Experts > David Kramaley

David Kramaley's Top Book Recommendations

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

1
Our most commonly held formula for success is broken.
 
Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and...
more

Melanie WhelanThis book opened an ongoing conversation on our team around the relationship between employee happiness and productivity. Achor overturns the conventional belief that happiness is a natural outcome of success. Through practical research, experiences and anecdotes, he illustrates that happiness that will actually lead you to success. Happy people tend to work harder, collaborate better and be more... (Source)

David KramaleyI’m reading The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work. I expect it to reinforce some positive psychology principles I know and help me put them into practice. (Source)

Dr. Monali Y. DesaiMy favorite non-business book is The Happiness Advantage (Shawn Achor) because it reminds me of the importance of surrounding myself with positive people. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

2
Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why the parade of public figures unable to own up when they screw up? Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we see hypocrisy in others but not in ourselves? Are we all liars? Or do we really believe the stories we tell?

Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take a compelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification. When we make mistakes, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so we create fictions that absolve us of...
more

Peter AttiaA book about cognitive dissonance that looks at common weaknesses and biases in human thinking. Peter wants to ensure he goes through life without being too sure of himeself, and this book helps him to recalibrate. (Source)

Ryan HolidayCognitive Dissonance is one of the most powerful and delusionary forces in the world. (Source)

David KramaleyWhen asked what books he would recommend to youngsters interested in his professional path, David mentioned Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me). (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

3
This book focuses upon the debate about quantitative and qualitative research which took root in the 1960s, although many of the central themes go back centuries. The basic terms of the debate have been felt in many of the disciplines which make up the social sciences, especially sociology, social psychology, education research, organization studies, and evaluation research. less
Recommended by David Kramaley, and 1 others.

David KramaleyThis is a very tough read, but the sections on epistemology really helped me broaden my mind and balance my worldview. It helps you think about what is true, and challenge the notions of “truth”. What is true? Well, it turns out that there is not a single agreed definition, and it can even be said that true is whatever the most of us agree on. Mind-boggling. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

4
This unusual fictional memoir - in good part autobiographical - narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-outs of two great cities. The Parisian episode is fascinating for its expose of the kitchens of posh French restaurants, where the narrator works at the bottom of the culinary echelon as dishwasher, or plongeur. In London, while waiting for a job, he experiences the world of tramps, street people, and free lodging houses. In the tales of both cities we learn some sobering Orwellian truths about poverty and of society. less

David DownieThat is a book I read when I was young – in my teens – and it really marked me. (Source)

Roman KrznaricOrwell is one of my great empathic heroes. He went tramping in east London, trying to empathise with people who lived on the social margins. (Source)

David KramaleyI really enjoyed Down and Out in Paris and London. I think it’s meant to be a semi-autobiographical novel by George Orwell. I liked it because it was one of those books that had a big influence on the way I perceive and think about the world. Highly recommended. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

5
A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising,...
more

Naval RavikantI also recently finished The Power of Habit, or close to finish as I get. That one was interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are. [...] I think learning how to break habits is a very important meta-skill that can serve you better in life than almost anything else. Although you can read tons of books... (Source)

Blake IrvingYou know, there's a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Simple read book about just how to build positive habits that can be I think I what I'd call you know whether in your personal life or whether in your business life to help you build you know, have a loop that can build your success and that's one I mean there are so many great books out there. (Source)

Santiago BasultoAnother book with great impact was “The power of habit”. But to be honest, I read only a couple of pages. It’s a good book, with many interesting stories. But to be honest, the idea it tries to communicate is simple and after a couple of pages you’ve pretty much understood all of it. Happens the same thing with those types of books (Getting things done, crossing the chasm, etc.) (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

6

Think and Grow Rich

One of the most popular personal development and self-improvement books of all time, Think and Grow Rich has sold over 100 million copies worldwide since its first publication during the Great Depression. In this hardcover edition, Napoleon Hill presents a "Philosophy of Achievement" in 13 principles drawn from the success stories of such greats as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and other millionaires of his time.

Think and Grow Rich reveals the secrets that can bring you fortune. By suppressing negative thoughts and keeping your focus on...
more

Daymond JohnThe main takeaway from [this book] was goal-setting. It was the fact that if you don't set a specific goal, then how can you expect to hit it? (Source)

Mark Moses[ listing the books that had the biggest impact on him] (Source)

Sa ElAnother book all about how to obtain financial success by changing how you think and how to change your actions based on that thinking pattern, mindset is the first thing that must change if you want to build a business. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

7
You can go after the job you want—and get it!
You can take the job you have—and improve it!
You can take any situation—and make it work for you!

Dale Carnegie’s rock-solid, time-tested advice has carried countless people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. One of the most groundbreaking and timeless bestsellers of all time, How to Win Friends & Influence People will teach you:

-Six ways to make people like you
-Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking
-Nine ways to change people without arousing...
more

Dustin MoskovitzSeek to be understood. (Source)

Scott Adams[Scott Adams recommends this book on his "Persuasion Reading List."] (Source)

Daymond JohnI love all the Dale Carnegie books. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

8
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.

Where did they get the ideas that made them rich?...
more

Paul GrahamProbably the single most valuable book a startup founder could read. (Source)

Ron ConwayCollection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. (Source)

Alexis OhanianA bunch of really great interviews [Jessica] did with a bunch of just OGs of entrepreneurship. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

9
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.
more

Sheryl SandbergProvides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. (Source)

Dustin MoskovitzAt Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from [the author]'s advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read David Kramaley'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.