10 famous men and their favourite books

Oct 22, 2023

Aakanksha Sharma

Book recommendations of famous men

It's often said that great readers become great leaders. From Virat Kohli to Elon Musk, here we list 10 famous men from across the world and their favourite books.

Barack Obama

Former US President Barack Obama releases a book recommendation list each year on his Instagram page for his followers to read and take inspiration from. In his 2022 book list, Obama mentions ‘Sea of Tranquility‘ by Emily St. John to be one of his favourite books of the year.

​Elon Musk

Musk told the New Yorker that as an “undersized and picked upon smart-aleck (in his childhood),” he turned to reading fantasy and science fiction. “The heroes of the books I read, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and the ‘Foundation’ series, always felt a duty to save the world.”

​Stephen King

As part of the Goodreads Turns Ten celebration, Stephen King mentioned McCarthy’s ‘Blood Meridian' as one of his many favourite books. He also mentioned how it is difficult for him to point to one book or a list for his recommendations, as it changes with time.

​Rishi Sunak

Speaking to Alison Hammond on the show 'This Morning', Rishi Sunak revealed that he likes to read Jilly Cooper’s novels for escapism with ‘Riders’ being his favourite.

​Bill Gates

On his blog page, Bill Gates gave his top five book recommendations of year 2022, 'Stranger in a Strange Land' by Robert Heinlein being the first one.

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Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has revealed his love for the book on several occasions. According to Inc, “'Autobiography of a Yogi' by Paramahansa Yogananda was the only e-book found on Jobs's personal iPad 2" and he has also read it several times.

​Narendra Modi

On his X account, the Indian Prime Minister wrote, “Over the past few days, I have been reading, 'A New Idea of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State’ by two bright minds @harshmadhusudan and @RMantri. I hope you read it too…”

​Jeff Bezos

Bezos once told in an interview, “I’m a big science-fiction fan. I love this series (Dune series)." 'Dune' by Frank Herbert is a seminal science fiction novel set in a distant future where noble families control planets.

Warren Buffet

‘Poor Charlie’s Almanack’ written by Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime business partner, offers tons of financial wisdom and is written in the form of speeches and essays.

​Virat Kohli

In a collaborative effort between ICC and the NGO 'Room to Read,' Virat Kohli revealed, “I like Andre Agassi’s autobiography 'Open'... The best part about the book is that at no point does the author try to project himself as a ‘superhuman’.”

Thanks For Reading!

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