Great Books for Understanding the World

The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan was my beach reading in 2019, while others in my vicinity were occupied with lighter material and novels. But I truly enjoyed this book, showcasing how the modern trade routes, and the countries situated along the way, are heavily affected by Chinese influence.

This book explains how China funds infrastructure projects in Emerging Markets, and when these poorer countries can’t keep up with the debt, China expropriates the project for 99 years (like important harbours and railroads).

Geopolitics is, even after the cold war, an extremely important and current topic. The constant battle for power and influence between the super power, will have a great impact on your investments, and should therefore be part of your investment decisions.

Obtaining a basic knowledge and understanding of how this flexing of economic muscles impacts the areas through which most of the world’s trade passes, will make you better equipped to understand risks associated with geopolitical tension and the consequences of states becoming dependent of other regimes, and how you can think about your investments to deal with this risk.

Where are we heading as a society?

Technology is developing in an increasingly rapid pace, which will have great consequences for our way of living today. AI and robotics will wipe out a huge amount of today’s jobs. This results in a need of fewer factory workers, no truck-drivers and no data or financial analysts when the computers take over.

By understanding this transition toward automatisation, we can prepare ourselves financially. By having a pile of money saved the day your job is taken over by a robot or computer, you do not have to worry about the lack of income.

Broaden your understanding about what you may expect to see in the future in a global world and with enhanced technology, so that you can prepare yourself and your wallet accordingly. This book is a great addition to your reading list to start preparing.

Factfulness, by now late Dr. Hans Rosling, is a brilliant piece of literature for getting a perspective about world growth and the astonishing potential in other economies and people than those we tend to usually look at for investing.

Rosling shows you the human side of the forgotten parts of the world and how the stories we only read about in the papers, like the Ebola tragedy, affects real human beings. Human lives are not only numbers or statistics, but real fates. In tragedies such as in earthquakes, tsunamis, epidemics, there are real people and real lives impacted.

I highly recommend this book as an eye opening experience for anyone who is looking for a better understanding of how the world works, and how you can find answers to such important questions on your own.

How do successful people get what they want?

That is the question that Dale Carnegie asked himself soon one hundred years ago, when he set out on his quest to interview the most successful people of the time to identify what has helped them get where they are.

Published in 1936, this is a timeless classic that has sold in more than 15 million copies worldwide for a good reason. The book include concrete and solid advice on how you can turn your life around and start your journey toward success, both in your personal life and your business life.

The book is set up to teach you six ways to make the people you meet like you, twelve ways to win over people and convince them of your way of thinking, and nine ways of changing and shaping people without causing an argument or a collision.

How to Make Friends and Influence People has honestly helped me a lot in considering my ways of communication and how to view the world around me, and to realize that everything is achievable; it’s just the matter of convincing yourself to get started. The rest is just action.

This book deviates from many on this list of reading tips by being a novel, but I strongly liked the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It is also a reading tip by Bill Gates, and rightly so.

It tells the inspiring story of a young shepherd who leaves the safety of his home to go on a journey to discover his personal legend – his meaning in life and how to always be moving forward.

In my opinion, this is a great book to inspire oneself not to get too comfortable and forget to live. It is important to always be challenging yourself, despite running into obstacles and setbacks, to rise stronger and keep going. It will be rewarded in the end, but not necessarily only by riches, but to the understanding that the journey toward success actually was the real price.

A great book to read at times when you are a bit tired of only reading factful books, and when you fancy something lighter, but still motvational.