Ask HN: Fictional business books like The Goal

by jimnotgym on 5/10/2025, 10:08:55 PM with 7 comments
I feel like The Goal and The Phoenix Project were seminal books, partly because their fictional style allowed people to see the ideas in applied form. Are there any other fictional business books we should be reading

  • by keiferski on 5/11/2025, 9:08:54 AM

    It's designed more for kids, but I found it useful for understanding basic accounting concepts: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting From the Lemonade Stand.

    I also found two of the novels in Clavell's Asian Saga to be quite business-focused: Tai-Pan and Noble House. Not so much for the nuts-and-bolts of business, but just a large business organization being founded and growing over the course of multiple centuries.

  • by NiceAdvice on 5/11/2025, 4:17:08 AM

    I'm a big fan of The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom DeMarco.

  • by paulcole on 5/11/2025, 9:49:10 PM

    Get a Grip by Gino Wickman introduces EOS through a narrative story.

  • by romanhn on 5/11/2025, 12:34:48 AM

    The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni is another classic.