Updates

  1. Person pages list letters, writing, profiles and links as sortable tables with filters, and show each person's companies as links; Fund letters show each letter's description in its own column.
  2. Experts show a checked job title and a short description of each person; 30 more people have photographs.
  3. Every company, fund, university and publication the experts work for has a page listing the people there.
  4. Fund letters show each letter's thesis and filter by it; 225 person pages list the essays, columns and newsletter issues the person wrote.
  5. Person pages list every essay and newsletter issue a person wrote, and their own books as a table in List view.
  6. Recommends shows the five largest kinds of book and the rest under More; browse pictures load sooner.
  7. Podcasts and talks link the original episode, filter by Audio and video or Press, and list each publisher once.
  8. Pages are wider, Recommends has List and Grid, and a filter clicked again turns off.
  9. Book cards sit in a ruled grid with Open Library and Goodreads links and each book's one-line note.
  10. Funds is now Investors; each investor's styles are buttons that filter the table.
  11. Podcasts and talks on a person's page filter by year and publisher and show as a list or a grid of pictures.
  12. Quotes show only people's own words: 472 summaries written by list sites are gone.
  13. Country pages open from Browse again, and every link on the shelf lands on a page.
  14. Subject and person pages show their sections as tabs, and each book appears once on a person's page.
  15. Book cards show the quote, who said it and the source; grids show five cards to a row.
  16. On a phone, a menu holds the sections, search, Updates, Feedback and dark mode.
  17. Feedback takes a screenshot of the page with no browser prompt, opens a screenshot full size when you click it, and clears itself once sent.
  18. Book cards are centred, search names the topic each book sits in, and any text cut short shows whole on hover.
  19. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  20. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  21. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  22. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  23. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  24. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  25. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  26. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  27. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  28. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  29. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  30. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  31. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  32. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  33. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  34. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

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Walter Isaacson

T2JournalistsBiography

Biographer of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk; formerly president and CEO of the Aspen Institute.

Tulane UniversityAmanpour & CompanyAspen InstituteCNNTime

Walter Isaacson on Substack

The biographies are built on long direct access - years of interviews with Jobs, then with Musk - and reconstruct how each subject decided, hired and treated the people around them. The Innovators does the same for computing, presenting it as a chain of collaborations rather than a sequence of lone inventions.

10 books of their own · 8 articles · 40 appearances

Books 10Writing 8Appearances 40Profiles 2

Start here

  1. Steve JobsWalter Isaacson, 2011
  2. The InnovatorsWalter Isaacson, 2014
  3. Elon MuskWalter Isaacson, 2023
Steve JobsSteve Jobs
T2 Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
Open LibraryGoodreads

Steve Jobs's life and Apple's products, from forty interviews with him and many more.

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick Collison and 17 others

The InnovatorsThe Innovators
T2 The Innovators
Walter Isaacson · 2014
Open LibraryGoodreads

Computing as a run of collaborations, from Ada Lovelace and Babbage to Google.

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Bill Gates, Chris Fussell and 2 others

Elon MuskElon Musk
T2 Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson · 2023
Open LibraryGoodreads

Two years shadowing Musk, across SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and the buying of Twitter.

Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Terrance McArthur

Invent and WanderInvent and Wander
T2 Invent and Wander
Jeff Bezos, Walter Isaacson · 2020
Open LibraryGoodreads

Amazon's shareholder letters from 1997 to 2019, with speeches and interviews.

Benjamin Franklin: An American LifeBenjamin Franklin: An American Life
T2 Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson · 2003
Open LibraryGoodreads

Franklin's life as printer, scientist, diplomat and founder.

“…books I've recommended, highlighted to death, or forced on friends.” — Andrew Wilkinson

Source: Andrew Wilkinson's Bookshelf, neverenough.com

Recommended by: Alfred Lin, Andrew Wilkinson, Mohnish Pabrai and 7 others

Einstein: His Life and UniverseEinstein: His Life and Universe
T2 Einstein: His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson · 2007
Open LibraryGoodreads

Einstein's life and science, from the Bern patent office to relativity.

Recommended by: Alfred Lin, Bill Gates, Charlie Munger and 6 others

The Code BreakerThe Code Breaker
T2 The Code Breaker
Walter Isaacson · 2001
Open LibraryGoodreads

Jennifer Doudna, co-developer of CRISPR gene editing, and what followed it.

Recommended by: Bill Gates, Terrance McArthur

Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci
T2 Leonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson · 2017
Open LibraryGoodreads

Leonardo's life read through his notebooks, where art and science were one pursuit.

Recommended by: Bill Gates, Austen Allred, Daniel Petre and 7 others

KissingerKissinger
T2 Kissinger
Walter Isaacson · 1992
Open LibraryGoodreads

Kissinger's life and years in power, where realism, secrecy and strategy met.

Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Scott Belsky

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World TheyThe Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
T2 The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
Goodreads

Six friends, including Acheson, Harriman and Kennan, who shaped US foreign policy.

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

Steve JobsSteve Jobs's life and Apple's products, from forty interviews with him and many more.2011T2Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick Collison, Andrew Wilkinson and 16 others
The InnovatorsComputing as a run of collaborations, from Ada Lovelace and Babbage to Google.2014T2Mohnish Pabrai, Bill Gates, Chris Fussell and 2 others
Elon MuskTwo years shadowing Musk, across SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and the buying of Twitter.2023T2Andrew Wilkinson, Terrance McArthur
Invent and WanderAmazon's shareholder letters from 1997 to 2019, with speeches and interviews.2020T2–
Benjamin Franklin: An American LifeFranklin's life as printer, scientist, diplomat and founder.2003T2Alfred Lin, Andrew Wilkinson, Mohnish Pabrai and 7 others
Einstein: His Life and UniverseEinstein's life and science, from the Bern patent office to relativity.2007T2Alfred Lin, Bill Gates, Charlie Munger and 6 others
The Code BreakerJennifer Doudna, co-developer of CRISPR gene editing, and what followed it.2001T2Bill Gates, Terrance McArthur
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo's life read through his notebooks, where art and science were one pursuit.2017T2Bill Gates, Austen Allred, Daniel Petre and 7 others
KissingerKissinger's life and years in power, where realism, secrecy and strategy met.1992T2Andrew Wilkinson, Scott Belsky
The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They MadeSix friends, including Acheson, Harriman and Kennan, who shaped US foreign policy.T2Mohnish Pabrai

Tags

appleteslaspacexamazonsteve-jobselon-muskjeff-bezosbenjamin-franklinalbert-einsteinjennifer-doudnatechnologyfounder-biographyinnovationinventionleadership