The Unusual Billionaires

By the time he was 20, Alok Kejriwal had his life preplanned for him. He would inherit the family’s socks manufacturing business and be the hardworking, money minting, quintessential Marwari businessman - forever. Except that it didn’t turn out that way. A few years after surviving the family setup, something turned up that sent Alok on a completely different career path: the INTERNET! A crazy business idea Alok had turned out to be a winner, and contests2win.com was born.

University of Berkshire Hathaway is a remarkable retelling of the lessons, wisdom, and investment strategies handed down personally from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger to shareholders during 30 years of their closed-door annual meetings. From this front row seat, you'll see one of the greatest wealth-building records in history unfold, year by year. If you're looking for dusty old investment theory, there are hundreds of other books waiting to cure you of insomnia. However, if you're looking for an investing book that's as personal as it is revelatory, look no further.

The IndiGo Story is a fascinating analysis of the manner in which an unknown entity entered the perilous Indian sky and became its undisputed leader both in terms of market share and profitability. Lucidly written and sharply argued, this book highlights the company’s formative years as a fearless start-up and its evolution into one of India’s most game-changing, profitable brands.

In a straightforward and accessible manner, The Dhandho Investor lays out the powerful framework of value investing. Written with the intelligent individual investor in mind, this comprehensive guide distills the Dhandho capital allocation framework of the business-savvy Patels from India and presents how they can be applied successfully to the stock market. The Dhandho method expands on the groundbreaking principles of value investing expounded by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger.

In February 2009, Dan Maccarone, a digital product design executive who works with some of the world’s top brands, walked through the doors of what would be his new bar, Destination, in Manhattan’s East Village. The overwhelming stale-beer smell, ruined floor, and “Happy New Year 2008” banners that hung from the walls were the least of his worries. He had just six weeks and a budget of $150,000 to turn the place into the neighborhood’s new favorite hang-out - and start turning a profit.     

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is the story of 25 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose the rough road of entrepreneurship. They are diverse in age, in outlook and in the industries they made marks in. But they have one thing in common: they believed in the power of their dreams. This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries.

Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook are in an unprecedented race towards a $1 trillion valuation, and whoever gets there first will exert untold influence over the global economy, public policy and consumer behaviour. How did these four become so successful? How high can they continue to rise? Does any other company stand a chance of competing? To these questions and more, acclaimed NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway brings bracing answers.

To understand how humans react and adapt to economic change we need to study people who live in harsh environments. This audiobook tells the personal stories of humans living in extreme situations, and of the financial infrastructure they create. Here, economies are not concerned with the familiar stock market crashes, housing crises, or banking scandals of the financial pages.

Warren Buffett remains one of the most sought-after and watched figures in business today. He has become a billionaire and investment sage by buying chunks of companies and holding onto them, managing them as businesses, and eventually reaping huge profits for himself and investors in Berkshire Hathaway. The first two editions of The Warren Buffett Way gave investors their first in-depth look at the innovative investment and business strategies behind the spectacular success of living legend Warren E. Buffett.

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, 29-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, read by Noako Mori. Bring meaning and joy to your every day with the internationally best-selling guide to ikigai. The people of Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai - a reason for being; the thing that gets you out of bed each morning. And according to the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa - the world's longest-living people - finding it is the key to a longer and more fulfilled life.

In his maiden novel, Abhishek Kumar reveals the timeless wisdom of wealth creation and accumulation and shows how anybody - no matter where they stand in life at this time - can become a millionaire. The rules provided in this book are not a get-rich-quick formula, but they do guide the listener to financial independence, which can be achieved on nothing more than an average salary. 

There is no such thing as a non-finance person. It is an error to think that finance management is limited to the Finance Department alone. In fact, it is happening right through the organization - for every action you take impacts the bottom line of your company. Listen to this book to understand what profit really means and how inventory and sales impact it. Learn to read balance sheets and deploy funds intelligently.

What differentiates the highly successful market practitioners - the Market Wizards - from ordinary traders? What traits do they share? What lessons can the average trader learn from those who achieved superior returns for decades while still maintaining strict risk control? Jack Schwager has spent the past 25 years interviewing the market legends in search of the answers - a quest chronicled in four prior Market Wizards volumes totaling nearly 2,000 pages.

In this landmark book, best-selling author, leadership coach and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik shows how, despite its veneer of objectivity, modern management is rooted in Western beliefs and obsessed with accomplishing rigid objectives and increasing shareholder value. By contrast, the Indian way of doing business, as apparent in Indian mythology, but no longer seen in practice, accommodates subjectivity and diversity and offers an inclusive, more empathetic way of achieving success.