The book this episode covers
The Everything Store
Brad Stone · Reading rank 12 · in 30 other episodes
David calls this the single most insightful biography he has read and necessary reading for founders, investors, managers, and students.
Cross-episode reference · Dedicated episode · Explicit praise · Founder theme · Reread language
Books David recommends along the way
Sam Walton
Sam Walton · Reading rank 9 · in 24 other episodes
David says Bezos thoroughly absorbed Walton's book and embedded its frugality and bias-for-action ideas into Amazon's culture.
Founder theme
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Charles T. Munger, edited by Peter D. Kaufman · Reading rank 11 · in 44 other episodes
David says Poor Charlie's Almanack taught him to treat ideas as tools.
Founder theme
Working Backwards
Colin Bryar and Bill Carr · Reading rank 79 · in 7 other episodes
Cross-episode reference
The Mythical Man-Month
Frederick P. Brooks Jr. · Reading rank 404 · in 2 other episodes
David says Bezos and other founders applied lessons from The Mythical Man-Month about communication overhead delaying complex projects.
Founder theme
The Goal
Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox · Reading rank 429 · in 1 other episode
David summarizes The Goal's lesson: maximize the efficiency of your biggest bottleneck.
Founder theme
Creation
Steve Grand · Reading rank 434
David explains that Steve Grand's model of simple computational primitives helped crystallize Amazon executives' thinking about reusable infrastructure as they developed AWS.
Founder theme
Also mentioned
Made in Japan
Akio Morita with Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura · Reading rank 21 · in 21 other episodes
David connects Morita's company-building philosophy to the idea that work and mission should outlast any one product.
Founder theme
The Space Barons
Christian Davenport · Reading rank 101 · in 11 other episodes
David applies the book's “step-by-step, ferociously” lesson to Amazon.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
The Black Swan
Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Reading rank 370 · in 4 other episodes
David says Bezos made Amazon executives read Taleb's Black Swan as part of a shared base of knowledge.
Founder theme
Trillion Dollar Coach
Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle · Reading rank 405 · in 1 other episode
Cross-episode reference
Each note is a short paraphrase of why David brings the book up. Book pages show every piece of evidence and its review status. How ranking works