Recommendations based on American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Roadby Nick Bilton

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

    by John Carreyrou
    The rise and fall of Theranos, a fraudulent blood-testing startup, and the deceitful actions of its founder Elizabeth Holmes.

    The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face ... (Goodreads)

  2. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

    by Phil Knight
    The story of one man's dream to start a business and the obstacles he encountered along the way.

    In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of ... (Goodreads)

  3. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

    by Hans Rosling
    A data-driven book that challenges common misconceptions about the world and presents a more accurate, optimistic view of global progress.

    Factfulness:, The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends— what percentage of the world’s ... (Goodreads)

  4. Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal

    by Nick Bilton
    A gripping account of the meteoric rise of Twitter and the interpersonal conflicts that ensued.

    Twitter seems like a perfect start-up success story. In barely six years, a small group of young, ambitious programmers in Silicon Valley built an $11.5 billion business out of the ashes of a failed ... (Goodreads)

  5. Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

    by Bill Browder
    The true story of a man's fight for justice in the face of corruption, injustice and murder.

    A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin's corruption. ... (Goodreads)

  6. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

    by Jason Schreier
    A behind-the-scenes look at the development of popular video games, from concept to release, and the challenges faced by their creators.

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  7. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

    by Alfred Lansing
    True story of a remarkable Antarctic expedition, a testament to the power of courage and tenacity.

    The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age. In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest ... (Goodreads)

  8. Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street

    by Sheelah Kolhatkar
    A thrilling account of the insider trading scandal that rocked Wall Street and the man who made billions from it.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • “An essential exposé of our times—a work that reveals the deep rot in our financial system . . . Everyone should read this book.”—David Grann, author of, Killers of the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  9. Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

    by David Goggins
    A memoir of David Goggins' journey from a depressed, overweight young man to a Navy SEAL and ultra-endurance athlete, with practical advice for mental toughness.

    For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through, self-discipline, mental toughness, and, hard work, Goggins ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

    by Ryan Holiday
    A practical guide on using adversity to achieve success.

    “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” — Marcus Aurelius We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

    by David E. Hoffman
    A gripping true story of espionage, betrayal, and the struggle against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

    From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history, The Dead Hand, comes the riveting story of a spy who cracked open the Soviet military research establishment and a penetrating portrait of the ... (Goodreads)

  12. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

    by Chris Voss
    A former FBI hostage negotiator shares his tactics and strategies for successful negotiations in both personal and professional settings.

    A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating – effective in any situation. After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined ... (Goodreads)

  13. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

    by Stanley McChrystal
    Exploring the challenges of leading and managing in a world of complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change.

    The retired four-star general and and bestselling author of, My Share of the Task, shares a powerful new leadership model As commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), General Stanley ... (Goodreads)

  14. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

    by Peter Thiel
    A guide to launching a startup, exploring the power of entrepreneurship.

    If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, ... (Goodreads)

  15. Permanent Record

    by Edward Snowden
    Edward Snowden's memoir detailing his decision to leak classified information about the US government's surveillance programs and his life in exile.

    Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

    by Brad Stone
    The story of Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the world's largest companies.

    The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos. Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But ... (Goodreads)

  17. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

    by Timothy Snyder
    A study of history and a call to action against the rise of authoritarianism.

    #1, New York Times, Bestseller •, A historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America's turn towards authoritarianism., The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat ... (Barnes & Noble)

  18. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

    by David Grann
    Exposé of a series of murders of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma and the FBI's investigation.

    In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, ... (Goodreads)

  19. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

    by Bryan Stevenson
    A powerful true story of justice and redemption, exposing the flaws of America's criminal justice system.

    In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. Teaming with Eva Ansley, he ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Ego Is the Enemy

    by Ryan Holiday
    Exploring the destructive power of ego and how to overcome it.

    “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive, visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by ... (Goodreads)

  21. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

    by Edwin Lefèvre
    A classic financial story, recounting the life and trading success of a Wall Street stock market master.

    The book can be divided into three parts: , In his 2008 book,, The Age of Turbulence, , Alan Greenspan called the book "a font of investing wisdom" and noted that quotes from the book such as "bulls ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber

    by Mike Isaac
    A gripping account of Uber's rise to power, its cutthroat tactics, and the fallout from its scandals.

    In June 2017, Travis Kalanick, the hard-charging CEO of Uber, was ousted in a boardroom coup that capped a brutal year for the transportation giant. Uber had catapulted to the top of the tech world, ... (Goodreads)

  23. So You've Been Publicly Shamed

    by Jon Ronson
    An exploration of the impact of public shaming in the digital age, and its implications for justice.

    For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made a joke on social media that came ... (Goodreads)

  24. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

    by Angela Duckworth
    Examining how passion and perseverance can unlock hidden potential, and the power of resilience in achieving success.

    In this must-read book for anyone striving to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows parents, educators, students, and business people both seasoned and new that the secret to ... (Goodreads)

  25. Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell

    by Eric Schmidt
    The story of Bill Campbell, a legendary coach and mentor to some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, and his leadership philosophy.

    The team behind How Google Works returns with management lessons from legendary coach and business executive, Bill Campbell, whose mentoring of some of our most successful modern entrepreneurs has ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

    by Michael Lewis
    A fascinating examination of the two psychologists who changed the way we view the human mind.

    Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest ... (Goodreads)

  27. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    An exploration of the Obama years, and the racial injustices that still plague America.

    "We were eight years in power" was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. ... (Goodreads)

  28. Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

    by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    A critical examination of the impact of randomness/chance in life and financial markets.

    Fooled by Randomness, is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a ... (Goodreads)

  29. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

    by Greg McKeown
    An exploration of the power of focus and clarity of purpose to create a more meaningful, productive life.

    Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized? Are you often busy but not productive? Do you feel like your time is constantly being ... (Goodreads)

  30. Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook

    by Anthony Robbins
    A guide to achieving financial freedom through investing, with insights from the world's top investors.

    After interviewing fifty of the world’s greatest financial minds and penning the #1 New York Times bestseller Money: Master the Game , Tony Robbins returns with a step-by-step playbook, taking you on ... (Barnes & Noble)