Person
Every book David Rosenthal recommended on podcasts
David Rosenthal’s most recommended books
- Sam Walton, Made in America by Sam Walton
- 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer
- Titan by Ron Chernow
- Made in Japan by Akio Morita
- The Everything Store by Brad Stone
- The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean
- Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald
- Electronic Value Exchange by David L. Stearns
- The Formula Feed Industry in 1969 by Earl Franklin Hodges
- The Genius Makers by Cade Metz
David Rosenthal is a podcast host and technology commentator best known for co-hosting the Acquired podcast, where he explores the history and strategies of major companies. Throughout his appearances on the show, Rosenthal recommended and discussed several books that informed company histories and specific episodes. He recommended Joel Glenn Brenner's The Emperors of Chocolate during a carveouts segment, praising the book as very good. For research on Trader Joe's, he discussed Mark Gardiner's Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's, which details the author's experience working as a crew member at the company for a year. Rosenthal also highlighted Joe Coulombe's autobiography, Becoming Trader Joe, noting it served as a primary source for the podcast episode. Additionally, while recounting the history of artificial intelligence and OpenAI, Rosenthal referenced Cade Metz's The Genius Makers, describing it as a great book on the history of AI and noting it documented key strategy meetings and events involving figures like Larry Page and the formation of the company. Finally, during a live show, he highlighted Barry Diller's memoir Who Knew, praising its coverage of Hollywood history.
Books recommended by David Rosenthal
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Sam Walton, Made in America
Sam Walton, Made in America by Sam Walton and John Huey is the autobiographical account of the legendary founder of Walmart and his journey to building a retail empire.
Discussed“of course Sam Walton actually wrote in made in America that he stole more ideas from Saul than anyone else in his business career”
Where to get it
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7 Powers
7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer is a definitive business strategy book that outlines the seven core economic mechanisms enabling companies to achieve persistent differential returns.
Discussed“For new listeners to the show, this is based on a book called Seven Powers by Hamilton Helmer. And it is the seven factors that enable a business to achieve persistent differential returns”
Where to get it
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Titan
Titan by Ron Chernow is the definitive, sweeping biography of John D.
Discussed“so as turnout writes in titan about this quote the 1892 overhaul was mostly shadow play a charade to appease the courts”
Where to get it
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Made in Japan
Made in Japan by Akio Morita, Edwin M.
Recommended“made in Japan and made in America”
Where to get it
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The Everything Store
The Everything Store by Brad Stone is a canonical history of Amazon's first twenty years and the leadership style of Jeff Bezos.
Discussed“i believe the quote from eric schmidt in the everything store was the book guys finally got technology”
Where to get it
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The Smartest Guys in the Room
The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind is a detailed investigative account of the rise and spectacular fall of the Enron Corporation.
Discussed“so you read the smartest guys in the room right by Bethany McLean”
Where to get it
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Electronic Value Exchange
Electronic Value Exchange by David L.
Recommended“well we are starting actually with a big thank you to Dave Sterns author of what is undeniably the very best book on Visa and its history electronic value exchange”
Where to get it
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The Formula Feed Industry in 1969
Discussed“And as Josh and Jonathan point out in the book, the sport is literally named after the rule book.”
Where to get it
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The Genius Makers
The Genius Makers by Cade Metz is a comprehensive historical account of the artificial intelligence revolution, tracking the key breakthroughs and figures that shaped modern machine learning.
Recommended“So, Jeff Hinton actually runs the auction from his hotel room at the Hera's Casino in Lake Tahoe. Oh my god, amazing. So, the bids all come in and we got to thank Cade Mets, the author of Genius Makers, great book on the whole history of AI that we're actually going to reference a lot in this episode.”
Where to get it
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A Piece of the Action
Discussed“this is the name of the title in this fantastic book a piece of the action how the middle class joined the money class and is chapter 1 the drop 1958”
Where to get it
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America's Game
Discussed“Michael McCainbridge has a great quote in the beginning of America's game where he says to say that baseball was the number one sport in America is to imply a hierarchy where none existed.”
Where to get it
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Built from Scratch
Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, and Bob Andelman tells the canonical entrepreneurial story of how Home Depot grew from a modest concept into a retail giant.
Discussed“So, this is from the book Built from Scratch. Chainan says, The stock is selling for about $8 a share. How about if we pay you 10?”
Where to get it
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The Ride of a Lifetime
The Ride of a Lifetime is a business memoir by Robert Iger detailing his leadership experiences and career at Disney.
Discussed“There's even a quote in Bob Iger's book which which we haven't talked about Bob yet but we will.”
Where to get it
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Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's
Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's by Mark Gardiner details the unique corporate culture and branding strategies of the popular grocery chain through the author's firsthand experiences.
Recommended“And then I read this other book for research called Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's by this guy Mark Gardner.”
Where to get it
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Becoming Trader Joe
Becoming Trader Joe by Joe Coulombe is an insightful business autobiography that details the founding and unique operational strategy of the beloved grocery chain.
Discussed“Joe writes in his great great great autobiography called Becoming Trader Joe that came out a couple years ago that employees owned about half the company.”
Where to get it
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Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a compelling entrepreneur autobiography detailing the grueling early struggles, near-failures, and ultimate triumph behind the founding and rise of Nike.
Discussed“of course because this is acquired and because shoe dog is so good that's amazing”
Where to get it
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Beyond the Horizons
Beyond the Horizons by Walter J.
Discussed“what really turned me on to this was some of the chapters in beyond the horizons even though that book was written in the late 90s”
Where to get it
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In the Plex
In the Plex by Steven Levy is a comprehensive non-fiction history that chronicles the meteoric rise, corporate culture, and technological evolution of Google.
Discussed“Steven Levy writes in in the Plex that the perception of Google's ventures beyond search at the time was that the company was tossing balls into the air like a drunken juggler.”
Where to get it
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The Luxury Strategy
The Luxury Strategy by Jean-Noël Kapferer and Vincent Bastien is a comprehensive business and marketing book that outlines the distinct principles and anti-laws required to build and sustain ultra-luxury brands.
Discussed“I mean this is enshrined in the luxury strategy as anti-law of marketing number 19”
Where to get it
The other 29 books David Rosenthal recommended or discussed, ranked
- All You Need to Know about the Music Business by Donald S. Passman
- Masters of Doom by David Kushner
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- The Emperors of Chocolate by Joel Glenn Brenner
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- Transitions by William Bridges
- Who Knew by Barry Diller
- Wool by Hugh Howey
- Yield: How Google Bought, Built, and Bullied Its Way to Advertising Dominance by Ari Paparo
- Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury
- Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors by William Shockley
- Electrons and holes in semiconductors, with applications to transistor electronics by William Shockley
- Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
- I Love Capitalism! by Ken Langone
- Just Do it by Donald R. Katz
- Kick Up Some Dust by Bernie Marcus
- Leading by Design by Bertil Torekull
- Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
- One from Many by Dee Hock
- Porsche-Excellence Was Expected by Karl E. Ludvigsen
- Skunk Works by Leo Janos
- Sony by John Nathan
- Super Pumped by Mike Isaac
- Swoosh by J. B. Strasser
- Taylor Swift The Brightest Star by MICHAEL FRANCIS. TAYLOR
- The Formula by Joshua Robinson
- The IKEA Story by Bertil Torekull
- Walt Disney by Neal Gabler
- White Shadows in the South Seas by Frederick O'Brien
Appearances
Other mentions (11: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, Going Infinite, on and on and on.”
“Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, Going Infinite, on and on and on.”
“Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, Going Infinite, on and on and on.”
“Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, Going Infinite, on and on and on.”
“Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, Going Infinite, on and on and on.”
“this is way too simplistic of an analogy and you know not fair to mark on any Dimension but the whole construct here sort of reminds me of the book Enders Game”
“this is like the go Corporation of which Jared Kaplan wrote The Great Book startup about and ink certainly fell into that category”
“both ben and i just re-watched the godfather movies and yeah i forgot that godfather part two happens right before the revolution”
“you know like van said we read the book we read snowball we read titan”
“you know like van said we read the book we read snowball we read titan”
“daniel jurgen the great historian who wrote the prize which so many people have recommended after part one that we that we read”