B-Schoolers Catch Up on Reading

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Anyone who is genius enough to conceive such a brilliant line and universal truth must have a book that is worth reading! Many things about women absolutely crack me up, so to read Nora Ephron's thoughts should be fun…I hope.

Bringing Down the House: How Six Students Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

No, I am not a gambler, but who didn't enjoy the movie Revenge of the Nerds? I've heard about this book and actually watched a brief documentary about the students from MIT who outsmarted Las Vegas and won millions. The fact that they went to MIT and are by default assumed to be intelligent is meaningless to me. However, the fact that they were daring enough to try to take Vegas fascinates me. These are the types of people I want to spend time reading about.

Ely Dahan

Assistant Professor of Marketing
UCLA Anderson School of Management

I have recently bought a few books about Web 2.0: Wikinomics, Open Business Models, and Democratizing Innovation. The idea that future products and services will be designed by customers instead of companies is an intriguing possibility indeed.

For fun, The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, about the "frozen Chosen" in Alaska, sounds pretty good. As does Walter Isaacson's Einstein, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Michael Connelly's The Overlook.

Caroline Allen

Class of 2007
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I'm reading this for pleasure; I like historical fiction and this book is a well-written, fast-paced variation of that genre.

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

This is a classic in Christian literature that I have been meaning to read for awhile, but that I wanted to read at a time when I could be reflective and slowly digest it. This summer should provide that time.

Bearing the Cross by David Garrow

This is a nonfiction book about Martin Luther King Jr. We read a little bit of it in one of our leadership classes and I was so moved by it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

The Successor by Stephen Frey

This one is written by a private equity executive who also finds time to write best-selling novels. I interacted with him during my summer internship in PE and enjoyed reading his previous books. He writes fictional stories that take place within the PE industry.

Series 7 study materials!

Sydney Finkelstein

Professor of Management
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

Alice Waters started a revolution in American restaurants by insisting on organic products sourced from local growers and providers. Today, this is standard fare in top restaurants around the country. I'm interested in understanding this person who had the temerity to change how we eat, and insist on it regardless of the consequences. This is leadership, after all.

Heat by Bill Buford

There are few chefs in America today with the persona of Mario Batali, who presides over several leading restaurants around the country, including the flagship Babbo in New York. What makes this book especially interesting is Buford's personal path, which starts when he works in the kitchen at Babbo to learn about Mario—but he learns even more about himself. It's a story about changing your life via total immersion in Mario's world. Fascinating idea.

Steven Lubrano

Assistant Dean of Administration
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth