Experts > Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Rory Sutherland recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Rory Sutherland's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
"John Kay tells a fast-paced detective story as he searches for the surprising secret to success...Brilliant."
-Tim Harford, author of The Logic of Life
In this revolutionary book, economist John Kay proves a notion that feels at once paradoxical and deeply commonsensical: the best way to achieve any complex or broadly defined goal, from happiness to preventing forest fires, is the indirect way. We can learn how to achieve our objectives only through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery-what Kay calls obliquity. The author traces this seemingly counterintuitive...
more

Rory Sutherland@d_f_stone @EconTalker I completely agree. The @peterthiel book, along with @ProfJohnKay 's Obliquity, is the best short read for businessfolk since R Updegraff's Obvious Adams and The Specialist by Charles Sale. (Source)

Ed SmithI’ll tell about how I came to John Kay’s work. I actually read Nassim Taleb’s book Fooled by Randomness first, which is a different book but with some connections to Obliquity. Then I read John Kay’s review of it in the Financial Times, which was very interesting, and I began to follow John Kay’s work. What Kay writes about business and finance often applies to other spheres as well. Like Taleb’s... (Source)

Chris MobbsObliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly by Kay, John Book The https://t.co/7g1Yfy3NXW (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

2

Confessions of an Advertising Man

A new edition of the timeless business classic featured on Mad Men—as fresh and relevant now as the day it was written
 
"We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough. We detest office politicians, toadies, bullies, and pompous asses. We abhor ruthlessness. The way up our ladder is open to everybody. In promoting people to top jobs, we are influenced as much by their character as anything else."  —David Ogilvy

 
David Ogilvy was considered the "father of advertising" and a creative genius by many of the biggest...
more

Rory Sutherland@GuruAnaerobic Love it. His best book. (Source)

Ronn TorossianConsidering the overlap of similarities between PR and advertising, it is vital to learn from such legends as Ogilvy. His concepts, tactics, and techniques and are a must-read for not only those in marketing and PR but business in general. (Source)

Ola OlusogaFor business, I've read Influence by Robert Cialdini 3 times, and Traction by Gabriel Weinberg twice, so if number of times read indicates favor, then those are it. There are a whole bunch of others, like The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, Confession of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and Running Lean by Ash Maurya, that I've also enjoyed and recommend to... (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

3

Hooked

How to Build Habit-Forming Products

How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?

Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without...
more
Recommended by Nir Eyal, Andrew Chen, Ryan Hoover, and 44 others.

Matt MullenwegHooked gives you the blueprint for the next generation of products. Read Hooked or the company that replaces you will. (Source)

Tee-Ming ChewHooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. It changed the way I think about product and helps you to be hyper focused on what matters rather than what is cool for your users. (Source)

Irina MarinescuAlready a classic about how to build successful products. Also, retention is a priority goal for any Product Manager, but you can't have retention if you are not setting a good engagement rate. It was a great starting point for me as part of my first startup and continues to help me today as acquired knowledge about user behavior. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Rory Sutherland's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.