• Many executives say they’ve learned valuable lessons on business from books.
• Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are no exception. They’ve recommended many over the years, from biographies to sci-fi novels.
• Here are 30 books they say taught them a lot about business, leadership, and the forces shaping our world.

You learn by doing — but you can also learn a lot by reading.

Many influential business figures, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates say they’ve learned some of the most important lessons in their lives from books.

They’ve recommended countless books over the years that they credit with strengthening their business acumen and teaching them about leadership.