PUBLISHED IN MULTIPLE BOOKS + NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS
“What books do you recommend?”
It is one of the most common questions that Rohit gets and one that he has spent many years trying to answer. He's still trying. Book recommendations are a constantly evolving thing, especially for the founder of one of the world's largest free book awards programs - the Non-Obvious Book Awards.
On this page, you'll find a compilation of some of Rohit's favorite book recommendations. For more up to date suggestions, be sure to subscribe to the Non-Obvious Newsletter which features a weekly book recommendation and check out the most recent Longlist and Shortlist selections from the Non-Obvious Book Awards.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM ALWAYS EAT LEFT HANDED (2012)
This was Rohit's only career advice book and at the end he curated a list of 21 of the best books to help anyone accelerate their career. Here are those recommendations from the book.
BY PAUL ARDEN
If there was ever a book meant to be described with the quintessentially British adjective of "cheeky," this quick read written by a legendary English advertising agency creative director Paul Arden would certainly be it. Filled with old-school creative director-isms like "Do it, then fix it as you go," this book is a nice collection of reminders to think differently, be irreverent, and, above all, to intentionally design the career you want to have.
BY DALE CARNEGIE
Despite the dated writing style and references, this is one of those books that is classic for a reason. Filled with the insights Carnegie built over decades of teaching people how to present themselves, speak in public and relate to one another - the lessons you will take from this book are timeless and worth a read at any age.
BY RAM CHARAN
As I shared in Chapter 6, the most successful employees are the ones who have the ability to see the big picture instead of being constrained by their job titles. In this book from famed CEO advisor and professor Ram Charan, you will learn the basics of business in a simple yet profound way to help you elevate your thinking far beyond your business card - no matter how many levels beneath the CEO your current job happens to be.
BY ROLF DOBELLI
Translated by Nicky Griffin. When it was first published in German, this book quickly became a bestseller and this new translation takes the original short 99 chapters all focused on how humans make decisions and brings the easily readable stories to life for English language readers. If you happen to be someone who prefers reading books in short digestible chunks instead of long stretches, you will love the format and style of this book.
BY CAROL DWECK
You may not realize just how much your mindset controls the success you have in life, but you will after reading this groundbreaking book, which is the product of decades of research from world-renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. Understanding the simple difference between a fixed mindset (where you believe your basic qualities like intelligence or talent are unchangeable) versus a growth mindset (where you believe anyone can be good at anything with the right amount of effort) alone is worth reading this book - and could change the way you look at life as well.
BY NORM FEUTI
A hilarious look at the sometimes-idiotic world of retail, this book by cartoonist and former retail worker Norm Feuti will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever worked a job at the mall - and should be required reading for anyone who will work in a business where you have to inspire employees to care about what they do ... or at least get better at pretending they do.
BY PETER GUBER
When former Hollywood producer Peter Guber looks back on his life in this combination of a memoir and business book, it is an entertaining exploration of how the power of stories influences people. Stories include the fascinating inside account of the making of the film Contact with Jodie Foster to an exploration of what makes David Copperfield such an engaging performer and magician. Reading this book is like stepping behind the scenes of how movies get made, million dollar products are launched and why stories really matter.
BY CHIP AND DAN HEATH
You might have already guessed I am a fan of this book because of my history with it, but it has a place of honor on my bookshelf for more than the size of its dust jacket. The book is well researched, engagingly written, and full of powerful lessons you will be able to put to use in your work immediately no matter what message you are trying to get to stick and who you need to believe it.
BY AUSTIN KLEON
This gem of a book is an easy read, but the counterintuitive lessons from graphic designer Austin Kleon have helped thousands of people to uncover their creative side ... even if they are not designers or people with the word "creative" in their job title. With sections on "the upside of being boring" and "what it really means to be original," the biggest benefit of this book is that it will teach you something valuable about how artists think and how you can use that in your own life, whether you describe yourself as an artist or not.
BY ALAN LIGHTMAN
Written as an exploration from a physicist's point of view about what Einstein's dreams might have been like if we could look inside his head, this book is nowhere near as boring as that premise might seem. At once poetic and profound, Lightman's writing will get you thinking about the nature of time and how best to spend yours. More than any other, this book changed the way I thought about life and is the one that I share most often when asked to name my favorite book.
BY MARTIN LINDSTROM
You can learn something unique from a man who spends the majority of his year living in strangers' houses around the world. Consumer researcher Martin Lindstrom takes all this field research and his grueling travel schedule and uses it to share an intriguing compilation of observations about what people believe in different cultures around the world. Aside from plenty of wonderful trivia, Small Data also delivers a powerful exploration of the importance of really observing the world and how this one skill can help you decode why people act the way they do ... and how they choose to spend their money too.
BY DAN LYONS
If you have ever been romanced by the notion of the Silicon Valley inspired free-food-open-plan utopian vision of the workplace, this book offers the ethnographic wake-up call you need to read. In it, journalist Dan Lyons chronicles his time working in a rapidly growing startup as the oldest guy in the office and examines why so much of the modern workplace seems to be built on a pyramid of feel-good bullshit. A rare irreverent book that can actually make you better by showing you what dysfunction looks like and why so many people at work lose their motivation because of the inhumanity of work.
BY DAVID McRANEY
This is the sort of book that is meant to be read in short chunks, with each chapter giving you a fundamental truth from years of psychology research brought to life with a modern story. Take this one with you on a short or long flight, give yourself time to think about each chapter and above all, to remind yourself that no matter how smart you think you are, there is always something you don't know.
BY DAN PINK
Most people recoil at the suggestion that they are acting like a sales person because it feels like an insult. We all know the stereotype of the overly pushy salesman (yes, it's usually a man). If you have ever had this sort of negative reaction to sales, this book will change your mind, starting with the simple premise at the heart of the book: we are all in sales. Whether we are selling a product or our ideas, there are plenty of moments where we need sell something - but that doesn't need to make us feel sleazy or inadequate. The principles and techniques in this book will help you get better at those situations and embrace the idea of having to sell without becoming a pushy salesperson yourself.
BY RAMIT SETHI
Everything that you never learned about managing your money (but should have) is in this book based on the author's popular blog of the same name. No matter how old or financially savvy you are, you will appreciate Sethi's no-nonsense approach to everything from recouping those fees your credit card charges to what types of investments are typically set up for suckers. Altogether this short and irreverent book will change how you think about managing your money, including making it, saving it, spending it, and valuing it.
BY BLAKE SNYDER
You may not believe this, but the stunning insight of this book is that every movie ever made uses one of just twelve different story structures. It seemed too simplistic to be true when I first read that idea in a screenwriting class, but this book from famed spec screenwriter Blake Snyder changed the way I thought about storytelling. Save the Cat! offers an actual formula for on-screen storytelling used by some of the best scriptwriters in the world. Though sadly, Blake passed away in 2009, his ideas are timeless and his book will change the way you think about storytelling and probably any movie you have ever watched as well.
BY NEIL STRAUSS
A book that exposes the slimy underworld of pickup artists and the tricks they use to lure women into bed might seem like an odd choice for this list, yet this book is much more than that. It is also a fascinating exploration of insecurity, gender dynamics, and what it really takes to be desirable (or desired). No matter your gender, you may simultaneously be intrigued and repulsed by the stories in this book, but it will teach you something important about how manipulation works. In an era filled with fake news and fake people, being able to spot when you're being hustled can keep you from getting into bed with the wrong person - figuratively and literally.
BOOKS YOU SHOULD BUY (AND WILL EVENTUALLY USE)
In addition to the books I have recommended so far, there are some amazing resource books that I have on my shelf and recommend to everyone. You probably won't read any of them cover to cover, but they are great skimmable resources that you will most likely pick up at least once a year just to help you solve a challenge or to think in a slightly different way. For those reasons alone, they are worth putting on your shelf until you need them. Consider this one of the few types of "just in case" education I will ever recommend.
BY RICHARD BAYAN
Ever wanted to find the perfect word for expressing an idea and had to resort to a Google search turning up dozens of random words? You can do much better and this book will help. True to its title, the book is filled with collections of powerful sales phrases, vocabulary combinations, and words that influence and move people. Whether you're trying to write a compelling email newsletter or a powerful cover letter for your next job application, this is one of those books you'll wish you knew about earlier.
BY NANCY DUARTE
Few people have studied what makes a speech powerful as deeply as Nancy Duarte and her team. In Resonate, she shares the results of her extensive research into the dynamics of great talks and breaks down several world renowned speeches to share a formula for building a game-changing speech of your own. Save this book for the moment when you need to deliver an amazing talk, and then use the formula she shares to make that talk the best it can be.
BY ELLEN LUPTON
While this book was clearly created for visual designers, I regularly assign it for my students to refer to as a useful guidebook for what effective layout and graphic design looks like. You can't always rely on designers to do this for you - sometimes you just need to make a document look good on your own. Following the principles in this book will help you do it.
BY DAN ROAM
Solving your problems by drawing them is the simple idea that this book teaches (which I also shared in Chapter 13), but the step-by-step workbook-style approach and easy-to-follow instructions make this the perfect book to use as a resource when you need to uncover a solution to a complex problem. There is no better book to help you overcome that mental barrier many of us have about not being able to draw. Sometimes the only way to simplify something is to draw it out.
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS
Every year the Non-Obvious Book Awards name five category winners and a full shortlist. Here is every shortlist since the awards began.
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2025
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2024
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2023
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2022
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2021
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2020
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2019
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2018
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2017
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2016
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
NON-OBVIOUS BOOK AWARDS 2014 / 2015
Category Winners
Shortlist Selections
BOOK ROHIT TO SPEAK
Running one of the world's largest free book awards means reading hundreds of books a year. Those ideas end up on stage, in Rohit's keynotes and workshops.
Want More Non-Obvious Ideas?
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter brings you the five or six most fascinating and overlooked stories of the week, with a quick take on why each one matters.
One email every Thursday. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world.
© 2026 Rohit Bhargava. Washington DC.
