We still know what you’re reading this summer
Stephane Mehta

Stephanie Mehta

Editor in Chief, Fast Company

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power
by Max Chafkin

I was lucky to score an advance copy of The Contrarian, Bloomberg Businessweek features editor Max Chafkin’s biography of Peter Thiel. I’ve followed Max’s journalism for years (we’ve worked at many of the same publications but never at the same time), and his writing is smart, sophisticated, and accessible. This book, due out on September 21, is going to be a must read in tech and business circles.

A Burning: A Novel
by Megha Majumdar

I’m embarrassed to say I finally started reading A Burning: A Novel by Megha Majumdar, which my husband got me for Christmas 2020. I love its intertwining stories, and first-time novelist Majumdar’s confident writing is intimate and epic at the same time.

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Business Media

Matt Murray
Wall Street Journal

Roula Khalaf
Financial Times

Alan Murray
Fortune Media

Stephanie Mehta
Fast Company

Becky Quick
CNBC

Julia Beizer
Bloomberg Media

Rafat Ali
Skift

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Other 2021 reading lists you might want to explore

McKinsey Global Publishing’s top 25 picks

Summer books of 2021: Business (Financial Times)

Summer is coming. Bring a book. (New York Times)

Barack Obama: My summer 2021 lists (Medium)

The Harvard Business School faculty summer reader 2021 (Harvard Business School)

The books of summer (Wall Street Journal)

Summer reading: The 50 hottest new books everyone should read (Guardian)

Summer reading: 10 of the best art books of the past year (Christie’s)

5 ideas for summer reading (Bill Gates)

Summer reads 2021: What are Princeton professors reading—and listening to—this summer? (Princeton University)

What politicos are reading this summer (Politico)

Summer reading book list (reading adventures for babies, kids, and teens) (New York Public Library)

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Acknowledgments

It takes a village to curate amazing lists from this rather busy group of leaders from all over the world. We would like to thank Kris Coratti, Chantal De Soto, Rimjhim Dey, Melanie Newman, Joellen Perry, and Jayne Rosefield for their help.

Within McKinsey Global Publishing, Eleni Kostopoulos led the effort to make this year’s list come alive, with collaboration and support from Mike Borruso, Nancy Cohn, Victor Cuevas, Torea Frey, Mary Halpin, Drew Holzfeind, Kathleen O'Leary, LaShon Malone, Philip Mathew, Janet Michaud, Kanika Punwani, Sarah Thuerk, Duane Tomaszewski, Petra Vincent, and Nathan Wilson.

And thank you to our contributors and their organizations for providing McKinsey Global Publishing with their photographs and permission to use them.

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