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In 1962 Phil Knight, 24, fresh from a Stanford MBA and living with his parents in Portland, Oregon, went for an early run and settled on what he called his Crazy Idea: importing cheap, high-quality running shoes from Japan. Two years later he and his old University of Oregon track coach, Bill Bowerman, shook hands on a company called Blue Ribbon Sports; in 1971 it became Nike. Knight stepped down as Nike chairman in 2016, the same year he published the story of those first eighteen years. Warren Buffett called it the best book he read that year. This guide covers his two key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2016–2017 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Phil Knight has published one book in two versions: Shoe Dog (2016), his memoir of founding Nike, and Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017), an abridged version for younger readers. Start with Shoe Dog; the story runs from his 1962 Crazy Idea to Nike going public in 1980.
Where to Start with Phil Knight
If you want the full story of how Nike began
→ Shoe Dog (2016) — the original 2016 memoir.
If you want the business side: cash, banks and suppliers
→ Shoe Dog (2016) — the near-misses of the 1960s and 1970s, year by year.
If you are buying for a teenager
→ Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017) — shorter, with a letter to young readers.
If you want his advice to young people in his own words
→ Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017) — the new front and back matter.
2 Phil Knight Books, in Order
Shoe Dog
Published by Scribner on 26 April 2016, the memoir opens with a dawn run in Portland in 1962 and follows Blue Ribbon Sports from a car-boot business selling Japanese Onitsuka shoes to Nike’s stock-market listing in 1980, one chapter per year. Much of it is about money: banks, suppliers and the constant threat of running out of cash, with Bill Bowerman as partner and early employees as the main characters. A closing section, “Night”, jumps forward decades and includes the death of his son Matthew in 2004. Knight worked on it with the writer J. R. Moehringer; Bill Gates named it one of his five favourite books of 2016.
Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition
An abridged version of the memoir, published by Simon & Schuster on 26 September 2017 at about 288 pages. It tells the same story, from high-school track runner to the founding of Nike, with new front and back matter: an introduction for younger readers and “A Letter to the Young Reader” with Knight’s advice for the challenges ahead.
In What Order to Read Phil Knight
There is only one story here, so the question is which version. Adults should read the 2016 Shoe Dog: the year-by-year structure, the money troubles and the closing “Night” section are what the book is known for.
The 2017 Young Readers Edition is a shortened retelling of the same events, not a sequel. Read it instead of the original, not after it, unless you want the new letter to young readers.
A reading path
1. Shoe Dog (2016)
2. Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017), for younger readers
The years · 1938–2025
Quick facts about Phil Knight
- Known for
- Co-founding Nike with Bill Bowerman in 1964 and telling the story of its first eighteen years in the memoir Shoe Dog.
- 1938
- Born in Portland, Oregon
- 1964
- Founds Blue Ribbon Sports with Bill Bowerman
- 1980
- Nike goes public
- 2016
- Shoe Dog
- 2025
- $2 billion pledge to OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute
- Born
- 24 February 1938, Portland, Oregon
- Education
- University of Oregon (1959); MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business (1962)
- Founded
- Blue Ribbon Sports with Bill Bowerman, 25 January 1964; renamed Nike in 1971
- At Nike
- CEO until November 2004, chairman until June 2016
- Family
- Married Penny Parks in 1968; their son Travis runs the animation studio Laika
- Philanthropy
- More than $1 billion to the University of Oregon; $400 million for Stanford’s Knight-Hennessy Scholars (2016)
The red mark is 2016: Shoe Dog, published the year he left the Nike chair.
How Phil Knight Writes: The Founder’s Diary
Shoe Dog is built like a ledger of years. After the opening “Dawn”, each chapter is a single year from 1962 to 1980, so the reader moves through the company’s history in the same order Knight lived it, without hindsight about which crisis would matter.
The book ends at the 1980 stock-market listing, before Nike was a giant, and spends most of its pages on cash flow, loans and suppliers: the bank that froze his account, the break with Onitsuka, the fight with US Customs. Knight writes about himself as shy and often unsure, and gives a lot of space to the early staff and to Bowerman, the coach who made shoes in his workshop.
The final section, “Night”, breaks the pattern. It jumps decades ahead, to regrets, to the death of his son Matthew in 2004 and to what the company became. Knight wrote the book with help from J. R. Moehringer, the writer who also worked on Andre Agassi’s Open, and the scene-by-scene style shows it.
Frequently asked questions about Phil Knight’s books
How many books has Phil Knight written?
Two, though they tell one story: Shoe Dog (2016), his memoir of founding Nike, and Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017), an abridged version for younger readers.
What are Phil Knight’s books in order?
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike (2016), then Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition (2017).
Where should I start with Phil Knight?
With Shoe Dog (2016). Choose the Young Readers Edition (2017) only for a younger reader; it covers the same events in fewer pages.
What is Phil Knight’s most famous book?
Shoe Dog, published on 26 April 2016. Bill Gates named it one of his five favourite books of 2016 and Warren Buffett called it the best book he read that year.
What years does Shoe Dog cover?
The main story runs from 1962, when Knight had his Crazy Idea of importing Japanese running shoes, to 1980, when Nike went public, one chapter per year. A closing section, “Night”, jumps forward to later decades.
Did Phil Knight write Shoe Dog himself?
It is his memoir, written in the first person, but he worked on it with the writer J. R. Moehringer, author of The Tender Bar and collaborator on Andre Agassi’s Open. Wikipedia describes Moehringer as the ghostwriter.
Is Shoe Dog being made into a film?
Netflix announced a film in July 2018, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and produced by Knight and Frank Marshall; no release date has been set. The 2023 film Air, in which Ben Affleck plays Knight, is about Nike signing Michael Jordan and is not an adaptation of the book.
What is the difference between Shoe Dog and the Young Readers Edition?
The 2017 edition is abridged to about 288 pages and adds an introduction for younger readers and “A Letter to the Young Reader” with Knight’s advice. The story is the same.
What was the Nike sweatshop controversy?
In the 1990s Nike was criticised for conditions and pay in contract factories in Indonesia and Vietnam. In May 1998 Knight announced new standards, including higher minimum ages and outside monitoring, and said “The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.” In 2000 he withdrew a $30 million pledge to the University of Oregon in a dispute over its labour-rights stance, and later restored and increased it.
Is Phil Knight still alive?
Yes. He was born on 24 February 1938 in Portland, Oregon. He stepped down as Nike chairman in 2016 and remains one of the largest donors in Oregon.
Footnotes
- Phil Knight — Wikipedia
- Shoe Dog — Wikipedia
- Shoe Dog (Young Readers Edition) — Simon & Schuster UK
- Nike co-founder shares ‘the only advice any of us should ever give’ — CNBC, 2016
- Phil Knight memoir review — Complex
- Nike raises factory standards — CNN Money, 1998
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The world is made up of crazy ideas. History is one long processional of crazy ideas.”
— Phil Knight, Shoe Dog (2016)
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