"Winning Wisdom for Life and Work from 50 Landmark Books" by Tom Butler-Bowdon

Here is the guide to 50 of the most important and inspiring books that already have helped legions of readers unleash their potential and discover the secrets to success in work and life. For book lovers who want to know what they should read, and for those who just want to quote or boast in front of their friends, this book is a good choice.

The author is back with his wide-ranging collection of enduring works from pioneering thinkers, philosophers, & powerful leaders, like Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Kenneth Blanchard, Baltasar Gracian & Christopher Maurer; from the inspirational rags to riches stories of such entrepreneurs, like Andrew Carnegie, Warren Buffet & Sam Walton to the leadership lessons of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln & Nelson Mandela, just to name a few.

We desire success almost as much as we need to breathe. From the moment we are born we want to do more, get more, be more. While we may have a mental picture of success as striving hard toward perfection, in truth it is more natural. Success can be described as the courage to let out the potent dreams and potentialities already in us, simply to give them air. Most people don’t do this because it seems dangerous, it is not routine. Yet those who have gone this way do see it simply as the normal path of life. It feels more like home, a place that should be everyone’s experience.
Sometimes the urge for more is drummed out of us by upbringing or culture, so you may have felt compelled to lower your expectations and settle for a less extraordinary life. If, however, you have recently resurrected your desire to succeed, this book is for you.
Only you will know whether you have achieved your aims in life.
Some people spend their life climbing up a ladder, to paraphrase Joseph Campbell (see 50 Self-Help Classics), only to find it was up against the wrong wall. This is why the term authentic is used: doing something or becoming something that expresses your full personality and abilities in the most noble way. Success is not an event or a result in isolation, but an expression of the best that is within you. The world provides endless possibilities for making it more efficient, more humane, more beautiful.
It is up to you to find your niche.