Naeem Zafar

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Rec-Books

Recommendations

I am an avid reader and several books have played an integral part in shaping my knowledge and perspective. Recommending great books are a part of all my conversations and lectures. My readings range on various topics from entrepreneurship to science, and fiction to history. Here is a collection of all my personal favorites in various categories. I aim to keep this collection updated for the benefit of all other interested readers.

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Categories

Professional development
Geopolitics
History
Science & Technology
Biographies
Innovations/Startups
Fiction

Professional development :

If you wanted to learn about negotiation, this is a great book. Having read several such books, I found this to be practical, useful, and a fun read. Voss is a FBI trained hostage negotiator, but his examples are also from day‑to‑day business negotiations, and I am sure that you will walk away with practical takeaways from the book.

Never Split the Difference

Chris Voss

If you are a leader, you need to understand that a key part of your job is to execute. And if you want to understand what it takes to do that, this book does a great job of explaining it with practical examples.

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Ravi Kathuria

As a leader, you will hear words like ‘strategy’ all the time. This book explains what strategy really means and how it needs to align with execution. It’s a simple read, and one that I’ve recommended to many CEOs.

Coherent Strategy and Execution

Ravi Kathuria

A great turnaround story told in the words of the person who did it. Gerstner was not a tech guy, but he focused on execution and culture – two critical things for any CEO to think about.

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?: How I Turned Around IBM

Louis Gerstner

Geopolitics :

This is compelling read. I had always wondered who drew these borders on a map and how has it shaped our politics and resulting wars. This book looks at 10 regions in the world and provides enough history and outlines the resulting conflicts that puts the world in a much clearer perspective. Do read.

Prisoners of Geography

Tim Marshall

This (and the next two books) were part of my undertaking when I developed my lecture on the History & Future of China: [found at www.westernciv.com/staff/naeem-zafar/ ] – the book provides insights what is propping up the Chinese progress and the complexity that is likely to surprise people in the next few years.

Red Flags: Why Xi’s China is in Jeopardy

George Magnus

This book is an engaging introduction to the South China Sea conflict and the struggle for control of the Pacific. Fabey, drawing on his Navy background, explains China’s long-term strategy, the opposing forces, and the tactics and rituals of naval life—making the complex power struggle both informative and entertaining.

Crashback

Michael Fabey

A sobering analysis of global tensions and the return of Cold War-like dynamics

World on the Brink

Dmitri Alperovitch

Science & Technology :

An excellent, accessible book on AI by Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Microsoft and Google China. He explains AI’s global impact, the immense power it gives a few players, and raises urgent questions about trust and control—a must-read.

AI Super-Powers

Kai-Fu Lee

Weinberg’s book offers a solid introduction to the universe’s origins, especially the crucial first three minutes. Though more technical than promised, it simplifies complex ideas and is a good starting point for anyone curious about how matter, the sun, and stars formed.

The First Three Minutes

Steven Weinberg

Bill Bryon goes a good job or explaining things in a way that make sense to anyone. From the Big Bang to evolution of life. Not as well as the Origin Story does but had to read this to be able to compare notes.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson

A brilliantly written book tracing the universe from the Big Bang to Earth’s formation and the rise of life. It explains the science behind these discoveries and is my top recommendation for understanding our cosmic story.

Origin Story

David Christian

Innovation and startups :

Good, insightful read about startups and what makes them succeed

Zero to One

Peter Thiel

[I love everything that he writes – always a fun read

David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell

The book is about several inventions and how they came to be in the world of collaboration. No one person can take credit for the Internet and several other similar great inventions, and this book does a great job of telling these stories – Isaacson and McCullough are my two most favorite biographers and storytellers.

The Innovators

Walter Isaacson

Set in 1766 England and America, takes you from the streets of London to the grounds of a Virginia plantation. About a life of slavery in Scottish coal mines where the only chance for freedom lies beyond the Western Frontier Good read but ends rather abruptly leaving you a bad taste in your mouth

Fiction :

Classic novel, reflecting the settlers in California’s Salinas Valley – a good distraction from all the drama of 2017.

East of Eden

John Steinbeck

Set in 1766 England and America, takes you from the streets of London to the grounds of a Virginia plantation. About a life of slavery in Scottish coal mines where the only chance for freedom lies beyond the Western Frontier Good read but ends rather abruptly leaving you a bad taste in your mouth

A Place Called Freedom

Ken Follett

An alternative-history fiction with the premise that the American Civil War never happened and slavery still exists – could not get into it although liked the premise. Still could not finish it yet… maybe some of you have a better perspective on this.

Underground Airlines

Ben Winters

Great biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt – the first American self-made billionaire. How a person with very little education continued to seize the moment first with water transport, steamers and then the rail road. A compelling story.

Biographies :

a very good read of one of the greatest generals of all times. One of the few people who altered the world map. But the story teaches me once again that it is more about the timing. If the French Revolution had not happened there is no way a 28-year old would have taken the title of a general since all other senior people were gone and a vacuum existed. The way he led and inspired loyalty is another good lesson in this well-written book.

Napoleon: A Life

Andrew Roberts

Great biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt – the first American self-made billionaire. How a person with very little education continued to seize the moment first with water transport, steamers and then the rail road. A compelling story.

The First Tycoon

T.J. Stiles

He is such a great writer – love almost all his work. Excellent history of the Rockefellers. The complexity of philanthropy, the timing wins again (if the automobile had not been invented in 1886 then the old business was under attack by Edison and Tesla (Electrification was about to put a damper on the kerosene oil market) – Rockefeller’s genius was the channel to distribute his processed oil. Very focused person who was shaped by his very strong mother

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller

Ron Chernow

This is a great biography of JP Morgan, his father and his son (Jack) and the whole dynasty – an excellent read. Helped explain what a huge role bankers played in shaping world politics and then how governments gained power back from the bankers in the 20th century and the “Robber Baron Era” came to an end. I really liked this book.

The House of Morgan

Ron Chernow

History

Loved this book. It outlines why some countries prosper and many fail. The concept of extractive institutions vs. democratic – very compelling. The examples given include how Venice went from one of the richest places in 810 AD to economic irrelevance within 500 years

Why Nations Fail

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

This book offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. government contributes to vital areas like weather prediction, forest management, agricultural research, and basic science. It shows how these institutions, once central to America’s success, are being undermined by current leadership and policies. A must-read for understanding the real impact of government and the dangers of dismantling it.

The Fifth Risk

Michael Lewis

This is not as compelling as Harari’s previous books (Sapiens was excellent) – very good insights about technologies and demographics that I found useful to connect the dots

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari

a very good read – that explains why USA is behaving disengaged these days; reigning-in free trade and shrinking back from global commitments – it is all about one word: Shale! – a great book with a lot of statistics and data to substantiate the arguments

The Absent Superpower

Peter Zeihan
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