Kuty Shalev

Kuty Shalev


Books That Made Me

We are social creatures. We compare ourselves to the people around us. Even if we don't want to. Even if intellectually we know what's happening.

This results in instant status games in every social situation. Including those that shun the game.

One way to use the comparison positively is to always look to surround yourself with people you admire, people who are better than you in the dimension you care about.

Hang out with runners and you will be running a marathon too. Hang out with weight lifters and you will be adding plates to the barbell.

Today, you can surround yourself virtually with the best of the best. YouTube is a wonderful place to listen and watch your chosen role models. Choose them wisely.

Books continue to be the most dense form of insights. And you can take your own notes and insights as you go.

Here are some of my favorite books that helped me model myself after the heroes I chose for myself.

I categorized them into the following

In The Beginning

Frameworks for Living

Personal & Business Development - Tactics

Personal & Business Development - Wow

Personal & Business Development - Thinking

History Comes Alive

In The Beginning

I was always driven to make money. These are early reads that helped me understand how it works
Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment - David F. Swensen
Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment - by David F. Swensen
Date Read: 2018 Recommendation: 10/10

The basics of how to think about long term asset allocation




The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power - by Robert Greene
Date Read: 2018 Recommendation: 10/10

If you see the world through the lens of power, this is for you




Built to Sell - John Warrillow
Built to Sell - by John Warrillow
Date Read: 2019 Recommendation: 10/10

Learn business concepts through an engaging story




Getting Started in Consulting - Alan Weiss
Getting Started in Consulting - by Alan Weiss
Date Read: 2018 Recommendation: 10/10

If you are selling your time its an eye opening read.




Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Affects Everything - Hermann Simon
Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Affects Everything - by Hermann Simon
Date Read: 2017 Recommendation: 8/10

Learn pricing from the master




Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life - Nassim Taleb
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life - by Nassim Taleb
Date Read: 2018 Recommendation: 10/10

Honest, unexpected, and useful




The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness - Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness - by Morgan Housel
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Basics of finance via psycology




Frameworks for Living

The Wisdom of the Enneagram - Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson
The Wisdom of the Enneagram - by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson
Date Read: 2017 Recommendation: 11/10

Discover your own hidden drives in a way that you can do something about it




Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life - Byron Katie
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life - by Byron Katie
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

Discover the Work, a simple tool to discover reality




Conative Connection: Uncovering the Link Between Who You Are and How You Perform - Kathy Kolbe
Conative Connection: Uncovering the Link Between Who You Are and How You Perform - by Kathy Kolbe
Date Read: 2019 Recommendation: 8/10

The book is just ok, the system is delightful to understand how to fit people together




The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts - Gary Chapman
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts - by Gary Chapman
Date Read: 2020 Recommendation: 10/10

A key to unlock how to show appreciation and love




Conversations For Action and Collected Essays: Instilling a Culture of Commitment in Working Relationships - Fernando Flores
Conversations For Action and Collected Essays: Instilling a Culture of Commitment in Working Relationships - by Fernando Flores
Date Read: 2021 Recommendation: 9/10

Read this one out loud. Its Tough. But its so good.




Getting Things Done - David Allen
Getting Things Done - by David Allen
Date Read: 2019 Recommendation: 8/10

Fundamentals for organizing a todo list. Use only what works.




The Bullet Journal Method - Ryder Carroll
The Bullet Journal Method - by Ryder Carroll
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Back to paper and repetition. But it feels so good.




Personal & Business Development - Tactics

Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time - Marc Zao-Sanders
Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time - by Marc Zao-Sanders
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Can't argue with success. Calendaring for the win.




The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande
The Checklist Manifesto - by Atul Gawande
Date Read: 2019 Recommendation: 9/10

Simple and to the point.




177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class - Steve Siebold
177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class - by Steve Siebold
Date Read: 2018 Recommendation: 10/10

A daily reader of good habits




The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - by Charles Duhigg
Date Read: 2021 Recommendation: 10/10

Understand how to trigger your own




Nudge - Richard Thaler
Nudge - by Richard Thaler
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 9/10

Advanced tools for making change




Personal & Business Development - Wow

These books blew my mind and showed me a whole new way of looking at the world.

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling - Matthew Dicks
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling - by Matthew Dicks
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

This really taught me how to tell a story.




Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal - Oren Klaff
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal - by Oren Klaff
Date Read: 2012 Recommendation: 10/10

Come at any negotiation from a new frame.




The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph - Ryan Holiday
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph - by Ryan Holiday
Date Read: 2014 Recommendation: 10/10

Ryan makes the Stoics feel relatable




The Beast That Crouches at the Door: Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, And Beyond - by Rabbi David Fohrman
The Beast That Crouches at the Door: Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, And Beyond - by Rabbi David Fohrman
Date Read: 3/21/2021 Recommendation: 10/10

Great intro for understanding the depth of the Torah from the beginning - it might actually help you build a relationship with G-d.




Personal & Business Development - Thinking

This group of books explore how we develop ourselves.
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most - Douglas Stone
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most - by Douglas Stone
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 9/10

We often hide the most important parts. How to create space for them in conversation.




The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - Don Miguel Ruiz
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - by Don Miguel Ruiz
Date Read: 2017 Recommendation: 10/10

Lovely approach to how adhering to principled values unlocks freedom.




The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life - Steve Zaffron
The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life - by Steve Zaffron
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Practical examples of how using the right conversations unlocks performance.




How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business - Douglas W. Hubbard
How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business - by Douglas W. Hubbard
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Deep math book that is so useful when attempting to communicate about mushy numbers. Like sales projections.




How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain - by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Biological answers to how emotions actually work.




The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It - Kelly McGonigal
The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It - by Kelly McGonigal
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Loved the Ted talk. Now read the book.




Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Cal Newport
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - by Cal Newport
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Great counter to today's fast, reactionary life.




History Comes Alive

Learning from the lives of others is so rich in detail. I've discovered insights from the most unlikely of places. And I limited this list to the best of the best.

Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs, and Steel - by Jared Diamond
Date Read: 2019 Recommendation: 10/10

Long Book. Amazing unconventional insights. The first time I realized how where you were born determined your destiny.




Empire of Cotton: A Global History - Sven Beckert
Empire of Cotton: A Global History - by Sven Beckert
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

Learn the triangle of trade driven by demand for cotton as raw material for clothes and drove the slave trade.




The Wright Brothers - David McCullough
The Wright Brothers - by David McCullough
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 10/10

The richest don't win. The story of innovation in the creation of flight. You can read this to your kids. I did.




Napoleon Never Slept: How Great Leaders Leverage Social Energy - Randall Collins
Napoleon Never Slept: How Great Leaders Leverage Social Energy - by Randall Collins
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Full of insights. Pairs well with Pitch Anything. I also read this to my kids.




The Ancient City - Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
The Ancient City - by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 10/10

The origins of religon. Insights on the innovations of our religon.




Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology - Chris Miller
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology - by Chris Miller
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

A must read to understand the history of microchips. Easy and exciting read.




What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies - Tim Urban
What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies - by Tim Urban
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 10/10

Make sense of what's happening in the early 2020s




The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future - Kevin Kelly
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future - by Kevin Kelly
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

Kevin Kelly is an awesome thiner. He talks a step back and gives amazing perspective. The result is a touchstone that gives me perspective.




Learn Through Sports & Biographies>

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War - Robert Coram
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War - by Robert Coram
Date Read: 2023 Recommendation: 10/10

WHAT a story! This guy challenges the status quo and created a new fighter jet




The Score Takes Care of Itself - Bill Walsh
The Score Takes Care of Itself - by Bill Walsh
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Classic NBA story of timeless coach with timeless principles




Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk - by Walter Isaacson
Date Read: 2024 Recommendation: 10/10

So much to learn here. One of my favorite learning is how to get more done with less.




A Banker's Journey: How Edmond J. Safra Built a Global Financial Empire - Daniel Gross
A Banker's Journey: How Edmond J. Safra Built a Global Financial Empire - by Daniel Gross
Date Read: 2022 Recommendation: 10/10

What a story of a Jewish banker that takes care of the family and community




Raised Healthy, Wealthy & Wise - 2014 edition
Raised Healthy, Wealthy & Wise - by Coventry Edwards-Pitt
Date Read: 3/19/2024 Recommendation: 10/10

Quotes inheritors directly, very practical advice. Allow your children to struggle so that they develop the required personal attributes that are the base for satisfaction.

Read my highlights and notes, or buy it at amazon.