Books like Limitless

01

Ultralearning

Scott Young · Self-help

Ultralearning is Scott Young's synthesis of principles drawn from his own extreme learning projects — completing MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in one year, learning four languages in a year, and other aggressive self-directed learning experiments — and from the academic research on skill acquisition and deliberate practice.

Both dig into learning.

02

A Mind for Numbers

Barbara Oakley · Self-help

A Mind for Numbers is Barbara Oakley's guide to learning hard subjects effectively, written primarily for students struggling with mathematics and science but drawing on cognitive science principles that apply to any demanding field.

Shares learning and memory with Limitless.

03

The Art of Learning

Josh Waitzkin · Self-help

The Art of Learning is Josh Waitzkin's account of how he became a national chess champion as a child and later a world-champion martial artist, and what those two very different disciplines taught him about the structure of high performance.

Both dig into learning.

04

Atomic Habits

James Clear · Self-help

Atomic Habits is James Clear's framework for how very small changes — habits so minor they seem to make no difference on any given day — compound into remarkable results over months and years.

Both dig into habits.

05

Discipline Equals Freedom

Jocko Willink · Self-help

Discipline Equals Freedom is Jocko Willink's compressed manifesto on the relationship between self-discipline and freedom — his central argument being that the two are not opposites but the same thing.

Shares mindset and habits with Limitless.

06

Learn Like a Pro

Barbara Oakley and Olav Schewe · Self-help

Learn Like a Pro is a concise, evidence-based guide to studying more effectively, written by Barbara Oakley — the engineer-turned-neuroscientist best known for A Mind for Numbers and the Coursera course "Learning How to Learn" — and Olav Schewe, a student learning consultant.

Shares learning and memory with Limitless.

07

The Memory Book

Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas · Self-help

The Memory Book is Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas's classic guide to memory improvement, first published in 1974 and still in print over fifty years later.

Shares learning and memory with Limitless.

08

Make It Stick

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel · Science

Make It Stick is a book about how memory actually works, and why the study techniques most people rely on — re-reading, highlighting, massed practice — are among the least effective ways to learn.

Shares learning and memory with Limitless.

09

Moonwalking with Einstein

Joshua Foer · Science

Moonwalking with Einstein is Joshua Foer's account of spending a year training for and winning the United States Memory Championship, beginning as a journalist covering the event and ending as its champion.

Shares learning and memory with Limitless.

10

Better Than Before

Gretchen Rubin · Self-help

Better Than Before is Gretchen Rubin's synthesis of years of research and personal experimentation on habits.

Both dig into habits.

11

Deep Work

Cal Newport · Self-help

Deep Work is Cal Newport's case that the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task is becoming both rarer and more valuable, and that people who cultivate it will thrive while everyone else stays stuck in shallow busywork.

Both dig into habits.

12

Everything Is Figureoutable

Marie Forleo · Self-help

Everything Is Figureoutable is Marie Forleo's argument that almost any problem — personal, professional, creative — becomes solvable once you adopt a foundational belief that a solution exists and that you're capable of finding it.

Both dig into mindset.