Becoming
IN A LIFE filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
5mentions
5people
2018–2024years
60% recommend40% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I love looking at books in people's photos. Here's what I found in yours. I hope you don't mind!
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Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - A detailed account of the Theranos scandal.
The Founders by Jimmy Soni - Explores the early days of PayPal and its impact on Silicon Valley.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - Memoir by the founder of Nike.
Measure What Matters by John Doerr - A book about OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and organizational success.
Business Adventures by John Brooks - Classic tales of corporate life, highly recommended by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Becoming by Michelle Obama - The former First Lady's personal memoir.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - Inspirational reflections on life and achieving dreams.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - A comprehensive biography of Apple's co-founder.
Chaos Monkeys by Antonio García Martínez - A look into the wild side of Silicon Valley.
Facebook: The Inside Story by Steven Levy - A deep dive into the social media giant's history and controversies.
Skunk Works by Ben R. Rich - Stories of innovation from Lockheed Martin’s legendary division.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke - How to make decisions under uncertainty.
Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock and Dan M. Gardner - Insights into better prediction and decision-making.
Educated by Tara Westover - A memoir about resilience and education.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - A raw look at the life of a chef.
Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin - A biography of the physicist behind the atomic bomb.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant - Wisdom on wealth and happiness.
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I've read Naval's book, but not the others. Are there any in particular you really enjoyed?
- The ones I rated highest out of those I read this year (which is what I think the question means).
* Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester
* Atomic Adventures: Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder-A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science by James Magaffey
* Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
* Vulcan 607 by Rowland White
* Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
* Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery
* A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth
* 1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink by Taylor Downing
* The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley
* In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by Sarah Langford
* Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss
* Working Actor: Breaking in, Making a Living, and Making a Life in the Fabulous Trenches of Show Business by David Dean Bottrell
* Becoming by Michelle Obama
* Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
* Rush Hour by Iain Gatel
* Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World by Alice Roberts
* The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros by Mick Cornett
- I focused on reading books about politics & technology. These are my favorites
- Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future by Joi Ito (4.5/5)
- Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella (4.5/5)
- Becoming by Michelle Obama (4.9/5)
- My wife is a published author (and ghost writer) and my sister-in-law is a VP and acquisitions editor for a small publishing house.
The different between 30% and 75% is mostly historical, and the app market vs. the publishing world run on different models: There is not really an equivalent of advances or physical publishing in the app world. Royalties and app revenue splits are are roughly equivalent, though.
As an author, your leverage on advances and royalties is your personal brand equity. "Becoming" by Michelle Obama is almost an automatic winner due to her brand. If you're not well known, your publishing deal is abysmally standard.
It costs some money to print and distribute a physical book vs. a digital book. This is slowly changing as digital distribution flexes up. But print is still the preferred model for people. [1]
And there are additional layers of writing a book in the traditional model: acquisitions, developmental and copy editing being some of the big ones. And you'd be shocked how many non-fiction books have a ghost writer.
Finally, there's the reality that the publisher is taking a risk: their high percentages are covering all the books they took a loss on.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/physical-books-still-outsell...
- She's in the spotlight because she's an amazingly accomplished person. A 54-year-old black woman from the South Side of Chicago who went to Princeton despite her high-school career advice telling her "she wasn't really Princeton material".
It also helps that she wrote a #1 NY Times best-seller that everyone is talking about[0]. Maybe if you read it you will understand what makes her so special.
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⁰ https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Michelle-Obama-ebook/dp/B079...
