A Private Equity Summer Reading List
Private-equity professionals generally maintain busy schedules between meeting with prospective business partners, pitching new funds or working with portfolio company executives. But many industry professionals still make time to catch up on their reading. Over more than a decade, industry professionals have shared their favorite summer reading picks and this year’s recommendations reflect a range of genres and authors that is as varied as the industry itself.
Contributions have been edited for clarity. Heather Mitchell, partner, chief risk officer and head of EMEA, Carlyle Group “In the Light of What We Know" by Zia Haider Rahman I read it when it first came out, and I’m rereading it this summer as it is, first and foremost, a novel of ideas. Wide ranging in its reach, it’s threaded with insight about politics, history, religion and the human condition.
Set against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis (which admittedly doesn’t initially sound like a compelling summer read), at its core this is a book of the heart, addressing the possibilities and limits of friendship, love and ultimately one’s perception of one’s place in the world. I’m a big believer in broadening your perspective and not just reading books that reinforce your own belief systems. It’s always important to see a different view, so as a generic recommendation, it might be worth picking up a novel someone is trying to marginalize.
Jim Quagliaroli, co-founder and managing partner, Silversmith Capital Partners “The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger I’ve read it in my teens, twenties, and thirties. And I have read it a half dozen times now in my forties.
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