Here are 100 books that Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t fans have personally recommended if you like
Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t.
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I have for 28 years helped organizations around the world scale their business. I'm a dedicated innovator and thought leader in artificial intelligence and digital commerce. My passion for innovation thrives in exploring how AI can transform businesses and improve lives. I've authored 10 books and shared my insights as a professional speaker to educate, inspire, and motivate others. I love delving into the future of AI and innovation, which drives me to constantly learn and share knowledge. This list reflects the books that have significantly influenced my journey. My life is about pushing forward, always looking for alternatives to understand where those paths might lead us.
This book transformed my understanding of human cognition. I love how Daniel Kahneman delves into the dual systems that drive our thoughts—intuitive and deliberate.
This book helped me recognize cognitive biases and informed how I develop AI technologies that align with human behavior. It reinforced the importance of designing AI that complements our natural thinking patterns.
The phenomenal international bestseller - 2 million copies sold - that will change the way you make decisions
'A lifetime's worth of wisdom' Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics 'There have been many good books on human rationality and irrationality, but only one masterpiece. That masterpiece is Thinking, Fast and Slow' Financial Times
Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent? The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast,…
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been intrigued by how people make decisions and why the words we use can significantly impact those decisions. After years of conducting customer research and writing marketing messages for clients, my interest in finding and delivering compelling messages at just the right time to the right audience has only grown. I’ve poured my experience in the online marketing trenches into my book, Finding the Right Message, where I reference more than one of the authors on my recommendation list.
Whether you’re trying to sell a software solution or a new energy drink, you need to determine your product’s positioning so you deliver the most compelling messages to the right audience. April Dunford walks you through her tried and tested positioning process while peppering in humorous personal stories and anecdotes. I love this book as much for the priceless business content as for April’s wit.
You know your product is awesome—but does anybody else? Forget everything you thought you knew about positioning. Successfully connecting your product with consumers isn’t a matter of following trends, comparing yourself to the competition or trying to attract the widest customer base.
So what is it? April Dunford, positioning guru and tech exec, will enlighten you.
Her new book, Obviously Awesome, shows you how to find your product’s “secret sauce”—and then sell that sauce to those who crave it. Having spent years as a startup executive (with 16 product launches under her belt) and a consultant (who’s worked on dozens…
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been intrigued by how people make decisions and why the words we use can significantly impact those decisions. After years of conducting customer research and writing marketing messages for clients, my interest in finding and delivering compelling messages at just the right time to the right audience has only grown. I’ve poured my experience in the online marketing trenches into my book, Finding the Right Message, where I reference more than one of the authors on my recommendation list.
Decades old, this book continues to be one of the most important resources for creating and delivering effective messages in marketing. Eugene Schwartz is one of the godfathers of direct advertising whose insights about understanding your customer’s state of awareness have been invaluable to countless marketers and copywriters. The examples he shares may be dated, but the advice remains relevant.
Not many people know that I was so timid as a child; I used to burst into tears if I had to ask for something in a store. Now, I am known for my “out there” presentation style and mastery of words. Since 1982, I have been working with individuals and groups to help them get better at persuading, solving conflicts, and having inspiring relationships. So, how can you be a nice, caring person and still be persuasive, even with the most skeptical of people? These books helped me do this.
I love this book because his techniques are so practical and easy to use.
I re-read his book when I was in the middle of a difficult business negotiation over Zoom and email and followed his directions step by step. This led to a positive outcome for both of us.
He makes sure that you are very clear on what is essential for you, enables you to figure out the sometimes hidden motivations of the other person, and guides you through on what to say and do next. I will go through it again the next time I am preparing a negotiation.
A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating - effective in any situation.
'Riveting' Adam Grant 'Stupendous' The Week 'Brilliant' Guardian ____________________________ After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most - when people's lives were at stake.
I started my adult life as a bouncer and a school teacher. A few years later, I was running one of the most well-known email marketing agencies in the industry. The reason this happened is because I dedicated my life to becoming a master copywriter. Learning how to write copy was the key that unlocked a level of freedom I didn’t know existed, both personal and financial. It’s also allowed me to write two bestselling books on email marketing, work with 250+ brands, and coach 2,200+ students around the world. I hope this list helps you take your writing skills up a notch.
This book was a roller coaster ride. Although I don’t think the word “copywriting” is mentioned a single time throughout, I think it’s one of the best copywriting books ever written. Oren is a master of pitching, usually through presentations. I love the system he lays out in this book and I use it every single day at my email marketing agency. The biggest win I ever got was understanding his concept of the “Flash Roll.” I probably owe at least $500,000 in client work from understanding this 30-second script.
This book will change the way you think about persuasion, and have you closing deals in no time.
These days, it's just not enough to make a great pitch. Over decades of being marketed, pitched, sold (and lied) to, we've grown resistant to sales persuasion. The moment we feel pressured to buy, we pull away. And if we're told what to think, our defences go up.
That's why Oren Klaff, bestselling author of Pitch Anything, has devised a new approach to persuasion based on a simple insight: everyone trusts their own ideas. Instead of pushing your idea on your buyer,…
I am one of the founders of the American dispute resolution field and have taught negotiation, legal ethics, mediation, alternative dispute resolution and international dispute resolution for 40 years in over 25 countries on every continent. I have mediated, negotiated or arbitrated hundreds of cases. I am a law professor who has taught legal ethics since it was required post-Watergate for all law students. As a negotiation teacher and practitioner, I have seen the effects of deceit and dishonorable negotiations in law and diplomacy and peace seeking and I have also seen what can happen when people treat each other fairly to reach better outcomes for problems than they could achieve on their own.
This book outlines several important orientations to negotiations—game/poker players (who play by the rules but still want to “win”); idealists who believe in almost always treating people honestly and fairly, even if that might mean less personal advantage and instrumental pragmatists who know—“what goes around, comes around” or “your word is your bond”—reputation is everything. In the context of reporting for laypeople a lot of social science research and practical tips, this book helps orient all negotiators to think about what ethical stance they should consider in different contexts. I have taught excerpts of this book for over 20 years.
BRAND NEW FOR 2019: A fully revised and updated edition of the quintessential guide for learning to negotiate effectively in every part of your life
"A must read for everyone seeking to master negotiation. This newly updated classic just got even better."--Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion
As director of the world-renowned Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop, Professor G. Richard Shell has taught thousands of business leaders, lawyers, administrators, and other professionals how to survive and thrive in the sometimes rough-and-tumble world of negotiation. In the third edition of this internationally acclaimed book, he brings to life his systematic,…
The more I learn about the brain, the more I want to dig in and discover more. Why do we procrastinate? Why do people buy things? Why do some people naturally seem to have more influence than others? As an applied behavioral economist, I love unlocking these topics weekly on The Brainy Business podcast (where each person on this list has been a guest) and sharing those insights with the world. Three of the most downloaded episodes (in over 300) featured increasing influence (and authors showcased here), a key factor of being more impactful in life and at work. Enjoy your newfound influence!
Do you ever feel like everyone is watching you? What about all those other times when you feel like a fly on the wall – observing while not being noticed? Which is true? Are we invisible or is the world critiquing our every move?
It turns out…people notice us much more than we think (and, much less than we think). And as tends to happen with brain tricks, it is the opposite of how we think it should work. Once you understand this, you can easily leverage those insights to increase your influence.
As Vanessa shares in this great book, even being in the audience at a presentation can impact what the speaker says and how their own perspectives will change. Great news for the introverts – silent influence is real.
Whether attending a meeting, sharing a post online or mustering the nerve to ask for a favour, we often assume our actions, input and requests will be overlooked or rejected. However, as behavioural psychologist Vanessa K. Bohns reveals, people see us, listen to us and agree to do things for us much more than we realise.
In You Have More Influence Than You Think, Bohns draws from original research to illustrate why we fail to recognise the influence we have already and how that lack of awareness can lead us to miss opportunities or accidentally misuse our power. She offers…
As an undergraduate in college, I worked selling men’s clothing. There was a rack of suits that, for whatever reason, would not sell, so my boss phoned a coworker and told her to cut the price of the suits by 50 percent. Misunderstanding him, she doubled the price instead. By the time our boss returned from vacation, nearly all those suits had been sold! It made no sense to me…until I read Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence. From there, I not only sold plenty of suits, I earned a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, and eventually was named a Distinguished Professor at Utah State University.
What do I consider the most important theory of persuasion? The elaboration likelihood model provides a detailed, yet elegant, framework for understanding two primary “routes” through which people are influenced. This academic book not only helped me synthesize a huge body of previous theory and research, it still provides a practical blueprint for constructing my own persuasive messages.
This book provides a needed survey of a truly remarkable number of different theoretical approaches to the related phenomena of attitude and belief change. It focuses on variable perspective theory which is far more deserving of attention than the present level of research activity.
The more I learn about the brain, the more I want to dig in and discover more. Why do we procrastinate? Why do people buy things? Why do some people naturally seem to have more influence than others? As an applied behavioral economist, I love unlocking these topics weekly on The Brainy Business podcast (where each person on this list has been a guest) and sharing those insights with the world. Three of the most downloaded episodes (in over 300) featured increasing influence (and authors showcased here), a key factor of being more impactful in life and at work. Enjoy your newfound influence!
There are countless amazing insights from Influence Is Your Superpower, by Yale’s Zoe Chance.
Three that stick with me the most for applying these insights at work are: 1) Zoe’s Magic Question of “What would it take?” This little question is so powerful in coming up with innovative solutions that increase buy-in from the person you are asking (and Zoe of course explains why in the book). 2) people are more likely to say yes to you than you may think, so simply asking is important to increasing your influence. 3) saying “no” is key to success (and isn’t as hard as it seems).
She encourages a 24-hours of “no” challenge that can help anyone get more comfortable with saying no.
Get what you want without compromising who you are: the new rules of persuasion to influence others for good
We're all nice. In fact, we're told we're too nice and we have to change to succeed: 'Play the game!'; 'Beat them down!'; 'Toughen up!'. Do we have to choose between betraying our own values and being left behind without a voice? Absolutely not. We can naturally be persuasive and successful every day without making enemies of ourselves or other people.
Influence is a science and renowned Yale professor Zoe Chance will help you master it in this fascinating book. Drawing…
I never thought I would be an entrepreneur. In fact, I was happy in corporate life. But when my job in corporate America blew up, I realized that I need to rethink my entire approach to building my career and my life. The result of these efforts is The 10% Entrepreneur. Over the past decade, I have integrated entrepreneurship into my life on a part-time basis, reaping meaningful financial and psychic rewards in the process. In the process, I have taught hundreds of thousands of others that entrepreneurship does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
This is a compelling and fast-paced read about how you can develop a compelling pitch that will convince people to back you. Whether you are looking for investors, customers, business partners, or employees, knowing how to pitch your ideas in a compelling way is absolutely essential. This book dives deep into that challenge with tons of ideas and advice.
'This remarkable book can be your secret weapon for bringing your idea to life.' DAN PINK, bestselling author of Drive
'Whether you want to get ahead inside a company or build a startup from the ground up, this fascinating book is a must-read.' REID HOFFMAN, co-founder of LinkedIn
'A super-readable and actionable look at how to make your ideas take flight. Whether you're pitching a brand new startup or an idea for your company's next product, you'll find a wealth of insights and stories throughout.' MIKE KRIEGER, co-founder of Instagram
