Beach Reads Recommended by Auziros

Because the work week is too hectic to only read serious stuff on Saturday.
— Dave Wilner, Chief Revenue Officer (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

A classic and sound read for people just starting out in their career because it gives you a lot of perspective of what makes great companies (when all you see is the bubble of your first job.)
— Matias Woloski, CTO & Co-Founder (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

“Scaling Up Excellence” gives you good, practical insights on how to scale up culture and high standards as you grow your business.
— Matias Woloski, CTO & Co-Founder (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Excellent management book. Loved the concept of “organizational health” as a competitive advantage, as well as great insights into building high-performing senior leadership teams. Lencioni goes into how those teams operate, how to generate trust, deal (and embrace) with conflict, foster accountability and ultimately get results. I applied all concepts to Auth0.
— Eugenio Pace, CEO & Co-Founder (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

Hard things depicts quite well the emotional roller coaster of startups (and specially the people in leadership).
— Matias Woloski, CTO & Co-Founder (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

It's a book that provides you with new language, frameworks, and tools to conquer the status quo and drive change. It teaches you how to use future’s radical problem-solving system to reliably produce surprising, ingenious, and seemingly magical answers to your most wicked questions.
— Bárbara Mercedes Muñoz Cruzado, Visual Designer (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Set in Wales and Australia. It's a story of guilt, loss, survival and forgiveness.
— Jeremy Freeland, General Counsel (Leavenworth, Wash., USA)

This was my favorite read of the last year. It is a murder mystery set in Post World War II Atlanta during entrenched segregation. The main characters are returning veterans who are selected as the first black police officers in the Atlanta Police Department. The story is a shocking slice of life showing what it was like to live in the Jim Crow South.
— Bobby Johnson, Developer Advocate (Olympia, Wash., USA)

Set in Florida with wild characters, any one of Carl Hiassen’s books is a great read, but you can start here.
— Chris Dukelow, CFO (Renton, Wash., USA)

I've also recently enjoyed Ben Pastor's Martin Bora series, the first of which is Lumen (translated from German). Lumen is part wartime political intrigue, detective story, psychological thriller, and religious mystery, and follows a German army captain and a Chicago priest as they investigate the death of a nun in Nazi-occupied Poland — but mostly it's a timely read about conflict between institutional loyalty and personal integrity.
— Jeremy Freeland, General Counsel (Leavenworth, Wash., USA)

For something completely different, try Shantaram, a massive (944 pages), semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of a man who escapes to India from a maximum security Australian prison and disappears into the Bombay underworld. It's a fast-paced, sensationalistic read - sometimes a little over-the-top, but recommended if you enjoy a good escapist novel from time to time.
— Lewis Carpenter, CMO (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

It’s the most magical thing I’ve ever read.
— Joan Pepin, CISO/VP of Operations (Portland, Ore.)

A brilliant, sometimes exhausting story set in a war-torn part of the world. Emphasizes the importance — particularly in our current social/political climate — of standing up for those that cannot stand up for themselves, and of loyalty and self-sacrifice.
— Dave Wilner, Chief Revenue Officer (Bellevue, Wash., USA

I typically like to read non-fiction so this novel of historical fiction set in South Africa in the 1930's and 1940's has enough substance to feel like I'm learning something, while telling a compelling story of a young boy taking on the world.
— Mark Olson, VP of Finance and Operations (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

A wild romp through Manhattan's media scene in the 80s, indiscreet and hilarious. Tina Brown was Editor of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and founded the Daily Beast. Although ostensibly a memoir based on her diaries, it reads like a novel. I enjoyed her depiction of an ambitious young Brit making her name in the US.
— Aoife Crowley, Customer Success Manager EMEA (London, UK)

The problems humankind used to have are gone: famine, wars, and plagues. Starting in the 21st century, the focus is going to be on immortality, happiness, and becoming gods. Is that going to save us or kill us all?
— Martin (Gonto) Gontovnikas, Vice President of Marketing and Growth (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Well-written insight into contemporary political events and a few leadership lessons. A reminder that integrity is real when you live up to your values and you have “skin in the game.” (See also Skin in the Game under Politics & Government.)
— Eugenio Pace, CEO & Co-Founder (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

I’ve always liked history, more so military history. Not long ago, I rediscovered Roman History. This book tells the story of Varus’ massive defeat in Germany that had ripple effects in Roman policy regarding expansion in Europe — the Teutoburg battle. This book offers a detailed view on the event, as well as a (refreshing) defense on Varus and his tactical decisions to save his army.
— Eugenio Pace, CEO & Co-Founder (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

Hariri is unparalleled in his ability to connect facts and concepts in fiercely original fashion, casting the familiar in a new light and forever changing what you thought were immutable assumption about history, society and the human condition. Highly recommended!
— Vittorio Bertocci, Principal Architect (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

Love all Taleb’s books. He’s extremely abrasive (on Twitter), to a point that I dislike. But I enjoy his writing and love the concept of “skin in the game.” For example: “Take advice from someone that has something to lose from the advice they give you.” Simple and powerful.
— Eugenio Pace, CEO & Co-Founder (Bellevue, Wash., USA)

Our brain has two systems: a fast system that triggers unconsciously and answers to some commands and a lazy, slow system that is triggered by more complex tasks. These two systems have been shaped by evolution and have created biases and problems in our brain. Discover what they are to avoid making mistakes.
— Martin (Gonto) Gontovnikas, Vice President of Marketing and Growth (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Journalist James Nestor takes you on voyage into the world of dangerously thrilling world of freediving — while providing practical paths to calm.
— Jenny O’Brien, Creative Writer (North Seattle, Wash., USA)