Robert Greene
Writer
Robert Greene is the shelf I actually finish. The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature. He is here because he writes about the long apprenticeship, and about what people do when they think nobody is keeping score.
He studied classics, spent years in jobs that were not the work, and published the first book in 1998 with Joost Elffers. I read him when I am about to confuse a tactic with a life.
Photograph by Robert Greene. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source. The photograph was published in black and white, so hover does not add color.