“Atlas Shrugged” By Any Rand. First published in 1957, this was Rand’s 4th and last novel.  The book explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators refuse to be exploited by society.  As the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, society’s most productive citizens progressively disappear.  As the “minds” who drive society’s growth and productivity vanish, the motor of the world slows to almost nothing.  For those of you who share the philosophy of advocacy of reason, individualism, the market economy and the failure of government coercion – you’ll want to make this an annual read.  My ALL TIME favorite.

“Crossing the Chasm” By Geoffrey A. Moore. It’s a marketing classic for entrepreneurs, especially those first starting out. It’s critically important that entrepreneurs know who their initial customers are and move on to bigger markets from there. This book offers both insight and information you can go and apply.

“eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work” By Randall E. Stross. This book follows a group of young venture capitalists during the dot-com era. It gives you a great account from ‘97 to ‘99, right as we were ramping up to the peak of the bubble, by describing the actions and mind-sets of venture capitalists.

“Instinct: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial DNA to Achieve Business Goals” By Thomas L. Harrison with Mary H. Frakes.  It’s a fun book, and those who have a technical background will especially like it, because even though it’s not a science book, the author uses the language of science as a basis for discussion. He writes about how to recognize your weaknesses and how to build a team around you that compensates for them.

“The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century” By Thomas L. Friedman.  It’s particularly important for those just starting out to understand the environment they’re entering, and this book talks about how the environment has changed competition, making it more global for every company of every size. It says every company is a global company, and you need to think about that when starting one.

“Innovation and Entrepreneurship” By Peter F. Drucker.  Peter was one of the first to talk about the skills and mind-set of an entrepreneur versus the traits. He talks about entrepreneurship in terms of learnable skills, which is important because at the end of the day, it’s the skills that matter most.

“The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything” By Guy Kawasaki.  This book gets down to the details about pitching a business plan to venture capitalists for the first time. It goes all the way from how long the presentation should be to how large the font size should be on the slide. And the author does it in a very humorous and tongue-in-cheek way.