Educated: A Memoir — Tara Westover

Tara Westover was raised in the mountains of Idaho and didn’t set foot in a classroom until she was seventeen years old. Westover takes you on a wild journey that is her upbringing and gives a whole new meaning to the word “education.”

Her quest for knowledge transforms her and propels her from a very isolated family to some of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.

A great read for anyone looking for a riveting memoir that you won’t be able to set it down.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow — Yaval Noah Harari

After reading Sapiens I was very intrigued to see how Yaval Noah Harari portrays the future of mankind.

In addition to taking a look into future technologies, religions, political agendas, and human psychology, Homo Deus addresses how mankind has been able to navigate the threatening obstacles over the past century including, famine, plague, and war.

I would highly recommend this book if you liked Sapiens, or want to take a peak through the window of the future.

The Lost City of The Monkey God: A True Story — Douglas Preston

A TRUE STORY about The Lost City of The Monkey God —aka the “White City”, which is a temple in the Honduran interior that has never been found — according to legend there is a deadly curse for anyone who steps foot in the sacred area.

Truly an amazing story — I found it remarkable that a temple of this stature was completely undiscovered until 2012.

I would recommend this book to anyone — once you pick this up it is going to be hard to set it down!

Thinking Fast And Slow — Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman is a renowned psychologist and shares his revolutionary insights on how our mind operates. He does this by breaking down our cognitive process into two systems:

System 1: fast, intuitive, and emotional
System 2: slower, more deliberate, and more logical

He applies the two systems and gives detailed explanations of how the systems influence over 45 cognitive biases and heuristics.

A staple in the world of psychology and a must read for anyone that wants to learn more about the mind.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones — James Clear

James Clear comes out guns blazing with his first book Atomic Habits, which gives an extremely insightful step by step guide on how to build better habits. He teaches you how to overcome willpower and motivation by breaking down the psychology and neuroscience of habits.

Here are some key questions that he answers:

How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps?
How to Design Your Environment For Success?
The Best Way to Start a New Habit?
How to Make a Habit Irresistible?

If you are looking to improve just about anything in your daily life, I would highly recommend this book.

Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It — Chris Voss

Chris Voss gives us an inside look at what it is like to be a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI and the lessons that he learned while developing his craft.

This is not your traditional sales book and provides a fresh perspective on how you should go about speaking to people.

This has been my favorite Sales & Persuasion book to date and I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to capitalize on and develop their interpersonal skills.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World — David Epstein

David Epstein studies some of the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, forecasters, and scientists and shares his findings about how generalists are changing the world.

Range gives a refreshing perspective on what it takes to become a professional in a field and why generalists tend to be more creative, agile, and make more connections than their more specialized peers.

A great read if you liked Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, have children that play sports, or just want to learn more about performance psychology.

Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart

Shane Snow is one of my favorite authors and Dream Teams takes you on an adventure through history, neuroscience, psychology, and business, examining what it takes to successfully work together as a team.

What do the Soviet “Red Army” hockey team, The Wu-Tang Clan, The Wright Brothers, and The Battle of New Orleans have in common? Snow breaks down the dynamics between this iconic teams and explains the importance of “Intellectual Humility”.

A must read. Period.

The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers

Alex Banayan, an 18-year old college student at the time, takes you on his life changing journey to interview some of the most successful people in the world: Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Larry King, Jessica Alba, Pit Bull, Time Ferriss and many more.

His goal was to collect valuable career advice on how these successful people got their start and what their secret sauce is. But…what if there is no secret sauce?

The Third Door?

There’s the First Door: the main entrance, where 99 percent of people wait in line, hoping to get in.
The Second Door: the VIP entrance, where the billionaires and celebrities slip through.
But what no one tells you is that there is always, always . . . the Third Door.

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation — Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson identifies seven key patterns behind genuine innovation and takes you back in time to Darwin’s discovery of Natural Selection, and brings you forward to the creation of Google and Apple.

He shares his findings on:

What type of environment breeds innovation?
What sparks flashes of brilliance?
How you can generate breakthrough ideas that can change our lives?

A very insightful read for anyone who is looking to unlock creative insights, or learn about how some of the most influential people in history changed the world.

Honorable Mentions and 2020 Reading List

Honorable Mentions:

Reading List By Category:

https://www.alechajdukovich.com/reading-list

Top 10 Books I Read In 2019