In previous posts, I have shared various list of book recommendations 1, 2, 3) and I’d like to share with you another.
Now, I’d like to share with you the four books that Bridgewater Associates hedge fund founder and billionaire Ray Dalio thinks everyone should read. These are the books he says have greatly influenced his outlook on life and work.
Ray Dalio isn’t like other investors.
His firm, Bridgewater Associates, is the world’s largest hedge fund — with about $160 billion in total assets under management. Bridgewater is run according to a culture of “radical truth” and “radical transparency.”
He gave the same response when asked by Tim Ferriss on his podcast and at the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, Switzerland with CNBC Make It.
Another of Ray Dalio’s Principles, which happens to be the title of his book on life and work, is having a “radical open-mindedness” to new ideas. Reading books is an easy, and enjoyable, way to expand your mind.
Dalio calls this a “fabulous book” and says it’s “really up there” on his list of most influential reads.
“It’s a book about a certain path in life where people have ups and downs, but it’s real,” he says. “They looked at all different people who were on a mission, and then it got to the point where those who they were working for were even more important than themselves.”
Dalio calls this book by Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Will and Ariel Durant “fantastic” for its concise but broad-sweeping look at themes throughout history. “These fabulous historians who wrote thousands of pages of history distilled it down into these 104 pages,” he says.
This brief but powerful book on evolution is one of Dalio’s favorites. “We, the human race, are one of only 10 million species,” he says. “Our brains have programming that is older than mankind. Man is 200,000 years old. So to understand the laws of nature, which we’re all subject to, I’d recommend this book.”
Dalio has meditated almost every day since 1969 and says it’s had a tremendous impact on him. “It gives you an equanimity, a centeredness, a calmness — so that you can thoughtfully deal with things in a better way without being emotionally hijacked.”
While there are tons of books on meditation, he recommends this recent one by psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal, which gives an overview of Transcendental Meditation and its many benefits.
Meditation is “very powerful,” he says. “It gave me an equilibrium that really helped me.”
If these four lists of book recommendations don’t give you something to read then I don’t know what you want.
5 Books That Have Influenced Tim Ferriss The Most
50+ Billionaires, Mega-Bestselling Authors, and Other Titans
11 Books Not To Miss in 2017, According To The World’s Most Influential Persons.
Physio Strength Club Books Club
Enjoy!
Scott