Reading is one of the best ways to learn and become successful. If you look at the wealthiest and smartest people in the world, they all are constantly reading.

Warren Buffet, third-richest man in the world, reads. Bill Gates, when he goes on vacation, he says he brings just 20 to 40 books, and that's all he reads for two weeks. Catches up on his reading. If you go to Bill Gates' blog, it's about books.

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Yet, reading has become a lost art. So the good news is, because no one else reads, you can have a huge competitive advantage.

You see the notion successful people use is Learn and then remove the L. Get it?

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Both Warren Buffet and Bill Gates were asked if they could have one superpower, what would it be? They both said they would want to be the fastest reader in the world.

So a lot of people think that reading isn’t important. Those people are stupid, but be careful who you read because you become like them.

Even Adolf Hitler read like crazy. He studied Frederick the Great, who was the first powerful German guy. Believe it or not, guess who Stalin read about? Stalin's mentor was Ivan the Terrible.

You know Ivan the Terrible was a ruthless guy, and Stalin became one of the most ruthless rulers ever. The world’s problems are hard, you gotta learn history if you want to be able to solve them.

Another great lesson you can learn from history is about courage and confidence. Everyone has fears, but every single successful person has faced their fears, and then gone on to conquer them.

Look at Alexander the Great. He personally marched tens of thousands of miles to expand his vision. One of the greatest quotes about courage comes from Alexander the Great;

“Through every generation of the human race, there has been a constant war, a war of fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free and those conquered by it are made to suffer until they have the courage to defeat it or death takes them.”

A book is a great place to exercise your imagination especially when you are the author, all the more in an autobiography where you meet another person and see life through their eyes and experiences.

Below are some of the books that can get you started on building that library that will get you to the road of success fast.

The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris