Books
Top 5 Must Read Books
Lift Off: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
By Eric Berger
Early stage startup meets rocket science. A wild story of ambitious and talented people.
Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
By Walter Isaacson
CRISPR genome editing was discovered in 2012, and the first gene edited human was born in 2018. Story of CRISPR discovery, how it's going to be used, and the moral delimas of cheap, easy gene editing.
Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology.
By Chris Miller
Incredible overview of the chip industry. Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the US became dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America’s victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. Until recently, China had been catching up, aligning its chip-building ambitions with military modernization.
The Three Body Problem
By Cixin Liu
Fate of the world. Science fiction masterpiece. The second book in the series is my favorite, but all are incredible.
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We’ll Need
By Bill Gates
We've got until 2030 to get on a direct path forward, and 2050 to reach net 0 carbon emissions. It's possible with focus, collaboration, and innovation.
Software and Product
The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Digital Disruption, Redshirts, and Overthrowing the Ancient Powerful Order
By Gene Kim
Put into the form of an entertaining novel, an informative story about dev ops, team structure, and agile developement practices for software companies.
Techinically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
By Sara Wachter-Boettcher
We take tech generally as truth (ex. Google Search). Eye openeing overview of biases baked into tech products and why diversity is a necessity.
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
By Robert C. Martin
A book about software craftsmanship and best practices to write good, clean code.
Design of Everyday Things
By Donald A. Norman
Product design from the lense of things you use everyday.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
By Nir Eyal
Create a trigger, enable some action with variable reward, and built user investment. Soon enough, users are hooked.
Startup Bibles
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
By Peter Thiel
Must read startup book. Quick read, foundational, just read it.
The Cold Start Problem
By Andrew Chen
Must read for startups. Everything revolves around networks and every company must solve "the cold start problem".
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
By Eric Ries
The mission of a startup is to develop hypotheses and test them quickly. A framework for setting clear goals, measuring them, and deciding what to do next.
The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
By Guy Kawasaki
How to start an internet business from an early Apple employee and multi-time startup founder.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
By Ben Horowitz
Difficult decisions and hard situations that WILL happen during company building. Told by Ben Horowitz, Opsware founder and a16z GP.
Entrepreneur Stories
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
By Michael Lewis
The beginnings of Silicon Valley, the internet, Netscape, and the legendary Jim Clark.
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
By Phil Knight
Building Nike was a grind with no obvious path forward. Lot's of luck, grit, and trips to Japan.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
By John Carreyrou
Elizabeth Holmes is a die hard entrepreneur and one of the most persuasive leaders I've read about. Also, how NOT to run a startup.
Other Great Reads
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
By Johann Hari
Wild. Outdated global drug policy doesn't work, creates a dangerous world for everyone remotely involved, and the war on drugs is on it's way out.
Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline
By Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson
Human population will soon plummet. This is a big problem with no easy answers.
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now
By Meg Jay
High level advice and stories on work, relationships, and your physical health for people in their 20s.