United Airlines CEO Shares His Personal Reading List

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has shared his reading list, which offers some insight into his daily routine and his worldview, both of which shape how he runs United.

Scott’s Shelf: United Airlines CEO Shares Reading List…With Books Available At EWR United Club

If you’re anything like me, you have a bookshelf full of books that you intend to read, but the days have slipped into weeks which have slipped into months which have slipped into years…that’s the sad reality of life in this 24/7 world. There are many books I intend to read…one day.

One thing I have noticed is that successful people tend to read…and unless you consider that work too, finding the proper work-life balance includes finding time to read. For all the jokes we make about Biden going to bed early or Trump golfing each weekend, when I worked in the (George W. Bush) White House I recall how W (at least claimed to) made time every afternoon to workout and read…yes, the leader of the free world claimed to be an avid reader himself.

My own library tends to focus broadly on history, biography, and Christianity, though I enjoy classical works of fiction as well. Having worked in the White House and on Capitol Hill, I am also a news junkie and while I do not own a TV, I do keep up with digital editions of the news.

Kirby recently shared his reading list on Instagram:

I’m a lifelong avid reader. I read @wsj basically cover to cover every day, @nytimes, several monthly magazines that I’ve subscribed to for decades plus 1-2 books per week.

My reading list is wide ranging – non-fiction, history, biographies, and my favorite, good science fiction. Isaac Asimov is my favorite author, though Tolkien is a close second. My favorite book (it’s actually just a short story) is Asimov’s The Last Question.

Some books I’ve liked more recently include The Three Body Problem, The Human Stain, Why We Sleep, Thinking Fast and Slow, and World on the Brink.

I think reading, and reading on a wide range of subjects, is one of the most valuable things any of us can do to keep learning but also allows readers to put dots together, especially in new and unforeseen situations, in a way that very few people see until after the fact.

And given we have bookshelves around the @united system, we decided to create a Scott’s Shelf with a small selection of some of the books I’ve liked over the years. You can find them in the EWR United Club (Terminal C, next to C123) and for employees, the 4th-floor library at our Corporate Support Center in Chicago. I hope you enjoy some of them as much as I have.

If you happen to be in the C123 United Club in Newark or select other places, keep an eye out for “Scott’s Shelf” which features some of these books.

Like Kirby, I also read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times each day. His fondness for Tolkien suggests a religious conviction or at the very least, a profound struggle between right and wrong (something we all must wrestle with, regardless of our worldview or faith). Asimov’s The Last Question is indeed a fascinating short story and a prescient look at a future world of AI.

The full name of World on the Brink is World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century, underscoring a patriotic side that is in line with his Air Force service. I haven’t read the others, but would like to read Why We Sleep and Thinking Fast and Slow.

I’m generally positive on Kirby and agree with him that reading advances a life of learning and “allows readers to put dots together, especially in new and unforeseen situations, in a way that very few people see until after the fact.”

I’m not going to rush out and buy any of these books until I make a bigger dent on the books already on my own bookshelf, but the book choices and the very act of reading help us to better understand the man who is running United Airlines.