Influence by Robert Cialdini. In this book, social psychologist Robert Cialdini distills decades of research on persuasion and influence into six universal principles including: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. For anyone with ambitions to have positive influence on others or cautions to avoid falling prey to any ill-intentioned advances, this is a must-read.
Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris. The four-hour week guru assembled a league of high achievers from a wide variety of fields and asked them the same set of questions. One take-away from these answers is: there is no common path to success. For anyone who wants to copy others, imitation may not be the most effective way to stand out in a large crowd. My favorite part of this book is that many guests recommend books that they give away most.
The Elon Musk Post Series on waitbutwhy by Tim Urban. Many so-called experts like to pretend to know more than they actually do by complicating things to cover up their ignorance. True masters actually drill complicated stuff down into simple terms that can be easily understood by laymen. Tim Urban obviously belongs to the latter. He uses childish drawings and no-nonsense words to explain truly complex and complicated phenomena. This Elon Musk post series is especially interesting. For anyone who wants to grasp the thinking of the visionary of our time, this is a good start.