As an entrepreneur or content creator (or both!), reading is just as important as running your business— we’re always on the lookout for ways to innovate and stand out in our field. But with so much information available at our fingertips these days, what are the best books worth investing your time into?
Being avid readers doesn’t just expand our horizons- it helps us to become better writers in the process. To help guide your journey through this rapidly developing world, we’ve compiled a list of our top 15 books that we are reading in 2023 to help us grow- and can help you too! So grab your coffee (or tea) and get ready—because it’s time to see what’s in store!
Anticipate Failure: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Navigating Uncertainty, Avoiding Disaster, and Building a Successful Business – Lak Ananth
Success is great, but you learn more from failures. Lak Ananth, CEO and Managing Partner of Next47, performs incisive post-mortems on the business ideas that seemed poised to change the world only to crash in failure, and where and why businesses are likelier to fail than succeed. His co-writer, Peter Economy, turns Ananth’s insights into compelling case studies that holds your attention. If you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business, skip the books that talk about achieving success, study what went wrong with dozens of other innovations, and avoid making the same mistakes. – Dinesh Liyanage
Bhagavad Gita
This Hindu text talks about transcending the worldly and understanding the spiritual. Given the deep connection between Buddhism and Hinduism, I want to start here (from the familiar to the “unfamiliar”) in my journey of religious reading. This will be a good starting point before I head into deeper readings of Christianity and Islam. – Madara Ranmuthugala
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’m adding a classic fiction book to my reading list this year, and what could be more classic than a Russian masterpiece by Fyodor Dostoevsky? If his previous works, Crimes and Punishment and The Idiot, are any indication, I’m expecting a complex examination of theology, doubt, and crime set during 19th century Russia. – D.L.
Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We’ll Win Them Back – Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow
A monopoly exists when there is only one big seller, leaving buyers with few options to choose from. A monopsony exists when there is only one big buyer, leaving sellers with few options to choose from.
Amazon, Meta, Google, Spotify- all of them are monopsonies, and they’re wreaking havoc on creators by locking them into a system where they control access and paying measly sums of money in exchange for their creative labour. Giblin, an ARC Future Fellow and Professor at Melbourne Law School, and the Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, pays attention to the legal systems that allows monopsonies to exploit creative markets without being penalised. If you are a creator or think that being a self-published author or influencer is a quick path to riches, this book will correct your views- and may even force you to reconsider a less exciting but more financially stable career. – D.L.
The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech – William Deresiewicz
For creators, making a living from the arts in the digital age- be it writing, illustrating, painting, singing/songwriting, filmmaking, theatre- is growing financially impossible unless you have connections, an existing brand you can leverage, or a safety net. Silicon Valley wants you to believe otherwise- because they profit handsomely off creative labour while the creators themselves are squeezed for every last cent. William Deresiewicz combs through hundreds of detailed interviews with creators in the arts- not the few superstars, but the rest of the people in these industries- to paint a sobering reality of what it means to be an artist today. As content creators, it’s more important than ever to survey the creator economy landscape to see if- and if it’s financially feasible anymore. – D.L.
Discourse of Political Economy – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This book should give me a good idea not only of the “economy” of politics (self-interest of individuals) but also of philosophy, given it is by Rousseau. – M.R.
Essays – Michel de Montaigne
Disclosure: I started reading this a few years ago, but gave up at one point. This year, I wish to finish the rest.
Before the Enlightenment, there was Michel de Montaigne. After inheriting his family’s estate and becoming Lord Montaigne, he retired at the age of 38 and secluded himself in a tower for nearly ten years to compose his essays. The essays in question run the gamut- Montaigne talks about sorrow, of educating children, of courage and cowardice, and a whole lot more. English teachers might be scandalised by his lack of structure and his refusal to prove or educate a point. Instead, they explore the topics that mattered to Montaigne. Since then, they have remained an important artefact in French philosophy, and have influenced countless people over the centuries; perhaps even the works of William Shakespeare. – D.L.
Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory – Andrew Bennett
This will be a good refresher for me. A from-beginning-to-end type of book, it will have theories I am not familiar with but also will be fun to read because it even goes into literary laughter (including invoking Monty Python). – M.R.
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life – Martin Seligman
In these trying times, such books should help us learn how to keep going. This book helps you get from “I give up” to a positive interior dialogue. Having struggled with my mental health in the last year, I want to focus on strengthening and fortifying my mind to deal with the pressures that accompany being an adult. – M.R.
On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters – Matthieu Ricard
This book draws from the Tibetan tradition and offers insight into the nature of the mind and Buddhist elements of compassion and altruism. I am interested in understanding all religions and enjoy reading different views and teachings by people who have learnt in depth. – M.R.
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution – Francis Fukuyama
I always want to know the history to understand the present and the future. It is important to know what came before to see how we move with the times and how we create the times. – M.R.
Putting the Power of Your Subconscious Mind to Work: Reach New Levels of Career Success Using the Power of Your Subconscious Mind – Joseph Murphy
This book has examples for the professional, and for a business setting. As someone who recently launched a company, it would be good for me to learn from those who have gone before me. – M.R.
Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, and Dreyer – Paul Schrader
Before Paul Schrader wrote Taxi Driver and co-wrote Raging Bull, before he directed films such as American Gigolo and First Reformed, he was a film critic for the Los Angeles Free Press. Around the same time, he examined similarities in styles and themes shared by the filmmakers Robert Bresson, Yasujirō Ozu, and Carl Theodor Dreyer. Film lovers waxing on film is one thing; filmmakers dissecting their favourite pictures have a different quality- they are practitioners in the game talking about what influenced them. – D.L.
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming – David Wallace-Wells
This long-form essay is a wake-up call, a brutal read of the worst case scenario if we continue as we have done in global warming. Ties into my other reading on circular economy and sustainability. – M.R.
Why Read the Classics – Italo Calvino
This collection of Italo Calvino’s literary criticism spans two millennia, where Calvino ruminates on poets, scientists, and writers. I am on a quest to be a better critic, or a more educated reader who critically engages with the works. This should be a good stepping stone. – M.R.
It’s never too early to start planning your reading list for next year. We’ve gone ahead and selected 15 books that we think everyone should read in 2023. o matter what type of book you’re looking for, we guarantee there’s something on this list that will suit your fancy.
Share what you’re reading in 2023 and let’s see how our reading lists compare. We’re always on the lookout for new books! Leave a comment below and let’s get this reading party started!