October 5, 2018

The only 3 books you should read - and that's all

Over the last many months many recommendations on great books were mentioned on IH and I've read just about every one of them. I've concluded there are only 3 IH's should read. While many of the other books are entertaining or contain interesting facts - they each have a single point and spend 300 pages reiterating the same thing in 100 ways. Additionally, they have very little practical and actionable advice.

The only three that do:

  1. Start Small, Stay Small (http://www.startupbook.net/)

  2. The 4 hour work week

  3. Slicing Pie

If you're an IH's and not yet a multi million dollar company, books like Traction, Founder at Work, Smartcuts, Good to Great etc. are purely an enjoyable waste of your time.


  1. 3

    I'm new to IH so I haven't seen the others listed... but I throw another out for you to try that is totally counter-cultural and all about true productivity:

    Deep Work, by Cal Newport

    I'm not all the way through yet, but I really want to find the discipline to be able to put the ideas into practice.

    1. 1

      Good book, but I found it a bit repetitive and not as compelling as his prior book "So good they can't ignore you." Probably more a fault of my own than the author's as I found myself resisting his advice as a result of my own lack of discipline :/

  2. 1

    I read the 4 hour work week this summer and it's now one of two books that I recommend to anyone interested in starting a business. The other one is Running Lean by Ash Maurya. I wouldn't have shipped with out it: https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172

    1. 1

      I found 4hww an excellent example of content and affiliate marketing itself. How to sell stuff if you don't really have a niche on your own. Some people might like that approach, some might not.