Mark Cuban, billionaire technology entrepreneur and investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” is an avid reader: He’s picked up everything from classics like “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand, to computer manuals, to the recent publication of billionaire Ray Dalio’s “Principles: Life & Work.”
For Cuban, it’s a way to stay sharp.
“Life-long learning is probably the greatest skill,” Cuban says on Arianna Huffington’s The Thrive Global Podcast. He even calls it one of the top three skills billionaires share.
CNBC Make It asked Cuban what he’ll be reading this summer. Unsurprisingly, he isn’t planning to spend time reading lighthearted novels. Cuban revealed his five selections, which range from psychology to mathematics.
Written by famed financial author Michael Lewis in 2016, “The Undoing Project” tells the story of Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The pair examined and researched the process of how decisions are made, delving into the science of uncertainty, bias and human error.
Both men are “unbelievably quirky characters,” Lewis tells CNBC.
Tversky “had this preternatural ability to never do anything he didn’t want to do,” Lewis says. “He would look at his mail, and if he didn’t want to open it, he’d toss it in the garbage can. He had a ‘What can they do to me?‘ rule. If they can’t do anything to me, I’m just going to throw this stuff away.”
This is no beach read. Published in 2014 by M.I.T physics professor Max Tegmark, “Our Mathematical Universe” purports that physical reality is itself a mathematical structure, and our universe is only one of many existing in a grand “multiverse.”
Tegmark’s most recent work is “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” a book that SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk recommends to get caught up on the emergence of A.I.
Yale Law professor Amy Chua’s 2018 book “Political Tribes” analyzes how tribalism — the need to belong to a group — has affected past U.S. foreign policy missteps, and continues to affect the country’s political narrative.
Cuban himself has suggested he may be harboring political ambitions, and told The New York Times Monday that he hasn’t ruled out the idea of running for office against President Donald Trump in 2020.
In the era of #MeToo, ongoing women’s marches and a resurgent interest in the Equal Rights Amendment, Cuban is reading up on gender norms in the workplace.
“That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together,” by Joanne Lipman aims to offer “solutions to help professionals solve gender gap issues and achieve parity at work,” according to the book’s description.
As the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, which has had high-profile problems with sexual harassment allegations, Cuban has recently been reflecting on the topic. “Growing up, I always thought, ‘I need to treat everybody equally,'” Cuban said during the “Three Sharks in a Castle” symposium in April. “But equally, treating people equally, does not mean treating them the same. And that’s what I learned.”
CNN contributor Salena Zito and Republican strategist Bradd Todd traverse five swing states across the U.S., looking for perspective on the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Comprised of over 300 interviews with people who voted for Trump, the authors seek to illuminate the viewpoints initially missed by pollsters and the media.
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Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
