My Reading List for 2013

What I Read and Enjoyed This Year

I love recommended reading lists from people I respect. I find it to be an excellent way of discovering great books and expanding one’s learning and personal development. I was quite annoyed when the book list feature was removed from LinkedIn, although I’ve just discovered Laisin which appears to serve a similar function.

Inspired in part by Christina Cacioppo’s extensive list here, these are the books I read in 2013 along with my brief thoughts thereon. It’s a shorter list this year due to many late nights and weekends in the office, but there are still a few gems here.

I’ll likely add my “all time” recommended list in the next few days.

Non-Fiction

Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton. Written in a style that seems to anticipate the inevitable screen adaptation (plenty of interpersonal drama, nary a term sheet in sight). Still, Bilton provides plenty of insight into the frequently opposing forces that drove Twitter’s early growth. We’ll see what 2014 brings for the Company after a lot of post-IPO stock price fluctuation.

Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of a Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowan. A look at how our economy is being transformed by machine learning, big data and globalization. The chess analogy favored by Cowan doesn’t quite hold up in places and I think he’s somewhat prone to hyperbole. Nonetheless, there are some important observations here about where opportunities for employees (and employers) may lie in the near future.

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. Per this Amazon review, Jeff Bezos’ wife apparently did not enjoy this book. I can’t speak to the book’s accuracy, but I can say that it’s a hugely enjoyable and inspirational account of a fantastic success story. In the vein of the themes discussed in the Tyler Cowan book, above, I particularly enjoyed the book’s exploration of the tension between human (editorial) and machine (recommendation algorithms) throughout Amazon’s development.

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. Clear, succinct, essential. I’ve worked on a number of startup and corporate matters during 2013, and this is a very solid reference to have at one’s side.

Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography by Alex Ferguson. This autobiography of one of the most successful sporting managers of all time is appallingly written and structured. However, there are enough interesting anecdotes to make it worthwhile, and I enjoyed getting a taste of Ferguson’s managerial philosophy (which is heavily focused on asserting and maintaining control).

One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China by James McGregor. I lost count of the number of times I saw China’s economy discussed on the front pages of the Wall St. Journal or within Variety or The Hollywood Reporter in 2013. The decision to begin learning Mandarin was possibly my biggest of the year, and I’m really enjoying learning about the country’s history, culture and business practices.

Chinese Business Etiquette by Scott Seligman. As above. Fascinating.

The Man Who Seduced Hollywood by James B. Gladstone. Hugely enjoyable account of the life of Greg Bautzer, an early Hollywood power player. Fascinating to observe just how much the legal profession has changed from Bautzer’s heyday, even within the entertainment sphere. That said, there are a lot of principles and practices within these pages that remain valid today.

Top of The Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV by Brian Stelter. Not knowing a lot about U.S. morning TV, I found the general discussion of how the industry functions more interesting than the specific Anne Curry/Matt Lauer drama. Recommended vacation reading.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. Really solid look at how the modern food industry developed and the practices it uses to breed consumer loyalty.

Hitmaker: The Man and his Music by Tommy Mottola. I read all of these entertainment biographies as they are released (the Clive Davis book just missed this list, coming out at the end of 2012). Though ultimately forgettable, it’s a worthwhile for those interested in the music industry at its peak (on that topic, I recommend Drinking With Strangers by Butch Walker).

Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin. An exploration of the life and character of the iconic late night host. I picked up after watching the excellent PBS American Masters documentary on Carson. It’s probably most interesting for its discussion of Carson’s business affairs, which were reputedly mismanaged before Bushkin began representing him.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Bit of a cheat here, as this is the book I’m currently reading. I found it highly recommended on the “end of year” lists on LinkedIn, and I’m thoroughly enjoying so far.

Fiction

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Prompted by the excellent season three of HBO’s Game of Thrones and a friend’s recommendation, I bit the bullet and read books one to five straight through on Kindle. A brilliant study of decision making, cause and consequence. Roll on book six.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. People seem to love or hate this book. I’m in the former camp, although I understand complaints about the ending. Characterization is great, and the depiction of leaving Manhattan for middle America felt very authentic. Really looking forward to the Fincher movie.

The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger. This novel, written in a stream-of-consciousness style in the first person, absolutely works as a character study and nails the details of its world. The plot drags a little as it progresses, however.

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. I brought this on vacation on the strength of excellent Amazon reviews. The plot concerns an Australian woman who discovers a sealed letter from her husband stating that it should only be opened upon event of his death. The book’s real strengths lies in its interweaving character studies of several women from different generations and particularly its epilogue, which provokes the reader to contemplate the nature of fate.