Village Capital’s 16 Favorite Books of 2016
Selections from the Village Capital Team
I hope you’re preparing for a restful and thoughtful holiday season. Every year around the holidays, as the pace of work slows down, I look forward to the opportunity to read and learn new things.
2016 was a fast-moving year that challenged many of our preconceived notions about how the world works, and leaves us thinking about what we’re going to do in the future.
Village Capital team has compiled a list of books they read this year that helped them make sense of 2016 — on a personal and professional level.
We’re recommending a range of books — fiction and nonfiction, social science and whimsy, but there’s a theme: each has helped one of our team members understand the present, and think about the future.
Happy reading!
— Ross
The Third Wave by Steve Case
Revolution CEO and AOL co-founder Steve Case puts on his futurist hat to talk about where we’re headed — how the “Internet of Everything” is coming, how it will require startups to take on big, difficult issues in industries like health and education, and how the best new ideas won’t just come from a few cities on the coasts. — Recommended by Allie B
Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family by Anne-Marie Slaughter
This year continued to demonstrate how long the road remains towards gender equality — but more than just talking about the gender pay gap or underrepresentation of women on boards, Slaughter’s book talks about how vital, and undervalued in our economy, the roles of parenting and caregiving are — for both women and men. — Recommended by Victoria F
Originals by Adam Grant
Adam Grant comes to some surprising conclusions about how we make decisions. When we think of originality, we often think of how we can come up with better ideas. Adam challenges us to think about how to see better ideas in others. For instance, Managers aren’t always the best at making decisions — a valuable lesson for venture capital. — Recommended by Ebony P
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam
After the 2016 election, “Hillbilly Elegy”, a story about Appalachia in crisis, became a best-seller. Hillbilly Elegy’s story is a symptom of the decline of our social fabric: “Our Kids”outlines the cause. The book is a damning look at how social connections have broken down in America, and what we need to do rebuild community. — Recommended by Ross B
Who Gets What and Why by Alvin E. Roth
Every interaction in the world is a give and a take. Who Gets What and Why helped us think more broadly about how we can connect people with the resources they need, at a systems level. — Recommended by Chris C
When Breath Becomes Air by Dr. Paul Kalanithi
It forced me to think about the power of determination, balancing ambition and empathy, and living a meaningful life. — Emily E
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business by Patrick M. Lencioni
“Culture eats strategy for lunch.” This book tells us that organizational strategy doesn’t matter if the organization is dysfunctional. As a solution, this book gives a clear roadmap for establishing clarity and organizational health. — Recommended by Brittney R
The Moment of Clarity by Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen
This book applies anthropology and psychology to the business world. The outcome: we can learn how to stop making assumptions about what others’ wants are and to listen to what they are actually saying. — Recommended by Rachel S
In the Dust of This Planet by Eugene Thacker
This book uses the genre of horror to philosophically confront the limit of our ability to understand the world in which we live. — Zach K
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by JD Vance
78% of startup investment goes to three US states; we’ve invested 90% of our capital in the rest of the country. Hillbilly Elegy is one story that illustrates what happens in the long run when an entire part of the country — and culture — is ignored. — Recommended by Ben W
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2016 has been a complicated year in race relations. The main character, a Nigerian “non-American Black woman”, notes that she never really thought of herself as “black” before coming to the U.S. and was surprised at how top of mind race is for Americans. — Recommended by Heather S
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
We often assume that people act in what seems to be their rational self-interest — but behavior doesn’t reflect this. Haidt describes how morality varies between liberals and conservatives, and between the west and the rest of the world. He shows that perceptions of morality drives behavior, not self-interest. — Recommended by Andrew H
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
A narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution. It’s both crushing and comforting to look at the patterns that repeat themselves in human history: the rise and fall of empires, and the imagined realities our species has created to organize ourselves in larger and larger trust groups that have simultaneously lead to our hyper-accelerated evolution and our increased suffering. — Recommended by Lia M
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
When times are tough, how do people react? Read how the fabric of society gets ripped apart, as the Great Depression wrecks havoc on Dust Bowl families. — Recommended by Michele R
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
(Ross’ note: This book is my single favorite book in the world.) All the King’s Men is a good post-election read, but it is only nominally about politics, the way Moby Dick is only nominally about whaling. The book is about human nature, and how the battle between our best and worst selves in a complicated system, whether it’s business or politics. One line from the book, “all times are one time,” rings true in 2016. — Recommended by Michele R
Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
There is always an answer for people who are willing to try and find one, and because “You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose”.
— Recommended by Jared M, who spent 16 weeks in 16 cities across the US
