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Entrepreneurship is not always about starting or operating a business.   Bill Murphy Jr., in his Inc.com article, says it is about executing a unique solution to a problem.  The author singles out books with characters that exemplify this quality to pursue opportunities in problem solving.  One such book is The Aeneid, Virgil’s epic.  The story delves on the war between the Greeks and Trojans.  The dilemma of the Greeks was how to enter and conquer Troy.  The Greeks found an opportunity through a huge wooden horse they built that hid Greek soldiers.  Once inside Troy, the soldiers broke out of the horse and killed the Trojans.   Here are some books with stories on entrepreneurship.

1.  Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2004)

Aron Ralston’s account of how he became trapped under a boulder in a remote canyon while climbing in a remote area of Utah.

Problem: Escape from a slow, certain death using only the meager contents of Ralston’s rucksack.

Solution: After five days, convinced he had no other options, Ralston broke the bones in his arm and used a dull, two-inch knife to amputate it.

2.  Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who Knows the Game (1988)

Somewhat forgotten but for the author’s eponymous television show, this 1998 book “is like a modern version of Machiavelli’s The Prince, only much more richly illustrated,” according to the official Amazon review.

Problem: How do you get things done in Washington?

Solution: It all starts with the very first chapter in the book: “It’s Not Who You Know; It’s Who You Get to Know.” In other words, acquire resources (contacts) without regard to who you’re connected to at the start.

3.  The Aeneid

Pretty much the granddaddy of Western literature, Virgil’s epic poem tells two long stories: The journey of Aeneas from Troy to found Rome, and the war between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Problem: The one we’re focusing on here is the most famous: How can the Greeks conquer Troy?

Solution: Sneak a bunch of Greek soldiers into Troy by hiding them in a giant wooden horse, convincing the Trojans to bring the horse into their city, breaking out of the horse, and slaughtering everyone.

4.  The Man Who Never Was (1954)

In 1943, the Germans knew the Allies would invade Europe. They just didn’t know where or when.

Problem: Deceive the Axis powers into thinking Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, would take place elsewhere.

Solution: Obtain a dead body, preferably of a drowning victim, convince his family to release his body without knowing what would become of it, handcuff  a briefcase filled with fake war plans to his arm, and launch it from a submarine. The body washed up on the Spanish coast, and the Germans were fooled into believing he was a courier whose plane had crashed. ,,,

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