2011 Summer Reading List

The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership Between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs by William Draper III. With three generations of venture capitalists in the family, Draper details the inner workings of Silicon Valley-based venture capitalists and entrepreneurs launching promising start-ups. Draper’s insights into philanthropy and venture capitalists—and the unique model he created to help drive the growth of non-profits—engagingly delineate the man and the region that he calls home.

On China by Henry Kissinger. Over the past 40 years, Henry Kissinger helped shape China’s modern relations with the West. The former secretary of state brings vast knowledge and professional expertise to this fascinating read about China’s approach to diplomacy, strategy and political negotiations in recent times. In our increasingly global economy, where China’s continued growth and expansion are key, Kissinger’s insights are more relevant than ever.

America’s Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy by Suzanne Loebl. John D. Rockefeller ’s “quiet hobby” started with collecting Chinese porcelains and blossomed into endowing major building projects, while his wife Abby’s passion focused on contemporary art and the launch of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Loebl, for the first time, chronicles the Rockefeller family’s vast collecting and funding reach, and the amazing legacy left to us all.

Feast for the Senses: A Musical Odyssey in Umbria by Lin Arison, Diana Stoll and Neil Folberg (Photographer). Follow Arison and Tilson Thomas, co-founders of Miami’s New World Symphony, as they explore the food, sound and beauty of Umbria. The journey takes readers and listeners—through three accompanying DVDs—far beyond city limits into the hearts of the orchestra’s young traveling players.

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims. Low-risk action to discover, develop and test an idea can be extremely effective—as Sims documents. From entertainers to top enterprises, Little Bets explores how a path of focused, quick wins can drive new thinking and innovative offerings to achieve breakthrough results and transform businesses.

She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems by Caroline Kennedy. Experience the many joys and challenges of being a woman through Kennedy’s collection of notable poems. Through the works of Elizabeth Bishop, Edna St. Vincent Millay, W.B. Yeats and others, she takes readers on a journey through defining milestones in a woman’s life, sharing her lifelong love of poetry.

The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. Friedman and Martin tap the landmark research effort, initiated in 1921, to explore why some Americans are healthy and others are not. They offer insights to leading a long, healthy life—debunking long-held myths and popular ideas.

The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed by Adam Bryant. The New York Times deputy national editor puts you in the room with 75 top business leaders for candid advice on how to build teams, identify talent, grow an enterprise and manage through a crisis. The Corner Office gives every reader, regardless of experience, the chance to be a student of leadership.

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. Mysterious and bold, this groundbreaking female leader comes alive in Schiff’s work. This summer selection takes readers beyond popular portrayals for an in-depth understanding of the woman, her kingdom and the influence she exerted in Egypt and the ancient world at large.

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal. The centerpiece of this captivating memoir is a unique collection of ornamental Japanese carvings known as netsuke. The author, a renowned London-based ceramics artist, traces his family’s remarkable history from Odessa to Paris, Vienna and beyond, with the heirloom collection as a springboard.