Cooler weather evokes thoughts of warming up by the fire, maybe with a good book. Here are a couple of book recommendations that would be interesting to the businessperson or entrepreneur.

fall-01The Startup PlaybookSecrets Of The Fastest Growing Startups From Their Founding Entrepreneurs by David Kidder.

Kidder is the author of The Intellectual Devotional series and a successful entrepreneur. Publishers Weekly called this book “the perfect coffee table book of collective entrepreneurial wisdom.” Kidder asked 41 founders of successful companies, such as AOL, Zipcar, and Priceline, to offer a wide scope of advice that they learned from their entrepreneurial experiences. He presents their advice in the form of a playbook with a large range of ideas and projects that can make up a successful startup plan.

fall-02Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

This book was released this past May and is garnering a lot of attention, just as its subject, Elon Musk, continues to be in the forefront of the news. Vance is a tech writer for Bloomberg Business Week and gives a comprehensive study of the entrepreneur.

The 44 year old Musk is a virtual superman of tech startups, currently CEO of the rocket company Space X and the electric car company Tesla Motors, along with being chariman of SolarCity, the largest American solar power installation company. Somehow, he keeps moving a step ahead of everyone else, similar to the mystique that surrounded Steve Jobs.

Vance does a good job of telling the background story of Musk, from his very humble and difficult origins in South Africa to his emigration to Canada at 17 and eventually to Silicon Valley and his net worth of over 13 billion dollars.

Musk’s career started in the 1990’s, and his knowledge of technology and vision for the Internet’s potential, enabled him to start and sell companies that eventually funded the companies he now owns. He is known to be a workaholic, a risk taker, and a visionary, who surrounds himself with the right people.

As a tech writer, Vance is enthusiastic and detailed in his biograpy of Musk. Based on extensive interviews with close to 300 people, this book is a compelling and informative read for anyone interested in business and technology.

And, one more suggestion…..

fall-03Mark Zuckerberg started a book group this year, and his book suggestions are always intellectual and compelling. You may want to follow along on facebook. One recommendation this summer was Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar Animation. It is the story of Pixar, but it is also a book of wisdom on management and entrepreneurialism.

Happy Reading!