Episode · Modern Wisdom · 2024-12-16
Books mentioned on 15 Harsh Truths From History’s Greatest Founders - David Senra - #878
David Senra is the host of Founders podcast and an investor. Every success story is like a unique song, composed with different instruments.
David Senra recommended Invent and Wander by Walter Isaacson and others, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight and others, Liftoff by Eric Berger, Make Something Wonderful by Steve Jobs, and Zero to One by Peter A. Thiel and others, and discussed Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers' Edition by Ashlee Vance, Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger and others, Arnold and Me, Outsiders, The by William N. Thorndike Jr. and others, All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There by Peter Bevelin, Titan by Ron Chernow, and The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Invent and Wander
Invent and Wander by Walter Isaacson and Jeff Bezos is a compilation of the Amazon founder's shareholder letters, speeches, and writings accompanied by an introduction.
Recommended“and um there's this great book called invent and wander and it's the collected writings of Jeff basos so they take his shareholder letters and they take transcripts of his speeches”
Where to get it
-
Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a compelling memoir by the co-founder of Nike that chronicles the grueling journey and tenacity required to build a global athletic brand.
Recommended“I would say one of the great if if you're talking about like one of the near perfect entrepreneur autobiographies is Phil Knight's shoe dog where he's telling the story of Nike”
Where to get it
-
Elon Musk
Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance is an in-depth biography tracing the life, career, and complex ventures of the prominent entrepreneur.
Discussed“so the very first episode of Founders in September 20 2016 was Ashley Vance's book on Elon”
Where to get it
-
Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers' Edition
Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance is a comprehensive biographical account chronicling the life, career, and entrepreneurial ventures of Elon Musk across companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
Discussed“so the very first episode of Founders in September 20 2016 was Ashley Vance's book on Elon”
Where to get it
-
Liftoff
Liftoff by Eric Berger is a narrative nonfiction book that chronicles the frantic, high-stakes founding years of SpaceX and the early attempts to reach orbit.
Recommended“but I just read this book called liftoff uh Elon Musk in the desperate early days of SpaceX”
Where to get it
-
Total Recall
Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography Total Recall chronicles his extraordinary life trajectory from a small Austrian village to bodybuilding dominance, Hollywood superstardom, and the governorship of California.
Discussed“and you know his his his autobiography that he wrote when he was 70 called Total Recall is excellent right”
Where to get it
-
Arnold and Me
Discussed“then I'm watching that Netflix documentary on him that came out and they kept interviewing this his his girlfriend that Arnold lived with before he was famous from 21 to 26 and she go and it's like author of Arnold and me”
Where to get it
-
Outsiders, The
The Outsiders by William N.
Discussed“there's this book called The Outsiders and I pick it up I start reading about it I'm like oh my God the ideas that I thought were Buffet Anders were Singleton”
Where to get it
-
All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There
Discussed“that line is in my favorite book um on Buffet Ander it's called all I want to know is where I'm going to die so I'll never go there”
Where to get it
-
Titan
Titan by Ron Chernow is a comprehensive biography detailing the life and monumental business career of industrialist John D.
Discussed“there's there's one canonical biography of Rockefeller called Titan it's like 800 Pages it's great”
Where to get it
-
Make Something Wonderful
Make Something Wonderful by Steve Jobs is a digital book compiling the speeches, emails, and writings of the legendary entrepreneur, offering a direct look into his thoughts in his own words.
Recommended“so the Steve Jobs archive which is run by Steve's Widow just released this free book you can read online called make something wonderful Steve Jobs in his own words”
Where to get it
-
Zero to One
Zero to One by Peter A.
Recommended“what I if you're only going to read one book on business obviously in my opinion especially today's day age you read Z to one right”
Where to get it
-
The Fish That Ate the Whale
The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen is a biographical work chronicling the life of Samuel Zemurray, an immigrant who rose from selling discarded bananas to building a massive corporate empire.
Discussed“the reason the book is called the fish to ate the whale is because the the biggest fruit company of the time is called United Fruit and Sams and Murray competes head-to-head with them”
Where to get it
