he doesn’t consider himself an entrepreneur. He considers himself a manager that helped Larry and Sergie create their dream of Google. You don’t have to be a CEO or founder guys!)
139. Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons by Seymour Schulich (Net worth of $1.5 billion according to Wikipedia)
140. Grinding it Out by Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald’s)
141. PAPA: The Story of Papa John’s Pizza by John H. Schnatter (Net worth of $1 billion according to Forbes)
142. The Art Of the Deal by Donald J. Trump
143. Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich-And Why Most Don’t by Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki
144. Think Like A Champion by Donald Trump
145. Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again Donald Trump
146. The America We Deserve by Donald Trump
147. Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received by Donald Trump
148. Trump 101: The Way to Success by Donald Trump (2006)
149. Trump University Wealth Building 101: Your First 90 Days on the Path to Prosperity by Donald Trump (2007)
150. Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success by Donald Trump (2007)
151. Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life by Donald Trump (2007)
152. Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message by Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki
153. Customers Come First: From One Small Shop to a Worldwide Network of Stores by Masatoshi Ito
154. The Heart Of Doing Business: Memoirs Of An Entrepreneur by Masatoshi Ito
155. Am I Being Too Subtle?: The Adventures of a Business Maverick by Sam Zell (Net worth of $5 Billion according to Forbes)
156. Lui Che-woo: Creating Value: The Journey of a Self-Made Billionaire: The Authorized Biography by Lui Che woo by Lui Che-woo (Net worth of $15 Billion according to Forbes)
157. Against All Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Net worth of $4.3 Billion according to Forbes)
158. A History of Great Inventions by James Dyson
159. Design by James Dyson
160. Whatever the Odds The Incredible Story Behind DLF by Kushal Pal Singh (also known as K.P. Singh, Net worth of $5.3 Billion according to Forbes)
161. Lim Goh Tong: My Life Story (Net worth of 4.2 billions dollar according to Forbes when he died, richest Malaysian at the time)
162. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard (Net worth of $1 Billion according to Forbes, founder of Patagonia, more of his books are in the Honorable Mention section)
163. The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years by Yvon Chouinard
164. Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune by Thor Bjorgolfsson
165. Run Your Business, Don’t Let It Run You: Learning and Living Professional Management by Clay Mathile
166. In for a Penny: A Business Adventure by Peter Hargreaves (founder of Subway, Net worth of $2.9 Billion)
167. Powerhouse Principles: The Ultimate Blueprint for Real Estate Success in an Ever-Changing Market by Jorge Perez ($2.8 Billion)
168. Threshold Resistance: The Extraordinary Career of a Luxury Retailing Pioneer by Alfred Taubman ($3.1 Billion)
169. A Passion to Win by Sumner Redstone (chairman of Viacom, Net worth of $5.4 Billion according to Forbes) – Read My Book Summary
170. Making It Big by Binod Chaudhary (from Nepal, net worth of $1.32 Billion according to Forbes) 
171. Mochtar Riady: My Life Story (from Indonesia, the founder of Lippo Group; net worth of $1.83 Billion according to Forbes) 
172. Everything is Possible: Life and Business Lessons from a Self-Made Billionaire and the Founder of Slim-Fast by S. Daniel Abraham (net worth of $2.1 Billion according to Forbes)
173. Peace is Possible: Conversations with Arab and Israeli Leaders from 1988 to the Present by S. Daniel Abraham
174. The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time by Subhash Chandra (net worth of $4.4 Billion according to Forbes)
175. A Passion to Build: a Memoir of David M. Consunji (net worth of $3.5 Billion)
176. Dave Says Well Done!: The Common Guy’s Guide to Everyday Success by Rex David “Dave” Thomas (founder of Wendy’s)
177. My Life & the Principles for Success by H. Ross Perot (net worth of $4.1 Billion)
178. Ross Perot: My Life by H. Ross Perot
179. A Business Handbook: Advice I Gave My Son by H. Ross Perot
180. United We Stand: How We Can Take Back Our Country by H. Ross Perot
181. Not for Sale At Any Price: How We Can Save America for Our Children by H. Ross Perot
182. Save Your Job, Save Our Country by H. Ross Perot
183. The Dollar Crisis by H. Ross Perot
184. Intensive Care by H. Ross Perot
185. Ross Perot Speaks Out: Straight Talking Answers to Today’s Tough Questions by H. Ross Perot
186. Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod and Reel by Yvon Chouinard
187. 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless by Yvon Chouinard
188. Climbing Ice by Yvon Chouinard
189. Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders by Philip Anschutz
190. Out Where the West Begins, Volume 2: Creating and Civilizing the American West by Philip Anschutz
191. Oil of Russia: Past, Present & Future by Vagit Alekperov
192. Vertically Integrated Oil Companies of Russia: Formation Methodology and Realization by Vagit Alekperov
193. The New Normal: Great Opportunities in a Time of Great Risk by Roger McNamee (tech investor)
194. Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee
195. Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back by Jeff Hoffman (founder of Priceline.com)
196. Anticipating Change: Secrets Behind the SAP Empire by Hasso Plattner
197. In-Memory Data Management: Technology and Applications by Hasso Plattner
198. Design Thinking Research: Building Innovators by Hasso Plattner
199. Higher Is Waiting by Tyler Perry
200. Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry
201. What You See Is What You Get by Alan Sugar
202. How to Invest by David Rubenstein
203. The Magna Man: My Road to Economic Freedom by Frank Stronach (was a billionaire at one point by Forbes; has fallen off)

These People May Be Billionaires

Let’s face it. It’s really hard to accurately tell if someone is a billionaire. As Richard Branson says in his books, a lot of the claims about net worth are wildly off since none of it is based on data that is actually public record. There are exceptions, such as if one has a public company yet many have private companies. Hence, a lot of this is to my best conjecture. I’m putting this section aside for people I had a harder time verifying for various reasons. For example, I don’t know if the founder of Trader Joe became a billionaire by the time he died. I’m sure he made a lot of money, and the company has grown to a formidable size decades after his passing; it’s just not clear.

• Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys

Billionaires That Lost It All

When I see people rise up quickly to become millionaires in the lime-light but do so in flamboyant, excessive ways, I wonder … but will they stay millionaires? Lately, there have been a lot of young people who have done just that through social media, like Rice Gum or Tai Lopez. While 99% of the world has bought into the idea that they’re gods, history proves differently. I believe time will tell. If you give anyone a couple decades, you’ll find out who stood the test of the time.

The same applies to billionaires. There have been a few who have reached this point and fallen back down. Therefore, I haven’t deemed the books written by the billionaires who fall into this category worthy to be placed into the main list. Their overall strategy failed them, so we shouldn’t take their advice point blank. Nonetheless, we can still learn from their failures so we don’t make the same ones.

That’s why I prefer the advice of Warren Buffet. He’s a billionaire who has consistently stayed rich for over six decades, but preaches the values and qualities of being a good person and living a life beyond money. His whole motto revolves around sacrificing any extra money that can be made if it means a potential loss of reputation or potential catastrophic loss of money.

O X Da Questão by Eike Batista: This book is written in Portuguese. In 2012, he was the richest person in Brazil with a net worth of $30 Billion. Due to risky investments, he loss all of his money and plunged to a negative billion dollar net worth. Many of his cars, including a white Lamborghini Aventador were seized.

Billionaires That Lost Everything And Got It Back

Losing your billion is tough. One billionaire, Adolf Merckle, even killed himself because of this. But it takes mental fortitude to not give up and continue. Two billionaires come to mind who have done this:

Donald Trump is the one billionaire who supposedly claims he plunged into multiple millions into debt, but managed to pick himself back up and make it back. He details the story in his books and points to a moment when he remarked that a homeless man on the street was worth millions more than him. Rather than giving up, he persevered and even ended up becoming President of the United States.

Another book that documents this is Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune by Thor Bjorgolfsson.

Sam Wyly’s books are also included here:

• 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur To Billionaire
• Texas Got It Right!
• The Immigrant Spirit: How Newcomers Enrich America
• Immigrants Enrich Us
• The Wyly Family: Coming to America

Sam was once a billionaire but is now bankrupt.

Books About Billionaires But Not Written By Billionaires

This list includes books that were:

• recommended by billionaires.
• written by people directly related to billionaires.
• written by someone else about billionaires, but not by the actual billionaire.

This list is nowhere near exhaustive because there are so many more of these. Please keep comments suggesting these to a minimum because there’s a much larger amount of these and they’re not even written by the source.

I may end up writing another article for those. Keep in mind that for some famous billionaires, like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, or Jack Ma, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books written about them. I will not list them all here because most aren’t worth your time. Anyone can write these and slap their name on them and most have horrible ratings because of this. Few are well done with a lot of research, following the billionaire around, although there are some. Walter Isaacson’s books are an example.

If you just search their name on Amazon, you’ll find them yourself.

• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
• DREAM BIG: How the Brazilian Trio behind 3G Capital – Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira – acquired Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Heinz by Cristiane Correa
• The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune (not written by Chuck himself. It’s a biography)
• Getting There by Zoe Gillian Segal
• Dream Big (Sonho Grande): How the Brazilian Trio behind 3G Capital
• Invent and Wander (a book about Jeff Bezos)
• Driven to Succeed: How Frank Hasenfratz Grew Linamar from Guelph to Global
• Carlos Slim: The Richest Man in the World/The Authorized Biography by Jose Martinez
• How I Did It: Lessons From The Front Lines of Business (Pulls from multiple columns of the Harvard Business Review and features multiple billionaires including Kevin Plank and Eric Schmidt)
• Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life by Lisa Chaney – This one is written about a female founder of a multi-billion dollar fashion company, Chanel. It is put here because it is questionable whether or not she actually hit a billion dollar net worth during her lifetime and it wasn’t written by her. Having said that, she did create an incredible company. The book seems to be more about her personal life than business success though.
• Showing Up For Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime by Bill Gates Sr. (father of Bill Gates)
• Elon Musk’s biography
• Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (not by Charlie, but quoting a lot of his best stuff)
• Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill (studied 200+ of the richest people in the world in-person for 20+ years, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and more)
• Awaken the Millionaire Within You: Lessons from Carlos Wizard Martins by Carlos Wizard Martins (Net worth of $1 billion in 2014 on Forbes but he sold his company for $700 million and isn’t a billionaire anymore).
• Forrest Mars, Jr. (27th richest man in the world, owner of a candy company, net worth $11+ billion) recommends these books according to Fortune (click the link).
• The Everything Store by Brad Stone (It’s about Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com)
• A Passion For Success by Kazuo Inamori (Net worth of $900 million according to Forbes)
• John L. Gokongwei Jr.: The Path Of Entrepreneurship by Marites A. Khanser (Net worth of $6.2 Billion)
• The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success As You Start, Build, or Manage a Business by Martha Stewart (She may have hit a billionaire at some point. Now, it seems she’s dipped below that, especially after giving away to charity.)
• Steve Jobs

These books were recommended by the billionaire Forrest Mars (9+ billion net worth) :

• General and Industrial Management by Henri Fayol
• Elementsof Administration by Lyndall F. Urwick
• The Principles of Organization by James D. Mooney

“Forrest has the best management system I’ve ever come across. It permits decentralization and encourages initiative–but keeps firm control at the top.” -former Mars Executive, according to Fortune article.

Avoid These Books by Billionaires

Let’s be honest. One of the key reasons we read these is to earn more money. Therefore, there are quite a few books by billionaires that I didn’t feel fit to include in the main list because their topic is far off from any advice on earning money. They will go in this list:

• Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod and Reel by Yvon Chouinard
• 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless by Yvon Chouinard
• Climbing Ice by Yvon Chouinard
• Peace is Possible: Conversations with Arab and Israeli Leaders from 1988 to the Present by S. Daniel Abraham
• Peter G. Peterson’s books on politics
• H. Ross Perot’s books on politics

My Favorites

So far, I’ve read quite a few of them and gained some incredible insights. I love doing this because a lot of millionaire advice is contradictory.

I love doing this because a lot of millionaire advice is contradictory. One of the reasons behind this is that millionaires surprisingly are sometimes still struggling to figure things out and sometimes have naive interpretations on how they did it.

I loved these for many reasons. Some of them included that they were conversational, easy to understand, and had advice applicable to life as well as business. Here they are in no particular order:

• Made in America by Sam Walton
• What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
• The Essays of Warren Buffett
• The Virgin Way by Richard Branson (or any book by Branson, really)
• The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman
• Principles by Ray Dalio
• How to be a Billionaire by Martin Fridson

My Least Favorites

• The Science of Success by Charles Koch because it was short and filled with corporate lingo. I still got a lot out of it though.
• Business @ The Speed of Thought by Bill Gates because it was too dry and focused on specific business organization tactics with a touch of strategy. Plus, you can tell Bill isn’t the best writer. Note: Bill is one of my favorite people, but I think I should still be honest here.
• The Only Three Questions That Count by Ken Fischer (or any of his books). Probably my least favorite. Any book by Ken really irritates me because a lot of his books are about random tips to trade the stock market, like fluctuations by whether or not the president is a democrat or not. Few people will understand the book unless they’re into money management and fund investing. I didn’t agree with a lot of the advice because it wasn’t logical, had holes, and went against the entire Buffett philosophy of investing. I have a feeling he made his money by getting a tons of investors to give him money and taking a hefty management fee. This structure means he’s in the business of getting people to join his fund more than performance. I liked what he says in his books about giving back and charity.

People That Fell Short of the Billion Dollar Mark But Still Made A Lot

• High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove ($400 million net worth in 2008. Likely, an inflated number)
• Life as I Have Known It Has Been Finger Lickin’ Good by Harland Sanders (While people would love to believe that Colonel Sanders started when he was old and became a billionaire starting KFC, he didn’t make the mark by his death.)
• Decisions by Jim Treliving (estimated net worth of 700 million)
• Mary Kay Way by Mary Kay Ash (her company has now made her son a billionaire but it isn’t verifiable that she made the mark during her lifetime)
• Miracles Happen by Mary Kay Ash
• Mary Kay: You Can Have It All: Lifetime Wisdom from America’s Foremost Woman Entrepreneur by Mary Kay Ash
• Mary Kay on People Management by Mary Kay Ash
• Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove (former CEO of Intel)
• Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond by Thomas Watson Junior (he made $346,590 in 1955, which is around $3.1 million inflation-adjusted)
• How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis (his net worth was estimated around $100 million; not a billionaire but worth a mention)

Books By People Who Can’t Be Verified as Billionaires

I’m a bit more strict than the average person when it comes to vetting a billionaire. That’s because many people who are rich but not a billionaire will claim or lie that they’re billionaires for clout and status. And media and influencers will jump to conclusions and say some rich people are billionaires when they’re not just to get more views and clicks. I tend to at least look for a credible Forbes estimate; while even Forbes can be off since they can’t audit private companies, it’s more credible than just some random claim in a video or blog by a stranger.

• A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas That Helped Build IBM by Thomas J. Watson Jr. (This man was in charge of managing billions for IBM as his job but that doesn’t mean he earned billions.)
• Relentless by Ted Rogers
• Billionaire: Secrets to Success by Bill Bartmann (note: he was only a billionaire temporarily)
• Bouncing Back: The Life of Bill Bartmann
• 9 Steps to Achieve Any Goal by Bill Bartmann
• 21 Secrets to Success and Happiness by John Templeton (one of the best investors in history)
• Golden Nuggets by John Templeton
• Templeton Plan by John Templeton
• Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons
• Moonshots – Naveen Jain

Books Written By Billionaires In Languages Other Than English

• Chairul Tanjung Si Anak Singkong by Tjahja Gunawan Diredja (net worth of $4.9 Billion according to Forbes) – written in Indonesian.
• One win, nine losses by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese], $19 Billion Net Worth
• Throw Away Your Success in a Day by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese]
• Notes of a Manager by Tadashi Yanai [Japanese]

Takeaways From My Readings

I’m better off writing a separate article about all I’ve learned from reading these books. But I’d be remiss not to mention at least one big thing here after reading many of these. The one big pattern I notice is a lot of these billionaires have a mindset of loving what they do so much rather than trying to become a billionaire, and not expecting their business to grow to such a large scale. Every year, I encounter rich, young influencers saying they want to become billionaires as their goal; it’s the completely wrong mindset to go for it with. These billionaires rarely chased of goal of having a billion dollars or becoming super rich. Sure, they wanted to be rich, but that dollar amount was not where they started their goal with. Can you still achieve it if you do set a billion dollars as your goal? I’m sure it’s possible, but that’s not the story of many who did it. Instead, it often started with something of value, a new invention, a new way of doing things that they offered to the world as a business.

Be prepared to trust your gut and fight back if you believe you were right. Martha Stewart and Richard Branson’s stories stand out in particular. Remember: bad stuff happens and that’s okay.

Did I miss any books by billionaires? Please let me know in the comments because I’d love to add them to the list and read their books.
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