By Sandra Quinn

Is there a secret to success? Are we missing a trick by not coming up with the latest blockchain innovation? What am I missing that the most recent blockchain success story has?

These are just some of the questions, which whirr around the minds of blockchain innovators and tech inventors, as they struggle to come up with ideas to compete in an ever-changing and highly competitive area.

If you ask a successful person what the secret to their success is, more often than not, they will say hard work, which can be a bit of a non-answer, as most of us work hard, while only some achieve astronomical levels of success in our respective fields.

However, another thing they might say is that they keep informed, motivated and on top of trends.

One of the main ways that they do this is by dedicating some of their business time or down time to reading the right books and broadening their outlook, skillset, knowledge base and more by soaking up more information with every book they read.

Rather than just send you hopelessly into the nearest library or book store without direction or guidance, we have compiled a list of the best go-to books for successful business people and why we think that they are worth reading. If you have any to add to the list, please let us know in the comments on our social media pages (Horizon Globex on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn).

  • Barking Up The Wrong Tree; The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success is (Mostly) Wrong by Eric Barker – This Wall Street Journal best seller comes from the writer of the acclaimed business blog Barking up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker and Eric’s approach is a scientific and interview-based logic, which is relayed in easy to understand terms, so it is not too dense, but you will walk away from every single chapter having learned something new and invaluable. Also, it is well worth joining more than 300,000 others and signing up to his free newsletter. Check out his blog and sign up to the newsletter mailing list here. 
  • The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson – Most success books, or books aimed at ambitious business people, are all about the people at the top, how they think, what time they get up at, how they eat and how they got to the top, but this little gem of a book turns all of that on its head. It looks at the importance of social networks below the top and how they influence the people at the top and by working in the right circles, you too could find yourself in that ever elusive tower at the very top.
  • Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction by Eleanor G Rieffel and Wolfgang Polak – This is one, which is more specific to the blockchain and changing landscapes in the computing world. It will help you to get a full grasp on things like quantum physics, the maths behind it and quantum computing.
  • The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous – This goes back to where it all began and looks at the origins of the bitcoin and how it rose in value and fame over time and what influenced this rise. For those wanting to come up with the next best thing in the cryptocurrency world or those wanting to gain a more thorough understanding of where it all begin, this is a great starting point.
  • The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli – Described as a book, which is both enlightening and consoling, this book is written by a physicist all about physics while weaving in a fair amount of philosophy to really get you thinking and to get those creative juices flowing.