The wait is over for Enterprises’ annual Summer Reading List! Check out the recommendations below from some of our bookworms.
We’ve included brief summaries of each book from Goodreads. Maybe you will find your new favorite book here!
Recommended by Anastasia Collipp, Software Engineer
NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning that “Memory makes reality,” as he is investigating the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed as False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. Neuroscientist Helena Smith believes, which is she dedicated her life to creating technology that will let humans preserve their most precious memories, and as Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. Only he and Helena, while working together, will stand a chance in defeating it, but how can they stand a chance when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?
Recommended by Veronica Bellin, Paralegal
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List, comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide. Jess is broke, alone, and needs a fresh start, as she had just left her job under less-than-ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben did not sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he did not say no. When she shows up and finds a very nice apartment, he is not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and more questions she begins to have. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it is starting to look like it is Ben’s future is in question. The socialite, the nice guy, the alcoholic, the girl on the verge, the concierge… everyone is a neighbor. Everyone is a suspect. And everyone knows something they are not telling.
Recommended by Steven Montalbano, Software Engineer
If they were a hall of fame or shame for computer hackers, a Kevin Mitnick plaque would be mounted near the entrance. While other nerds were fumbling with password possibilities, this adept break-artist was penetrating the digital secrets of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Nokia, Motorola, Pacific Bell, and other mammoth enterprises. His Ghost in the Wires memoir paints an action portrait of a plucky loner motivated by a passion for trickery, not material game.
Recommended by Robby Moss, Lead Communications Specialist
American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. In 2005, Steve Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for them. Despite the odds—there is only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful—Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Beyond that, this is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity and Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future.
Recommended by Nikki Hillard, Executive Recruiter
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. However, when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Recommended by Craig Ball, Senior Director, Transaction Services
The enthralling, often surprising story of John Adams, one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived. In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot — “the colossus of independence,” as Thomas Jefferson called him — who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution. He rose to become the second President of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all, but a few, and regarded by some as “out of his senses”; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the moving love stories in American history.
Recommended by James Laing, Director, Product Management
With her keen eye, penchant for paradox, and yearning for truth, Dillard renews our ability to discover wonder in life’s smallest, and often darkest, corners. Why do we exist? Where did we come from? How can one person matter? Dillard searches for answers in a powerful array of images: pictures of bird-headed dwarfs in the standard reference of human birth defects; ten thousand terra-cotta figures fashioned for a Chinese emperor in place of the human court that might have followed him into death; the paleontologist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin crossing the Gobi Desert; the dizzying variety of clouds. Vivid, eloquent, haunting, For the Time Being evokes no less than the terrifying grandeur of all that remains tantalizingly and troublingly beyond our understanding.
“Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs” by Reid Hoffman
Recommended by Kshitij Pandya, Summer Associate
What can you learn from a Silicon Valley legend and a pantheon of iconic leaders? The key to scaling a successful business is not talent, network, or strategy. It is an entrepreneurial mindset–and that mindset can be cultivated. Behind the scenes in Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn, investor at Greylock) is a sought-after adviser to heads of companies and heads of state. On each episode of his podcast, Masters of Scale, he sits down with a guest from an all-star list of visionary founders and leaders, digging into the surprising strategies that power their company’s growth. In this book, he draws on their most riveting, revealing stories–as well as his own experience as a founder and investor–to distill the secrets behind the most extraordinary success stories of our times. Here, Hoffman teams up with Masters of Scale’s executive producers to offer a rare window into the entrepreneurial mind, sharing hard-won wisdom from leaders of iconic companies, as well as the bold, disruptive startups that are solving the problems of the twenty-first century.
Recommended by Matthias Kleinz, Senior Vice President, Translational Sciences
Epictetus was born into slavery about 55 C.E. in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire. Sold as a child and crippled from the beatings of his master, Epictetus was eventually freed, rising from his humble roots to establish an influential school of Stoic philosophy. Stressing that humans cannot control life, only how they respond to it, Epictetus dedicated his life to outlining the simple way to happiness, fulfillment, and tranquility. By putting into practice, the ninety-three witty, wise, and razor-sharp instructions that make up The Art of Living, readers learn to successfully meet the challenges of everyday life and face life’s inevitable losses and disappointments with grace.
Recommended by Ed Smith, Senior Director, Clinical Genomics Services
Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rose from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president. This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln’s mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation’s history.
Interested in joining our team of avid book readers? Learn about careers at Enterprises now!
