Been reading a lot lately. Well, I’ve been reading tons of RSS stuff my whole career life, but this time I have bought myself new books for this part of the year. Kind of a “gift” for me, if you know what I mean. (smirks) Here goes the list!
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
This one’s a no-brainer. Everyone loves Steve. I love his way of seeing things, how less could be more. I always tell my students and colleagues Steve’s best contribution to society, more than the set of gimicky gadgets he came up with, is the idea of celebrating and enhancing life as we know it, everything from work to non-work. And if you could earn billions while doing it, why not?
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.
Truly an enjoyable read, The Lean Startup is a must-have for aspiring startup people who just want to make their share of world-changing things in the history of doing business. But I haven’t finished this one yet.
Startups Open Sourced by Jared Tame
Get inside the minds of today’s leading startup founders with the most honest and candid collection of startup founder interviews. Contains interviews with 33 startups discussing the most difficult topics entrepreneurs face: creating and validating ideas, finding cofounders, obtaining users, growing revenue, staying motivated, acquisition process, and more.
Anyone who knows me, knows I’m an open-source lover… or addict… or worshipper (I think more between being and addict and a worshipper). At work, I live and breathe open source. When I teach, I always make it a point that there are alternatives. I have to say, if ever I will start a business up (not saying soon, not saying never), I’m pretty lost when it comes to keeping IP and / or sharing source code to everyone. This book is helpful in choosing to make developers and go-getters happy, while keeping your business afloat. A must-read for me (I already bought it so I’m forced to read it).
… and for my monthly fiction fix… just wait for my next post. Hehe.