Books Recommended by Balaji Srinivasan
Seeing Like a State
How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
James C. Scott
Source: "There’s a sense in which the term 'real name' is a misnomer. A better term is a state name — a name which makes you legible to the state." - Balaji Srinivasan
Catching Fire
How Cooking Made Us Human
Richard Wrangham
Source: "Talks about how the invention of fire allowed humans as species to outsource our metabolism to the fire and allocate more of our scarce calories to the brain." - Balaji Srinivasan
Schaum's Outline of Principles of Accounting I
Joel J. Lerner
Source: "It’s amazing how many people have studied accounting or something, but you just give them Schaums and ask them to do the first 10 problems in accounting, they struggle." - Balaji Srinivasan
Rules for Radicals
A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals
Saul D. Alinsky
Source: "The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away." - Balaji Srinivasan
The Craft
How the Freemasons Made the Modern World
John Dickie
Source: "Anyone working on NFT collections should understand the history of the Freemasons. Many of their rituals could be usefully updated for the digital era." - Balaji Srinivasan
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages
Carlota Perez
Source: "People get really amped about a technology, then you try to actually do it, you find it’s actually hard, most people get demoralized and they quit." - Balaji Srinivasan
History Has Begun
The Birth of a New America
Bruno Macaes
Source: "[The author's] thesis is that America is increasingly becoming a virtual society, focused on make-believe above all. I have to agree." - Balaji Srinivasan
How the Internet Happened
From Netscape to the iPhone
Brian McCullough
Source: "Reminds us that the tech era is very new, only really about 10 years old, and only began in earnest with iPhone adoption." - Balaji Srinivasan
Unelected Power
The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State
Paul Tucker
Source: "Decent book — by a central banker! — on the lack of legitimacy of central banking and the regulatory state writ large." - Balaji Srinivasan
China Coup
The Great Leap to Freedom
Roger Garside
Source: "Makes the case that Xi could be felled by his internal enemies (possible!) and that this will lead to democratization (IMO implausible)." - Balaji Srinivasan
The Truth Machine
The Blockchain and the Future of Everything
Paul Vigna
Source: "An accessible explanation of how blockchains allow us to establish certain kinds of truths even in adversarial environments." - Balaji Srinivasan
Visual Complex Functions
An Introduction with Phase Portraits
Elias Wegert
Source: "Fun book proposes plotting all complex functions as colored contour plots. Kind of an obvious idea, but it's carried through systematically here." - Balaji Srinivasan
The Changing World Order
Why Nations Succeed and Fail
Ray Dalio
Source: "How today’s America resembles the Dutch and British empires of the past in terms of its monetary overextension." - Balaji Srinivasan
Netflixed
The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs
Gina Keating
Source: "Blockbuster tried to buy Hollywood Video, but the FTC called this off on antitrust (!) grounds. By 2010 Blockbuster was bankrupt and Netflix was soaring." - Balaji Srinivasan
Indistractable
How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
Nir Eyal
Source: "Tackles the problem of modern distraction by empowering us to break the bad habits at the root of the issue." - Balaji Srinivasan
The Cold Start Problem
How to Start and Scale Network Effects
Andrew Chen
Source: "Useful for anyone trying to bootstrap a new community or network, which is virtually every founder these days." - Balaji Srinivasan
The Kill Chain
Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
Christian Brose
Source: "The US military has a perfect record in its war games with China. China has won every round." - Balaji Srinivasan
FAQ
Did Balaji Srinivasan recommend all these books?
Not necessarily. This book list has Balaji Srinivasan must-read recommendations, but it also has a mix of mentions and suggestions.
How do you know Balaji Srinivasan mentioned these books?
Every suggestion made by Balaji Srinivasan is validated by our editors. You can find the sources to the recommendations linked next to the books.
Did Balaji Srinivasan actually create this list?
No. This reading list was curated by our editors based on confirmed mentions from Balaji Srinivasan, the sources are made available under each recommendation.
212 books
Any feedback? Email us