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Barack Obama

Barack Obama Recommended Books

Barack Obama has recommended 100 books. Browse the complete reading list with quotes and sources below.

Barack Obama is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States.

(Read more on Wikipedia)

Online Presence

100 Books Recommended

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Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Emma Watson

Men Without Women

Stories

by Haruki Murakami
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Exhalation

Stories

by Ted Chiang
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Tim Ferriss, Naval Ravikant, Ryan Shea

Why Liberalism Failed

by Patrick J. Deneen
"Offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel." - Barack Obama (Source)

Also recommended by:

Tim Keller

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Novel

by Amor Towles
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Asymmetry

A Novel

by Lisa Halliday
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Ezra Klein

Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernardine Evaristo
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Jack Edwards

Factfulness

Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

by Hans Rosling
"A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Barack Obama (Source)

Florida

by Lauren Groff
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

All the Light We Cannot See

A Novel

by Anthony Doerr
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Also recommended by:

Mike Maples, Jr.

Self Reliance

by Ralph Waldo Emerson
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

The Broken Ladder

How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die

by Keith Payne
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Things Fall Apart

African Trilogy, Book 1

by Chinua Achebe
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Lab Girl

by Hope Jahren
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Gilead

Gilead, Book 1

by Marilynne Robinson
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

The Return

Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between

by Hisham Matar
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Sixth Extinction

An Unnatural History

by Elizabeth Kolbert
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Also recommended by:

Bill Gates

Evicted

Poverty and Profit in the American City

by Matthew Desmond
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Bill Gates

Normal People

A Novel

by Sally Rooney
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Taylor Swift, Serena Izzo, Jack Edwards

Educated

A Memoir

by Tara Westover
"A remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho." - Barack Obama (Source)

Dying

A Memoir

by Cory Taylor
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

The World as It Is

A Memoir of the Obama White House

by Ben Rhodes
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

An American Marriage

A Novel

by Tayari Jones
"A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple." - Barack Obama (Source)

The Moment of Lift

How Empowering Women Changes the World

by Melinda Gates
"Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention." - Barack Obama (Source)

Tough Love

My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For

by Susan Rice
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Dick Costolo

The Topeka School

by Ben Lerner
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

American Spy

A Novel

by Lauren Wilkinson
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Shallows

What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

by Nicholas Carr
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Tara Brach, Ezra Klein

A Grain of Wheat

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Truth Decay

An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life

by Michael D. Rich
"A look at how a selective sorting of facts and evidence isn’t just dishonest, but self-defeating to a society that has always worked best when reasoned debate and practical problem-solving thrive." - Barack Obama (Source)

Basketball

A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated

by Shea Serrano
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

How Democracies Die

by Steven Levitsky
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

The Source of Self-Regard

Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

by Toni Morrison
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

Stories

by Denis Johnson
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Education of an Idealist

A Memoir

by Samantha Power
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Abraham Lincoln

Selected Speeches and Writings

by Abraham Lincoln
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Trust Exercise

by Susan Choi
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Seveneves

by Neal Stephenson
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Also recommended by:

Bill Gates, Adam Savage, Chris Young

Immigrant, Montana

A Novel

by Amitava Kumar
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Long Walk to Freedom

The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

by Nelson Mandela
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Richard Branson

How to Read the Air

by Dinaw Mengestu
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Becoming

by Michelle Obama
"Obviously my favorite [book of 2018]!" - Barack Obama (Source)

Frederick Douglass

Prophet of Freedom

by David W. Blight
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Feel Free

Essays

by Zadie Smith
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

There There

A Novel

by Tommy Orange
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Trick Mirror

Reflections on Self-Delusion

by Jia Tolentino
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Kara Swisher

Washington Black

by Esi Edugyan
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Power

by Naomi Alderman
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Americanah

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Kathryn Minshew

The Lowland

by Jhumpa Lahiri
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Also recommended by:

Mindy Kaling

The Oxford Shakespeare

The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Native America from 1890 to the Present

by David Treuer
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Anarchy

The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire

by William Dalrymple
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Anything Is Possible

Amgash, Book 2

by Elizabeth Strout
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Exit West

A Novel

by Mohsin Hamid
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

H Is for Hawk

by Helen Macdonald
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

A House for Mr Biswas

A Novel

by V. S. Naipaul
"Great novel about growing up in Trinidad and the challenge of post-colonial identity." - Barack Obama (Source)

The Sixth Man

A Memoir

by Andre Iguodala
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Arianna Huffington, Bill Gurley

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

by Shoshana Zuboff
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Vinod Khosla

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

by Isabel Wilkerson
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Alicia Keys

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Arthur Ashe

A Life

by Raymond Arsenault
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Maid

Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

by Stephanie Land
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Yellow House

A Memoir

by Sarah M. Broom
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Inland

by Téa Obreht
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Shadow of Sirius

by W.S. Merwin
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

American Prison

A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

by Shane Bauer
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

David Friedberg

Futureface

A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging

by Alex Wagner
"A thoughtful, beautiful meditation on what makes us who we are." - Barack Obama (Source)

Janesville

An American Story

by Amy Goldstein
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Barbarian Days

A Surfing Life

by William Finnegan
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Also recommended by:

Paul Graham

A Different Way to Win

Dan Rooney's Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule

by Jim Rooney
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Nickel Boys

A Novel

by Colson Whitehead
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Wolf Hall

Thomas Cromwell, Book 1

by Hilary Mantel
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Christopher Hitchens

The Underground Railroad

A Novel

by Colson Whitehead
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Lost Children Archive

A Novel

by Valeria Luiselli
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Natalie Portman

Lot

Stories

by Bryan Washington
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

We Live in Water

Stories

by Jess Walter
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Coach Wooden and Me

Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Noah Kagan

Parting the Waters

America in the King Years 1954-63

by Taylor Branch
On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

The New Geography of Jobs

by Enrico Moretti
"Still a timely and smart discussion of how different cities and regions have made a changing economy work for them." - Barack Obama (Source)

Warlight

A Novel

by Michael Ondaatje
"A meditation on the lingering effects of war on family." - Barack Obama (Source)

Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

by Patrick Radden Keefe
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Finding My Voice

My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward

by Valerie Jarrett
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Orphan Master's Son

A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

by Adam Johnson
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Five-Carat Soul

by James McBride
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Furious Hours

Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee

by Casey Cep
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Grant

by Ron Chernow
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Hugh Hewitt

Sing, Unburied, Sing

A Novel

by Jesmyn Ward
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Washington

A Life

by Ron Chernow
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Heartland

A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

by Sarah Smarsh
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Also recommended by:

Melinda Gates, Sarah Jessica Parker

Solitary

by Albert Woodfox
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

In the Shadow of Statues

A White Southerner Confronts History

by Mitch Landrieu
"An ultimately optimistic take from someone who believes the South will rise again not by reasserting the past, but by transcending it." - Barack Obama (Source)

The Word Collector

by Peter H. Reynolds
"A fun book that vividly illustrates the transformative power of words." - Barack Obama (Source)

Also recommended by:

Michelle Obama

Life 3.0

Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

by Max Tegmark
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Speed & Scale

An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now

by John Doerr
"If you care about climate change, [this book] offers concrete steps that we can all take to make a difference." - Barack Obama (Source)

Also recommended by:

Tracy DiNunzio

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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100 Barack Obama Recommended Books (2026)