Ray Dalio’s Recommended Books: His Reading List
If you’ve read my “Personal Finance Series,” you know I admire Ray Dalio.
Rarely do I find a founder who talks about the same exact things I’m interested in.
For example, we both enjoy studying:
- Finance,
- Computers,
- Artificial intelligence,
- The human brain,
- History,
- And just figuring out how the world works.
If you’re interested in any of these topics, you’ll love this list.
Sidenote: The only other founder I relate to in the same way is Bryan Johnson, founder of Braintree and Kernel. Coincidentally (or not), some of his favorite books are on this list too.
Ray’s 68 and I’m 25. He’s had far more time to research these topics (and filter out the good resources from the bad).
Naturally, I’ve always wanted to know what books he recommended. But I couldn’t find much online.
Until now.
Two weeks ago, Tim Ferris interviewed Ray and asked his famous question “what three books would you give to every graduating high school or college senior?” (the answers are at the top of the list).
Last week, Ray launched his latest book, “Principles” (which you should absolutely buy). Here, he mentioned 30+ books!
I couldn’t be more excited to share this list with you. I’m sure you will find your next read.
Without further ado, here’s the list.
Ray Dalio’s Favorite Books
2. River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life — Richard Dawkins
3. The Hero with a Thousand Faces — Joseph Campbell
5. Einstein’s Mistakes: The Human Failings of Genius — Hans C. Ohanian
6. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business — Charles Duhigg
7. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future — Daniel H. Pink
8. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Yuval Noah Harari
9. The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds — Michael Lewis
10. The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class — Edward Conard
11. The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why it Matters — Sean B. Carroll
12. From Bacteria to Bach and Back — Daniel C. Dennett
13. A Magic Web: The Forest of Barro Colorado Island — Christian Ziegler & Egbert G. Leigh
14. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing
17. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World — Dalai Lama
18. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain— David Eagleman
19. Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds — Howard Gardner
20. Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain — Michael S. Gazzaniga
21. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World — Adam Grant
22. Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization — Edward D. Hess
23. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
24. The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development — Robert Kegan
25. In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life — Robert Kegan
26. An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Development Organization— Robert Kegan
28. Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior — Leonard Mlodinow
29. The Role of the Individual in History — Georgii V. Plekhanov
30. Who Am I?: 16 Basic Desires That Motivate Our Actions and Define Our Personalities — Steven Reiss
33. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey — Jill Bolte Taylor
34. Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith — J. Anderson Thomson
35. Creativity and the Brain — Mario Tokoro & Ken Mogi
36. The Meaning of Human Existence — Edward O. Wilson
37. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life — Walter Isaacson
38. Einstein: His Life and Universe — Walter Isaacson
39. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
P.S.: Follow Ray on Twitter.
P.P.S.: If you like book recommendations such as these, I recently built this website with a friend. Here you can find many more people’s recommendations (e.g. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, etc…)
Thanks for reading! 😊If you enjoyed it, test how many times can you hit 👏 in 5 seconds. It’s great cardio for your fingers AND will help other people see the story.You can follow me on Twitter at @richardreeze to find out whenever others just like it come out.📚 Do you like books? If so you might enjoy my latest obsession:
Most Recommended Books.📚