From the left to the right:

• ‘Comment j’ai foiré ma start-up‘, by Nicolas Riou; the story of a discontinued web agency founded in Paris during the New Economy Gold Rush. Funny, takes 45′ to read. Available in French only.
• ‘Risk & Reward and the making of America’s great industries‘ by Jack Rivkin; insights on the world of venture capital & their impact on the American economic landscape. Brillant but slightly outdated.
• ‘High Stakes, No Prisoners‘ by Charles Ferguson – not read yet but I’ll keep you up to date.
• ‘Seize the American dream: 10 entrepreneurial success strategies‘ by Jim Houtz & Kathy Heasley: general stuff on entrepreneurship, very structured book; applies to software companies as well.
• ‘Hard Drive: Bill Gates & the making of the Microsoft Empire‘ by James Wallace and Jim Erickson – not read yet but, 2 stances from a Microsoftie: 1) not said to be gentle with Microsoft 2) still said to be the best documented book on MSFT. N°1 on my reading list.
• ‘Ils ont réussi leur start-up!‘ or the Kelbook, by Julien Codorniou & Cyril de Lasteyrie: you read it like you watch a movie; fast-paced writing style, book describing the backstage of Kelkoo, one of the few pan-European success stories in the Internet / software industry, from the birth of the project in a research lab in the Alps to the acquisition by Yahoo! Breathtaking stuff that gives you the drive to entreprendre as soon as you’ve finished the book. A pity it’s available in French only since the Kelkoo story happens in France, true, but also (and mainly?) in Spain, Scandinavia, the UK, Switzerland, etc.
• ‘Who said Elephants can’t dance?‘ by Lou Gerstner (my review here; by the way, let me know in the comments if you’re interested or not in reading more book reviews on Tech IT Easy in general).
• ‘The Road Ahead‘ by Bill Gates – I read it when it came out in France back in 1996 I think. Gates describes his vision of the world and how computers in general will integrate more and more with offices and homes. Btw, this is exactly what’s happening today with mobile devices and machines or robots on top of computers. Good historical reading, but getting a bit outdated.
• ‘Why Butterflies don’t Leave‘ by Erik Stam – interesting small academic book explaining why and how gazelles starting up in a precise location aren’t so likely to move to a better place (I’m fond of topics involving entrepreneurship with spatial development and I believe geographical strategies play a big role in successes and failures). About the book: although my intuition disagrees with some of the outcomes of the research, great work, extremely relevant conclusions in the light of the examples provided (very telling, all located in the Netherlands). Available for free on the Internet over here (.pdf).
• ‘The Perfect Store: inside eBay’ by Adam Cohen – everything about eBay; I read it 18 months ago and surprisingly can’t remember so much about it. Oh yes, now I remember I enjoyed it a lot: a great pick for those who feel like understanding how to build a successful e-Commerce website with 2 ingredients: a strong business acumen, and technology.
• ‘Regional Advantage: Culture & Competition in Silicon Valley & Route 128′ by AnnaLee Saxenian. Probably the book that made me make the decision that I would move to the US one day. Believe it or not, although located in the same country, the Valley and the Boston area actually compete to attract the best entrepreneurs and technology start-up companies. Amazing book that I should re-read some day.
• ‘Opportunity Entry Performance‘ by Marco van Gelderen. Academic research on entrepreneurial project generation. Extremely insightful although I don’t think you would get a chance to purchase it anywhere (I got it from the author who was my Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus Universiteit).
• ‘Softwar: an intimate portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle’ by Matthew Symonds and Larry Ellison – not read yet. Same business as the Kelbook (whose generation was inspired of Softwar): the backstage of the building of Oracle and Ellison’s personality. Said to be an excellent book for those joining the B-to-B software business.
• ‘The New New Thing: a Silicon Valley Story‘ by Michael Lewis – not read yet although I read 2 other books from Lewis in the past (namely Moneyball and Liar’s Poker). Amazing writer. ‘The New New Thing’ is about Jim Clark (founder of Silicon Graphics & Netscape) and the Healtheon craze.
• ‘The E-Myth revisited: why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it’ by Michael Gerber. Out-of-the-box thoughts and advice on entrepreneurial matters. Highly recommended.

Now it’s your turn to contribute:

1) which books dealing with the software industry, venture capital or entrepreneurship would you recommend me to read on top of this list?

2) I’m looking for the 2 best books on Apple and Google (and maybe another one on CISCO). I just can’t make a decision since there are loads of books about these 2 companies. Any idea?

Many thanks for your help.

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