History · Similar reads
Books like Empires of Light
The best books like Empires of Light are The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, The Soul of a New Machine, and Thunderstruck. Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes is about innovation, electricity, industrial history. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
01
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
Walter Isaacson · Science
The Innovators is Walter Isaacson's history of the digital revolution, tracing the development of computers and the internet from Ada Lovelace's conceptualization of programming in the 1840s through the emergence of the modern internet, personal computer, and smartphone.
Both dig into innovation.
Read the summary → - The Soul of a New Machine
02
Tracy Kidder · Memoir
Tracy Kidder's account of the engineers at Data General Corporation who designed a new minicomputer under enormous competitive pressure in the late 1970s won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1982 and effectively invented the genre of technology-company narrative journalism.
Shares competition and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Thunderstruck
03
Erik Larson · History
Thunderstruck interweaves two narratives set in Edwardian England and the North Atlantic: the story of Guglielmo Marconi's obsessive drive to make wireless telegraphy work across the Atlantic Ocean, and the story of Hawley Harvey Crippen, a mild-mannered American doctor who murdered his wife in London in 1910 and fled with his mistress — only to be captured at sea because of a wireless telegraph message, the first criminal caught with the technology's help.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
04
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Erik Larson · History
Dead Wake tells the story of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, when a German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, including 128 Americans.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Blue Ocean Strategy
05
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne · Business
Blue Ocean Strategy is Kim and Mauborgne's case that the most successful companies don't compete in existing markets by beating rivals at their own game — they create new market spaces where competition is irrelevant.
Shares innovation and competition with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Continuous Discovery Habits
06
Teresa Torres · Business
Continuous Discovery Habits is Teresa Torres's practical guide to making product discovery a sustainable, weekly team practice rather than a periodic research event.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
07
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.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
08
Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Marty Cagan and Chris Jones · Business
Empowered is Marty Cagan and Chris Jones's guide to what separates product organizations that consistently build products people love from those that operate as feature factories.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
09
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan · Business
Inspired is Marty Cagan's guide to how the best technology companies build products that customers actually want.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
10
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 competition with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - Steve Jobs
11
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.
Shares innovation and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary → - The Right Stuff
12
Tom Wolfe · Memoir
Tom Wolfe's account of the early years of American manned spaceflight — from the test pilots of Edwards Air Force Base to the Mercury Seven astronauts — is the most celebrated work of New Journalism and one of the essential books about American culture in the twentieth century.
Shares competition and technology with Empires of Light.
Read the summary →
Books like Empires of Light: quick answers
What are the best books like Empires of Light?
The best books like Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes are The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Empires of Light, such as innovation, electricity, industrial history.
What should I read after Empires of Light?
A natural next read after Empires of Light is The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. Both dig into innovation. Other strong choices are The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson.
What books are similar to Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes?
Empires of Light centers on innovation, electricity, industrial history. Books with a similar feel include The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
