10 Books Everyone Must Read

Reading must be a part of our everyday lives. Reading is to mind what exercise is to the body. Apart from knowledge, reading helps you improve your vocabulary, comprehension skills, communication skills and your concentration.

Reading can help you be a better writer and you will be able to express yourself more clearly.

It will give you time to think critically and engage with yourself to change you for the better.

This non-fiction must read books we have is a great place to start reading if you want to engage more critically with your way of life. 

This list includes some popular self-help books too.

10 Must Read Books for Everyone in 2024

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama

“Women endure entire lifetimes of these indignities—in the form of catcalls, groping, assault, oppression. These things injure us. They sap our strength. Some of the cuts are so small they’re barely visible. Others are huge and gaping, leaving scars that never heal. Either way, they accumulate. We carry them everywhere, to and from school and work, at home while raising our children, at our places of worship, anytime we try to advance.”

An autobiographical memoir by the former first lady of the US, Michelle Obama, gives details about her personal life from childhood to college student and political campaigning before becoming the first lady. She reflects on her life experiences, struggles in the form of a story of persistence and dedication.

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

A book that demonstrates what following your dream can do- in Alchemist we have a young shepherd boy Santiago who travels far and wide to realise his dream. He faces several challenges and almost believes he has failed but keeps going on and on in the direction of his dreams. This book teaches you why you must have faith in yourself and keep pursuing individual dreams even though failures happen. It provides readers with a new outlook on life where you don’t measure your life’s worth based on face value accomplishments alone.

3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.

This short book by Dale Carnegie is one of the best-selling books of all time, over 33 million books have been sold worldwide. It is a guide on how to deal with people, six ways to make everyone like you and how to be persuasive so that you get people to agree with your thinking. The book also shows how to be a leader. It is a guide to understanding key relationships of humans and how to interact with them.

4. Tuesdays with Morrie

“Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

This book contains an old person looking back on his life and talking about everything that he has learnt along. The book gives you a reminder to slow down in life and appreciate things for longer. Be more conscious of how you are spending your time or not spending it wisely. A running lesson would be to live deliberately, not miss any moment and live in the present.

5. Atomic Habits by James Clear

“When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.”

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a book that guides you on how to replace all your bad habits with good ones. If you are having trouble changing your habits, this book might just be the one you need to read now. Clear makes an excellent attempt to write down how habits are formed in the first place before moving on to provide strategies to break out of bad habits and build good ones. It shows you why you have to strengthen your foundation first before you seek to step into greater heights. The recommendations of this book cannot be developed overnight but with consistency and having faith in the process, you will be able to change for the better.

6. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

“If you’re the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you. If you’re that kind of person, you’ll live all your life playing it safe, doing the right things, saving yourself for something that never happens. Then, you die a boring old man.”

This book by Robert T. Kiyosaki is autobiographical. Robert speaks of growing up with two dads- onesies his biological father (poor dad) and another one is his best friend’s father (rich dad). He writes about his perspective about all things money and investment- how these two dads helped him shape his own perspective. Apart from money, this book also shows you how, from before you reach an age of self-awareness, your thoughts and beliefs are shaped by people and situations you grow up in. 

7. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

“‘I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason,’ the yogi Krishnan told him. ‘Every event has a why and all adversity teaches us a lesson… Never regret your past. Accept it as the teacher that it is.’ ”

This inspirational book gives the readers an outlook on life that will shift the way you view your purpose in life. It makes you question the things that make you happy, how you attain that satisfaction. It will make you feel and perceive things around you differently and be more present in the present moment. It shows you a life beyond the materialist one, one that would make you think and raise your standards for satisfaction and happiness.

8. The Secret Letters of the Monk who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

“Remarkable people are priority-driven. This is the secret of time mastery. Build your days around your priorities and you will play in rare air.”

This is another book by Robin Sharma. Jonathan Landry, a man who is currently at a very unfavourable point in his life, meets his lost cousin Julian Mantle. Mantle used to be a very successful lawyer but one day he retired to the Himalayas. Stressed,  Jonathan is now to travel across various countries to collect letters/talismans that Mantle had discovered. These letters contain secrets of life- which is to live a life of simplicity, non-materialistic, kindness and striving to do our best. There are no non-objective goals in life so you have to be your true self and that is your goal. 

9. Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García

“There is nothing wrong with enjoying life’s pleasures as long as they do not take control of your life as you enjoy them”

This meaning of the Japanese word Ikigai is “a reason to live”, the book aims to guide you to find your own Ikigai. This purpose of life is not something great or unattainable but as simple as working on your skills and interests or simply household chores. You have to find joy in something you always do and make it your Ikigai. Apart from that, the book also speaks about the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. It will show you the importance of living in the present than dwelling on the past.

10. Man’s Search for Meaning

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl, a psychologist and Holocaust survivor. has written chronicles of his experiences in Nazi death camps and stories of his patients. In his time there, a time of hopelessness for Jews, he came up with logotherapy. Logotherapy is based on the premise that an individual is driven by pleasure or to avoid suffering but to find meaning in life that could help in coping.

The more you read, the humbler you will be  after seeing the many lives and stories unique and meaningful apart from your own.

Let us know your thoughts about our list of must read books for everyone. Should I add any book here?

Want to learn for free? Check these free courses from top companies.