Learning From Literature

The Correlation Between Ultra-Successful People and Reading

Trinity College, a center for reading

The most successful people in the world all have one thing in common:

They have a deep understanding of the industries they do business in

BUT WAIT, they have another thing in common:

They read significantly more than the average person

Books are a gateway to knowledge that allows you to fully immerse yourself in a topic deeper than other media types. Intuitively, the people who read the most about a topic end up understanding the most. Therefore, reading is a low-cost and clear competitive advantage that every person can take advantage of. All of the ultra-successful people below are self-made billionaires running larger companies than we can ever imagine owning. No matter how impoverished or busy you are, you have access to knowledge that can elevate your station in life. 

Many other successful people besides the ones mentioned, such as Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Jack Dorsey, have also publicly shared book recommendations and commented on the importance of reading. If the majority of successful people read / credit their success to books and you want to be successful, what should you start doing?

Enjoy!

Table of Contents

Warren Buffet

Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway — currently worth over $105 Billion — #5 richest person in the world — legend in the investment / business world

During an investment class, students asked The Oracle of Omaha how to prepare for an investment career. He responded,

“Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”

When beginning his career, Buffet read 600 – 1,000 pages daily (on average 5-6 hours). He reportedly still spends 80% of his day reading. 

Bill Gates

Founder and CEO of Microsoft — currently worth over $104 Billion — #6 richest person in the world — renowned philanthropist

In a blog post, Gates wrote “Although I’m lucky that I get to meet with a lot of interesting people and visit fascinating places through my work, I still think books are the best way to explore new topics that interest you.”

Bill Gates’ father recalled, “Just about every kind of book interested him – encyclopedias, science fiction, you name it. I was thrilled that my child was such an avid reader, but he read so much that Bill’s mother and I had to institute a rule: no books at the dinner table.”

Gates reads over 50 books a year (or roughly 1 per week). During his working career, he was famous for taking two one-week vacations throughout the year isolated from technology and society in a cabin. They have been called “Think Weeks” and he would spend the week solely reading as much as possible.

Mark Cuban

Owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team and 2929 Entertainment – currently worth over $4.8 Billion – one of the investment “sharks” on ABC show Shark Tank – veteran investor in many different industries including television, healthcare, sports, nutrition, and more

On a recent podcast Cuban was a guest on, he said everyone over 30 should be reading every day otherwise they’re limiting themselves and their career. In his own words, 

“Somebody 40 and over, even 30 and over, if you’re not reading, you’re f–ed… because you’re not expanding your mind. I tell my kids… ‘Somebody who doesn’t read lives one life, somebody who reads an unlimited number of lives.”

Cuban told CNBC, “I read everything I can. I don’t care what the source is.” His usual schedule is reading at least 3 hours a day – it makes him feel more confident and comfortable in his business dealings. 

Oprah Winfrey

Host of The Oprah Winfrey Show — one of the richest self-made women in the world — the 1st black female billionaire — currently worth over $2.5 Billion

Oprah was born in poverty and raised dependent on government welfare in a poor urban neighborhood. “Books allowed me to see a world beyond the front porch of my grandmother’s shotgun house,” she said in her acceptance speech for the 2004 UN Humanitarian Awards. She continued, explaining that books gave her “the power to see possibilities beyond what was allowed at the time.” She called them her “path to personal freedom.”

Oprah runs the #1 book club in the world (Oprah’s Book Club) where she posts 1 book a month. Many books have become bestsellers simply because Oprah recommended them to the public.

Elon Musk

Founder and CEO of Tesla & SpaceX — currently worth over $170 Billion — #2 richest person in the world — CEO / Owner of Twitter + Founder of PayPal, Neuralink, Open AI, The Boring Company, and Zip2

When asked how he learned to build rockets, Musk answered, “I read books.” The costs to build a rocket are high (obviously), so Musk decided he could do it himself after reading about it.

When describing his childhood, Musk said that he was “raised by books.” He is said to have read 10 hours a day growing up and his brother confirms it as he recalled Musk would read 2 books a day a lot of times.

Charlie Munger

Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway – currently worth over $2.3 Billion – closest partner, right-hand man, and best friend to Warren Buffet since childhood 

Two of Munger’s quotes on the importance of reading:

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads – and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”

Munger always has a book or newspaper on him in case of a delay in traffic or any free time throughout the day. He tries to leverage any available time he has in order to read.

Mark Zuckerburg

Founder and CEO of Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms — currently worth over $53 Billion — #22 richest person in the world — started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative along with his wife

Zuckerburg explains, “Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today.” He describes that if you want to improve your quality of life, you must commit to personal growth and development.

In 2015, Zuckerburg committed to reading a book at least every other week. He started a book club called A Year In Books. Topics ranged from geopolitics and racial injustice to business.

Divyank Turakhia

Founder of Media.net, BigRock, LogicBoxes, ResellerClub, Webhosting.info, and other online companies – currently worth over $1.7 Billion – one of the India’s youngest billionaires ever (early 30’s) 

Divyank says:

“It is an ongoing process – you need to keep learning. If learning is not there, then it is the end of life and you have to keep learning in order to keep evolving and if you stop learning that’s boring,”

Divyank reads for around 800–1,000 hours a year (over 2 hours a day). He stresses the need for patience in becoming successful and claims that to specialize in a field, you have to spend time on it.

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