jeff bezos's reading list: the 12 books amazon execs were handed

from the appendix in brad stone's the everything store (2013), the books amazon execs were reportedly handed. reading these does explain some things

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The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Not a business book at all. (sourced): Bezos has cited this one for how it's narrated, not what it's about.

Sam Walton: Made in America

Memos from the Chairman - Alan Greenberg

The Mythical Man-Month

Older than Amazon itself. Engineers still misquote the adding-people-to-a-late-project line.

Built to Last (Collins & Porras)

Good to Great

He's talked about this one more than once, not just a book jacket quote.

Creation: Life and How to Make It

The Innovator's Dilemma

The Goal (Goldratt)

Manufacturing theory wrapped in a novel. Amazon's ops people still reference the bottleneck framing.

lean thinking

Data-Driven Marketing

The odd one out, newest and least famous title here. (sourced) straight from the appendix.

The Black Swan

Closes the list. Fits the whole stay-paranoid, day-one thing Bezos always talks about.

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