From AI to history: The books India’s business leaders loved in 2025
Will and Ariel DurantIn the day-to-day intensity of building and running a business, it’s easy to get consumed by immediate decisions, metrics and crises. The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant reminded me of the importance of occasionally stepping back and zooming out. The Durants distil centuries into recurring themes: ambition, cooperation, conflict, resilience, and show how little human nature truly changes.
For anyone navigating unpredictable markets or leading large teams, this long-view is grounding. It helps you separate noise from signal and recognize the deeper forces that drive behaviour. Early in the book, the authors ask a disarming question: have historians really learned more about human nature than what an ordinary person discovers simply by living? That line stayed with me.
It suggests that while data and analysis guide us, enduring insight often comes from observing people and patterns over time. This book reminded me that leadership requires both operating in the moment while reflecting on learnings from the past, holding the tactical and the timeless together.—Kunal Bahl, co-founder, AceVector and Titan CapitalAndrew Ross SorkinThis year, I skipped business books as I went down the rabbit hole of history and fiction. However, I feel 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History by Andrew Ross Sorkin qualifies as a business book.
Sorkin’s 1929 basically picks up where John Kenneth Galbraith left off in 1955 (The Great Crash, 1929). While Galbraith explained the economics and psychology of the crash with sharp clarity, Sorkin adds something different: new material, more texture and a story told through the actual people—their mistakes, their confidence and their blind spots. Galbraith
. Read on livemint.com