Best digital nomad books for 2022

11 min readJan 30, 2022

Want to learn in the lessons in a few weeks, rather than five years? Read those books and start your journey.

🤗 Whichever it is, there are a couple of digital nomad books that everyone that’s even considering this lifestyle should read.

Since 2020, the digital nomad movement has boomed worldwide, and I wonder if a mandatory lockdown has something to do with it. So many people have had the opportunity to try working themselves remotely, and we have found it much easier to explain our digital nomad lifestyle to others.

I can’t tell you how many messages I receive on Instagram from people trying to figure out this lifestyle. It’s such a unique way to experience all aspects of life, from working online and travelling full-time, that it’s hard to articulate it in a single DM on Instagram.

❗️ Before we dive into all the digital nomad books recommended list, let me share some resources that will benefit you and cut your personal learning curve by years:

💰 My digital nomad templates: Daily Task Management, Delegate your business,

💰 My digital nomad mini-courses: Upwork Mastery,

🤙🏻 Community: Freelance PRO Mastermind Community.

There are tons of digital nomad books out there, and as the movement grows, there’s going to be a lot more in the future (yay!).

I’ve broken them down with a brief description to make this easier for your reading.

Here is the complete digital nomad books list with an amazon link:

The Four Hour Work Week
The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck
Atomic Habits
Extreme ownership
Crush it
Steal like an artist
built to sell
Building a Story Brand
never split the difference
Deep Work
Remote
Minimalism
My book: 🤩 Work Remotely: The Freelancing Guidebook
The 100$ Startup
Tribes by Seth Godin
Vagabonding

A quick disclaimer: “Every book that benefited me the most was “read” in an audio format. For that, I either download the audio directly or find it on audible”.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s dive in

1. The Four Hour Work Week

by Timothy Ferris — *get the book here* / *Read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris is a blueprint to escape your corporate 9–5 by making money online, building a sustainable business and living life differently as a digital nomad.

Favourite Quote: “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

The 4-Hour Workweek aka THE digital nomad book. Tim Ferris opened up the eyes of this location’s independent lifestyle to so many people worldwide — it’s hard to meet a digital nomad that doesn’t at least know about this book. You’ll learn how to start an online business, how to outsource/be productive and manage your life well but ultimately how to think diff

2. The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck

by Mark Manson — *get the book here* / *Read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck shares how the goal isn’t necessarily a happy life 100% of the time because it’s just not possible but rather learn the straightforward approach to living a life that’s meaningful and about what’s important to you.

Favourite Quote: “Joy doesn’t just sprout out of the ground like daisies and rainbows. Real, serious, lifelong fulfilment and meaning have to be earned through the choosing and managing of our struggles.”

Mark Manson is one of the most straightforward thought leaders of our generation. He loves to give it to you straight and not sprinkle anything. I found his book really refreshing to read, especially since I’m tired of all the positive psychology craze at the moment.

3. Atomic Habits

James Clear — *get the book here* / *Read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Building habits through small, tiny changes compound over time to get remarkable results.

Favourite Quote: “If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers.”

Think building habits take a lot of work? Well…not really! Small, incremental changes compound into massive change over time. In this digital nomad book, Atomic Habits, you’ll learn how to break bad patterns and build new habits in a non-overwhelming kind of way. Truly refreshing!

4. Extreme ownership

by Jocko Willink — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Learn from two Navy SEALs who have gone through some pretty serious combat situations and see what it takes to have extreme ownership and leadership.

Favourite Quote: “Discipline equals freedom.”

This book completely changed our mindset on what real discipline is. It’s great to learn the habits and principles from a former Navy SEAL and how they can be applied to our digital nomad lifestyle.

5. Crush it

by Gary Vaynerchuk — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Lacking the motivation to get your new business off the ground? Then Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Crush It!” could be just what the doctor ordered.

This The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestseller has enough inspiring pep talks to motivate even the most half-hearted entrepreneur to become passionate about making their dreams come true.

Favourite Quote: **“There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do.”

All digital nomads are entrepreneurs to some extent. After all, freelancing is akin to running your own personal online business.

Although it has relatively few words of wisdom regarding the technicalities of entrepreneurship, the book has become a cult classic among digital nomads for its get-off-your-butt-and-do-it inspirational prose.

6. Steal like an artist

by Austin Kleon — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Steal Like An Artist gives you permission to copy your heroes’ work and use it as a springboard to find your own, unique style, all while remembering to have fun, creating the right work environment for your art and letting neither criticism nor praise drive you off track.

**Favourite Quote: “**Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.”

Steal Like an Artist is an inspired book about coming up with creative ideas.

7. built to sell

by John Warrillow — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: 8 Things That Drive the Value of Your Company online course is an interactive, video-based training program that teaches eight strategies for driving up the value of a company for entrepreneurs that want to maximize the value of their business.

Favourite Quote: “Don’t be afraid to say no to projects. Prove that you’re serious about specialization by turning down work that falls outside your area of expertise. The more people you say no to, the more referrals you’ll get to people who need your product or service.”

8. Building a Story Brand

by Donald Miller — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: StoryBrand marketing is both acknowledging and acting on our customer’s perception of our brand’s role in their story, to earn their business. “StoryBrand marketing is both acknowledging and acting on our customer’s perception of our brand’s role in their story, to earn their business.

Favourite Quote: ”Even if we have the best product in the marketplace, we’ll lose to an inferior product if our competitor’s offer is communicated more clearly.’’

9. never split the difference

by Chris Voss — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Never Split The Difference explains why you should never compromise and how to negotiate like a pro in your everyday life.

Favourite Quote: “He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.”

A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations―whether in the boardroom or at home.

10. Deep Work

by Cal Newport — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: In the 21st century, our attention span has continued to decrease but Deep Work believes there are 4 principles to follow to hone in your focus and immerse yourself in productive work.

Favourite Quote: “To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction. To learn, in other words, is an act of deep work.”

Struggling to focus at work? Reading the digital nomad book, Deep Work, by Cal Newport will help you improve your productivity and more importantly your focus. He teaches four simples rules that allow you to immerse yourself in your work and get some real work done.

11. Remote

by Jason Fried — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Remote teaches business owners and employees that working remotely can be just what your business needs to have happy employees and even more success in the work environment.

Favourite Quote: “If you run your ship with the conviction that everyone’s a slacker, your employees will put all their ingenuity into proving you right.”

Office? What’s that?! This digital nomad book believes that offices are a thing of the past and remote work is the future. You’ll learn how remote work might be better for everyone involved in a business — the owners and the employees. Both parties benefit from having the freedom to work remotely and in return make everyone happier for the flexibility.

12. Minimalism

by Joshua Fields Millburn — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book In One Sentence: Minimalism by Joshua and Ryan shares their story of leaving their sox-figure corporate 9–5 jobs to pursue a life of less and more than that, their journey shows how living a minimalist life has taught them to focus on what truly matters in life.

Favourite Quote: “Love People. Use Things. Because The Opposite Never Works.”

Matthew and I never really knew what minimalism was before we read this book. Our outlook on material things has changed ever since and we don’t plan on going back.

You’d be surprised at how much stuff you DON’T actually need while on the road. We often think to ourselves — if we ever settle down, our house would be so empty. This digital nomad book is a great way to understand the powerful purpose behind living a minimalist lifestyle that digital nomads have to adapt to in some way or another.

13. My book: 🤩 Work Remotely: The Freelancing Guidebook

by Andrej Hribernik — *get the book here*

The Book In One Sentence: The steps I took to become a freelance professional and being location & financially independent.

Favourite Quote: Don’t get comfortable with your best. As a freelancer, your work and effort is naturally set at a higher expectation and standard than those employed within a company. So with that in mind, being comfortable or putting yourself into a position where you’re not pushing or challenging yourself is risky.

14. The 100$ Startup

by Chris Guillebeau — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book In One Sentence: Another best-seller from Chris Guillebeau, this detail-orientated title delivers on its core promise: to teach the would-be entrepreneur how to build a successful online business from the ground up.

To do so, Guillebeau examines 50 case studies where startups have gone from an initial investment of less than $100 to a profitable enterprise raking in $50,000 per year or more.

Favourite Quote: “Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life.”

15. Tribes

by Seth Godin — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book In One Sentence: The internet has broken down geographical boundaries, revolutionized communication and created countless new business opportunities. But there’s one thing it hasn’t done: taught us how to lead.

This captivating book from Seth Godin does precisely that, providing a step-by-step analysis of how to identify your tribe and become a well-regarded leader instead of following the pack. All of this is presented in a contemporary online context that’s applicable to the digital age.

Favourite Quote: “In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn’t necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.”

Budding entrepreneurs and well-established leaders alike have raved about this book for its actionable advice on how to influence employees, investors and customers.

16. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

by Rolf Potts — *get the book here* / *read the review here*

The Book in One Sentence: Rolf Potts shares his journey on vagabonding: a lifestyle that allows you to travel long-term and gives you the tools to start living a life of simplicity, adventure and fulfilment.

Favourite Quote: “Vagabonding is about taking control of your circumstances instead of passively waiting for them to decide your fate.”

Think travel is only for the rich and famous? Or maybe for those hippies? Think again. Vagabonding proves that travel is accessible for anyone since 2016. This digital nomad book makes you reframe the way you think about money and how to use the money to travel specifically.

Don’t know if you should buy a book?

To answer your question, let me quote the best advice I ever got, was from my mentor Ramit Sethi

It’s called Ramit’s Book-Buying Rule: “If you’re ‘thinking about’ buying a book, just buy it. Don’t waste 5 secs debating. Even 1 idea makes it worth it.”

Don’t Know Where To Start? Read These Digital Nomad Books First

A list of 15x different digital nomad books to read is pretty overwhelming — don’t worry, I get it! It’s not my intention to overwhelm you or have you think you need to read all those books to become a digital nomad because you don’t.

Here are the 5 digital nomad books to start with first:

The 4-Hour Work Week
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck
Built to Sell
Atomic Habits
Minimalism

These books combined give you a good mix of learning about running/starting your own business, how to live differently and how to cultivate a disciplined mindset…

…all you need to become a successful digital nomad for years to come!

Again, if you’re looking for resources to Fastrack your freelancing career, here are a few sources that will help you today: