Recommends High Growth Handbook. Recommends An Elegant Puzzle. Recommends Revolt of the Public. Recommends Giovanni's Room.

13 Nov 2022 Lenny's Podcast An inside look at how the New York Times builds product | Alex Hardiman (CPO at The New York Times)

“I love Stripe Press, and so I think a lot of the books that they have are just such good references, like Elad Gill's High Growth Handbook, or Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle. Then, some of the more topical ones like Revolt of the Public. I just find that they're evergreen in terms of their utility. Anyone can find value in them. I just loved the craft of the books themselves. They are amazing products in terms of the content and the form, so those are, in the product context and work context, those are hands down I would say the places where I go first. But I do think, and I know this is this humanities major in me, I also always try to balance books and my own reading time and recommendations with fiction. I just think it's actually like, sometimes some of the best ideas and inspiration come when you go one or two steps away from the core books that are related to your practice. Right now, I'm actually rereading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. It's just so beautiful and so lyrical and it gets at more components of the human soul that, I know it sounds crazy, but I find like those are little sparks of ideas that ultimately come back into making products, and particularly news products where they're so creative in the way that they tell stories. I always try to give people one pragmatic recommendation and then one slightly more field recommendation over in the world of fiction. If you haven't read Giovanni's Room, it is incredible and devastating, and I absolutely recommend it.”

— Alex Hardiman

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Speaker: Alex Hardiman
Attribution: Verified speaker
Claim type: recommendation
Recorded: 13 Nov 2022
Publisher: Lenny's Podcast
Episode: An inside look at how the New York Times builds product | Alex Hardiman (CPO at The New York Times)

Transcript context

…Okay. What are two or three books that you recommend most to other people? I love Stripe Press, and so I think a lot of the books that they have are just such good references, like Elad Gill's High Growth Handbook, or Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle. Then, some of the more topical ones like Revolt of the Public. I just find that they're evergreen in terms of their utility. Anyone can find value in them. I just loved the craft of the books themselves. They are amazing products in terms of the content and the form, so those are, in the product context and work context, those are hands down I would say the places where I go first. But I do think, and I know this is this humanities major in me, I also always try to balance books and my own reading time and recommendations with fiction. I just think it's actually like, sometimes some of the best ideas and inspiration come when you go one or two steps away from the core books that are related to your practice. Right now, I'm actually rereading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. It's just so beautiful and so lyrical and it gets at more components of the human soul that, I know it sounds crazy, but I find like those are little sparks of ideas that ultimately come back into making products, and particularly news products where they're so creative in the way that they tell stories. I always try to give people one pragmatic recommendation and then one slightly more field recommendation over in the world of fiction. If you haven't read Giovanni's Room, it is incredible and devastating, and I absolutely recommend it. Wow. I feel like I just keep buying books after doing these podcasts. I have so many books I got to read. I'm also feeling like the combination of books you recommended is exactly what I would imagine someone leading product at New York Times would recommend, something product tactical and then just a beautiful piece of fiction.…

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