Robert Greene Recommended Books

“It's a beautifully told story. It's somebody who survived life in a concentration camp... he discovered that in the concentration camps the people who managed to live through it all and come out of it relatively unscathed were those who had a deep sense of purpose when they entered it. And so from that he developed a very beautiful philosophy and it's a very beautiful book and I highly recommend it.”

Also recommended by

Naval RavikantOprah WinfreyAlastair HumphreysAniela GregorekBryan Johnson+5 more

“If I had read it when I was younger I would have really loved it... he's a very brilliant man, stories of people who discovered what I call their life's task by seeing the kind of seed that made them who they are, their uniqueness. And he describes in depth these stories and what lives behind it and how we have to change how we look at ourselves and our potential... I highly recommend this book for anybody in the early 20s who is trying to figure out their purpose in life.”

“Gardner is a Harvard psychologist and he came up with this idea of Multiple Intelligences, that we all have different ways that our brain functions... once you discover what your unique form of intelligence is, it's like a weight being lifted off of your shoulders.”

Also recommended by

Charles Koch

History of the Peloponnesian War

by

Thucydides

“I love getting into that other way of thinking. It's like being in a different world... it will enrich your soul, take you out of the day-to-day world, show you the wider world, and also how humans have never changed. You're getting out into something that's timeless and eternal and I can't recommend it enough.”

Also recommended by

Matt MullenwegRyan HolidaySteven Pressfield

“These books enrich your soul, take you out of the day-to-day world, show you the wider world, and also how humans have never changed. You're getting out into something that's timeless and eternal.”

“I love getting into that other way of thinking. It's like being in a different world... it shows you the wider world and also how humans have never changed. You're getting out into something that's timeless and eternal.”

“I've read everything he ever wrote. But my personal favorite is a novel called The Possessed. It's sometimes translated as Demons. It is such a powerful, such an exciting, such a weird interesting book. Anybody who doesn't enjoy that book, something is wrong with them. I highly recommend reading The Possessed by Dostoevsky.”

Metamorphosis

by

Franz Kafka

“I think Metamorphosis is something that everybody should read. It's so strange. It's so entertaining. It's so disturbing. I'm not going to tell you what it's about. You'll have to read it. I would highly recommend that.”

“It's a really fantastic book. It's very entertaining and it's very disturbing... It gives you a very powerful perspective on what it was like to be black in America in the '40s... it's like a wild ride. It's very like an adventure. It takes you in all these different directions. The beginning has a scene that's so powerful. It will stick with me my whole life. That would be a high recommendation for American fiction.”

Also recommended by

Dan BarreiroJacqueline NovogratzMaya AngelouRyan Holiday

Sentimental Education

by

Gustave Flaubert

“Gustave Flaubert is an amazing writer and he's influenced me a lot... his most famous book is Madame Bovary, and it's a great book, but the one that I would really recommend is called Sentimental Education. It's a fantastic, it's one of those epic books that covers this huge part of French history, this moment in time, and it's really exciting, a really great book.”

“Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite writers... And perhaps my favorite is a novel called To the Lighthouse. Really, really beautiful book. It's pretty short. It's only about 220 pages long. It's a little bit difficult, a little bit experimental... It's truly sublime in how it conveys the passage of time, how it conveys family and mortality. Very moving, very powerful book I would highly recommend that.”