#30 Top Books Recommended by tl;dl Guests

How is it already September 2025? Like… wasn’t it January yesterday?!

As we say goodbye to August and step into September, I’ve been reflecting on the learnings from Too Long; Don’t Listen. One of my favorite parts of every episode has been asking guests what books, resources, or ideas have shaped their careers.

So, as summer closes and we sharpen our focus for the rest of the year, I wanted to share something to help you: the top book recommendations from tl;dl guests—spanning from the very first to the most recent episode.

📚 Here’s the tl;dl guest reading list:

From Business & Strategy

• What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School — Mark McCormack

• Value Proposition Design (Strategizer series)

• Start with Why — Simon Sinek

• $100M Offers — Alex Hormozi

• The Power Law — Sebastian Mallaby

• Zero to One — Peter Thiel

• The Hard Things About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz

On Leadership & Influence

• How to Win Friends and Influence People — Dale Carnegie

• Never Eat Alone — Keith Ferrazzi

On Habits & Mindset

• Atomic Habits — James Clear

• The Power of Positive Thinking — Norman Vincent Peale

• The Molecule of More — Daniel Z. Lieberman

• 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think — Brianna Wiest

• Factfulness — Anna Rosling Rönnlund

On Inclusion & Growth

• Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez

• How Women Rise — Sally Helgesen

• Surrounded by Idiots — Thomas Erikson (you can listen to the episode where I interview Thomas Erikson here)

And my personal favorite (watch this short video to find out!):

Whether you’re looking to build better habits, refine your storytelling, or rethink how you show up in your career, there’s something here for you.

So here’s to September—fresh starts, sharper focus, and a little inspiration from the people who’ve joined me on tl;dl.

Happy reading (or listening!) ✨

PS: check out this post to see which companies are currently hiring for PMMs.