98 books like The Twin Thieves

Captain Marquette’s YouTube video inspired me to create a highly productive team using independent thinking. Then, reading his book really spoke to me because it resonated with my first working experience outside the University of Massachusetts—namely, with the Pittsburgh Pirates as SVP of Business. The Pirates were the worst team in Major League Baseball then, losing over 100 games per season, drawing only 7,000 fans per game, and losing $10M annually. The staff were deflated and defeated.

After getting direct input from the senior staff, I planned the Pirates turnaround in three stages: 1. Stop the ship sailing in the wrong direction; 2. Turn the ship around; 3. Gain speed and momentum in the right direction. I think the key statement in Marquette’s book is, “It doesn’t matter how smart the plan is if the staff can’t execute it.”

I read this landmark book well after being at the Pirates… show more.

I have read numerous Jon Gordon books over the years, such as The Energy Bus, The Hard Hat, and The One Truth. They are always quick and simple reads that impart great points that I’ve found immediately implementable.

This one was a fun book to read, and it immediately got me psyched to have my senior staff implement its lessons. It particularly struck a chord for me because I know Gordon’s co-author, PJ Fleck, from his days as Head Football Coach at Western Michigan University. His analogy of “The Oar” as the source of the energy and “The Boat” as the team coming together in common sacrifice was particularly telling as I read the book shortly after seeing the movie, The Boys in the Boat, about the University of Washington 1936 Olympic gold medal-winning crew team.

At my organization, Aspire, we’ve incorporated these concepts, lessons, and philosophies into our… show more.

I recently turned 75, and my son told me, “Dad, you’re now entering the 4th quarter of your life.” The book quite simply spoke to me and where my head has been for the last 2 to 3 years as I made the decision to sell my company, The Aspire Group. I had plenty of time to think through the lessons of this book—what did I really need and want from selling the business? What ongoing lifestyle did I want? What outcomes did I want, and how much money did it really take to achieve those goals and live that kind of life?

During three years of extreme pressure, there was a lot of introspection while getting the business into the right shape to put it out on the market and then negotiating the sale terms. The only way to continue to run my business, stay sane and afloat, and… show more.

I know Mark Cuban from when I was SVP of Marketing and Team Business at the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the early 2000s. When he bought the Dallas Mavericks franchise, I had just created the NBA Owners 101 program to introduce new team owners to the assets they’d acquired. Mark was as fascinating then as he is now, although less famous.

I spent two days getting to know him and telling him what he was buying. Since that time, he has only become more fascinating to me. When I read this unusual book several years ago, his advice was exactly what I’d witnessed from him in person—completely unique and different. Namely, the businesses started with no money are those you’re really passionate about; learn how to learn first; embrace technology; only associate yourself with those who are equally passionate about the business, and learn from failure. His other key… show more.

Beverly Kaye is a training and development icon who received the "Distinguished Contribution" award from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) for her impact on workplace learning over the past three decades.

Most career development and mobility books focus on getting a promotion or new job. But career mobility can also mean growing, stretching, learning, and transforming, without ever changing your job title, company, or location.

Kaye, Williams, and Cowart do an expert job of helping readers analyze their current situation and make good choices by balancing money and meaning. Whether it is time for you to grow right where you are by enriching your skills, making a lateral move, or stepping back and realigning your objectives - this book will guide you through it.

Written by soccer superstar, Mia Hamm, this book shows her as a young girl and how she learned to deal with disappointment while learning the sport with her brothers and sisters. She loved being praised when she did well but she became angry and quit when she missed goals. There was a consequence – when she returned to play, she wasn’t welcomed back because “winners never quit.”

There is so much to love about this book as it shows a phenomenal athlete as a girl and the origins of her love of soccer. Also, difficult emotions that children experience are explored (without being preachy) as the young Mia learns a valuable lesson. The illustrations are adorable!

Women’s experiences of football have been under-researched, making this collection of essays all the more significant. The recent explosion in the popularity of women’s football sometimes masks the fact that women have been playing the game for many decades–it’s just that the (male) world has finally caught up with how good they are at it.

This multifaceted book, which contains chapters written solely by women, is a sometimes amusing and often insightful take on the women’s game and women’s involvement in all aspects of football. It’s also written with a warmth that I really like and an intelligence sharper than a defense-splitting Lauren Hemp pass.

As is the case everywhere, sports in Latin America are deeply political, and students of Latin America have noticed how leaders like Juan Perón and Fidel Castro have used sports to gain followers and shape their nations. In her impressive work on Chilean soccer, Brenda Elsey demonstrates that it is not only charismatic leaders who have understood sports’ political utility. She shows how Chilean workers and labor activists used soccer to construct their communities and defend their class interests in the midst of rapid capitalist expansion during the twentieth century, reminding us that sports are not only arenas of athletic activity; they are also always venues for practicing citizenship.

At 1,012 pages, this is certainly not for the faint-hearted, but it remains the most amazing football book I’ve ever read. It is unrivaled in its scope, with chapters focusing on every continent, even those for which soccer may not have fully won the public over (like the USA). 

Much more than a chronicle of who scored where and when, it is also a book about politics and society and the wider forces that shape football. The Ball is Round can be dipped into with the chapters you find more interesting, but I find it more rewarding to tackle from start to finish. It will take some time, but the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

A footballing reading rite of passage, our version of The Power Broker.

It’s tricky to recommend one book that just covers one footballing culture, but when a book is this good, it’s hard to leave out. The justification is that the Dutch have had an enormous influence on modern soccer, and it is their ideas of soccer and manipulation of space that are present in all of today’s top teams.

I bought this book as a 17-year-old, and it was a defining moment in my youth. I read it every five years or so. It is so thought-provoking and illuminating.  I learned about art, politics, land reclamation, and, of course, the master Johan Cruyff.