Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

Sometimes you just need to get the pertinent info straight from the horses' mouths. These interviews with wildly successful founders get into great detail on what the early days are actually like, not what a Wharton professor thinks they're like. Spoiler alert: they're often radically different than what it is you've been told.

This collection is also a great look into just how down to earth some of these leaders are — another massive departure from a bulk of what it is that we're exposed to from the outside looking in.