Beach Blanket Books for Business

The Wunderkind

Sky Dayton (sky@earthlink.net), 25, founder and chairman, EarthLink Network http://www. earthlink.net, Pasadena, California.

After multiple careers as coffee-bar owner, software product manager, and new media designer, Dayton founded the popular internet access provider EarthLink Network at age 23. When he's not dreaming about snowboarding in deep powder, Dayton gets his reading in on the planes that take him around the world to proselytize the Web.

If I Could Read Only One Book This Summer:

"The Warren Buffett Way" by Robert HagStrom, Jr. (John Wiley & Sons). This guy has created an enormous amount of wealth by picking winners and getting others to agree with him.

Beach Reading:

"Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard (Bridge Publications). One of those nonstop-action-can't- put-it-down-until-sleep-or-starvation books.

Perennial Favorites:

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand (NAL Dutton). This story of personal responsibility and determination has been an inspiration to me and probably millions of others who don't let the herd set their course in life.

Required Field Reading:

"Only the Paranoid Survive," Andy Grove (Doubleday/ Currency). What better way to learn strategy than from a person who defined our business?

The Book I'm Most Likely to Recommend to a Colleague:

"Economics in One Lesson," Henry Hazlitt (Crown). Hazlitt's classic is probably the best introduction to economics around. I read it over and over to understand the impact of the high-tech industry on the finances of the world. I've ordered a bunch of copies for all of our executives to read.

The Leader

General Gordon Sullivan (gordon_sullivan@mail.crc.com), 59, former Army chief of staff (1991-95); now president, Coleman Federal Corp., Washington, DC.

General Sullivan is credited with leading the transformation of a $63 billion global organization, the Army, into an Information Age enterprise. Now a high-tech executive, Sullivan recently coauthored "Hope Is Not a Method" (Times Books), based on his 36-year career as a professional soldier.

If I Could Read Only One Book This Summer:

"Lincoln & His Generals" by T. Harry Williams (Random House). Lincoln had a great eye for deploying talent -- he knew how to select the right men for the right jobs.

Beach Reading:

"Naked Came the Manatee" (G.P. Putnam's Sons), a thriller about Florida written by 13 suspense writers.

Perennial Favorites:

Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" (Doubleday/Currency); Meg Wheatley's "Leadership & the New Science" (Berrett-Kohler).

Required Field Reading:

"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara (Ballantine Books). This book has been required reading for soldiers for years.

Alison Rogers (aliroger@ix.net.com) writes from New York.