The man who made Apple, the most valuable company in the world – Steve Jobs. He was one of the most loved and innovative entrepreneurs. He practically (r)evolutionised the world of Personal Computers. And he just didn’t stop there, then came the iPhone which kept on evolving.
Today’s world owes a lot to this God of Innovation. His passion was splendid, his hunger for knowledge was admirable but more than anything, his courage to follow his heart was the biggest reason he was able to change the world. Steve Jobs lead a life which had everything, from family-drama, complications, highs, lows, failures but eventually, massive success.
It is said that Jobs was an avid reader and he has a list of books that he wanted everyone to read. Why? Because they inspired the god of Innovation. (Do we even need another reason?)
Here are the top 6 books that Steve Jobs recommended you to read
6. The Innovator’s Dilemma – Clayton Christensen
One of the best books on Motivation and Leadership. The distinguishing feature of this book is that unlike other books which mostly deal with success stories, Clayton here goes deep into the failures and then covers the victory. This gives the reader a complete view of what it takes to be a great entrepreneur.
“When faced with a disruptive technology, people and processes in a mainstream organization cannot be expected to allocate freely the critical financial and human resources needed to carve out a strong position in the small, emerging market. It is very difficult for a company whose cost structure is tailored to compete in high-end markets to be profitable in low-end markets as well. Creating an independent organization, with a cost structure honed to achieve profitability at the low margins characteristic of most disruptive technologies, is the only viable way for established firms to harness this principle.”
– Clayton Christensen
5. Diet for a Small Planet – Frances Moore Lappe
How often have you heard, “This book changed my life”?
A lot, right? but how often have you seen a person actually implementing that change?
That’s rare, right?
You can estimate how impactful this book is that it turned Steve Jobs into a vegetarian.
“Diet for a Small Planet” is a book that takes on the serious issue of how we neglect a healthy diet in our daily life. This book also includes several recipes for protein-rich diets through vegetarian meals. It also covers rules that we should follow for a proper diet.
“We’re just a drop in the bucket, and that’s meaningless. But we say, ‘No, wait a minute. If you have a bucket, those raindrops fill it up very fast. Being a drop in the bucket is magnificent.’ The problem is we cannot see the bucket. Our work is helping people see that there is a bucket. There are all these people all over the world who are creating this bucket of hope. And so our drops are incredibly significant.”
– Frances Moore Lappe
4. Be Here Now – Baba Ram Dass
Eventually, people are realizing the importance of Yoga and executing it in their daily routine or at least trying to. This book is about how Yoga helped the author to achieve spiritual evolution.
This book also changed Jobs as he got the inspiration to test the LSD, a hallucinogenic drug.
“The cosmic humor is that if you desire to move mountains and you continue to purify yourself, ultimately you will arrive at the place where you are able to move mountains. But in order to arrive at this position of power, you will have had to give up being he-who-wanted-to-move-mountains so that you can be he-who-put-the-mountain-there-in-the-first-place. The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there–so there the mountain stays.”
– Baba Ram Dass
That concludes part 1 of the series. The top 3 books will be covered in the next part. Stay tuned!
