The reading list

Books recommended by the NEXT.io community.

60+Books
9Categories
20+Contributors
πŸ† The winner is Kristina Rajzer β€” 5 votesContest results
🌍

Prisoners of Geography

Tim Marshall

Ten maps that explain why Russia, China, the US and Europe behave the way they do β€” and why geography is still the hidden force behind geopolitics.

Recommended byPierre
🌍

The Power of Geography

Tim Marshall

A follow-up that looks at the future of regions from the Arctic to the Sahel, showing how rivers, mountains and borders will shape the next decades.

Recommended byPierre
🌍

The Revenge of Geography

Robert D. Kaplan

Kaplan argues that in a digital age, physical terrain still decides the fate of nations β€” from the steppes to the South China Sea.

Recommended byAlina
🌍

Why Nations Fail

Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson

A sweeping answer to why some countries prosper while others stagnate: the difference is inclusive versus extractive political and economic institutions.

Recommended byAlina
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Battleground

Christopher Phillips

A sharp look at the Middle East as a permanent geopolitical battleground, where oil, religion and great-power rivalry keep colliding.

Recommended byJeeve
🌍

The Triangle of Power

Alexander Stubb

Energy, technology and security form the new triangle of global power β€” and this book maps how Europe can survive it.

Recommended byMagnus
🏦

Everybody Loves Our Dollars

Oliver Bullough

Bullough follows the dirty money that flows through Western banks, lawyers and property markets β€” and how the system enables it.

Recommended byPhoto
🏦

Fortune's Formula

William Poundstone

The story of the Kelly criterion, the mathematical bet-sizing rule that links gamblers, investors and information theory.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
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Deep Value

Tobias Carlisle

A practical deep dive into value investing, showing why the cheapest, most hated stocks often beat the market over time.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🏦

The Big Short

Michael Lewis

The inside story of the misfits who saw the 2008 housing crash coming β€” and made a fortune betting against the system.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🏦

Moneyball

Michael Lewis

How the Oakland A's used data to outsmart richer teams β€” and changed the way every industry thinks about talent.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🏦

When Genius Failed

Roger Lowenstein

The collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Nobel laureates whose models failed when markets turned.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🏦

Trading Game

Gary Stevenson

A former top trader argues that rising inequality is not an accident β€” it's built into the economic game the rich are winning.

Recommended byBryan
🎲

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman

Kahneman's landmark guide to the two systems that drive thought: the fast, intuitive one and the slow, rational one.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🎲

Superforecasting

Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner

What makes some people dramatically better at predicting the future β€” and how anyone can improve their judgment.

Recommended byPrediction markets list
🎲

The Undoing Project

Michael Lewis

The friendship and rivalry of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the psychologists who rewrote our understanding of decision-making.

Recommended byBryan
🎲

Thinking in Bets

Annie Duke

A former poker champion teaches how to separate decision quality from outcome quality β€” and make better bets in life and business.

Recommended byBryan
🎲

Gambler

Billy Walters

The memoir of the most successful sports bettor in American history, revealing the discipline, information networks and risks behind the wins.

Recommended byBryan
🎲

Punters

Aaron Rogan

A journey into the hidden world of professional gamblers, syndicates and the people who treat betting as a serious game.

Recommended byBryan
🎲

Molly's Game

Molly Bloom

The true story of the underground poker empire that hosted Hollywood stars, billionaires and the Russian mob β€” run by a woman who refused to break.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ’ͺ

Can't Hurt Me

David Goggins

Goggins' brutal, inspiring memoirs to callusing the mind through suffering, accountability and relentless self-discipline.

Recommended byPhoto + Chat
πŸ’ͺ

Never Finished

David Goggins

The sequel that argues mastery is not a destination β€” it's a continuous process of becoming harder to destroy.

Recommended byPhoto
πŸ’ͺ

The Mountain Is You

Brianna Wiest

A gentle but firm exploration of self-sabotage: why we hold ourselves back and how to transform that resistance into growth.

Recommended byVanessa
πŸ’ͺ

Let Them

Mel Robbins

A short, punchy reminder to stop managing other people's reactions and let them be exactly who they are.

Recommended byVanessa / Claire
πŸ’ͺ

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

A fable about following your personal legend, listening to omens, and discovering treasure in the journey itself.

Recommended byVanessa
πŸ’ͺ

The Little Book of Stoicism

Jonas Salzgeber

A compact, practical introduction to Stoic philosophy and how it helps with modern stress, fear and distraction.

Recommended byPhoto
πŸ’ͺ

Zen in the Martial Arts

Joe Hyams

Lessons in focus, calm and presence drawn from the author's training with Bruce Lee and other martial-arts masters.

Recommended byPhoto
πŸ’ͺ

Hidden Potential

Adam Grant

Grant redefines talent: progress depends less on giftedness and more on character, motivation and the right kinds of practice.

Recommended byAleksandrina
🧠

Surrounded by Idiots

Thomas Erikson

A color-coded framework for understanding the four main communication styles and why people drive each other crazy.

Recommended byPhoto
🧠

Social Intelligence

Daniel Goleman

Goleman extends emotional intelligence into our social brains, showing how relationships shape everything from health to leadership.

Recommended byPhoto
🧠

The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene

Greene's deep study of why people behave as they do β€” power, envy, aggression, empathy β€” and how to read them better.

Recommended byPhoto
🧠

The Body Keeps the Score

Bessel van der Kolk

The classic on trauma: how it lives in the body, reshapes the brain, and how healing can happen through awareness and movement.

Recommended byPhoto
🧠

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself

Dr. Joe Dispenza

A blend of neuroscience and meditation that argues we can rewire our brains and reinvent our personalities by choice.

Recommended byPhoto
🧠

Amphibious Soul

Craig Foster

The filmmaker behind My Octopus Teacher explores how immersion in the natural world can restore attention, meaning and calm.

Recommended byPhoto
πŸ“–

Greenlights

Matthew McConaughey

McConaughey's memoir of catching greenlights in life, learning from red and yellow ones, and staying true to your own rhythm.

Recommended byAlina
πŸ“–

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

The original self-improvement manual: Franklin's account of rising from poverty to become a founding father, inventor and diplomat.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“–

Shoe Dog

Phil Knight

Nike founder Phil Knight's raw, funny memoir of building a shoe company from a crazy idea into a global empire.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“–

Trading Game (memoir)

Gary Stevenson

A working-class kid becomes Citibank's most profitable trader β€” then walks away to expose the inequality his bets helped create.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ“–

Scar Tissue

Anthony Kiedis

The Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman's unflinching memoir of addiction, music, friendship and survival.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ“–

Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Bill Bryson

Bryson's nostalgic, hilarious portrait of growing up in 1950s America β€” a quieter, more innocent world on the brink of change.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ“–

Politics on the Edge

Rory Stewart

Stewart's insider account of a decade in British politics β€” idealism, absurdity and the slow death of the moderate centre.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ“–

Open

Andre Agassi

One of the most candid sports memoirs ever written: Agassi hated tennis, yet became one of its greatest players.

Recommended byGreg
πŸ“–

The Naval Ravikant Almanack

Eric Jorgenson

A collection of Naval's wisdom on wealth, happiness, decision-making and leverage β€” distilled into short, quotable insights.

Recommended byGreg
πŸ—‘οΈ

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

A nostalgic, melancholy novel of love and loss set in 1960s Tokyo β€” one of Murakami's most human and accessible books.

Recommended byM
πŸ—‘οΈ

The Hiram Key

Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas

A controversial historical investigation tracing Freemasonry's origins back to the Knights Templar and ancient mystery schools.

Recommended byAaron Peters
πŸ—‘οΈ

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe

Keefe's gripping true-crime reporting on empire, corruption and the secret forces that shaped modern London.

Recommended byJeeve
πŸ—‘οΈ

Daughter of Fortune

Isabel Allende

A sweeping historical novel about a young woman who follows her lover from Chile to California during the Gold Rush.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ—‘οΈ

Mythos Series

Stephen Fry

Fry retells Greek myths with wit and warmth, making the gods, heroes and monsters feel freshly alive.

Recommended byBryan
πŸ“š

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Raskolnikov's descent into murder, guilt and redemption remains one of literature's deepest studies of conscience.

Recommended byAlina
πŸ“š

The Red and the Black

Stendhal

The ambitious Julien Sorel climbs through French society by seduction and cunning β€” a sharp study of class and desire.

Recommended byAlina
πŸ“š

Dead Souls

Nikolai Gogol

Gogol's biting satire of Russian provincial life follows a man who buys the names of dead serfs to fake wealth.

Recommended byAlina
πŸ“š

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky

A sprawling novel of faith, doubt, patricide and family β€” widely considered Dostoevsky's masterpiece.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“š

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Prince Myshkin's innocence and goodness collide with a cynical society in this profound study of moral beauty.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“š

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel GarcΓ­a MΓ‘rquez

The BuendΓ­a family saga weaves magic, history and solitude into one of the most beloved novels of the twentieth century.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“š

Anything by Jonas Jonasson

Jonas Jonasson

Jonasson's novels are absurd, warm and funny β€” unlikely heroes stumble through history and somehow survive it.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸ“š

Anything by Nikolay Leskov

Nikolay Leskov

Leskov's short stories capture Russian life with moral complexity, humour and unforgettable characters.

Recommended byAleksandrina
πŸš€

Dark Matter

Blake Crouch

A physicist is knocked out and wakes in a life that isn't his β€” a fast, mind-bending thriller about the roads we didn't take.

Recommended byNarcis
πŸš€

Hyperion

Dan Simmons

Seven pilgrims travel to a deadly world, each telling their story β€” a Canterbury Tales in space and a landmark of modern sci-fi.

Recommended byJeeve
πŸ“š

Gone with the Wind

Margaret Mitchell

Scarlett O'Hara's survival through the American Civil War and its aftermath β€” a sweeping epic of ambition, loss and reinvention.

Recommended byAlina
🌍

The Silk Roads

Peter Frankopan

A retelling of world history with Asia at its centre, tracing how trade routes moved goods, faiths, ideas and power for millennia.

Recommended byMichiel
πŸ—‘οΈ

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon

A fifteen-year-old with an extraordinary mind investigates a neighbour's dead dog β€” and uncovers far more about his own family.

Recommended byBryan Peterkin