My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, Ben Casnocha, 2007.

The CEO in question is, indeed, very young. In fact, Ben Casnocha was an adolescent when he started this first company and just entered his 20’s this year. He’s been described as a whiz kid, but he’s more, and when I heard him speak at a recent WIN breakfast, I realized that here’s a young man we can all pick up a few points from.

The New York Times review of his book gives us a quick synopsis of his entrepreneurism: “Publishing a book in his teens actually ranks as one of his [Ben Casnocha’s] more modest accomplishments. At 12, he started his first company. At 14, he founded a software company called Comcate Inc. At 17, Inc. Magazine named him “entrepreneur of the year.”

Those accomplishments were followed by others, including national media coverage.Reading Casnocha’s book is like tuning in to the young mind, one that is exceptionally entrepreneurial and insightful. His youthful energy takes the form of tips on maximizing luck and turning entrepreneurial dreams into business realities.

His book is a summer read that just might revitalize us all and give us a few new ideas along the way, too.