Books for "End-of-Summer" Reading
Photo by Etienne Girardet
As “end-of-summer” approaches, below are a few books to consider reading. All are available in paperback and audio-book formats. Enjoy!
"Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight - Nike's founder/CEO shares his journey from start-up business in 1962 to a global sports brand. The book is a candid and interesting mix of the challenging twists and turns he encountered along the way. It's more than a business book. Bill Gates said the book, "is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like. It’s a messy, perilous, and chaotic journey riddled with mistakes, endless struggles, and sacrifice. In fact, the only thing that seems inevitable in page after page of Knight’s story is that his company will end in failure."
"Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It” by Chris Voss
The FBI's international hostage and kidnapping negotiator from 2003 to 2007 provides lessons for many situations. Negotiating is less about "Getting to Yes" and more about “Thinking, Fast and Slow”.
Adam Grant, author of Originals said, "It’s a riveting read, full of instantly actionable advice—not just for high-stakes negotiations, but also for handling everyday conflicts at work and at home.”
“Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life” by William Finnegan A staff writer at The New Yorker focuses on his life-long passion for surfing and other adventures.The book won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography. Sports Illustrated said “Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery … Finnegan is a virtuoso wordsmith, but the juice propelling this memoir is wrung from the quest that shaped him…A piscine, picaresque coming-of-age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard.”
“Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies” by Geoffrey West A theoretical physicist and former president of the Santa Fe Institute shares an inter-disciplinary mix of social dynamics, urban design, fractals, advances in technology, biology and more. A lot of food for thought.
The Wall Street Journal said. "From simple algebra to lessons for the future of human civilization, this is science writing as wonder and as inspiration."