The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie's own account of his rise from a Scottish handloom weaver's son earning $1.20 a week as a bobbin boy to the owner of the largest steel company in the world. Dictated in his final years and published posthumously in 1920, the book covers his relentless cost obsession, his belief in technology as a competitive weapon, and the reading habit he formed through a patron's free library. It ends with his famous resolution to give away his entire fortune.

David Senra returned to this book for a third time on Founders episode #283. He pulled Carnegie's core operating principles: "Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket." "The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it." "The most expensive way to pay for anything is with time." Carnegie on opportunity: "Do not delay. Do it now. It is a great mistake not to seize the opportunity." Senra distilled the lesson from Carnegie's early life: "Focus on whatever job is in front of you at this very moment and do the best you can. You can never know what opportunities that will unlock in the future." The book appears on the shelf of Andrew Carnegie's founder entry in this library as the primary source for his own account of his rise.