Tag: Peter Theil

Reading is a key to growth in any field, but the limitless options can feel like more of a barrier than a benefit. Best-selling author and creator behind the popular @DailyStoic, Ryan Holiday says that he grew up asking smart people for book recommendations. Now, he’s playing it forward with his best books for entrepreneurs. 

Holiday gained a following through his theory on Stoicism—a Greek philosophy teaching self-control and resilience—building a media ecosystem through his bestselling books, creative advisory firm Brass Check, daily newsletter, and The Daily Stoic podcast. He’s discussed reading lists with celebrities like Joe Rogan and Matthew McConaughey, and has advised authors including Arianna Huffington and Tony Robinson. 

In a recent TikTok, Holiday scanned the shelves of his Austin, Texas-based Painted Porch Book Shop, and pulled out his top picks for entrepreneurs:

1. Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul B. Caroll, Chunka Mui (2008)

Rather than the typical success stories, this read recounts failures and why they happened. Readers walk away knowing the seven largest reasons businesses fail based on the authors’ research into over 750 collapses.

2. 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries, Jack Trout (1993)

Holiday says that even the best entrepreneurs are doomed if they can’t sell their ideas. Enter Ries and Trout, who argue that the essentiality of the laws of physics should be applied to business, too, proposing the laws of marketing. 

3. Zero to One by Peter Thiel (2014)

It was the third he picked off the shelf, but Holiday says this book is as good as it gets for entrepreneurs. It guides readers through doing the hardest thing in the world, which is to build something new, he says, quoting Italian Renaissance philosopher and author Machiavelli.

You can watch the whole video here: