My virtual bookshelf
I love reading. Here’s a collection of all my favorite non-fiction books!
What I’m reading right now
Theo Baker arrived at Stanford as a freshman and ended up investigating research misconduct tied to the university’s president. The book is part campus memoir, part investigation into the money, ambition, and power shaping Stanford and Silicon Valley.
I loved this one. It’s fascinating and incredibly engaging—the kind of nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Beyond the scandal, it’s a sharp look at how one of the world’s most influential institutions actually works behind the scenes.
Pages: 336 – Price: $32.00 – Year: 2026 – Get on Amazon
Best Marketing Books
Marketing is by far my favorite reading category and the one that more often has hidden gems.
In this post, you’ll find all my favorite marketing books. Of course, I have a bit of bias towards B2B SaaS, but most books are just great, no matter what your industry is.
I keep this list always up to date and add new readworthy books every couple of months. The last update is from July 2026.
Best Startup Books
Since I started AdEspresso, I’ve also started reading every book about startups I could find.
Over the years, I’ve read hundreds of books on how to build a successful startup from every point of view: how to fundraise, how to hire, and how to define a mission and company culture.
In this always up-to-date list, you’ll find all my recommendations for anyone planning to enter the startup world.
Best Personal Growth Books
Personal growth books are full of big promises, but only a few earn a permanent spot on my shelf.
This is my shortlist of the books that genuinely helped me think better about habits, productivity, relationships, and the way I want to live.
It’s personal and opinionated: what worked, what didn’t, and which books are actually worth your time.
Best AI Books
AI books age faster than almost anything else I read. Most tactical ones are obsolete before they even make it to print.
This list skips prompt hacks and focuses on the researchers, lab founders, economists, and journalists who help explain where AI came from and where it might go.
The latest update is from July 2026.
My dirty secret to read more books in less time
Let’s be honest; there are more books to read than hours in the day. As much as we might love reading, time is always a huge constraint. Plus, some books are very interesting but damn boring.
A few years ago, I discovered Book Summary apps. Over time, I’ve developed a process to use them to quickly validate if a book is interesting enough to read or to complete full books I had started reading but were too boring/ not interesting enough for me.
Nowadays, these apps have huge catalogs, and you can easily find at least 50% of the titles you are interested in. I’ve done an in-depth test of all the best apps to find the perfect one for me, with a large enough catalog and high-quality summaries.
Great Books I’ve recently read
If you have a specific topic in mind, I keep curated lists of my all-time favorite Personal Growth Books, AI Books, Leadership Books, and Sales Books. If you’re looking for more random recommendations, here’s what I’ve finished recently:
Very Good Copy by Eddie Shleyner
My summer reading list is very focused on copywriting. While AI can now easily generate a lot of content in seconds, I think there’s huge value in learning the skills to craft great copies that trigger human emotions.
Eddie Shleyner is one of my favorite copywriters and host of the amazing newsletter Very Good Copy which gives the title to the book.
The book is a collection of 207 short essays on copywriting, usually under 500 words.
It’s a joy to read. Incredibly well-written and full of real-world anecdotes and quotes. I loved it and would recommend it to any copywriter!
Incorruptible by Eric Ries
Eric Ries asks why good companies slowly go bad as they grow, then works backwards through ownership, incentives, governance, and all the structures that quietly push them away from their original mission.
It’s very interesting, especially the corporate horror stories. Some are fascinating in the same uncomfortable way as a great post-mortem: you can see exactly where everything started to go wrong. I’m not sure every idea is equally actionable for a normal founder, but it definitely made me think.
Pages: 432 – Price: $32.00 – Year: 2026 – Get on Amazon
The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence by Sebastian Mallaby
Sebastian Mallaby tells the story of Demis Hassabis and DeepMind with unusually deep access to the people who built it, challenged it, funded it, and eventually sold it to Google.
It’s an excellent behind-the-scenes account of the birth of modern AI. The breakthroughs matter, but the best parts are the people, the internal tensions, and the decisions that turned a small London lab into one of the most important companies of our time.
Pages: 480 – Price: $32.00 – Year: 2026 – Get on Amazon
Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
Author Noah Kagan needs no introduction to the world of Marketing. Employee #40 at Facebook and #4 at Mint, later founded AppSumo, the largest lifetime deals marketplace for SaaS Software.
This is a great book for first-time entrepreneurs; The whole goal is to give you the right mindset, break the think-think-think pattern, and have you do-do-do.
Pages: 277 – Price: $17.99 – Year: 2024 – Get on Amazon
Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal
I’ve followed Ali Abdaal on YouTube for a long time and always enjoyed his productivity-focused content. No wonder how he racked up more than 5M followers on the platform and decided to quit his career as a doctor to go all-in as a content creator.
He recently launched his first book, and I immediately started reading it… so far, I love it. It’s well-written, enjoyable, and full of references to behavioral science studies … I also love the philosophy behind it, which can be summarized this way: “The secret to productivity isn’t discipline. It’s joy.“. This book deserved a spot in my list of the best personal growth books.
Pages: 292 – Price: $14.99 – Year: 2023 – Get on Amazon
Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things by Dan Ariely
Ariely is a world-renowned behavioral scientist. I loved all of his books, and usually, his explanations of how the human mind behaves are also very useful for marketers and product people. This book is an exception as it digs into the world of misinformation that got a huge boost during COVID-19.
How can rational people believe clearly fake information? How can close friends we respect start to see plots everywhere?
This book is fully packed with tons of experiments to explain this could happen to anyone. A very fascinating (and sad) read.
Pages: 320 – Price: $15.99 – Year: 2023 – Get on Amazon
How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life by Massimo Pagliucci
An unusual read for me. I started reading this book in a tough personal period, full of thoughts, decisions to be made, and things to be done. I want to learn more about the stoic approach to life.
This book does a great job of explaining the stoic philosophy and how to put it into practice in modern life. My key takeaway from the book is to focus on what you can change and don’t waste time / get stressed out by things that are out of your control. Not an easy read, but a very interesting one.
Pages: 289 – Price: $12.99 – Year: 2017 – Get on Amazon
