As that saying goes- “You are what you read”. And we swear by it too. Books aren’t just great gifts, but also inspire many on their own journey through life. Here are just some of the amazing books that influential folk such as actors, businessmen, poets, etc swear by!
1. Joyce Carol Oates was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
At age 8, Oates memorized the whole of Lewis Carroll’s most famous fantasy work and later used it as the basis of her own works, one of which was even titled as ‘Wonderland’ as an homage to the same. She was very impressed by the juxtaposition between Carroll’s surreal world and reality as she knew it and never tired of reading about the bizarre, comical or even threatening and enigmatic figures within this novel.
2. Barack Obama used Heat of Darkness by Joseph Conrad as a learning tool!
According to Obama, this book was an eye opener to how deep the river of prejudice of whites towards Blacks actually ran and also allowed him a deeper understanding of the personal fears and demons that stemmed or fuelled such hateful attitudes towards others.
3. Elon Musk credits Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams for showing him the way to the stars
Musk has been an avid reader since he was a child, biting his teeth on the Lord of the Rings books by JRR Tolkien and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Hmm, no wonder why he’s so obsessed with space these days and why he has his head constantly stuck in the clouds! His other favourites include ‘Superintelligence : Paths Dangers strategies’ by Nick Bostrom and ‘Structure or why things don’t fall down’ by JE Gordon.
4. Jack Dorsey calls ‘Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right’ by Dr. Atul Gawande his guide to success
The CEO of Twitter is such a spokesperson of the aforementioned book that he even gifts it to new employees at the company and credits it for his success metric as it is a simple no brainer checklist that taught him to save time, money and even lives.
5. Lionel Messi has only one important book on his shelf and it’s ‘The Autobiography of Diego Maradona’
It comes as no surprise to us that a respected footballer like Messi would take inspiration from ‘The Hand of God’ himself. According to Messi, he isn’t much of a reader so this is the only book that he has read for the longest time.
6. Will Smith veers towards motivational works such as ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert T. Kiyaski and Sharon L. Lechter
The actor swears by motivational books with inspiring quotes such as the aforementioned book and also ‘Faces and outlines: The story of success’ by Malcolm Gladwell, both of which have kept him going when the going gets tough.
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