Episode · Invest Like the Best · 2024-07-16
Patrick O'Shaughnessy & David Senra: books mentioned on Invest Like the Best (Jul 2024)
David Senra - Passion & Pain - [Invest Like the Best, Replay]
Today, we are replaying what we call a forever episode, which are the few episodes of our show that we think will be as popular a decade from now as they are today. Every time I re-listen to this episode with David Senra, I leave wildly energized and wanting to share that feeling.
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, Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant, The Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz, Return to 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, Runnin' Down a Dream by Bill Gurley, Invisible Billionaire by Gong ZiGeEr, Masters of Doom by David Kushner, Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda, Insanely Simple by Ken Segall, Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy, Disneyland by Tim O'Day, 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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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“And another guy called Alfred Lee Loomis. There was a biography of him called Tuxedo Park. And what Shannon and Loomis had in common is they wouldn't argue their ideas.”
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.”
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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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.”
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 him.”
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“But I had just recently been rereading books on John D. Rockefeller. And this guy named Jay Gold pops up in Rockefeller's biography, every single one, which is really weird. Everybody's read Titan, the most famous biography of John D. Rockefeller.”
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.”
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 yeah, he breaks the law, is there's a fantastic book I did a podcast on. It's called Tycoon's War.”
Where to get it
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Runnin' Down a Dream
Runnin' Down a Dream by Bill Gurley is a guide on how to survive and thrive in a career you love by examining the habits of dedicated professionals.
Discussed“I'm going to read this quote that I have saved on my phone. It's hilarious. It's by Bill Gurley. It's called Running Down a Dream, How to Survive and Thrive in a Job You Love.”
Where to get it
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Invisible Billionaire
Discussed“Daniel Ludwig. What a crazy book I read. It's called The Invisible Billionaire. Book is very hard to find. This guy was the richest person in the world. And no one knew who he was.”
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“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. There's John Romero and John Carmack.”
Where to get it
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Creative Selection
Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda is an insider's account of software development and iterative design at Apple, written by a former engineer who worked closely on foundational interface technologies.
Discussed“There's a great book by Ken Kosienda called Creative Selection. He demoed to Steve Jobs, said the same thing. He goes, listen, Steve was at the center of all circles in Apple.”
Where to get it
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Insanely Simple
Insanely Simple by Ken Segall is a business book written by an ad executive who worked closely with Apple, detailing how Steve Jobs used simplicity as a guiding philosophy to drive innovation and marketing.
Discussed“I've read a book called Insanely Simple, which is written by one of the guys that worked at the ad agency that Apple used. And he compares and contrasts in the book, Dell's approach to marketing when he worked for them and Apple's.”
Where to get it
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Ogilvy on Advertising
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy is a classic text on direct-response marketing, copywriting, and effective visual positioning written by one of the legendary figures of the advertising industry.
Discussed“So David Ogilvie winds up in the very last chapter of Ogilvie and advertising. He talks about the six people, the six advertising giants that came before him that he studied.”
Where to get it
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Disneyland
Disneyland by Tim O'Day is a detailed nonfiction book exploring the history, extensive planning, and intricate creative processes behind the iconic amusement park.
Discussed“To go into the process behind it, that book, Disneyland, goes into it. And to your point, it's almost like opening the kimono. He shared with the entire country all the work and effort and detail that went into it.”
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“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“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 a Readwise app, 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.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — 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?”
“So there's two guys I discovered through the podcast. One's Claude Shannon through Jimmy Sonny's fantastic book, A Mind at Play.”