Here are my favorite books that I can recommend that shaped what I know and who I am, I hope it helps you too.
Mathematics
"Linear Algebra Done Right" by Sheldon Axler
THE book to learn linear algebra. Most professors in their courses just solve matrices and finish from there, but if you're willing to actually know proof based linear algebra, this is the book I highly recommend. It transformed how I think about vector spaces and linear transformations.
"Introduction to Classical Mechanics" by David Morin
This book was suggested by Dr. Zheng, a professor I admired when I took physics at IRSC. This book had very intense and rigorous problems but it really sharpened my problem solving skills and led me to solve any classical mechanics problem that you would encounter in a Newtonian physics course. (Not for intro students, there is a problem that I spent 2 hours solving)
"The Rust Programming Language" by Klabnik & Nichols
Rust's ownership model changed how I think about memory safety and concurrent programming. Now my go-to language for high-performance trading infrastructure.
Quantitative Finance
"Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" by John Hull
The standard derivatives textbook, this is the bible of knowing how derivatives work in the markets. This book was recommended by a volatility trader from Twitter formerly known as Flowdamentals.
"Volatility Trading" by Euan Sinclair
This is my first book that I picked up during my first year of learning about option trading. While it serves as an introduction to volatility, I found it confusing and overwhelming at first. I realized that it was too advanced for me to grasp at the beginning. However, as I delved deeper into the subject, I discovered that this book is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge about volatility and its modeling.
Fiction Books
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This book is probably one of my favorites. It delves into the mind of a student who committed murder, exploring their motives. The book then applies this exploration to our own emotions and motivations in our life choices.
"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This is one the classics that I enjoyed reading.
"Pet Sematary" by Stephen King
Probably one of the scariest books I've read.
"Billy Summers" by Stephen King
Similar storyline to John Wick movie series; where a top-skilled assassin is tasked to finish one last task before retirement, realizing he got tricked.
"11/22/63" by Stephen King
Amazing book, it's lowkey a romance book once you read into the middle, It’s a story of a guy who travels back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but he comes across a lovely woman. The most important person in my life saw the film and they liked it, which I recommend watching it too.
What's Next
I will later provide more books that I loved reading that are outside of work and academics, going more into fiction as well. I believe that fiction books can help us learn how to navigate through everyday life from personal life to work better than self-help books.