INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
2019 offered a blistering catalog of books to peruse, on top of the prodigious publishing schedules of the past few years (if you think we
are at Peak TV, you might want to check out your local bookstore for a counterpoint).
We already checked in with Extra Crunch readers and
did a sort of reader choice selection of their twelve favorites, but I also asked our TechCrunch editorial staff about what they read this
Perhaps unsurprisingly, they came back with a mix of books (and audiobooks!) on tech, startups, biographies, graphic novels, and true crime
fiction like the proper nerds we all are over here.
The criteria was that the book had to be read in 2019, but didn&t necessarily have to be
published this calendar year
In part, that because books that may not have been all that interesting in the past suddenly got their turn in the spotlight for whatever
reasons (headlines, viral influencer recommendations on Goop, or what have you).
In short, here are eleven writers at TechCrunch and the
thirteen books that made the largest impact on them, any one of which would make a great gift for that techno-geek friend of yours.
Zack
Whittaker
Sandworm: A New Era Of Cyberwar And The Hunt For The Kremlin Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg
Doubleday / 368 pages /
November 2019
Publisher Link
Zack has long covered the daily breaches, cybersecurity hacks, and other data leaks that plague our world
today (just last month: hacks at Macy and Magic: the Gathering)
So perhaps unsurprisingly, his favorite book of the year was about none other than Russian hackers:
Andy Greenberg latest book on Sandworm,
the group of Russian hackers blamed for the most disruptive cyberattack in history, is a real page-turner
Greenberg Sandworm is a gripping tale of the group discovery and their attacks, from shutting off the electric grids in Eastern Europe to
the spread of the NotPetya ransomware attack, which froze hospitals, railways, and ATMs
Although written for the layperson, it detailed enough to satisfy any expert, and the use of first person draws in the reader to the story
This incredibly detailed detective-style book — leaving no stone unturned — and the refreshing addition of footnotes — is a must-read
for anyone interested cybersecurity.
Andy Greenberg himself has long covered security and hacking, and is currently a senior writer at Wired
This is his second book, following publication of This Machine Kills Secrets in 2012 about Julian Assange.
Sarah Perez
The Baddest Bitch in
the Room by Sophia Chang
Audible Original by Hello Sunshine / 8 hours / September 2019
Publisher Link
Sarah has long taken a deep view
into the world of mobile and apps (among a huge host of other topics), but her favorite audiobook this year comes from a behind-the-scenes
player in the music industry who carefully puts herself out into the spotlight:
You don&t have to be a huge hip-hop fan to love Sophia Chang
new memoir, but her Audible Original does include some impressive name-dropping
A music industry veteran, Chang managed rap and R-B stars like the Wu-Tang Clan RZA, GZA, and ODB, as well as A Tribe Called Quest, Raphael
Saadiq and D&Angelo.
But her story is more than a music industry retrospective
Chang is also the fiercely independent child of Korean immigrants who left Vancouver for New York, as well as a woman who fell in love with
a Shaolin monk, learned kung fu, shaved her head to shred stereotypes of Asian women, and became a mother, all while working her way up in
her career.
In her self-narrated memoir (which includes some 24 guest appearances!), she steps into the limelight after a life spent behind
the scenes helping talented artists tell their stories
She smart, funny, and inspirational — and someone, as her story shows, who has really earned the title &baddest bitch.&
Walter
Thompson
Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography by Rebecca M
Jordan-Young and Katrina Karkazis
Harvard University Press / 288 pages / October 2019
Publisher Link
Heading in the other direction a bit,
our new senior editor at Extra Crunch Walter Thompson recommends a &biography& of a well-known but surprisingly misunderstood steroid that
is getting its own time in the limelight:
Written by a sociomedical scientist and a cultural anthropologist, the book explodes many of the
common myths surrounding the hormone erroneously associated with male virility and masculinity
Jordan-Young and Karkazis delve into science and history to explain how testosterone has been generally misrepresented by popular culture
and the medical industry by exploring how &T& impacts aggression, reproduction, power, parenting, sports and risk-taking.
Given the
increasing attention to these issues, the book auspicious timing and deeply researched foundations are already having a huge effect on an
important cultural conversation today.
Josh Constine
SAGA: Compendium One by writer Brian K Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples
Image Comics /
1,328 pages / August 2019
Publisher Link
One of Josh book recommendations for 2019 is a graphic novel that is expansive in scope (as one
would hope for a paperback that runs for more than a 1,000 pages):
Possibly the greatest non-superhero action graphic novel, this is a tale
of star-crossed lovers from different planets trying to raise their child amidst an intergalactic war
The imaginative inventions, gorgeously colorful artwork, and mix of laser fights and suspenseful drama will transport you
The paperback is a great way to entertain yourself without staring at a screen (though it available on Comixology app too).
AI Superpowers:
China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / 272 pages / September 2018
Publisher Link
Josh has
been a prolific reporter and critic of social network and media companies like Facebook and Twitter
These days, though, there is a new social network that is garnering outsized attention: Tik Tok
Josh has been covering the company and its predecessor Musical.ly for years, and has also been writing about how Facebook should confront
this new competitive threat
So perhaps it no surprise that Josh first recommendation is for a book that addresses precisely the rise of Chinese-owned apps and the fight
for the future of artificial intelligence:
If you want to understand how artificial intelligence is going to impact employment and
geopolitics, this is a must read from the former head of Google China
It recounts wild stories of tech startup competition and the rise of the ecosystem in the country, and explores why every country but the US
and China have hard times ahead.
AI Superpowers was also the most recommended book by Extra Crunch readers in our survey, and also a book I
can personally endorse as well (thanks Josh for stealing my recommendation).
Danny Crichton (i.e
yours truly)
Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China Last Golden Age by Stephen R
Platt
Knopf / 592 pages / May 2018
Publisher Link
Speaking of China, the trade war continues unabated between the U.S
Whereas AI Superpowers focuses on the present and future, Stephen Platt Imperial Twilight rewinds us back in time to the era of the Opium
War, when Western forces led by a fascinating cast of characters from Britain, the U.S., and elsewhere used trade as a tool to force open
China borders, popularize a heavily addictive drug among its people, and engorged on capital flows out of the country in a raw moment of
pure political power against an incredibly weakened Qing dynasty.
The book is one of those works that every publisher wants to have in their
catalog, complete with an extraordinarily well-written narrative, a deeply textured and nuanced look at a key historical event, and a
perfectly timed publication date pegged to one of the most topical news stories of the year
In short, it a smash hit.
Catherine Shu
Continuing this China theme a bit, Catherine has covered tech developments in Asia for years
(actually, seven with us as of yesterday) from her perch in Taiwan
But she also has interests outside of the latest new startups, and that includes true crime fiction.
I&ve been a fan of true crime since I
was a teenager, but over the last year, I have become uneasy about my attachment to the genre
To be blunt, a lot of books and podcasts are fueled by voyeurism, and I am not comfortable with being culpable in the transformation of
tragedy into entertainment
So I welcome new books that take a step back and examine famous cases within their cultural context.
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women
Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
Doubleday / 432 pages / February 2019
Publisher Link
Catherine first recommendation flips
the lens on one of the most well-known serial murderers in history:
&The Five& by Hallie Rubenhold is probably the first book to
comprehensively document the lives of Jack the Ripper victims
Rubenhold research uncovered myths about the women, including that not all were prostitutes, a misconception that started with contemporary
police and press reports (and may ultimately have hindered the investigation), but continues to be perpetuated by the industry that has
grown around the murders.
Rubenhold did an enormous amount of research, but ultimately the book impact comes from the very simple but
powerful act of restoring these five women humanity — an admirable feat considering that their violent murders have been commodified and
romanticized for over a century.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson
Simon - Schuster / 400 pages / March 2019
Publisher
Link
Meanwhile, her second recommendation takes a more expansive view of a famous axe murder case than has traditionally been the norm in
the real crime genre:
&The Trial of Lizzie Borden& by Cara Robertson is one of the best books about the case I&ve read (and I&ve read a lot)
In addition to providing an exhaustive but extremely compelling account of the legal proceedings that concluded in Lizzie Borden acquittal,
Robertson, a lawyer, also analyzes the case as an example of contemporary attitudes toward gender, class, and criminality.
Her examination
of newspaper accounts reveals how the case almost immediately became a media sensation and also that many of the trial spectators were
dismissed as &a crowd of morbid females& by one reporter — a misogynistic label that continues to be attached to true crime fans, many of
whom are women.
Devin Coldewey
Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight by David A
Mindell
MIT Press / 376 pages / April 2008
Publisher Link
Devin has had long-standing interests in space, artificial intelligence,
high-performance computing, and other hard science and tech subjects
His recommendation this year is a classic of the genre written by David Mindell, a long-time MIT professor of engineering history who also
is founder of the startup Humatics, which has raised some serious venture capital dollars to make location detection inside of buildings
(think robots in factories) a reality
On Digital Apollo, Devin says:
The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 is a great opportunity to learn about one of the program most fascinating
aspects: the computers that ran it
But Digital Apollo is far more than some survey of early computing hardware
Mindell documents the fascinating people and processes behind the creation of this unprecedented system
Stubborn astronauts, idealistic engineers, and skeptical officials face off while the hard deadline looms, making this an interesting and
inclusive story as well as a highly informed history.
Not only is it a great story, it one that will be recognizable to any engineer that
has ever had to ship product while dealing with other humans.
Kirsten Korosec
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About
Us) by Tom Vanderbilt
Knopf / 416 pages / July 2008
Publisher Link
Kirsten has vigorously reported on the transportation sector (you
should sign up for her weekly transportation newsletter The Station), including the rise of companies like Tesla and whole new categories of
startups like self-driving cars and scooters
Yet despite all the futurism in the industry, she wanted to take a step back in her recommendation to a book that discusses some of the
first principles that ‘drive& mobility in the first place:
This book is a decade old and yet it more relevant than ever before as our
cities become more dense and we look for ways out of the congestion
If you want to understand opportunities and challenges for automakers, cities, and even startups around mobility, start here.
With Traffic,
Vanderbilt goal is to show that humans have cognitive limits, and those limits have a direct effect on our traffic systems and the designs
As we increasingly enter a world of human/AI hybrid cars and people speeding rapidly down Market Street on rickety scooters, his book offers
us a panorama view of just how hard it it to get mobility right and make it safe.
Matt Burns
Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of
Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History by William Pelfrey
AMACOM / 336 pages / March 2006
Publisher
Link
Among our longest tenured editors, Matt Burns has been writing about automotive topics among others for more than a decade here
He brings us a book about one of the most storied companies (positively and negatively) in American history:
This is the story of General
Motors and how a successful carriage maker purchased the Buick name and turned it into the largest automaker in history.
And then how Billy
Durant ran the company into the ground and lost control.
So what did Billy Durant do? He founded another company, Chevrolet, the only car to
ever be manufactured in New York City, and used wild stock manipulation to regain control of General Motors
And then he lost control again and ended up managing a bowling alley in Flint, MI until he died nearly broke.
Meanwhile, there Alfred Sloan,
a methodical manager of an auto supply company who took over General Motors, devised the yearly model update and eventually wrote the book
on managing corporations.
The story of Billy Durant founding General Motors resonates today
It the story of a wild entrepreneur who vision and command of the stock market led to the creation of a mega corporation but who lacked the
management skills to scale
The book details his incredible rise and fall through vivid stories and first-hand accounts found in Durant unpublished
autobiography.
Darrell Etherington
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac
W
Norton - Company / 408 pages / September 2019
Publisher Link
Darrell has chronicled the tech industry for many years (picking up a theme
here?) and has picked a chronicle of a tech industry luminary which has since lost much of its luster:
This account mostly focuses on Uber
founder Travis Kalanick, from his pre-Uber entrepreneurial formative years, right through the corporate power struggle that led to his
ousting in 2017.
What I especially enjoyed about it was its depiction of Bill Gurley & an interesting counter-positioning of this Silicon
Valley legend with Kalanick foil that may or may not match your understanding of the real story, depending on who you hear it from.
If you
had to pick the &startup profile book of the year award,& Super Pumped would almost certainly take the crown this year
The book was also recommended pretty heavily by Extra Crunch readers in our survey as well, although it didn&t quite make the cut.
Manish
Singh
Big Billion Startup & The Untold Flipkart Story by Mihir Dalal
Pan Macmillan India / 320 pages / October 2019
Publisher Link
Manish
joined us relatively recently to expand our tech coverage more heavily in India, where the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem has been
exploding crazy fast the past decade plus
Perhaps no startup better represents the potential for India than ecommerce giant Flipkart, which is the focus of Manish
recommendation:
&Big Billion Startup & The Untold Flipkart Story,& by journalist Mihir Dalal, is a fascinating look at the making of India
largest ecommerce platform
Flipkart, which sold a majority stake to Walmart last year for a sweet $16 billion, was founded in 2007, six years before Amazon started its
online shopping business in India.
The book, released in October, not only documents the struggle, pain, and setbacks two former Amazon
employees went through to build the business from a crummy apartment in Bangalore, but it also reminds us of how different India startup
ecosystem was then.
As we wrote last month, India tech startups have already raised a record $11.3 billion this year
But in the early days, there were very few VCs who believed in India and even a $50 million check to a startup was unheard of
Flipkart was the trailblazer that paved the way for others to build great startups.
