21 Books for Business Owners Who Get Bored Reading

Be honest, how many books have you picked up once, put down, and never picked back up because they were so boring? Or even worse, how many books have you gotten mostly through just to realize you remember almost nothing about what you just read?

These books and authors are different. These books are:

• Easy to read
• Interesting
• Full of actionable info
• Free of boring fluff just to hit a page count
• Often full of graphics and images that keep your attention
• You can often jump to any page and not miss out

I’ll be sharing specific books but also authors who have a knack for only writing this sort of easy-reading book.

Any Book by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I majored in economics, and when I say it can be a dry topic, you should trust me. The Stephens discuss economics, logic, and decision-making in a way that is interesting. While other books on the topic are akin to 3-hour-long documentaries, their books are more like collections of viral TikToks.

Yes, the more senior economists will label this as pop-economics, but they are nerds. Ignore them.

Any Book by Tim Ferriss

Look, some of Tim’s older stuff is outright… stupid (anyone who tried the Gallon of Milk a Day diet from 4-Hour Body knows this firsthand) but his more recent stuff is fantastic.

These books are broken down like micro-interviews that drained out all the boring stuff and kept just the most interesting and applicable nuggets of wisdom from some of the most influential and intelligent people on the planet.

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

This book is an absolute gem. It’s just loaded with nuggets of wisdom. Naval is a polymath who has the gift of explaining what he does and why in a way that is easy for those of us who aren’t as smart as he is.

Someday I’ll write a blog post about books without including this one, but it would be a disservice to not include the most fascinating, practical, and accessible book on habit building.

Short, and each chapter is a different story of a different morning routine of a successful person in history.

This man is a powerhouse (pun not intended).

His books are not riddled with the ADHD-calming images and shorter chapters that the other books in this post are, but they’re just as easy to read somehow.

Any Book by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

I love this recommendation because the books these guys (the founders of 37Signals, the company that made BaseCamp) write are painfully underrated. Especially Getting Real.

Any Book by James Altucher

Altucher is one of the most interesting people in the world. He has a knack for making amazing business decisions but nullifying them with equally terrible ones.

He writes about the process though, and his books are always funny, insightful, and easy to read.

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

If you have to read just 3 books on marketing, this should be one of them. It isn’t going to teach you everything about marketing BUT it’s going to show you how to make decisions that get exponentially more out of all of your efforts.

This is one of the longest books in this list, but I found it very easy to read for a number of reasons.

The biggest reason is the takeaways are fascinating. Most books on psychology and persuasion are a watered-down, less interesting regurgitation of this book. Similar to Atomic Habits and every other book on habit building.

Kleon’s books are unlike anything else. They’re literally like pieces of art. These are books that you MUST buy the physical versions of—you’ll see what I’m talking about when you do.

A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech

I just finished reading this, so it’s fresh in my mind. The book is loaded with interesting stories (often just a paragraph or two long), graphics, short exercises, and more to make going from page #1 to page #352 a breeze.