Books Read by the World Leaders


Barack Obama

Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. He has been publishing his book recommendations for a while. These are what got him to be where he is now and made him who he is. While you can easily obtain his book lists online, if he has to point at one book everyone should read, it will be Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. For many, this is a five-star novel. It wraps around interesting characters in pursuit of understanding of heritage.
The novel is deep and the pacing is active and ever-changing. This book could be considered a philosophical novel as well, as it dives into the human nature head first.


Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau is the Canadian Prime Minister. Very known for his reading habits, he was reading since the early years of his life. Just like Obama, he too has the lists of books everyone in the world should read. This time, he recommends Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer. The novel talks about a historical figure: Champlain. He approached American Indians and did not just try to exploit them, he also treated them with respect- he wanted to learn from them. Working together with Indians was seen as a way to work for him. He had manners of the soldiers and many Indian warriors respected that in him.

Vladimir Putin

Putin is the president of Russia. He reads many known classics and a few of them he does recommend everyone read: Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. His favourites are Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, so this is not a surprise. I’m sure these classics don’t need much introduction as they are part of any library in the world. Nowadays you can also watch movies which are made by these books.  Dostoevsky has an amazing understanding of human nature. For most people these are four to five stars books. College and high school students around the world often have these classics in their reading list. But some wait until they have finished their school to read these as they do require certain space for the reader to absorb everything the genius writers have written.

Crime and punishment was first published in 1866. It is about the murder of the shop owner. The characters are nicely developed with the accent on their spiritual rather than mental condition. This book is widely printed and read even today so it’s easy to obtain it.

Malcolm Turnbull 

Malcolm Turnbull is the Australian Prime Minister. He has a library in his office, which implies that he does enjoy reading. He recommends ‘Freedom to the Future’ by Nelson Mandela. The book is compiled of different speeches. All sections are actually topics so you can easily find the desired one. This book includes speakers from all around the world and topics that range from culture to nation building and many others.

There is a pattern here, all the readers on this list are world leaders and the books they chose to respect are incredible. These are truly the teachers of life and will continue to bless future readers as well. When you take a break from the modern literature that came out yesterday, try something that came out a hundred years ago, you might be surprised.