Reading

Books and authors I'm currently engaging with. The list reflects what I'm thinking about now, not a lifetime inventory.

Risk, capital, markets

The Incerto (Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, Skin in the Game) by Nassim Taleb Great first principles behind these, can be sort of uber-intellectual at times though when it could be written much simpler.
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein Historical perspective on risk and how society's perspective on it has changed throughout history, really good read.
The Misbehavior of Markets by Benoit Mandelbrot More relevant now than ever; the age of volatility and leverage is coming to an end and the Gaussian framework is going to break in public.
The Man Who Solved the Market by Gregory Zuckerman Decent book. Key takeaway: Jim Simons figured out how to process information better than anyone else, so he won.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Poker applied to real life, actually entertaining to read. Premortems and backcasting are great concepts; relates to Munger's inversion.
Principles / Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio The Changing World Order is fantastic, great macroeconomic analysis of what's coming next. Principles itself is a bit overrated imo — still good but crazy overhyped.

Islamic thought

The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun Sociology before sociology existed. Insanely dense tbh, takes a while to get to the point so definitely skim, but asabiyyah is probably one of the most important concepts ever created; explains why empires (also countries, companies) rise and fall better than most modern political science.
The Revival of the Religious Sciences / Deliverance from Error by Al-Ghazali Deliverance is the best account of real spirituality I've read. The diseases-of-the-heart sections in the Ihya are something every Muslim should aim to read; TLDR all of them stem from the desire for social validation.
The Virtuous City by Al-Farabi Densest book ever yet best book ever. Talks about the First Ruler, the Active Intellect, and the philosopher-king. Reads very modern if you swap "city" for "company".
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam / the poetry by Muhammad Iqbal Asrar-i-Khudi, Javid Nama, Jawab-e-Shikwa all brilliant. Gabriel and Iblis also fantastic but dense, took me a few passes; wouldn't recommend a lot of his poetry without a strong spiritual base.
The Road to Mecca / Islam at the Crossroads / The Message of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad Road to Mecca is the best autobiography I've ever read. Islam at the Crossroads is another I'd recommend to any young Muslim balancing the East and the West.
Islam and Secularism / Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Still understanding these, not fully confident yet.
Al-Majalla (Hanafi fiqh) Reference more than a read-through, but the first principles (reliance on isnad) are very useful.

Founders and builders

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow Haven't read fully; most ruthless person I've read a biography of though.
Zero to One by Peter Thiel Best startup book ever written, most of the rest of the genre is footnotes. Find a secret, build an order-of-magnitude better product, find a wedge that has monopoly properties, profit.
The Innovator's Dilemma / The Prosperity Paradox by Clayton Christensen Innovator's Dilemma is the one everyone quotes, I think a bit overrated. Prosperity Paradox is the underrated one — basically a theory of how poor countries actually develop, very useful.
Biographies of Jobs, Musk, and Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson Da Vinci is the best of the three by a wide margin. Jobs is the most quoted but Da Vinci is the one that shows you what a mind actually looks like. Musk is good but the amount of glaze is insane.
The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson Networks vs hierarchies as the engine of history. 100% recommend, very interesting read.

Strategy, war, statecraft

Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar Literally wrote it in the third person about himself; chad does what chad wants. Fantastic book on strategy though, brilliant mind.
The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian The closest thing we have to a real account from him, he never really wrote anything formal, relates to my essay Why founding. Good book; I recommend The Campaigns of Napoleon as a better read though.
The Campaigns of Napoleon by David Chandler Eleven hundred pages, don't read the whole thing but still worth it, top 10 smartest guys ever. The corps system chapter is great. His mental organization also (close and open cupboards, cupboards represent ideas) — I use something very similar. Brilliant book.
The Memorial of Saint Helena by Las Cases Napoleon narrating his own life in exile. Self-mythologizing but also a primary source from the man himself; really interesting to see his mood shift at the end of his life, tons of ambition and dynamism and then resignation.
Parallel Lives by Plutarch The original great-man biography form. Still reading through this, but from what I've read, 100% recommend.
The Iliad by Homer Achilles' choice between a long relatively unimportant life and a short glorious one is the most important question humans can ask. Wrote an essay on it in Action is the law of life. Interesting note on all of these btw: Achilles inspired Alexander, Alexander inspired Caesar, Caesar inspired Mehmet II and Charlemagne, Charlemagne inspired Napoleon. All started from Achilles — we don't even know if he was real, so that's crazy to think about.

Philosophy and the self

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard Abraham and the knight of faith. True faith transcends rational ethics; you must make an absurd leap into the unknown. Aligns with Islamic thought very well.
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus The most honest atheist argument for meaning. Entirely wrong, I think, but interesting to engage with.
The Courage to be Disliked by Kishimi and Koga Adlerian psychology basically. Let go of social validation to be truly happy; aligns with Ghazali in the Ihya.
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz Self-image as the governor of performance. Written in the '60s by a plastic surgeon; still holds up and 100% influenced me.