Inspiration: Book Recommendations
We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants. Fortunately today, we have many giants to chose from. Here’s a list of my favorite books. Links to Amazon.de
Entrepreneurship and Managing Business
Skunk Works (Ben Rich)
Over a span of 40 years, the worlds highest flying plane, the worlds fastest plane and the first invisible plane all come from the one single entity, the Lockheed Skunk Works. The developments were all considerably cheaper than anything else that has been developed on that scale. That is why I find Skunk works such an inspiration in running startups and corporate startups. This book was cowritten by Ben Rich who ran Skunk Works after taking over from his mentor Kelly Johnson.
My Forty Years with Ford (Charles Sorensen)
The early years of Ford make one of the most increadible stories in history. Encourages you to aim higher.
Venture Deals (Brad Feld)
If I had read this book before starting Qype, I would have avoided many of the mistakes I made and would have had time to make some others.
Value Investing
The Intelligent Investor (Ben Graham)
No book was responsible for creating more solid wealth than this one. Although published in 1947 there is nothing better that has ever been published. Too many people have built their fortune on the principles of Benjamin Graham to dismiss this a coincidence.
The Snowball (Warren Buffett)
It is a bit long and contains a bit too much personal stuff to my taste, but this books is the most detailed account on how Buffett evolved.
Behavioral Econonomics
The most important thread linking both investing and running businesses is human behavior. While the works of Daniel Kahnemann and Dan Ariely are now well known, here a couple of others:
The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)
Duhigg does a great job in explaining how habits work. While not providing a recipe to change them – he gives you a framework to change your own habtits.
Spent (Geoffrey Miller)
Evolutionary psychology is in theory not exactly behavioral economics, but this books belongs into this category. A lot of stuff just seems to make sense all of a sudden. Spent expains why we buy stuff. It is a fantastic read.