Kochland
The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America
by Christopher Leonard · first published 2019
71% recommend29% neutral
Uses the extraordinary account of how the biggest private company in the world grew to be that big to tell the story of modern corporate America. The annual revenue of Koch Industries is bigger than that of Goldman Sachs, Facebook, and U.S. Steel combined. Koch is everywhere: from the fertilizers that make our food to the chemicals that make our pipes to the synthetics that make our carpets and diapers to the Wall Street trading in all these commodities. But few people know much about Koch Industries and that's because the billionaire Koch brothers want it that way. For five decades, CEO Charl
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…the most personally influential which haven't yet been mentioned: - Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger - Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance - Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - Kochland by Christopher Leonard - Masters of Doom by David Kushner I read a lot of "business consultant" books and began to be annoyed with them since many of them can be summed up by the title and the first…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗…lazy to me to say that one industry was able to push through its interests for 50 years running, as if a democracy has no way of defending itself. It is scary how effective Exxon and Koch are (the book Kochland is a good read), but I don't accept that this strips all consumers of responsibility for all eternity. What oil companies have done is certainly damaging to society - but let's please not lose sight…
on “Oil companies buying up EV charging networks: Shell acquires Ubitricity” ↗For those with an interest in large markets that are not often discussed on the clearnet: [1] https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Kochland/Christopher-...
on “An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns” ↗And then there are the Koch brothers: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_family Who've probably got their hands in too many things: * https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Kochland/Christopher-... * https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/07/kochland-rev... * https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/kochland-examin...
on “Invention of satanic witchcraft by medieval authorities was met with skepticism” ↗I read the new book Kochland last year. I was expecting an expose of an evil robber baron. Instead the author had a begrudging respect for the talents of the Kochs. As s privately held company they dont have to generate quarterly…
on “Charles Koch Says His Partisanship Was a Mistake” ↗I've read all of these except Kochland (just ordered it now) and complete agree. You have great taste! Check out American Kingpin by Nick Bilton for a read somewhat similar to Bad Blood. Do you have any other recommendations?
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗“Kochland” includes a chapter on warehouse operations that tracked workers’ activity down to the minute (each conversation and bathroom trip had to be accounted for) and posted their performance rankings on a bulletin…
on “Bossware is a big legal risk” ↗