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What are 5 self-development books you recommend?



Here is my top 5 picks:

  1. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  2. One thing Thing
  3. Atomic Habits (Recent one which has become my favourite)
  4. The 4-hour workweek
  5. Make & Shine by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

I read 3 and 4 :) Atomic habits is a must read for an indie dev

Atomic habits for sure! That book is a collective wisdom of all Habits / Productivity books!!!!

Deep Work by by Cal Newport has some great insights if you're looking to maximize your output per day.

read this. thought it was 200 pages too long

  • Getting Things Done: The concept of "next available action" was eye opening. Always knowing what the next task is you can work on for any given project. Also the requirement of a task starting with a verb. So instead of just "laundry" I'd say something like "select clothes to put in washing machine". Even though I know what "laundry" means, having it be more concrete helps actually doing it.
  • Thinking Fast & Slow: Helps you become more aware of all the common mistakes our brain make.
  • The Creative Habit and The War of Art: Both taught me you don't need "inspiration" to do creative work. With good habits and discipline you should be able to do creative work anytime.
  • The Effective Executive: No-nonsense advice on how to be a more productive executive.

I read these books quite a while ago. Many of them I wouldn't enjoy today, but they worked for me in the moment. I recommend just getting the free chapter on iTunes/Amazon and if you don't enjoy it try again in a few years.

1) The Power of Habit (or Atomic Habits is apparently also good but I haven't read it)
2) Algorithms to Live By (best book I've read in a long time)
3) Man's Search for Meaning
4) Give and Take
6) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***

If you're interested in more books in the p-dev area, I recommend more here: stephsmith.io/books

consumersbook.net by Harry Dry (lol)

genius writing

The only one that I read & I loved it completely was

  1. "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It" by Kamal Ravikant

But here are some others that I've heard good things about & will read them & sure love them (because I only pick those that are worth my time) by 2020

  1. "Atomic Habits" by James Clear

  2. "Anything You Want" by Derek Sivers

  3. "Deep Work" by Cal Newport

  4. "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport

  5. "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson

  6. "Live Your Truth" by Kamal Ravikant

  7. "Hooked" by Nir Eyal & Ryan Hoover

These books directly or indirectly help in Self Development :)

i just finished "we are the nerd", book about reddit.
gonna go for kamal ravikant next!

also, ive read deep work and its really overrated.
good concept, but could have been boiled down to 20 pages (stay away)

Yeah I watched "Deep Work" video by Cal Newport which was pretty good but point duly noted.

I liked that about "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It" that its just 68 pages & author says in the last line I could've wrote more words but it just satisfies my ego. Some people hated it was just 68 pages so gave it fewer stars lol 😂

haha. awesome. im really looking forward to reading it.
there is a skill to subtraction.

the proudest thing i did with my book was boiling it to 21 pages.

I see a lot of good self self-development reads above, so here are some books that have self-development in respect to interacting with others as well:

  • The Elements of Mentoring: 75 Practices of Master Mentors, 3rd Edition
  • I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons by Kevin Hart (I recommend the audible version which is read by Kevin Hart!)
  • Thinking Fast and Slow
  • Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
  • Principles by Ray Dalio