Reading list · 14 books
Derek Sivers's reading list
Founder of CD Baby (sold for $22M) and author of "Anything You Want" and "Hell Yeah or No." Sivers is famous in tech for publishing detailed notes and a 1–10 rating on every book he reads at sive.rs/book — one of the most-cited reading lists among founders.
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01
Steven Pressfield
Rated 10/10; Sivers credits Pressfield's framing of "Resistance" as foundational to his thinking on doing creative work, and recommends the whole Pressfield trilogy.
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02
Michael E. Gerber
Rated 10/10; Sivers repeatedly cites it as the book that shaped how he systematized CD Baby so the business could run without him.
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03
Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
Rated 10/10; he calls this Adlerian-psychology dialogue one of the most profound books he's read on freeing yourself from others' expectations.
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04
Herb Cohen
Rated 10/10; Sivers calls the first half "so crucial" that it earns a perfect score despite a weaker second half.
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05
William Zinsser
Rated 10/10; a touchstone for Sivers's own famously concise writing style.
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06
Daniel Gilbert
Rated 10/10; he recommends it for its counterintuitive research on how badly humans predict what will make them happy.
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07
W.A. Mathieu
Rated 10/10; a favorite tied to his music background, on deep listening and presence.
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08
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
David Eagleman
Rated 10/10; Sivers loves it as a creativity-expanding set of "what if" thought experiments.
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09
Tony Robbins
Rated 9/10; Sivers has said Robbins had a bigger positive influence on his life than almost any other author.
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10
James P. Carse
Rated 9/10; he cites its play/infinite-game framing as deeply shifting how he thinks about goals.
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11
Timothy Ferriss
Rated 9/10; Sivers recommends it for its lifestyle-design and automation mindset.
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12
Felix Dennis
Rated 9/10; he calls it the most honest, no-BS book on actually building wealth.
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13
William Irvine
Rated 9/10; his recommended entry point into practical Stoicism.
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14
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini
Rated 9/10; a long-standing Sivers recommendation on persuasion psychology.
More on Derek Sivers's picks
Since 2007 Sivers has posted public notes and a numeric rating for every book he finishes at sive.rs/book, openly stating the ratings are "subjective to my present interests." The list below is drawn from his own 10/10 and top 9/10 ratings — the books he most recommends. He leans heavily toward philosophy, psychology, communication, business, and stoicism.
