Shoe Dog

Knight’s memoir of building Nike out of a car boot full of Onitsuka shoes — a founder’s account of two decades of being one bad season from insolvency.

Why it’s on the list: Named independently in two of the crowd-sourced book lists Kyle saved in 2025 — @moseskagan’s historical-fiction thread and @SpencrGreenberg’s “how the world really works” thread. A title that separate crowds reach for in answer to different questions is the signal worth acting on.

Where I saw it: In Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note, from @moseskagan asking “What historical fiction should I read next?” (April 13, 2025), the full recovered list on What historical fiction should I… (tweet); and from @SpencrGreenberg asking “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world really works?” (June 5, 2025), the full recovered list on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet). The reply threads were transcribed by hand on September 17, 2026, because X’s syndication endpoint returns only a thread’s head post, never the replies.

Connections

• What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Nike
• Phil Knight — author and founder.