Mike Kim

I’ve categorized these books the best that I can and they are all ones I have no issue recommending to anybody.

I recommend you do the same thing: compile a list of all the books that have really impacted you. It’s a fun and illuminating exercise.

It was interesting to see the patterns that emerged from looking at my diet. It’s clear I believe in fundamentals, reflected in my business and marketing choices.

There’s also a section of books that were really important when I was going through the personal upheaval of a divorce. Some were recommended to me by counselors and therapists, others I found on my own. I’ve passed along many of these books to those going through their own situations.

Much to my parents’ chagrin, the only reading I seemed to do as a teen were comic books. Comics were huge when I was in junior high and high school, and many of those stories became plots in the superhero movies we love today. They shaped my love for great visuals in branding, storytelling, and marketing.

I’ve also listed a few YouTube channels that I enjoy.

Finally, just because I found a book insightful or meaningful doesn’t mean I necessarily stand by the author or what they stand for… but that’s why we read: to widen your perspective and gain understanding. Ok, here we go:

Memoirs

Stories of obsessive creators who built something meaningful. I really admire their unconventional paths and admire their stories aren’t very sanitized.

• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
• Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy (one of the original Mad Men)
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (absolutely convinced me to never start a company, haha)

Money & Mindset

To me, money is a tool for freedom and meaning, not status. These books challenge my scarcity thinking and explore the psychological, spiritual, and practical sides of building wealth. God knows I needed it – we didn’t grow up with money or a good mindset around it.

• You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
• Live Life Rich by Marissa Nehlsen (I’m biased because I worked on this book, but it’s the only book I’ve found that offers practical advice for small business owners on how to run their finances to build wealth)
• A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron Gikandi
• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (an all-time fave)
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (there’s a reason a lot of wealthy people cite this book)
• Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor (Contains affirmations that I recorded myself reading. I still listen to these often while going to bed.)

Books About Life & Meaning

These helped me shift from building a career to really building a life.

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (anyone who survived a concentration camp has the right to talk about the meaning of life)
• The Second Mountain by David Brooks
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Learning to Love Midlife by Chip Conley
• Late Bloomers by Rich Karlgaard
• Same as Ever by Morgan Housel (same author of The Psychology of Money)
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
• Three Kingdoms (one of the great jewels of Chinese literature)
• Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Philosophy & Critical Thinking

These are books about mental models for navigating life, uncertainty, complexity. I really like getting inside the mind of these authors.

• Think Again by Adam Grant
• Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (dark, tough to read at times, but sometimes you gotta eat your medicine.)
• Strategy by Lawrence Freedman
• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson and Naval Ravikant
• Principles by Ray Dalio

Personal Development & Mindset

Books about the inner work that makes the outer work possible:

• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida (for guys – I heard about this at a Tony Robbins conference)
• Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield
• The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud
• Quitter by Jon Acuff (gave me courage to quit my day job and start my biz)
• Relentless by Tim Grover (Grover works with some of the world’s greatest athletes)
• Life Visioning by Michael Bernard Beckwith (woo-woo, but love his stuff. I listen to his music tracks on Spotify when I work out.)
• The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (the slow carb diet in this book changed my life.)
• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
• The Power Is Within You by Louise Hay
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

Relationships & Professional Networking

• Mastermind Dinners by Jayson Gaignard
• The 2-Hour Cocktail Party by Nick Gray
• Rich Relationships by Selena Soo
• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Marketing & Branding

A lot of these are classics. I really believe in fundamentals and doing the basics well.

• Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
• The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
• Advertising Headlines that Make You Rich by David Garfinkel
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
• Great Leads by Michael Masterson & John Forde
• Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
• The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly
• Primalbranding by Patrick Hanlon
• Launch by Jeff Walker (Whether you like his style or not, if you’re marketing anything on the internet this is a must)
• How the World Sees You by Sally Hogshead
• Exactly What to Say by Phil M. Jones
• Stories That Stick by Kindra Hall
• Marketing Warfare by Al Ries & Jack Trout

Entrepreneurship

Building businesses that don’t consume your life. Systems over hustle.

• E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell

Business

Why these matter to me: High-level strategy for building authority, charging premium rates, and creating systematic businesses.

• Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss
• Reinventing You by Dorie Clark
• Business Brilliant by Lewis Schiff (Schiff surveyed very wealthy people and moderately wealthy people, and the whole book is about the myths each side holds.)
• Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz (inspired me to take 30 days off from work at a time.)
• Thought Leaders Practice by Matt Church
• Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
• Stone’s Rules by Roger Stone (Fascinating to see how a crazy political fixer sees the world and an interesting blend of politics, business, and men’s fashion.)
• The Purse Strings Effect by Wendi Schenkel (Wendi’s a good friend and this helped me understand how women think as consumers.)

Personal Relationships & Divorce

When you’re going through something this big, your emotions are all over the place. Many were recommended by my therapists.

• Attached by Amir Levine & Rachel Heller
• Crazy Time by Abigail Trafford
• Getting Past Your Breakup by Susan J. Elliott
• Stop Caretaking the Borderline or Narcissist by Margalis Fjelstad
• I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me by Jerold J. Kreisman & Hal Straus
• Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay by Mira Kirshenbaum (incredible book)
• Keys to the Kingdom by Alison Armstrong (Armstrong is a counselor and wrote this for women to help them understand men, based on her work with them. Really interesting.)
• Codependent No More by Melody Beattie (one of my all-time top 10 list books)

Fiction & Graphic Novels

I love complex narratives, flawed heroes, stories about power, injustice, justice, vengeance, all this stuff. Rather than go through each title, I’m gonna just give you a couple series that I really like.

• Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin: I started reading those before the show came out so I could better follow the show.
• The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Larsson died before these books hit it big globally. Larsson was very vocal about his government and when he died, the book rights went to his estranged family rather than his life partner, who he didn’t marry for fear of political danger. Ignore the other titles published after his death, they were written by others.
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (It was all the rage when it first came out, especially ’cause I was really in the church community world back then. It was my guilty pleasure… I loved it.)
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
• Batman: Year One by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
• Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
• Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee
• Sin City by Frank Miller (I was way too young to read this but somehow got it. I definitely didn’t understand it as a teen. Great, dark tales.)

YouTube Channels

• Johnny Harris – Deep dive investigative journalism, geopolitics, stunning visuals.
• Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell – Complex science and philosophy made accessible through beautiful animation. Check it out.
• OverSimplified – History education through humor, brilliant storytelling, and stick figures.
• The Infographics Show – Data-driven explainers on everything from military to culture.
• Enes Yilmazer – Ultra-luxury real estate tours and architectural deep dives.
• Dorkly – Gaming and pop culture humor.
• Man of Recaps – Hilarious and brilliant recaps of entire TV shows and movie series. Creative genius.

Newsletters

A shout out to these two who I both personally know. I want signal in a world of noise and almost never miss an issue of these two:

• Midweek Mindset by Lauren Johnson – Lauren is a longtime friend, professional speaker, and former mental performance coach for the New York Yankees. Her posts are a shot in the arm of focus and mindset.
• The Digital Contrarian by Ryan Levesque – Contrarian marketing and business insights, challenging conventional wisdom.

I would absolutely love to hear what some of your top books, newsletters, comic books, fiction, YouTube channels are. Let’s help each other grow.