Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday is a renowned American author, marketer, and entrepreneur, best known for his books on stoicism and marketing, and as the founder of the innovative creative advisory firm, Brass Check.
97
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
[The author] wrote his letters to his illegitimate son, tutoring him on how to learn, how to think, how to act, how to deal with important people. I don’t agree with all his advice but most of it is great. - Ryan Holiday
The Earl of Chesterfield
1
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Lincoln's Virtues
MUST READ. - Ryan Holiday
William Lee Miller
1
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Average Is Over
Changes how you see the future and help explain real pain points in our new economy–both good and bad. - Ryan Holiday
Tyler Cowen
1
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The Power Broker
One of the most magnificent books I’ve ever read. - Ryan Holiday
Robert A. Caro
4
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You Are Not a Gadget
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Jaron Lanier
1
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The New New Thing
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Michael Lewis
4
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Leadership: In Turbulent Times
[The author]'s masterwork. - Ryan Holiday
Doris Kearns Goodwin
3
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The 33 Strategies of War
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Robert Greene
2
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
[One] of the most inspiring men of the last 150 years. - Ryan Holiday
Malcolm X
6
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The Second Mountain
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
David Brooks
2
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Boyd
Probably the greatest post-WWII military strategist; he developed the F-15 and F-16, revolutionized ground tactics in war and covertly designed the US battle plans for the Gulf War. - Ryan Holiday
Robert Coram
2
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Endurance
This book (and his life) were living proof of his family motto: 'Fortitudine vincimus' (By endurance we conquer). - Ryan Holiday
Alfred Lansing
12
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Believe in People
A provocative book for the moment. Highly recommended. - Ryan Holiday
Charles Koch
3
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Up from Slavery
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Booker T. Washington
1
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My Life and Battles
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Jack Johnson
1
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The Score Takes Care of Itself
Even if you’ve never watched a down of football, you’ll get something out of this book. - Ryan Holiday
Bill Walsh
8
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Rules for Radicals
This is the '48 Laws of Power' written in more of an idealist, activist tone. - Ryan Holiday
Saul D. Alinsky
2
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The Cathedral & the Bazaar
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Eric S. Raymond
1
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The Fish That Ate the Whale
Sucked me in completely. Everyone I’ve recommended it to loves it. - Ryan Holiday
Rich Cohen
5
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Fahrenheit 451
Ryan Holiday mentioned this book on Twitter.
Ray Bradbury
2
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The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Spectacular. He’s my favorite president. - Ryan Holiday
Edmund Morris
2
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Keep Going
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
Austin Kleon
1
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Essays
I strongly recommend [this book]. - Ryan Holiday
Plutarch
2
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Here Comes Everybody
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Clay Shirky
2
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Founders at Work
Interviews with technology founders from one of the best investors of all time. - Ryan Holiday
Jessica Livingston
5
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No Hiding Place
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
William Seabrook
1
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Empire State of Mind
Great book. - Ryan Holiday
Zack O'Malley Greenburg
1
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Pillar of Fire
Incredible. - Ryan Holiday
Taylor Branch
2
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Plutarch's Lives Volume 1
I strongly recommend [this book]. - Ryan Holiday
Plutarch
2
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Ulysses S. Grant
I loved [this book] a lot. - Ryan Holiday
Brooks D. Simpson
1
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The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
What a book. - Ryan Holiday
Mordecai Richler
1
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Fragments
A bit poetic. But those beautiful lines are really the same direct advice and timeless, perspective-changing observations. - Ryan Holiday
Heraclitus
1
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The Moral Animal
The definitive beginner text on evolutionary psychology and one of the easiest to get into. - Ryan Holiday
Robert Wright
2
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The Great Gatsby
I’ve read and re-read many times. - Ryan Holiday
F. Scott Fitzgerald
9
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The Moviegoer
The novel that every young kid stuck in their own head needs to read. - Ryan Holiday
Walker Percy
2
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The Road
Read it when you have kids. When I finished this book, [I] walked into my son's room when he was asleep, sat on the floor, and I just wept. - Ryan Holiday
Cormac McCarthy
8
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The War of Art
One of Ryan Holiday's 2 answers to "what book are you most likely to give out as a gift?"
Steven Pressfield
16
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Reveille for Radicals
This is the '48 Laws of Power' written in more of an idealist, activist tone. - Ryan Holiday
Saul D. Alinsky
1
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Man's Search for Meaning
Looks at how we find purpose by dedicating ourselves to a cause, learning to love and finding a meaning to our suffering. - Ryan Holiday
Viktor E. Frankl
36
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Sherman
This was someone I knew little about before I read the book, and by the end of it found myself referencing and thinking of him constantly. - Ryan Holiday
B. H. Liddell Hart
1
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How to Live
A series of essays about Montaigne, who invented the essay. - Ryan Holiday
Sarah Bakewell
3
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Tough Jews
Amazing book [...] about Jewish gangsters. - Ryan Holiday
Rich Cohen
1
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The Harder They Fall
About boxing and loosely based on the Primo Carnera scandal. - Ryan Holiday
Budd Schulberg
1
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Letters from a Stoic
After Marcus Aurelius, this is one of my favorite books. - Ryan Holiday
Lucius Seneca
4
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Lone Star
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
T. R. Fehrenbach
1
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Lincoln
[One of] my three favorite books about [Lincoln]. - Ryan Holiday
Gore Vidal
5
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The Makers of Rome
I strongly recommend [this book]. - Ryan Holiday
Plutarch
1
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Shadow Divers
A work of art. - Ryan Holiday
Robert Kurson
2
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Status Anxiety
Every ambitious young person should read. - Ryan Holiday
Alain de Botton
3
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Essays and Aphorisms
A brilliant composer of quick thoughts that will help us with our problems. - Ryan Holiday
Arthur Schopenhauer
2
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The Prince
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Niccolò Machiavelli
8
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Fight Club
I’m amazed how many young people haven’t read this book. Truly life-changing. - Ryan Holiday
Chuck Palahniuk
1
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Range
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
David J. Epstein
7
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The Tiger
Holy shit, this book is good. Just holy shit. - Ryan Holiday
John Vaillant
2
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The Strategy Paradox
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Michael E. Raynor
1
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Xenophon's Cyrus the Great
Every ambitious young person should read. - Ryan Holiday
Xenophon
2
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Brave New War
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
John Robb
1
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My Bondage and My Freedom
[One] of the most inspiring men of the last 150 years. - Ryan Holiday
Frederick Douglass
1
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Titan
I found Rockefeller to be strangely stoic, incredibly resilient, and, despite his reputation as a robber baron, humble and compassionate. - Ryan Holiday
Ron Chernow
7
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Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son
The (supposedly) preserved correspondence between Old Gorgon Graham, a self-made millionaire in Chicago, and his son who is coming of age and entering the family business. - Ryan Holiday
George Horace Lorimer
1
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Asylum
I actually ended up helping get [this book] back in print. - Ryan Holiday
William Seabrook
1
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Meditations
The private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world, admonishing himself on how to be better, more just, more immune to temptation, wiser. - Ryan Holiday
Marcus Aurelius
21
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On War
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Carl von Clausewitz
4
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Parting the Waters
Epic. - Ryan Holiday
Taylor Branch
4
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What Makes Sammy Run?
Ari Gold before Ari Gold existed - Ryan Holiday
Budd Schulberg
2
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Aeneid
There’s no other way to put: the story is AMAZING. Better than the Odyssey, better than Juvenal’s Satires. Inspiring, beautiful, exciting, and eminently readable, I loved this. - Ryan Holiday
Virgil
2
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The Library Book
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
Susan Orlean
2
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Candide
A light hearted satire that pokes fun at optimism, philosophy, politics, and power. - Ryan Holiday
Voltaire
2
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American Caesar
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
William Manchester
2
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Selected Epigrams
Hilarious. I have one hanging on the gate in front of my house. - Ryan Holiday
Martial
1
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Fishing For Fun
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
Herbert Hoover
1
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History of the Peloponnesian War
An obligation for every student of history. - Ryan Holiday
Thucydides
3
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Sixteen Satires
Bitter, sarcastic attacks on Rome. - Ryan Holiday
Juvenal
1
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Hackers & Painters
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Paul Graham
6
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Lincoln's Melancholy
[One of] my three favorite books about [Lincoln]. - Ryan Holiday
Joshua Wolf Shenk
1
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Totto-Chan
Has sold something like 5 million copies in Japan alone (an insane number). Totto-Chan is a special figure in modern Japanese culture—she is a celebrity on par with Oprah or Ellen. - Ryan Holiday
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
1
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The 48 Laws of Power
Critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. - Ryan Holiday
Robert Greene
7
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The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
A friend and peer of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael Titian and all the other great minds of the Renaissance sat down in 1550 and wrote biographical sketches of the people he knew or had influenced him. - Ryan Holiday
Giorgio Vasari
1
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Memoirs of Hadrian
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
Marguerite Yourcenar
1
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
I read this on my honeymoon (probably the only person on the beach reading it, if I had to guess). - Ryan Holiday
Anonymous
2
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Sex on the Brain
One of the better books on evolutionary biology that focuses almost entirely on the biological and psychological differences between men and women. - Ryan Holiday
Deborah Blum
1
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The Net Delusion
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Evgeny Morozov
1
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The Moral Sayings Of Publius Syrus
A Syrian slave in the first century BC, Publius Syrus is a fountain of quick, helpful wisdom that you cannot help but recall and apply to your life. - Ryan Holiday
Publius Syrus
1
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The Woman's Hour
[One of] the best books I read [in 2019]. - Ryan Holiday
Elaine Weiss
1
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President Lincoln
[One of] my three favorite books about [Lincoln]. - Ryan Holiday
William Lee Miller
1
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Tiny Beautiful Things
Contains some of the most cogent insights on life, pain, loss, love, success, youth that I have ever seen. - Ryan Holiday
Cheryl Strayed
5
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Invisible Man
One of my favorite books. - Ryan Holiday
Ralph Ellison
4
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Bird by Bird
Ostensibly about the art of writing, but really it too is about life and how to tackle the problems, temptations and opportunities life throws at us. - Ryan Holiday
Anne Lamott
10
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The Pirate's Dilemma
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Matt Mason
1
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On Sparta
A collection of biographies (and aphorisms) from the famous Spartans. - Ryan Holiday
Plutarch
1
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The River of Doubt
I thought I knew about Theodore Roosevelt. - Ryan Holiday
Candice Millard
3
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Plutarch's Lives Volume 2
I strongly recommend [this book]. - Ryan Holiday
Plutarch
2
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Mastery
Read [this book] so that you can figure your life’s task and how to dedicate yourself to it. - Ryan Holiday
George Leonard
12
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The Book of Five Rings
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Miyamoto Musashi
6
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Hamlet
Philosophy runs through this play. - Ryan Holiday
William Shakespeare
2
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Wikinomics
Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.
Don Tapscott
2
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Edison
A really good biography. - Ryan Holiday
Matthew Josephson
2
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