I read 66 biographies last year— Here are my top 10!

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time-only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. So like the title says, I read 66 biographies last year. I made 66 new episodes in 2021 of Founders Podcast based on the 66 biographies I've read. And so in total, in the entire four years that I've been doing Founders Podcast, I've read 235 biographies of entrepreneurs, and there's 235 episodes in the archive. And so I had this idea, I was like, you know what? People don't know exactly where to start. And so I was like, I'm gonna make a top 10 list for the out of the 66 biographies I read in 2021 I'll make a top 10 list with short descriptions on why I think you should listen to these episodes. And then if you're interested, read the books.
They're a top 10, but it's not necessarily, this is the first one I'm gonna tell you about, it's not necessarily the number one. It's really hard, because there's a reason why the smartest and most productive people to ever live all read biographies. And it's because reading biographies is some of the most actionable and educational reading you can do. And it's something I'm just completely obsessed with. So I can't really pick, say, oh yeah, this one's better than that one. It just depends on where you are in life and what impact these stories have on you. So I made this top 10 list right now based on how these books impacted me this year. And even though the books stay the same, you change as a person. So if I had to go back through, let's say, a year from now, I had to go back through and rank only 10 out of the 66 biographies I read in 2021, the list might change. So the first recommendation is Driven, an autobiography by Larry Miller. This is episode number 168 This may be the single book out of every book that I did last year that I got the most feedback on. It was remarkable. And it's remarkable because the ending is unexpected. So quick blurb on this. Larry went from dropout to the richest person in Utah, but he sacrificed his health and his family relationships along the way. He wrote this autobiography as he was dying. He wanted to warn future entrepreneurs. He said that his story is a cautionary tale. I think there's three main reasons why you can go back and find the greatest minds in histories, all learned from biographies. And I think one, and they talk about these three reasons, too, one is they want to understand how the great people that lived before them thought.
Number two, they want to copy the best ideas that somebody else maybe took the entire length of their career, 40, 50, 60 years to figure out. So they want to copy their best ideas. And number three, they want to avoid their worst mistakes. There is something in human nature that when people get to the end of their life, they want to document that information and pass it on to future generations. Almost no entrepreneurs write autobiographies when they're still in the midst of the career. It's when they're at the end, whether they're 60, 70, 80 years old, or if they happen to know they're dying. In Larry's case, he was dying little by little. He died early because he really abused his health. Same thing with Sam Walton. Sam Walton has a fantastic autobiography. He wrote it when he had cancer and he was very, very sick. And he says so in the book. If I wasn't sick, I wouldn't be taking the time to write this biography. So that's the first one. And again, don't worry, these are all going to be listed down below. Number two. I've never ever come across anybody like this person. So number two is episode number 171 It is the billionaire who wasn't. How Chuck Feeney secretly made and gave away a fortune. So Chuck Feeney made... He's still alive, by the way. Chuck Feeney made $8 billion in cash, by the way, and gave it all away while he was still alive.