Disrupted

Author: Dan Lyons

“Disrupted - Ludicrous Misadventures in the Tech Startup Bubble” is an entertaining real-life “psychology experiment” (in the terms of its main character). In this funny and often cynical book, Dan Lyons allows us to share the couple of years of his life spent working for a typical Silicon Valley tech startup (HubSpot). So far, nothing earth shattering, right ? The thing is that Dan Lyons had never worked in a startup before: he had just spent more than 25 years as a journalist writing for Forbes and Newsweek. The other thing is that Dan was more than 50 years old (with lots of grey hair) when he joined the startup which has a mid-twenties average employee age ! The book depicts the culture shock Dan went through, but also some of the most questionable cultural traits of a Silicon Valley startup today. Let’s just say that it didn’t end well at many levels: including for 2 of Dan’s former managers at the startup who got fired for having tried to prevent the publication of the movie - and were investigated by the FBI for some of the not-totally-kosher-means they used to do so (i.e. hacking and extortion).

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Magnum

Russell Miller

“Magnum - Fifty Years at the Front Line of History”

Through the biography of the legendary Magnum photography agency, Miller also tells 3 other stories. That of the individuals who founded the agency (Robert Capa, David Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson), each a legend in their own right. That of the world in this half century scarred by wars around the globe. Wars which, for first the very first time, were rendered more real by the photographs brought back by those intrepid legends. And that of Leica, who’s technological innovation at the time made this unique witnessing possible.

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Barbarian Days

Author: William Finnegan

This autobiography is a pleasure to read, even for those of us not into surfing. Following William on his life journey around the world, chasing waves and finding himself, is as engaging as any fiction we come across these days. In addition to being a precise description of the American culture in the 60s and 70s, Barbarian Days is also a fantastic introduction to the surfing way of life. Simply, honestly.

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