Brian Chesky Recommended Books

ONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 'S 100 GREATEST FILM BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The definitive portrait of one of the most important cultural figures in American Walt Disney.Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed animation from a novelty to an art form, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films–most notably Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi . In his superb biography, Neal Gabler shows us how, over the course of two decades, Disney revolutionized the entertainment industry. In a way that was unprecedented and later widely imitated, he built a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise. Walt Disney is a revelation of both the work and the man–of both the remarkable accomplishment and the hidden life.Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and USA Today Biography of the Year

In this legendary business book and Silicon Valley staple, the former chairman and CEO of Intel shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. A practical handbook for navigating real-life business scenarios and a powerful management manifesto with the ability to revolutionize the way we work. The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies (as CEO and employee number three at Intel), High Output Management is equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and startup founders. Grove covers techniques for creating highly productive teams, demonstrating methods of motivation that lead to peak performance. "Generous enough with advice and observations to be required reading." — The Wall Street Journal

Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why. With the same intelligence and insouciant charm he brought to How Proust Can Save Your Life, de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow. Even as de Botton takes the reader along on his own peregrinations, he also cites such distinguished fellow-travelers as Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the 18th-century eccentric Xavier de Maistre, who catalogued the wonders of his bedroom. The Art of Travel is a wise and utterly original book. Don’t leave home without it.

"The fullest account yet of the rise of one of the most profitable, most powerful, and oddest businesses the world has ever seen."- San Francisco ChronicleJust eleven years old, Google has profoundly transformed the way we live and work-we've all been Googled. Esteemed media writer Ken Auletta uses the story of Google's rise to explore the future of media at large. This book is based on the most extensive cooperation ever granted a journalist, including access to closed-door meetings and interviews with industry legends, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Marc Andreessen, and media guru "Coach" Bill Campbell. Auletta's unmatched analysis, vivid details, and rich anecdotes illuminate how the Google wave grew, how it threatens to drown media institutions, and where it's taking us next.

This is the remarkable behind-the-scenes story of the creation and growth of Airbnb, the online hotel platform that has become, in under a decade, the largest provider of accommodations in the world. At first just the whacky idea of co-founder CEO Brian Chesky, Airbnb has disrupted the $500 billion hotel industry, its $25.5 billion valuation is now equal to Hilton and larger than Marriott. Airbnb is beloved by the 80,000 million members of its host community and the travelers they shelter every night. And yet, even as it has blazed such an unexpected path, this is the first book solely dedicated to the phenomenon of Airbnb.Fortune editor Leigh Gallagher explores the success of Airbnb along with the darker side of the story. Regulators want to shut it down; hotel industry leaders wrestle with copying or killing it; residents resent the constant parade of travelers; some hosts see property damage; and some analysts feel Airbnb is dangerously overvalued. This is also the first in depth study of Airbnb's leader, Brian Chesky, the quirky and curious young CEO, as he steers the company through increasingly uncharted waters.

If you've ever dreamed of casting off your worldly possessions and traveling to your heart's content, this story about two intrepid seniors will inspire you no matter your age. Michael and Debbie Campbell felt they had one more adventure in them before considering retirement in the traditional sense, so they filled two rolling duffel bags with life's essentials (including their own pillows) and hit the road. Three years later, having sold their home in Seattle, their "Senior Nomad" lifestyle has no end in sight. Ride along as they share tales of living full-time in Airbnbs in over 50 countries and pay tribute to the many hosts who not only helped them live daily life, but also offered unique opportunities to experience their cities. From the barber's chair in Dublin and the dentist's chair in Split, to a wild motorcycle ride in Athens, a peek behind the Soviet Curtain in Transnistria, and the demise of a chicken for dinner in Marrakech, hosts made the Campbell's dream of adventure come true. Discover how Debbie and Michael find their next Airbnb, how they get there, and the many ways they enjoy their new city just as the locals do. Learn their tips and tricks for using Airbnb and how they get the most out of each stay, all while spending little more than they would have spent settled into their rocking chairs in Seattle.

Foreword by Bill GatesLinkedIn cofounder, legendary investor, and host of the award-winning Masters of Scale podcast reveals the secret to starting and scaling massively valuable companies.What entrepreneur or founder doesn’t aspire to build the next Amazon, Facebook, or Airbnb? Yet those who actually manage to do so are exceedingly rare. So what separates the startups that get disrupted and disappear from the ones who grow to become global giants?The secret is a set of techniques for scaling up at a dizzying pace that blows competitors out of the water. The objective of Blitzscaling is not to go from zero to one, but from one to one billion –as quickly as possible.When growing at a breakneck pace, getting to next level requires very different strategies from those that got you to where you are today. In a book inspired by their popular class at Stanford Business School, Hoffman and Yeh reveal how to navigate the necessary shifts and weather the unique challenges that arise at each stage of a company’s life cycle, such how to design business models for igniting and sustaining relentless growth; strategies for hiring and managing; how the role of the founder and company culture must evolve as the business matures, and more. Whether your business has ten employees or ten thousand, Blitzscaling is the essential playbook for winning in a world where speed is the only competitive advantage that matters.

A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was more intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. "I knew there was nothing to be gained from arguing over the past," Iger writes. "The only thing that mattered was the future, and I believed I had a clear idea of the direction Disney needed to go." It came down to three clear ideas: 1) Create the highest quality content Disney could produce. 2) Embrace and adopt technology instead of fighting it. And 3) Think bigger--think global--and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.Twelve years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and Iger is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our time.Now, he's sharing the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees--taking big risks in the face of historic disruption; learning to inspire the people who work for you; leading with fairness and communicating principles clearly. This book is about the relentless curiosity that has driven Iger for forty-five years, since the day he started as a studio supervisor at ABC. It's also about thoughtfulness and respect, and a decency-over-dollars approach that has become the bedrock of every project and partnership Iger pursues, from a deep friendship with Steve Jobs in his final years to an abiding love of the evolving Star Wars myth."Over the past fourteen years, I think I've learned so much about what real leadership is," Iger writes. "But I couldn't have articulated all of this until I lived it. You can't fake it--and that's one of the key lessons in this book."Librarian Note: This edition was previously released, with a different cover image, as an Advance Reader Copy with ISBN 9780399592096. That ARC can be found here