In a word: fascinating

I had to read this as background for a corporate gig and could not put it own. Jobs was such a contrarian, so complex, so eccentric and extreme that he makes for a compelling character with his tantrums, fanatical behaviour and prescient marketing genius. I had no idea that in the early days, for example, he didn’t wash and people complained about his body odour when he went to meetings. Nor did I have any idea of the extent of his interest in Zen, his hippy values or his love of Japanese aesthetics and how that informed the design of his products. You don’t have to be an Apple devotee to enjoy this, you just have to be interested in innovation and charismatic but flawed genius.

The Secret Language of Leadership by Steve Denning

In a word: helpful

Also read this is homework but it turned out to be interesting , full of useful case studies about how to make your storytelling more effective in the business world. Starts off by analysing how the way we perceived Al Gore in the 2000 election campaign was so different from the way we perceived him when he made An Inconvenient Truth.

The Richer Sex by Liza Mundy

In a word: optimistic 

The Washington Post writer puts forward a theory based on extensive research and data that says professional women in the developed world are becoming the new high earners. She then goes on to analyse how this changes relationships with their partners. Some good news: women will marry younger men and men will marry older women.