Apple CEO Tim Cook says these 6 books shaped him

If you’re looking to beef up your summer reading, Apple CEO Tim Cook has a list of books that he said left a mark on him.

Many major executives are big readers. Warren Buffett would sometimes read 1,000 pages a day when he started his investing career, and he is still an avid reader. Jeff Bezos has held all-day book clubs for his senior management. Elon Musk was influenced by science fiction books at a young age. And, there’s the famous Bill Gates summer reading list.

Cook is no exception.

Dua Lipa interviewed Cook on an episode of BBC’s “Dua Lipa: At Your Service” podcast in 2023. Toward the end of the episode, she asked him to share five books that have shaped him over the years.

Cook’s list is a mix of classics, memoirs, and the biographies of civil rights leaders. These are the six books cosigned by the Apple boss.

“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee

“I think it’s not just for young students, but for all of us,” Cook said of Harper Lee’s classic novel, which is widely read in schools.

“Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike,” Phil Knight

“It’s kind of meant to be a business book, but it’s a book on life,” Cook said of Nike cofounder Phil Knight’s memoir. “It’s really great.”

“When Breath Becomes Air,” Paul Kalanithi

Cook called this memoir by neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi “phenomenal.” Kalanithi chronicled his battle with stage four lung cancer, reflecting on mortality, illness, and medicine in his book, which was published posthumously after the author’s death in 2015.

“I Am Malala,” Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb

“I love Malala’s story and her passion around young girls’ education,” Cook said. “We work with her, and the work that she does is incredible.”

Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography, which was cowritten with British journalist and author Christina Lamb, chronicles Yousafzai’s early life, activism, and the assassination attempt made against her at the age of 15.

Apple and the Malala Fund announced a long-term partnership in 2018 to offer primary education to around 100,000 underprivileged girls. Yousafzai also has a programming partnership with Apple TV+.

Biographies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy

“I love reading biographies of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and some of the great people that were pushing forward civil rights,” Cook told Lipa.

While he didn’t give any specific titles, there are well-known biographies of Kennedy by Thurston Clarke and Chris Matthews, and an autobiography of King created by historian and documentarian Clayborne Carson that weaves together King’s first-person works.

Kylie Kirschner contributed to an earlier version of this story.

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