Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office
“I’m not a businessman – I’m a business, man.” – This book follows Jay Z and how he climbed from the ill famed streets of Brooklyn, where he spent his childhood, to the heights of the business world.
Ryan Holiday recommended this biography, saying that: “This is a biography that also functions as a business book.
Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
Published in 2014 by Crown Currency
This book by the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies provides a contrarian perspective on business and startups. Thiel argues that the best way to succeed is to build a monopoly by creating something new and valuable.
Amazon
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Iger shares his insights on business, leadership, and the importance of creativity.
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3. In this book he recalls all the experiences he conducted, but also his pranks and adventures (even the ones he pulled in the years he was working on the Manhattan Project).
Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are among the fans of this book.
Pradeep Thakur explores Ford's innovative manufacturing techniques and his significant contributions to modern transportation. Filled with stories and memories of Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize for physics, who was always questioning the status-quo and testing assumptions. Based on more than 40 interviews conducted by Walter Isaacson over 2 years with Steve Jobs, as well as hundreds of interviews with his family members, friends, colleagues and so on.
Jobs cooperated for this book and encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly, saying that: “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriends pregnant when I was 23 and the way I handled that, but I don’t have any skeletons in my closet that can’t be allowed out.”
5.
Pradeep Thakur showcases Astor's entrepreneurial spirit and his lasting influence on the growth of New York City. Here Knight opens up in a way few CEOs are willing to do. John Jacob Astor: This book provides insights into the life of John Jacob Astor, the German-American businessman who played a key role in the fur trade and real estate development in early America.
It’s an amazing tale.”
9. Pradeep Thakur showcases Carnegie's rags-to-riches journey, his commitment to philanthropy, and his impact on the steel industry and libraries. Considered to be the Jekyll-and-Hyde of American capitalism, Rockefeller “was known as both a rapacious robber baron, whose Standard Oil Company rode roughshod over an industry, and a philanthropist who donated money lavishly to universities and medical centers“.
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Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
This book is recommended by Warren Buffett, who co-founded Berkshire Hathaway together with Charlie Munger. There’s also one entrepreneur biography – or more – sprinkled in there, as well, so have a blast!
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Pradeep Thakur sheds light on Rockefeller's business acumen, philanthropy, and his influence on the oil industry. Steve Jobs
This book probably needs no introduction, as I’m confident it’s the most popular biography from this list. Sam Walton: Made in America, by Sam Walton with John Huey
Published in 1992 by Bantam
This memoir by the founder of Walmart tells the story of how he built his company from a single five-and-dime store into the world’s largest retailer.
Isaacson examines their lives and careers and the impact they have had on the world.
