Here are 100 books that Power fans have personally recommended if you like
Power.
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I have always been the ‘observing individual’ and deeply interested in knowing the connection between mind and soul. This always led me to the question what are the roots of happiness and content? Since materialism has a strong, complex, and intricate impact on our lifestyle and choices, my observation led me to conclude that despite unparalleled access to wealth, people still struggle with concepts of serenity, peace, happiness, and contentment. This disconnect prompted me to explore the various socio-psychological dimensions of materialism. While writing this book my objective was to highlight subtle yet profound materialistic omnipresence on our life choices, often at the expense of genuine well-being.
Any book written with an imaginative undertone gets to be amongst my favorites. In this brilliant book, the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight are discussed, which cause each of us to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions.
What I really like is the penetrating insight and sparkling prose that the author has used. Moreover, the very interesting take on why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become has a flavor of its own. Mature readers will definitely love it!
Bringing to life scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, this bestselling book reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there.
• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink?
• Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight?
• Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they…
The Smart Mission brings together NASA’s most important lessons on how people, knowledge, and systems shape complex projects.
Drawing on decades of experience at NASA—including my time as the agency’s first Chief Knowledge Officer—this book explains why mission success depends less on process and more on culture, learning, and collaboration.…
I spent my first decade in business assuming the game was chess: play well, win. It took an embarrassingly long time to notice most rooms run on rules nobody wrote down. Power, persuasion, what breaks teams, who you measure yourself against. Each book here named a rule I was losing to without knowing it existed. And the deepest unwritten rule of all was the ladder itself: do the junior work, get trained, move up. Nobody questioned it because it had always held. I build AI tools for a living, and I can see it coming apart. Which is probably why I wrote a book about what replaces it.
I have used this book almost daily since 2016, not to manipulate anyone, but to get my perspective across so it actually lands.
It reshaped my advisory practice. I build liking by being personable and honest, reciprocity by giving real advice that sits outside the sale, and I notice scarcity everywhere now. The deflating part is watching someone's cognitive biases hold so firm that no amount of care moves them.
I would keep it away from anyone who persuades for manipulative ends, because in the wrong hands it is a manual. In mine, it is a way of thinking more carefully about my own thinking.
The foundational and wildly popular go-to resource for influence and persuasion-a renowned international bestseller, with over 5 million copies sold-now revised adding: new research, new insights, new examples, and online applications.
In the new edition of this highly acclaimed bestseller, Robert Cialdini-New York Times bestselling author of Pre-Suasion and the seminal expert in the fields of influence and persuasion-explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. Using memorable stories and relatable examples, Cialdini makes this crucially important subject surprisingly easy. With Cialdini as a guide, you don't have…
From a young age, I was captivated by art, music, film, and literature—constantly craving more from these creative mediums. Growing up in a lower-income, working-class home, I was surrounded by blue-collar workers, many of whom couldn’t attend college due to financial limitations. I learned early on that the richest education comes not just from books but from the stories of others and the world around us. Always feeling I had my own story to tell, I transitioned from steel worker to talent agent in Hollywood. But despite my success promoting others, something was missing—my own narrative. After a tragic loss, I reevaluated my path and chose to become a psychotherapist and author.
When I finished this book, I finally felt like a grown-up. It felt like I had just read a business classic—and I had. This book taught me more than any other about the vital role communication plays in relationships and the profound impact it can have.
It was the first time I truly understood how to build rapport and cultivate meaningful connections. I learned that it’s not about manipulating people but about influencing them, resolving conflicts, and earning their trust through kindness, respect, and integrity.
Millions of people around the world have - and continue to - improve their lives based on the teachings of Dale Carnegie. In How to Win Friends and Influence People Carnegie offers practical advice and techniques, in his exuberant and conversational style, for how to get out of a mental rut and make life more rewarding.
His advice has stood the test of time and will teach you how to: - make friends quickly and easily - increase your popularity - win people to your way of thinking - enable you to win new clients and customers - become a…
The Smart Mission brings together NASA’s most important lessons on how people, knowledge, and systems shape complex projects.
Drawing on decades of experience at NASA—including my time as the agency’s first Chief Knowledge Officer—this book explains why mission success depends less on process and more on culture, learning, and collaboration.…
I’ve spent years working with women who are expected to be confident, decisive, and polished, but are rarely taught how to build those skills. Through my work in politics, public service, and coaching thousands of women, I’ve seen how small, often invisible habits can keep capable women from being fully heard or respected. What I love most is helping women with the practical, everyday moments, like how to say no without apologizing, set boundaries, and build real influence. I’m passionate about leadership because I’ve watched these shifts change careers and lives, and these books reflect the lessons I come back to again and again.
I love this book because it showed me how small adjustments can dramatically increase the chances that people take action.
This was crucial to my knowledge base as a leader because increasing the likelihood someone takes the action you want them to take is a keystone skill of leaders. This book really helped me increase my power as a leader by becoming a better connector.
Overall, it showed me how simple and easy to implement “nudges” can change outcomes.
*Once again a New York Times bestseller! First the original edition, and now the new Final Edition*
An essential new edition revised and updated from cover to cover of one of the most important books of the last two decades, by Nobel Prize winner Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
More than 2 million copies sold
Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to more than 400 "nudge units" in governments around the world and…
Throughout my corporate experience, I’ve been frustrated with how access to good career advice has been reserved for the elite few. Careers aren’t always fair—who usually wins? Those with parents with successful corporate or professional careers, who went to an elite school, parents with a degree, and who were not a first generation at university or college, had access to a coach or sponsor, etc. Furthermore, I am still stunned with untrue or half-true advice like “good work speaks for itself” or “be your authentic self”. I like reading evidence-based books and not being lied to by “experts.”
I appreciate authors who do not sugar-coat but give it to you as is, warts and all. Pfeffer is definitely one of those. Candid, insightful, pragmatic—these words come to mind when I think about this book.
It felt like a conversation between two adults instead of someone preaching, selling, or patronizing. I also like the comprehensiveness of the approach, showing the good, the bad, and the ugly. My bias towards evidence- and science-based advice also played a part in picking this book.
If you want to 'change lives, change organizations, change the world,' the Stanford business school's motto, you need power.
Is power the last dirty secret or the secret to success? Both. While power carries some negative connotations, power is a tool that can be used for good or evil. Don't blame the tool for how some people used it.
Rooted firmly in social science research, Pfeffer's 7 rules provide a manual for increasing your ability to get things done, including increasing the positive effects of your job performance.
With 7 Rules of Power, you'll learn, through both…
Women’s empowerment is my passion and my purpose, which is why I founded Women Connect4Good, Inc., a 501(c)3 foundation to help support other organizations that work to advance women and girls. Our name says it, and our work proves it. Women make phenomenal leaders, and while I can do a lot through my foundation to promote women’s leadership, we can all do something in our day-to-day lives to help women lead. Every day we can do something to support another woman, or partner with another woman, like the women who’ve written the books I’ve reviewed here – friends, colleagues, and fierce advocates for equality on every level. We are all lifting as we rise.
Imagine your ideal leadership role where you – and the you who you’ve always known you were meant to be – can fully thrive. Well, imagine no more…Gloria Feldt’s No Excuses can show you the way. This book opened my eyes to how women think about power. We're used to being subjected to power over us and don't want any part of it. But when we change how we view power as the "power to," we can transform our careers and lives to one where we fully thrive beyond what we might have imagined. No Excuses turns power into nine very specific, female-oriented tactics to help women channel their inner strength and power to advance where ever they want—even the c-suite, where we need hundreds more phenomenal women leaders.
An invaluable guidebook, which contends that the most vexing problems facing women today isn't that doors of opportunity aren't open but that not enough women are walking through them
Feminist icon Gloria Feldt pulls no punches in this new book, which argues that the most confounding problem facing women today isn't that doors of opportunity aren't open, but that not enough women are walking through them. From the boardroom to the bedroom, public office to personal relationships, she asserts that nobody is keeping women from parity-except themselves. Feldt puts women's power into an historical context, showing the ways in which…
I am a presidential historian with a particular focus on their deaths, public mourning, and the places we commemorate them. My interest in what I like to think of as “the final chapter of each president’s amazing story” grew out of frustration with traditional biographies that end abruptly when the president dies, and I believe my books pick up where others leave off. More than a moribund topic, I find the presidential deaths and public reaction to be both fascinating and critical to understanding their humanity and place in history at the time of their passing and how each of their legacies evolved over time.
Candace Millard is an expert at the historian’s craft. Her dramatic prose read more like a novel and captivated me from the first page.
I also appreciated how she elevated a previously little-known episode and widely forgotten president in American history, opening the door to consider how our national story could have been different had President Garfield’s full potential been realized.
She inspired me to become a writer and continues to inspire me to this day.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt.
James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau.…
Being a worldwide entertainer, I lived a lot of life in a short period of time. It takes something unusual and of high quality to really get my attention or make an impact on me. These books fit that bill. They kept me entertained & interested in the knowledge they possess. I strive to seek information that isn’t typically presented in everyday life. I hope these books & their subjects will have a huge impact on you as well.
Rule by Secrecy was an eye-opening, non-fiction book that gave me a greater understanding of the world we live in. The historical background it taught me about humanity and how it was developed changed my whole perspective on the world and how I approached it. I found the material fascinating.
What secrets connect Egypt's Great Pyramids, the Freemasons, and the Council on Foreign Relations? In this astonishing book, celebrated journalist Jim Marrs examines the world's most closely guarded secrets, tracing the history of clandestine societies and the power they have wielded - from the ancient mysteries to modern-day conspiracy theories. Searching for truth, he uncovers disturbing evidence that the real movers and shakers of the world collude covertly to start and stop wars, manipulate stock markets, maintain class distinctions, and even censor the news. Provocative and utterly compelling, Rule by Secrecy offers a singular worldview that may explain who we…
I am a philosopher, neuroscientist, geostrategist, and futurologist with a deep interest in the exponential growth of disruptive technologies and how they have the potential to both foster and hinder the progress of human civilisation. My mission is rooted in Transdisciplinary Philosophy and finding transdisciplinary, equitable, and sustainable solutions to identify, predict, and manage frontier risks and geopolitical fractures, both here on earth and in Outer Space. My work at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, St. Antony’s College (Oxford), and the WEF (as a member of various Global Future Agenda Councils) focuses on the interplay between philosophy, neuroscience, strategic culture, applied history, disruptive technologies, grand strategy, IR theory, and security.
In this meticulously researched book, Farrell and Newman explore how the U.S. has reshaped the global economic system, using financial networks, supply chains, and digital infrastructure as instruments of geopolitical influence.
The book does a good job at highlighting the ways in which global systems are manipulated to serve strategic ends, often with profound implications for sovereignty and dignity.
I recommend this book because it provides a compelling look at how economic interdependence—a cornerstone of global cooperation—has become a subtle yet powerful mechanism for exerting influence and control. It echoes my long-held conviction that the complex web of global relationships is a dynamic arena for power struggles, where economic dependencies can be weaponised to serve political interests and strategic dominance.
A Responsible Statecraft best foreign policy book of 2023
A deeply researched investigation that reveals how the United States is like a spider at the heart of an international web of surveillance and control, which it weaves in the form of globe-spanning networks such as fiber optic cables and obscure payment systems
America’s security state first started to weaponize these channels after 9/11, when they seemed like necessities to combat terrorism―but now they’re a matter of course. Multinational companies like AT&T and Citicorp build hubs, which they use to make money, but which the…
I spent my first decade in business assuming the game was chess: play well, win. It took an embarrassingly long time to notice most rooms run on rules nobody wrote down. Power, persuasion, what breaks teams, who you measure yourself against. Each book here named a rule I was losing to without knowing it existed. And the deepest unwritten rule of all was the ladder itself: do the junior work, get trained, move up. Nobody questioned it because it had always held. I build AI tools for a living, and I can see it coming apart. Which is probably why I wrote a book about what replaces it.
I read this in 2021, just after I launched my advisory, when I started noticing power dynamics in rooms I had never been in before and wanted to understand them.
I read Greene as describing the world, not recommending it. Most people never consciously learn any of this; they have copied behaviours that seem to work, a bit like a cargo cult.
Law ten, avoid the unhappy and the unlucky, still makes me deeply uncomfortable, and I think it only holds if you are a zealot. I recommend it not so anyone can run these plays, but so they can recognise the world around them when someone else does.
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.
In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.
