As we settle into the quieter days of winter, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a good book – whether you’re by the fire, on a festive break, or simply enjoying some downtime before the year ahead. From thought-provoking non-fiction to brilliant storytelling, here’s what the ECI team are reading this winter:
Neal Griffith
In Search of Thursday by Paul Traynor
This book, recommended to me by a former 3i employee, is about the early days of 3i and how it became a ‘University of Venture Capital’ for many in the private equity industry who went on to spin off their own firms. It follows Paul’s experience joining the VC world at the age of 25, and is part insightful, part incredibly amusing. It obviously interested me as I work in the industry, but the stories Paul tells and his style of writing make it far more laugh out loud than you might expect… One word of warning – some of these stories are not exactly appropriate so don’t take this review as endorsement. And for those considering joining the world of private equity now, if you read this I must stress that things are quite different now versus in the 1980s….. most things at least!
Louis Jans
Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth
As ECI’s resident spy / secret agent book critic, I found myself looking for my next read. Thanks to ChatGPT I was introduced to Frederick Forsyth’s (also authored “The Day of the Jackal”) Fourth Protocol. Set during the 1987 UK general election where a hard-left faction is gaining popularity, Russian spies hatch a bold plan to discredit the Conservative government by deploying a next generation weapon on UK soil. The book follows the main actors from both the UK and Soviet side but it takes quite a while before both storylines converge, which makes it a very thrilling read and hard to put down. The story is a really nice blend between fiction and reality, grounded within real events and personas, so feels very realistic.
Fiona Moore
Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie
At times it can be quite doom and gloom working in ESG: ever closer critical deadlines, failures to miss targets, watering down, greenwashing, species wipe outs… the list goes on. Hannah Ritchie is a lead researcher at Our World in Data, and she wrote the book to combat that feeling of helplessness and doom and gloom. Rather than follow the headlines and the dramatic crisis calls, she zooms out and takes a look at the long term data to understand where we should focus our efforts and where we’ve already past monumental peaks. She challenges preconceptions around sustainability and calls out activities that might ‘feel’ good on the progress front but that aren’t really moving the needle. I finished the book feeling optimistic, not just about the steps forwards that we can take but also about how much has already been achieved.
Isa Maidan
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
Headshot is a debut novel following eight girl boxers in the US over the two days of a championship. The reason this stood out to me is compared to anything else I’ve read, is it had an incredibly unique structure, with each chapter dedicated to one of the bouts in the tournament. This way of presenting the narrative gives a real feel of intimacy to the competition. The author cleverly weaves the girls’ pasts and futures into the fights, what’s driving them and how their upbring affects their approach in the ring. As the reader you get to know and start rooting for each of them. The characters can be raw and messy – many have got into fighting for very real and often painful reasons. This rawness is reflected in the writing style which takes you into the ring with them, with all the intensity, heat and pain of each fight.
Toby Fitzherbert
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre
There seems to be a cultural moment of this story recently, with both a musical and a Colin Firth film about it in the last five years. This isn’t surprising as it is a story that is so fantastical it is hard to believe it all happened. The book follows the planned deception of German troops convincing them that the planned invasion of Sicily was in fact a hoax. Doing so probably saved thousands of lives, but the way it was done reads like the fabrication of a thriller writer. I really enjoyed discovering the story, and won’t spoil it for people, but if you did want any Christmas gift ideas, this is one of those books you read and immediately start gifting to people you know!
