Episode · Invest Like the Best · 2022-08-30
Patrick O'Shaughnessy & David Senra: books mentioned on Invest Like the Best #292
David Senra - Passion & Pain - [Invest Like the Best, EP.292]
My guest today is David Senra. David has studied history’s great founders and entrepreneurs in more depth than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’d wager more than anyone else alive.
David Senra recommended Against the Odds by James Dyson, STEVE JOBS & THE NEXT BIG THING, and Meet You in Hell by Les Standiford, and discussed The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen, Sam Walton by Sam Walton, A Mind at Play by Jimmy Soni and others, Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant, Return to the Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz, The Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz, Titan by Ron Chernow, Dark Genius of Wall Street by Edward Renehan, Tycoon's War by Stephen Dando-Collins, Masters of Doom by David Kushner, Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone, The Everything Store by Brad Stone, and Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Against the Odds
Against the Odds by James Dyson is an autobiography detailing the inventor's relentless fourteen-year struggle to create the dual-cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner and build his enterprise.
Recommended“If there was an entrepreneur that could only read one of the books that I've read so far for founders, it would be this book called Against the Odds, an autobiography of James Dyson.”
Where to get it
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The Fish That Ate the Whale
The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen is a riveting biographical work chronicling the life of Samuel Zemurray, an ambitious immigrant who rose to become the powerful head of the United Fruit Company and earned the moniker of the banana king.
Discussed“A perfect example of this is not only is it one of the craziest stories in entrepreneurship history, but it's also one of the most fun books to read. It's called The Fish That Ate the Whale.”
Where to get it
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Sam Walton
Discussed“I think of like Sam Walton. I just reread his fantastic autobiography. Everybody knows about that. But rereading it over and over again, you see different things.”
Where to get it
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A Mind at Play
A Mind at Play by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman is a biography of the pioneering mathematician, engineer, and computer scientist Claude Shannon.
Discussed“So there's two guys I discovered through the podcast. One's Claude Shannon through Jimmy Sonny's fantastic book, A Mind at Play. And another guy called Alfred Lee Loomis.”
Where to get it
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Tuxedo Park
Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant is a biographical work detailing the life and achievements of the American financier, physicist, and philanthropist Alfred Lee Loomis.
Discussed“One's Claude Shannon through Jimmy Sonny's fantastic book, A Mind at Play. And another guy called Alfred Lee Loomis. There was a biography of him called Tuxedo Park.”
Where to get it
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Return to the Little Kingdom
Return to the Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz is an early history of Apple computer company chronicling its founding years and key developments.
Discussed“Mike Moritz wrote this fantastic book, The Little Kingdom. I read the updated version called The Return to the Little Kingdom. And what's fascinating about that is that's way before Mike was an investor.”
Where to get it
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The Little Kingdom
The Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz is a classic early history of Apple Computer and its co-founder Steve Jobs.
Discussed“So you mentioned Mike Moritz earlier. Mike Moritz wrote this fantastic book, The Little Kingdom. I read the updated version called The Return to the Little Kingdom. And what's fascinating about that is that's way before Mike was an investor.”
Where to get it
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STEVE JOBS & THE NEXT BIG THING
Steve Jobs & the Next Big Thing by Randall E.
Recommended“And then what you need to jump into right after that, there's another book called Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing. I think it was written by Randall Strauss. That book is about the 13 years between he left Apple and then he returned.”
Where to get it
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Meet You in Hell
Meet You in Hell by Les Standiford is a dual biography exploring the intertwined lives and bitter falling out of industrial giants Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick.
Recommended“There's a fantastic book called Meet You in Hell. I recommend everybody reads if you want to learn about Andrew Carnegie and Frick. It's about what Frick told them. They had a falling out.”
Where to get it
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Titan
Titan by Ron Chernow is the definitive biographical masterpiece chronicling the extraordinary life, ruthless business tactics, and lasting legacy of American oil tycoon John D.
Discussed“Everybody's read Titan, the most famous biography of John D. Rockefeller. What I did is I went in the bibliography of Titan, found a book that the author, Ron Chernow, used his research and ordered it.”
Where to get it
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Dark Genius of Wall Street
Dark Genius of Wall Street by Edward Renehan is a biography chronicling the controversial life and financial dominance of nineteenth-century tycoon Jay Gould.
Discussed“So the author actually sent me the book, a biography of Jay Gold came out like 15 years ago. I think it's called like Dark Genius of Wall Street or something like that. These are formidable people saying this is the one you got to pay attention to that.”
Where to get it
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Tycoon's War
Tycoon's War by Stephen Dando-Collins is a historical account detailing the violent conflict involving Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Walker.
Discussed“The reason I say he's not like anybody else, and yet he breaks the law, is there's a fantastic book I did a podcast on. It's called Tycoon's War. There was this other guy. I think his name's William Wallace.”
Where to get it
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Masters of Doom
Masters of Doom by David Kushner is a nonfiction narrative chronicling the creation of the groundbreaking video game Doom and the turbulent partnership between its developers, John Romero and John Carmack.
Discussed“I feel like I'm like the Jiro dreams of sushi of the podcast world, where it's just like, you have a massive audience, you have people around you, you have a movement. The way I think about it is like, I read this great book called Masters of Doom, which is obviously about the video game Doom.”
Where to get it
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Amazon Unbound
Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone is a deep-dive investigative biography exploring the later years of Jeff Bezos's leadership and the massive corporate expansion of Amazon.
Discussed“Think about this I just read Amazon Unbound. Jeff Bezos is one of my heroes. One of the best obviously to ever do it that's not really saying anything. I like the everything store more than I like Amazon Unbound”
Where to get it
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The Everything Store
The Everything Store by Brad Stone is an exhaustive corporate biography that chronicles the meteoric rise of Amazon and the relentless ambition of its founder, Jeff Bezos.
Discussed“Jeff Bezos is one of my heroes. One of the best obviously to ever do it that's not really saying anything. I like the everything store more than I like Amazon Unbound”
Where to get it
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Creativity, Inc.
Creativity, Inc.
Discussed“What's surprising to me is in Readwise I can segment books by author, when's the last time I read it. What's fascinating is I segmented it by, what book has I highlighted the most? I was shocked what it was. It was the autobiography of Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“And even before I could read, one of my favorite books when I was a real young kid was Where's Waldo? That's not even reading. That's just sitting there trying to find the guy with the striped hat.”