Hey Nineteen: The Best 19 Books of 2019

"You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read"

— Coach John Wooden

I read a lot of books every year so you don't have to - and here are the best 19 of the bunch. This year the vast majority were published in 2019, thought a few are from prior years and marked as such. They're mostly business and biography with a few other genres represented, and a single work of fiction. If that's not enough, you can go back further and find 80 other additional annual recommendations since 2014 starting here. But for your consideration, here are The Nineteen of 2019...

The Man Who Solved The Market - Gregory Zuckerman @GZuckerman

The origins of quantitative trading and the history of arguably the best investor in history, with the very human stories of the people who built it and even helped elect an unlikely candidate.

Reboot - Jerry Colonna @JerryColonna

I'm glad I got to know Jerry better this year, and I liked his book on leadership and "growing up" so much I gave a copy to all the CEO's I work with.

The Ride of a Lifetime - Robert Iger @RobertIger

The book exceeded expectations, as has Bob Iger's tenure at Disney - the highlights for me were the acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel, and he isn't afraid to tell stories and name names

Medallion Status - John Hodgman @hodgman

Very funny, very dry, and insight on gaining and losing status.

Secrets of Sand Hill Road - Scott Kupor @skupor

In my opinion this now the single best book for anyone who wants to learn about the world of venture capital.

VC - An American History - Tom Nicholas

For any VC or founder who wants to learn the pre-history and roots of the business.

What It Takes - Stephen A. Schwarzman

I loved the stories from his Philly roots to the Ivy League to raising his first fund.

Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow @RonanFarrow

Investigative journalism at its best, it really shines light on the enablers of Harvey Weinstein in and around and outside of his company.

The Conservative Sensibility - George F. Will @GeorgeWill

Very long and deep dive into the roots and tenets of Conservatism by a thoughtful voice.

Socialism Sucks - Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell

Funny and light, but a sobering look at Socialism around the real world.

Try Common Sense - Phillip K. Howard @PhilipKHoward

I love a good centrist dose of common sense and this one delivers - here's a quote from it...

“No-one is in control of modern government. No-one designed it either. It’s just an accidental accretion of decades of legislative and judicial decisions and compromises piled on top of each other... Meanwhile, we decide nothing.”

Range - David Epstein @DavidEpstein

Great take on how being a generalist can be a super power, and I loved his stories about one of my favorite people Frances Hesselbein - that's her pictured with him in his Twitter bio.

Trillion Dollar Coach - Eric Schmidt @ericschmidt

Better than expected, I knew Bill a little and heard a lot of stories, but there are some new insights to his approach and impact here.

Working - Robert Caro

Deep dive into HOW and WHY he writes the way he does, it inspired me to attempt his 66 hour on Audible (1200 pages on dead trees) book The Power Broker.

The Best Record Stores in the US - Vinyl Me Please @VinylMePlease

The perfect coffee table book for anyone that loves Vinyl or wants to argue about the best record store in each state - and also maybe a great guide for an amazing road trip.

AI Superpowers (2018) - Kai Fu Lee @kaifulee

Understandable overview of AI and especially how China is uniquely positioned to take the lead in the future.

Becoming (2018) - Michelle Obama @MichelleObama

Amazing story, beautifully written - get the audio book that Michelle narrates herself.

Thirst (2018) - Scott Harrison @scottharrison

Scott is a force of nature and the work Charity Water does is changing lives around the world. If you don't get the book, at least watch this.

Ghost Fleet (2015) - PW Singer and August Cole @august_cole

It's kind of a Black Mirror novel of the Next World War - feels equal parts scary and real.

That's it - happy reading!

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”

― Joseph Brodsky