--- title: Here Are the 4 Books Mark Cuban Is Reading This Summer description: Billionaire Mark Cuban is reading books about Vladimir Putin, extremist mass movements, the white working class, and automation and machine learning. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2017-07-31T15:39:24.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T05:10:30.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Billionaires - Books - Current Events - History - shop money - summer reading word_count: 521 canonical: https://money.com/mark-cuban-books-recommended-summer-reading/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Hillary Clinton And Tim Kaine Take Campaign Bus Tour Through Pennsylvania And Ohio](https://img.money.com/2017/07/markcubanbooks_em-584738120.jpg) Mark Cuban, the [billionaire entrepreneur](https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-cuban/), Dallas Mavericks owner and star of TV's [*Shark Tank*](http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank), turns 59 on Monday. He shares July 31 as a birthday with the actor Wesley Snipes and author J.K. Rowling, among others. But Cuban isn't reading any of Rowling's Harry Potter books lately. He doesn't seem to be interested in breezy books to read on the beach either. Instead, Cuban's 2017 summer reading list consists mostly of dense, deeply researched works that shed light on current events. "I’m trying to keep up with what’s happening around the world. So my reading has been a little more eclectic than past summers," Cuban said to [Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/31/playbook-birthday-mark-cuban-241155). Here are the four books Cuban told Politico that he's reading at the moment: ## [***Machine Learning for Dummies***](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119245516/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1119245516&linkId=493b116abf7cee67ad88c568324642db) By John Paul Mueller, Luca Massaron This edition of the "For Dummies" series covers the basics of how machines now handle everyday tasks such as producing credit scores, filtering email spam, and creating targeted ads on the web in real time. Cuban made much of his fortune in software in tech, and presumably he's trying to keep up to speed with how computers and automation are being used to tackle a wide variety of jobs today. [Buy here.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119245516/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1119245516&linkId=493b116abf7cee67ad88c568324642db) ## [***Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin***](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0815726171/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0815726171&linkId=7bbe92f9d56db0a696685a8c0589d5f6) By Fiona Hill, Clifford C. Gaddy Russian president Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent who has been the country's unquestioned leader for nearly two decades, is easily one of the world's most powerful men. He could secretly be the [richest person on earth](https://money.com/vladimir-putin-net-worth/) as well. This biography offers a deep psychological profile of Putin, who many believe was at least aware of Russian efforts to hack the 2016 U.S. elections, and who [President Trump has praised](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-praises-vladimir-putin-tweet-233072) as a "strong leader" and "very smart." [Buy here.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0815726171/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0815726171&linkId=7bbe92f9d56db0a696685a8c0589d5f6) ## [*The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements*](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060505915/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0060505915&linkId=96529dd572c0d833603b38fb37c207c4) By Eric Hoffer First published in 1951, *The True Believer* remains a seminal tome analyzing the roots of how and why individuals embrace mass movements—including religious and political ideas that seem extremist and nonsensical to outsiders. The book was the first written by Hoffer, who worked as a longshoreman and became a celebrated philosopher-intellectual-author and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan shortly before his [death in 1983](http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/22/obituaries/eric-hoffer-dockworker-author-who-looked-into-life-dies-at-80.html). Readers today say that the book still offers remarkable insights into human behavior and sheds light on why people might, for instance, sympathize with terrorists or support a dangerous demagogue as a national leader. [Buy here.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060505915/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0060505915&linkId=96529dd572c0d833603b38fb37c207c4) ## [*White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America*](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1633693783/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1633693783&linkId=9a3d4a9c1bb2300ba06de3df999e596f) By Joan C. Williams Why did the white working class overwhelmingly support Donald Trump in the 2016 election? And why is the media's understanding of this demographic mostly misguided and condescending? This is the ground covered in the recently published book by Williams, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, who has written "a blunt, bracing narrative that sketches a nuanced portrait of millions of people who have proven to be a potent political force," in the words of [*Harvard Business Review*](https://hbr.org/product/white-working-class-overcoming-class-cluelessness-in-america/10159-HBK-ENG). [Buy here.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1633693783/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=money018f-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1633693783&linkId=9a3d4a9c1bb2300ba06de3df999e596f) * We’ve included affiliate links into this article. 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