Founders #239 · · 11 books
The Wright Brothers
This episode is cited on the Building through years of rejection reading path.
The book this episode covers
The Wright Brothers
David McCullough · Reading rank 15 · in 12 other episodes
David strongly recommends the book, saying it belongs in every founder's library.
Cross-episode reference · Dedicated episode · Explicit praise · Founder theme · Reread language
Books David recommends along the way
Driven from Within
Michael Jordan · Reading rank 85 · in 12 other episodes
David uses Jordan's observation about high achievers' continued focus to frame the Wright brothers' return to work after their historic flight.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
On Writing
Stephen King · Reading rank 129 · in 4 other episodes
David applies Stephen King's writing advice to founders taking on difficult, risky work.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
Amazon Unbound
Brad Stone · Reading rank 135 · in 7 other episodes
David compares Bezos's preference for conflict over agreement to the same idea in the Wright brothers' story.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
Relentlessly Resourceful
Paul Graham · Reading rank 156 · in 6 other episodes
David calls the essay fantastic and notes Graham's founder-mentorship experience.
Explicit praise · Founder theme
Overdrive
James Wallace · Reading rank 180 · in 5 other episodes
David draws the lesson that a company should use, not fight, a powerful phenomenon like the Internet or the bicycle craze.
Cross-episode reference · Founder theme
Also mentioned
Hard Drive
James Wallace and Jim Erickson · Reading rank 6 · in 23 other episodes
Cross-episode reference
My Life in Advertising
Claude C. Hopkins · Reading rank 36 · in 13 other episodes
Cross-episode reference
The Empire of the Air
Louis-Pierre Mouillard · Reading rank 431 · in 1 other episode
David explains that Mouillard's book affected Wilbur Wright more than anything he had yet read and uses its warning about an idea invading the brain to describe the brothers' consuming commitment to flight.
Founder theme
Animal Locomotion, or Walking, Swimming, and Flying, with a Dissertation on Aeronautics
James Bell Pettigrew · Reading rank 472
David describes Pettigrew's treatment of natural flight as arriving when Wilbur Wright needed it, firing his passion for the problem and becoming a source Wilbur quoted for years.
Founder theme
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