Books like Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

01

Good to Great

Jim Collins · Business

Good to Great is Jim Collins's attempt to answer a deceptively simple question: why do some good companies make the leap to sustained greatness while most don't?

A kindred biography read.

02

The Innovator's Dilemma

Clayton M. Christensen · Business

Christensen's argument, published in 1997, is deceptively simple: the very practices that make companies excellent at serving their current customers — listening carefully, investing in proven technologies, targeting the most profitable segments — are precisely what causes them to miss disruptive innovations.

Both dig into innovation.

03

High Output Management

Andrew S. Grove · Business

High Output Management is Andrew Grove's manual for how managers at any level should think about their work.

Both dig into decision-making.

04

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Michael Lewis · Business

Moneyball is Michael Lewis's account of how Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, used statistical analysis to compete against teams with payrolls three times larger.

A kindred biography read.

05

Getting Things Done

David Allen · Self-help

Getting Things Done is David Allen's argument that the main source of stress in modern knowledge work isn't the volume of tasks — it's having commitments that live only in your head.

Shares decision-making and systems thinking with Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War.

06

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

Roger L. Martin and A.G. Lafley · Business

Playing to Win is Roger Martin and A.G.

Shares innovation and decision-making with Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War.

07

The Great Mental Models

Shane Parrish · Self-help

The Great Mental Models is the first volume in Shane Parrish's series drawn from his Farnam Street blog, which he built into one of the most widely read sites on thinking and decision-making.

Shares decision-making and systems thinking with Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War.

08

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Ashlee Vance · Biography

Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk is the most comprehensive account of Musk's life and companies up to 2015, written with Musk's cooperation after an initial refusal and a long negotiation.

Both dig into innovation.

09

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson · Biography

Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was authorized by Jobs himself, who gave Isaacson more than forty hours of interviews and opened up his family, friends, and colleagues to the same scrutiny.

Both dig into innovation.

10

The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal

M. Mitchell Waldrop · Biography

The Dream Machine is a biography of J.C.R.

Both dig into innovation.

11

The Little Kingdom

Michael Moritz · Biography

The Little Kingdom is the first serious book about Apple Computer, written in 1984 while the company was still young and its founders were still defining what it would become.

Both dig into innovation.

12

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Neal Gabler · Biography

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination is Neal Gabler's authorized biography, drawing on Disney's personal papers and company archives that had been closed to researchers for decades.

Both dig into innovation.