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• Ian Fleming was not especially popular in the United States, but Americans became James Bond enthusiasts when John F. Kennedy praised From Russia with Love as one of his favorite books.
• Ronald Reagan once quipped that he knew no nightmare stronger than being alone in a hotel room with nothing to read.
• Besides perusing the typical “intellectual faire,” Bill Clinton loved to read mysteries during his Presidency, calling them a “little cheap-thrills outlet.”
SO, YOU WANT TO RUN A COMPANY?
Consider:
• American business magnate Michael Milken was once sentenced to prison for racketeering and securities fraud. There, he found common ground in literature with Galileo, who was similarly jailed but redeemed.
• Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight reveres his library of Asian history books, collections of art and poetry on the Nike campus so much that visitors are asked to remove their shoes and bow in order to enter.
• Emma Sinclair, CEO of the world’s oldest travel company, Thomas Cook, built a library at her home in Thailand and asks guests not to bring presents but books. is a way for guests to leave a lasting legacy.”
• Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, has read thousands of books. He claims that reading the works of Douglas Adams – especially The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – helped him understand that if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.
• Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once remarked that the Kindle would fail because “people don’t read anymore.” Still, Jobs himself was an avid reader and reportedly favored William Blake’s books. His launching of the Kindle e-reader is largely credited with the surge in popularity of e-texts.
• Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and tech icon, heralds books and loves to share what he’s reading with others through his online blog Gates Notes Bookshelf. His home includes a 2,100 square foot private library with a domed reading room.
SO, YOU’D LIKE TO MAKE IT BIG IN ENTERTAINMENT?
Consider:
• Comedian and late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien is an avid reader who enjoyed reading Flannery O’Connor and books on the Civil War while studying at Harvard.
• Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow says she has been in love with books since her mother read to her as a child. Paltrow credits books with getting her through some of the toughest times in her life.
• Singer Art Garfunkel, an avid reader and bibliophile, admits that he did not grow up in a literary family. However, upon entering Columbia College in 1959, he began to “read a million books and became a reader.” It was through this he began an interest in poetry.
• Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage is a huge comic book fan and took his name early in his career from a comic book character, Luke Cage. His entire comic book collection sold at an auction for $1.68 million. He even named his son Kal-el, the name of Superman himself.
• Jon Stewart, Emmy Award-winning host of The Daily Show, makes a concerted effort to read the books of any guests that appear on his show.
Leaders Are Readers
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