Reading List

On Steve Jobs's time founding and running NeXT.

Recently came out.

The story of Sam Walton and how he built Walmart.

Amazon took a lot of inspiration from Walmart's supply chain.

Story of the founding and rapid expansion of Uber.

Saw mini-series and wanted to learn more about the undramatized events.

A british guy begins a journey through space he is very underqualified for.

Recommended many times, a classic.

The origin story of Nike, up to its IPO.

Known as one of the best founder autobiographies ever.

Outlines the world of venture capital deals & term sheets.

Wanted to learn how VC deals are structured.

Guide on managing a startup by a16z co-founder.

Gifted to me by a mentor.

Danny Meyer's journey in becoming a leading figure in the restaurant business.

Beginning to read books on restaurant and food management.

A short collection of stories of Caro's experiences writing The Power Broker and LBJ volumes.

Have to read something by Caro before LBJ 5 comes out.

Biography of Jensen Huang and the rise of NVIDIA.

Curious about the story of how NVIDIA was created.

How social media has affected the world in the 2010s and later.

My mom recommended it.

The life of one of the single best orators of the 20th century.

Was suggested to me after Napoleon.

Covers the life of Napoleon Bonaparte from his birth, rapid rise to general, time as consul, emperor, downfall, comeback, then death.

Watched the Napoleon movie and felt it was a bit rushed, so I decided to get the whole story.

Stalin's rule, covering his first years of power, his wife's suicide, and his transformation into dictator.

Animal Farm was interesting and I wanted to know what real life parallel.

A farm run by humans is overthrown by the animals and quickly devolves. Metaphor to Stalin's rise to power and rule over the Soviet Union.

I liked 1984 by Orwell, and this book was very short.

When a sun-eating microorganism is discovered, earth pools its resources to send a single mission to discover a solution.

Recommended by Brooke, and I also previous read the Martian and liked that too.

A 4-in-1 biography of Lincoln, Chase, Bates, and Seward, the four most prominent members and rivals of the Republic Party during the Civil War.

Recommended by my mom.

Covering the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his four term presidency from the Great Depression to WWII.

FDR centralized and actively used more power than any other president, wanted to contrast that with present day politics. Also wanted the political WWII perspective in the United States.

Prequel to Hunger Games.

Recommended by a friend, and heard they were making a movie about it as well.

Covers the rise and fall of the dictatorship in Germany that led to WWII. Written by an American journalist stationed in Germany until 1941.

Wanted to see what a transition from democracy to dictatorship really looked like in history.

Covering the work of Jony Ive, who led the design team of the iMac, iPod, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and much more.

Developed many of my favorite products growing up.

Covering the life of the United States's first Treasury Secretary

Liked the Hamilton musical for a while, and thought I'd learn more about him.

LBJ's transition to the presidency after JFK's assassination.

4th of 4 books in the series, waiting for the 5th to come out!

LBJ's time ruling the senate, covering his rise to power and use of it.

3rd of 4 books in the series.

Second book about LBJ, covering 8 years, including his controversial senate election.

Enjoyed the first book.

Fictional story of 3 friends who start a video game company, which comes with a big cost.

Recommended by the same Google Intern who recommended Howard Schultz's book.

The story of Lyndon B. Johnson, from his childhood, to his first failed Senate campaign.

I loved The Power Broker, so I decided to read Caro's work about LBJ.

The very surprising history of how Starbucks was founded and changed in the early days.

Recommended by a fellow Google/YouTube Intern.

Second book in Harry Potter series.

Found some extra time to read the second book.

A vivid authoritarian world from the view point of lonely man who has lost faith.

This book is referenced in so many different ways, thought it would be good to read.

Book about leading organizations, from the perspective of Industrial Engineering.

Recommended by Dr. Van Aken (Head of Virginia Tech's ISE Dept).

Self-help book about energy and the effect is has on the people around you.

Recommended by former boss at AT&T.

The biography of Robert Moses, about his life and impact on New York City.

Greene's book mentioned this book as the inspiration of Mike Schur's "Parks and Recreation."

Behind the scenes look of the show "The Office"... Carell didn't want to leave after Season 7!

Always liked the show and wanted to learn how it was produced.

Story of the one of the largest frauds in history: Elizabeth Holmes & Theranos.

Recommended by friend, also the Mini Series "The Dropout" made me want to read it.

Biography of Elon Musk, from his very difficult childhood to his business career.

Was a big fan of how the Steve Jobs book was written by Isaacson.

Story driven introduction to industrial engineering.

Required Reading for ISE class.

I don't think I need to explain this one.

Recommended by every person I know, finally got around to it.

Memoir about living with mental illness, which manages to be very funny at the same time.

Found it in book store.

The story of Apple's transformation after Jobs's death, focusing on Tim Cook and Jony Ive.

Recommended by Soham Mehra, classmate at Virginia Tech.

The story of Pixar, from founding to its systemization of the creative process.

Important part of the stories of both The Ride of Lifetime and Steve Jobs.

The autobiography of the co-founder of Blackstone.

Recommended by former boss at AT&T.

Prequel to Hunger Games.

Wanted to read the book before the movie came out.

Story driven book about team building.

Recommended by a Virginia Tech professor.

Steve Jobs's biography written by former head of CNN, Walter Isaacson.

Since Jobs was mentioned a lot in The Ride of a Lifetime, I decided to read this next.

Great autobiography of Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney.

Recommended by former classmate, and Imagineer for Disney.