4 Books That Will Make You A Genius

MASTERY

If you have decided to find your own path, independent of social conditioning, this book is for you. It reads like a collection of 1,000 masters who dominated in their industries and were peak performers. It provides a framework for how they were able to awaken their creative genius and change the course of history.

There’s something in Mastery for everyone.

BOLD

What’s going to happen over the next 10 years? What about the next 30?

As technology changes the way we live at an exponential rate, you can either keep up or get left behind. If you plan on being a leader, this book is a must. It will get you thinking about the future and how the actions you take today can set you apart down the road.

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM

Our society loves to dramatize and turn people into heroes. We love the idea of the lonely genius who has a “eureka” moment and discovers the secret to life.

It never works this way.

Steven Johnson crushes this myth and presents a different case about where good ideas come from. He breaks down our misconceptions and provides us with details about how innovation really happens.

Essentially it works like this… Good ideas come from a collaboration of historical events or as he calls it “the adjacent possible”- which is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things. It’s a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.

He provides the framework to unleash your inner genius. Your job is to allow it to happen through you.

ANTIFRAGILE

Nassim Taleb radiates the “don’t fuck with me” vibe in his writing. He’s a scary man.

In his most recent release, he’s invented a new word “Antifragile” and describes it like this:

“Fragile” means if you drop me, I break. Like a wine glass falling off the table.

“Robust” means you can beat me until I deform and become unusable. Like a baseball bat repeatedly hitting a hardened concrete wall. The wood from the bat eventually breaks.

“Antifragile” means that the harder you try to break me, the stronger I get. Like the story of the Hydra and her 9 heads. Each one you cut off, two more grow in it’s place.

Taleb takes the idea of Antifragility and applies it to people, systems, processes, health, economics and personal struggles. The big takeaway is this… embrace chaos, uncertainty and struggle. These are the situations where you grow the most.

You can’t become a genius without struggle.

Invest in yourself and awaken your creative genius.