Tools of Titans to Books of Titans

How a Self-Help Rabbit Hole Led to a Multi-Decade Odyssey

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. The book that kicked off this entire reading project.

The Books of Titans reading project started with a single book and a wild plan. In late 2016, I was reading a self-help book by Tim Ferriss called Tools of Titans. The book contained transcripts of Tim’s podcast interviews with some of the world’s top performers across a variety of fields. He would ask each guest to name their favorite and most-gifted books. The selections were so intriguing that I started making a list every time a new book was mentioned.

By the end of Tools of Titans, I had a list of 120+ books and I wanted to read them all. These books had influenced the titans of the world. Maybe some of that influence would rub off on me. So I began to think of a way to read more books. I decided to select 52 books from that list to read during 2017, attempting one book a week. I knew that would be a stretch, but I was up for the challenge.

That’s the genesis of the name Books of Titans. I had originally, clumsily, called it Books of Tools of Titans, to which Dr. Jason Staples wisely suggested I shorten to Books of Titans. (Thanks, Jason A. Staples).

Initial logo idea for the clumsily-named “Books of Tools of Titans.”

I kicked off that first year with The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly and concluded with Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (finishing right after midnight as I heard the New Year’s fireworks calling forth celebration in the neighborhood). I was hooked and continued with a 52-book goal in the following years.

Somewhere along the line, a basic truth began to dawn on me—books come from books. I remember reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman in the second year of the reading project. I read a number of other books that would take one idea from Kahneman and expand upon it. I thought - why read these other books when they were all referencing Kahneman? Why not just read the source book, Thinking, Fast and Slow?

It was around this time that I began hearing more about The Great Books on different podcast episodes. I was aware of a canon of books and had been collecting them for most of my life, but I didn’t think I was prepared to read them. I thought those books required training or further education in order to properly understand them.

I also began considering my reading life as a whole. The act of curating a yearly reading list made it crystal clear that there was a time-bound limit to the number of books I could read. There was a shelf life to my reading life and if I wanted to read The Great Books, I had to make that a priority.

In 2022, I began compiling a list of the greatest books ever written. I organized it by author, setting a limit of 200, some with multiple books and others with just a few. I started consulting different Great Books lists and asking readers and educators for suggestions. On March 1, 2023, I started with the first book on my list—The Epic of Gilgamesh. My plan was to read these works in chronological order so that I could see the evolution of ideas across time.

Since 2023, I’ve read works from Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Asia Minor, and Greece. I’ve read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Sappho, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Confucius, Plato, and more. What started as a bucket list of books to check off quickly became a passion project. I’m having the absolute best time of my reading life.

I now refer to these books as The Immortal Books. Great is a word used too often about all kinds of books. I figured I would use a word that carried more gravitas. Titans also pair well with Immortal.

After creating my list of Immortal Books, I set aside a 10-year timeframe in which to chronologically read those works. I quickly realized that 10 years would not be enough time and increased it to 15 years. In the last few months, I’ve expanded that timeframe even further. I will need 40 years to properly read through The Immortal Books. That timeframe will provide ample opportunities for reading the complete works of authors and filling in gaps in knowledge. As a 46-year-old, that turns this “Books of Tools of Titans” project into a lifelong reading project, meaning as long as my life lasts.

That’s the story of how one book changed the direction of my life. I’m now in year 9 of this reading project. Since 2017, I’ve read 426 books, a number unfathomable in my earlier years. I’ve approached books I once feared, amazed at my level of enjoyment and comprehension (sometimes after multiple readings). This project has led to incredible friendships around the world, a deepening appreciation of people, cultures, and story, and countless opportunities to encourage others in their reading life.

Here’s to the next 30+ years.