Books to Read – November 2011

Here is the list for the month of November.  I hope you enjoy each of these books as much as I have!

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Not surprisingly, the biography of Steve Jobs tops my list for this month.  It’s a fantastic read and will not disappoint.  I will have a separate post later this month that has more details.  I can’t take the proper amount of space to write about it here.

I’m Feeling Lucky:  The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Doug Edwards

I picked this book up on a bit of a whim this past month.  I knew it could go either way, but I was willing to take a shot at it just to hear about the early days of Google.  While there is an annoying focus on Edwards’ battles with Marissa Mayer, I thought the meat of this book was really interesting.  Much like Steve Jobs, Larry and Sergey made (and make) decisions based on their view of the universe without regard for what anyone else thought.   They knew that their path was the right one, even when it looked like they were completely wrong.  The stories of schlepping machines around and duct-taping systems together so that they could land the big deals rang completely true to me.  I recommend this book with the warning that Edwards will annoy you at various points, but it’s worth pushing through.

Zarella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design and Engineering of Contagious Ideas by Dan Zarella

I picked up this book while reading The Accidental Creative.  It’s a good book if you operate in the social media space and want to understand better how to use it as a platform for your company or cause.  It’s an easy read, and has some practical tips for navigating the landscape.

Priceless: A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom Davis

In the interest of full disclosure, Tom Davis is a good friend of mine and I support the work he is doing at Children’s Hopechest.  They are a tremendous organization, and I urge you to check them out.  Priceless is a novel based on Tom’s real-life journey into the seedy underbelly of the Russian sex-slave trade.  It’s a fantastic story, and one that will have you turning the pages and unable to sleep until you get to the end.  Once you finish, you will be compelled to do something about it.

Let me know your thoughts on these books as you read them.  I would love to know what you think of them as well.