Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci - Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson fast become one of my favourite biographers after I read the Steve Jobs biography he wrote. Any story can be made interesting and suck you into turning page after page to read on if it is well crafted. More goes into a great biography than simply a factual retelling of an individuals life. Isaacson has such great skill at making you feel like you are right there with these great people throughout history while they are writing history and mastering their own craft.
Leonardo da Vinci was a thoroughly fascinating human being whose inquisitiveness knew no limit and is what set him apart in being recognized as a creative genius. This biography tells the story of his own life as well as the life da Vinci breathed into his world famous works of art. The hardcover copy of this book is well worth buying to get full-colour copies of all of the artwork described throughout the book so that you can see for yourself what is being referred to as Isaacson describes the subtle details of each image and the signature trademarks that indicate them to be works of da Vinci.
Anyone who thrives on curiosity and asking questions to get to the root of a subject is going to love this story of a legend who honed his creativity by always maintaining a childlike curiosity.
Conspiracy
Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday
“Fate sends to the conspirators of the world the best of its Murphy’s Law and entropy and crises of confidence.”
Conspiracy is Ryan's first adventure into a different type of narrative than his typical form of non-fiction writing and he nailed it. The book details the battle between billionaire Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel and Gawker, once the internet's hub of most outlandish gossip. After being personally offended by Gawker, Thiel conspired to take them out once and for all so that they couldn't smear the names of any other people partial to privacy. This all culminated in the case of Hulk Hogan's sex tape scandal.
While the general information about the case may be generally available, Ryan was given intimate access to both sides of the story and tried to remain unbiased in his approach to recounting the story and detailing how the narrative aligns with the traditional path of conspiracy.
As with all of Ryan's books, this one is a real page-turner that you'll be unable to put down.
Growth Hacker Marketing
GHM is a cool little handbook for anyone who is involved in marketing, whether as an entrepreneur or simply out of interest for a critical component of how the top companies in the world got to be so big.
Growth hacking is what Ryan calls the new age of marketing, as the old-school tactics don't allow for the same analytical approach to determining what works and what doesn't with your customer base.
The three keys to growth hacks versus the old marketing playbook are using things that are testable, trackable, and scalable. While all three factors are important for modern growth hacks, being scalable really matters when the best way to stand out is to bake virality into the thing you are making.
The book is very short but worth its weight in gold. Understanding the principles behind what makes something go viral and which companies become successful today is the foundation that needs to be fully comprehended in order to stand out.
Trust Me, I'm Lying
TMIL is a tell-all story of Ryan's life as a "media manipulator" and director of marketing at American Apparel where he regularly spearheaded campaigns that would gain him national news coverage for AA or any of his other clients without directly having to pay for it.
While Ryan used his unique skill for benevolent purposes with his clients, he saw many others who were manipulating media for all kinds of purposes which is why he wrote this book and revised and updated it for today's world of fake news.
It's an awesome book and I would give it a perfect score if it weren't for the fact that since writing this book, Ryan has gone on to hone his writing even more and so in comparison, the writing is just a little less captivating to me in TMIL.