Titan

Why it’s on the list: Ron Chernow’s comprehensive biography of John D. Rockefeller, tracing his rise to build Standard Oil, his ruthless business tactics, and his later philanthropy.

Where I heard about it

• Spotted at Barnes & Noble at Fashion Place, Murray — November 2024 (Books photo album)

• On Jay’s investing reading list — a Google Sheet of 92 books by discipline, saved in Kyle’s Roam notes on April 15th, 2020 (Jay’s Investing Reading List). Jay’s reason: “Understanding the most successful capitalist of all time.”

• Charlie Munger — on his reading list in Poor Charlie’s Almanack, the perennial list of books that build a latticework of multidisciplinary mental models.

• Replies to @typesfast — named in the replies to his question “What’s the best history book you’ve read?”, June 2025. The full list lives on What’s the best history book… (tweet).

• Li Lu — on Li Lu’s Recommended Book List, under Biography and Others.

• Recommended at Capital Camp 2019, as listed in A Berg’s Eye View’s “Lessons (and Books) from Camp”, saved by Kyle in April 2020 — Lessons and Books From Camp (A Berg’s Eye View).

• On Mustafa (@oprydai)‘s X list of books “that’ll teach you building vertically integrated companies”, September 30, 2026 — sixteen covers on manufacturing, operations and industrial history. Captured on books, that’ll teach you building… (tweet).

• On @BooksInvesting’s X list of “8 books Nick Sleep has told people to read”, October 1, 2026. Captured on 8 books Nick Sleep has… (tweet).

Connections

• Poor Charlie’s Almanack — surfaced on Charlie Munger’s recommended-reading list.
• What’s the best history book… (tweet) — recommendation #2: named in this crowd-sourced thread.
• books, that’ll teach you building… (tweet) — on Mustafa’s list of books for building vertically integrated companies.
• 8 books Nick Sleep has… (tweet) — one of the eight books Nick Sleep has told people to read.