An autodidact is a mostly self-taught person.  As Wikipedia says:

“A person may become an autodidact at nearly any point in his or her life. While some may have been educated in a conventional manner in a particular field, they may choose to educate themselves in other, often unrelated areas.”

I hadn’t considered myself one until I came across the word recently.  Since taking a leave of absence from Yale over two years ago, I’ve been learning so much in new ways and in new settings.  Not to say the classroom doesn’t hold some value in teaching you about some things, but I do believe now that it falls short in teaching you about certain subjects not rooted in traditional academics.

Beyond finding mentors and advisors who share their own experiences, I have learned how to start and run a company in a field I had no prior experience in by reading books and blogs. 

One of the greatest thing I had growing up was my parents’ firm belief in supporting my education — specifically, they would always pay for anything to further my education including buying any book.  My dad, whose family went through the communist take over of China and subsequent seizure of private property, would say “there is one thing they can never take away from you and that is your education.”  His belief allowed me to explore new areas on my own, armed with only an Amazon.com prime account.  I would certainly do the same for my future kids as I think it encourages them to learn more. 

I have read a lot of books in the last few years (maybe 2 per month?), but I will attempt to breakdown my entrepreneurial education for others who have asked where to start.

Books 

 Reality Check

  Getting to Plan B

 Founders at Work

Blogs

Fred Wilson’s Blog

Seth Godin’s Blog

Marc Andreessen’s Blog (Backed Up)

These select works have been the most helpful when first starting a company or thinking about starting something.  This is as close to a academic curriculum on the subject but of course it falls short of learning from experience.  I will continue this series with follow up posts about topics people want but probably starting with marketing and leadership.