Great Reads

The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith, 1776.

Without question the best economics book ever written.  Smith was far ahead of his time.  Lengthy sections on labor, money, agriculture, manufacturing, the mercantile system and even the Roman Empire.

​

The example on division of labor and the pin manufacturing is a masterpiece of economic thought.  Much of what is taught today is derived from this book.

​

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, 1957.

Foretelling book filled with insight on what would eventually happen in the our modern world.  Not going to lie to you, the book is a tough slog to read.  A bit wordy and has some tangents, but it is brilliant.

​

In short, the business people are Atlas.  As the business people have success and drive the economy forward the government continually attempts to regulate and control them, resorting to virtually any means necessary.  Eventually the largest, most successful business people simply throw in the towel and disappear (they shrug and drop the earth).  Soon the country is brought to its knees and the government is then forced to capitulate and capitalism reigns.

​

Any of this ring a bell for you business owners?

​

Boone, T. Boone Pickens, 1987.

One of my personal favorites.  I carried this one in my army ruck sack everywhere we went.  It is that good.  Legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens walks you through the process of building his company from nothing into a billion dollar enterprise.  He was truly a legend in the energy business.  He started out on his own, typing out his letterhead himself.  By 1983, oil majors like Gulf and Phillips were deathly afraid of him.

​

His style is up front and self-effacing.  He openly discusses mistakes he made and how you might avoid them.  Every business student at every university should be required to read this book.

​

One sidelight, Boone was awesome.  I asked for him to sign a copy of his book and he wrote a long note in my copy and sent four or five more signed copies back with a letter.  He was a great guy.  As flawed as any of us and unafraid to tell you that.

​

Complete Writings on America, Edmund Burke, 2016.

The book is a compilation of philosopher Edmund Burke's work regarding the American colonies.  It is brilliant.  Truly brilliant.  It centers on personal liberty, freedom, property rights, and the overall prosperity of the colonies.  Burke was in fact British, but defiantly warned the King of England not to go to war with the colonies.  (He thought we would give them utter hell...)

​

"In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole: and as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable, whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies probably than in any other people of the earth;"

​

Need I say more?

​

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, 1990. 

Great book.  Fun read.  Eventually made into a movie.

​

The book is the story of the merger of legendary RJR Reynolds Tobacco and legendary Nabisco Foods company and the eventual takeover and dismantling of the company by Wall Street.

​

If you have ever wondered as a small business owner if Wall Street is looking out for you, this books clear up that misconception. 

​

​

​