Ev Williams Recommended Books

"Detailed the challenges that we all face on the road to expertise in any field." - Maurice Ashley

"A set of prescriptions or principles, for attaining mastery." - Terry Laughlin

"This book, which you can read in a sitting, is a great overview of the process-driven mindset." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

"A very good book." - James Altucher

"The general concept is applicable to many fields beyond biology, for instance finance, economics and monetary policy." - Vlad Tenev

"It's so wonderful when books create the language that you need to better reason about the world. [This book] did that as well." - Tobi Lütke

"We definitely want Binance to be antifragile. This book may explain why we make some of the decisions we make." - Changpeng Zhao

"This book will have you asking yourself many provocative and useful questions." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

"Changed how I see the world." - Shane Parrish

List of books Bill Gates read in 2012.

Ray Dalio mentioned this book in his book, "Principles."

One of the books on Scott Adams' "Persuasion Reading List."

"Fine book but it didn’t need to be an entire book. A blog post would have gotten the point across." - Naval Ravikant

"Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate. Will stand as a cautionary tale?" - Marc Andreessen

Stewart Brand recommended this book on his "Selected Books for the Manual for Civilization" blog post.

"The book I’ve recommended most." - Peter Attia

"Learn about the inner mindset and external state of someone who was absolutely brilliant." - Naval Ravikant

"One of my favorite books." - Tim Ferriss

On the "books read" section of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook profile.

Larry Page mentioned this book in an Entrepreneur.com article.

"I remember really enjoying [this author]'s books." - Sergey Brin

"I love his thinking, especially [this book]." - Derek Sivers

Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.

Keith Rabois recommended this book on a Medium blog post.

"A printed version of some of his essays." - Brian Armstrong

"A book collection of some of his best [essays]." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

This book was on Sam Altman's bookshelf.

"Loved it." - Tobi Lütke

Entrepreneur.com article.

"Best cyberpunk novel ever written. Slightly dated but very prescient." - Naval Ravikant

"Ten years ahead of the time anticipated what's going to happen." - Sergey Brin

"Such a good book but you can’t give it to someone now. I've tried; it doesn’t work. You have to read it before you’ve been on the internet." - Seth Godin

"It's a tough call because I prefer other books of [this author]. But [this book] is so important within the history of science fiction." - Adam Savage

"Put first things first." - Dustin Moskovitz

One of 4 books Tony Hsieh recommended in Inc.com

"Helps you actually to action." - Michael McCullough

"A game changer. I’ve read it maybe 20 times." - Howard Stern

Michael Hyatt recommended this book on his website.

"[One of the] biographies of people who have 'built skyscrapers' (my term)." - Peter Attia

"[The author] asked me to take a look at this before it was published." - Carlos Slim

"It's very good." - Ben Shapiro

"Was a big one for me. That meant a lot to me and there are still some great little tidbits in there." - Kevin Rose

Kevin Systrom recommended this book on Facebook.

"I think one of the most valuable concepts from [this book] is measuring your time." - Drew Houston

"I recommend [this book] a lot in the company." - Matt Mullenweg

"I devoured this book while in college." - Guy Kawasaki

"I was very honored to have the opportunity to write the foreword to the 50th anniversary edition." - Jim Collins

"A counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness." - Elon Musk

Steve Wozniak said he thinks Steve Jobs mentioned this book and it really was a guide in his life.

"When I first read [Ayn Rand's books] in the late 80s, it felt pretty crazy. And in the last decades, it's in many ways felt much more correct." - Peter Thiel

One of Shah Rukh Khan's favorite novels.

"Loved [this book]. Read often." - Joe De Sena

"Something I’ve read multiple times to get me in the mindset of not letting anything stand in my way" - Peter Diamandis

"Excellent [book] on branding, naming, and marketing." - Ben Horowitz

Michael Hyatt recommended this book on his website.

Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.

Jocko Willink covered this book in "Jocko Podcast" Ep. 78

"The book I’ve probably gifted the most is [this book], since I’m 16." - Esther Perel

"Loved it. Really loved it." - Emma Watson

"Wow it's dark." - Naval Ravikant

"One of my favorite books." - David Blaine

"The single book that’s had the most influence on me my entire life. [...] It started my life long fascination of the biological metaphors in technology." - Steve Jurvetson

"[If I could encourage young people to read one book] I’d encourage them to read [this book]." - Peter Attia

Wim Hof's answer to "What do you give to people as gifts?"

Laird Hamilton mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

One of Mike Maples, Jr.'s answers to "What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift?"

"One of my favorite books when I was a teenager! I still keep it around the house and periodically look at it." - Vinod Khosla

"A good one." - Fred Wilson

"Dweck and her research have helped my foundation colleagues and me understand more about the attitudes and habits that allow some students to persevere in school despite big challenges." - Bill Gates

Mentioned on "The Knowledge Project" podcast.

"Whatever change we’ve been able to achieve is because the cultural meme we picked was inspired by [this book]." - Satya Nadella

Tony Robbins mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

Josh Waitzkin recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book on Twitter.

"A framework to simulate how customers experience your product, especially the moments of confusion." - Brian Armstrong

"The single best book on usability I've ever read." - Jeff Atwood

"About usability and making software and user interfaces that are friendly to people." - Nick Ganju

"The simplest book I recommend everyone to read when they want to do design." - Garry Tan

Eric Weinstein tweet about books that mattered enough to him.

"Uses short stories/vignettes to play with concepts of time." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

"Incredibly well written tale of our times." - Donald Knuth

"This book changed my life when it came out. [...] It made me want to be a hacker. But not a criminal — a hero of the computer revolution." - Zooko Wilcox

"[One of] my favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley." - Austen Allred

"A really formative book for me as a teenager." - John Carmack

"A really great book about communication." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Michael Hyatt recommended this book on his website.

"My favorite business book." - Jeff Bezos

"[Suggests] that the very best companies set an audacious, very long-term goal that shines a light towards 'an envisioned future.'" - Bill Gurley

On Jamie Dimon's list of favorite books.

Patrick Bet-David recommended this book on his website.

"I'll pick it up when I need motivation." - Mark Cuban

"I absolutely loved the book. Sure, the characters are extreme and one-dimensional - but to me, that was the point." - Tim Urban

"As a kid, I wanted to be an architect. That's before I read [this book]. I mean it is hard to find a profession that pays worse than architecture." - Larry Ellison

"I know, it's a cult. I'm not going to take it too far, but I did enjoy it." - Emma Watson

"By the end of the book, I decided to drop out of school. I never returned. It was the best decision of my life." - Kevin Kelly

"It’s one of my favorite books." - Travis Kalanick

"There aren’t many books I haven’t written that I wish I had written and this is one of them." - Seth Godin

"[The insights in this book] continue to influence Google's strategic thinking in a profound way." - Eric Schmidt

"Instead of worrying about code, the authors boiled down all the practical approaches that they've found to work in the real world into this one book." - Jeff Atwood

"Hearing him do the audio part is great." - Joe Rogan

"A bunch of really good information here on how to make ideas go viral." - Kevin Rose

"I love books like [this book]." - Mike Shinoda

Kevin Systrom recommended this book on Facebook.

Jenn Im recommended this book on Twitter.

Michael Hyatt recommended this book on his website.

"A good book." - Ray Dalio

Adam Sessler recommended this book on Twitter.

"This is an awesome read—I devoured the whole thing in one sitting." - Jen Sincero

"I had to read [this book] twice before I fully understood it." - Charlie Munger

"Turned evolutionary biology on its head and was written like a great detective story." - Matt Ridley

"Famous book about how our bodies are vehicles to replicate our genes (even though we occasionally defy them)." - Brian Armstrong

"Explains more about life (including human behavior and myself) than anything else I’ve read. " - Nick Szabo

"Had a profound influence on me pretty early on." - Phil Libin

"An explanation of evolution since the beginning of life that explains things from the perspective of individual genes." - MMM

"I find those verses which were the sole output of this philosopher to be remarkably right on." - Dr. Andrew Weil

"Most people who know me have heard me quote from this book." - Tim O’Reilly

"I have given away many, many copies." - Seth Godin

Keith Rabois recommended this book on Quora.

"A good book which I recommend." - Sam Harris

"Harvard professor of psychology has studied happiness for years, and shares factual findings that will change the way you look at the world." - Derek Sivers

"Explores the sometimes subtle, sometimes radical changes we can make in our everyday cognitive strategies in order to avoid ending up unhappy and disappointed." - Maria Popova

"Had a surprisingly large impact on the way I think about the future, planning, travel, relationships, and so many other things." - Andrew Wilkinson

"The red-headed stepchild of happiness books." - Mark Manson

"The publisher of [this book], probably noticed a big uptick in sales about the year that we decided to send all our friends [a copy]." - James Cameron

Suzy Amis Cameron sent this book to all her friends.

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

Walter Isaacson said Steve Jobs was deeply influenced by this book.

Mark Cuban's answer to "what's a book you always recommend?"

"We often referenced [this book. A] thought-provoking [book] that validated our crusade." - Marc Benioff

"A great book on strategy." - Ben Horowitz

"About how businesses get disrupted, and a lot of those themes are why startups can succeed and thrive even when there are big competitors who you would think would just wipe ’em out." - Drew Houston

"[One of three] classic books to read, albeit perhaps with less immediate/practical relevance today." - Keith Rabois

List of books Bill Gates read in 2012.

Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.

Paul Graham mentioned this book on Twitter.

"[There are] engineers who [dismiss] all these things that can’t be fit into an algorithm, or that don’t have some kind of mathematical rigor underpinning them, [this book] is about that question." - Drew Houston

"Inspired my cultivation of dynamic quality as a way of life." - Josh Waitzkin

Bryan Johnson recommended this book on Twitter.

"Didn’t get it first time." - Austen Allred

"For B2B, I recommend [this book]." - Andrew Ng

"It’s [about] how do technology products make their way from early adopters to the mainstream." - Drew Houston

"Helps us understand that it is a myth — an incorrect myth, a false myth — to believe that we can start with an idea for a few people and ride it from early adopter to early majority to late majority to laggard." - Seth Godin

"[One of] four good books that I would highly recommend reading if you're gonna build a B2B software company." - Aaron Levie

"Bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries." - Ron Conway

"Entrepreneurs should read this book when they are cranking out their 'conservative' sales projections." - Guy Kawasaki

"Really about how much randomness there is in our world." - Howard Marks

"Almost everyone in my office is forced to read [this book]." - Nick Kokonas

James Altucher mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"I used [this book] is a class I taught on the economics of uncertainty." - Art De Vany

Ryan Shea recommended this book on Twitter.

"[One of] the 10 books with the most page-for-page wisdom." - James Clear

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

Recommended on Dave Ramsey's website.

"The great management book." - Jason Calacanis

One of Max Levchin's answers to "what's your favourite business book you'd advise to young entrepreneurs?"

"The scientific method can be applied to business. This book draws powerful lessons from data." - Brian Armstrong

"As a business person, I love [this book]." - Frank Blake

"There are two books whose final lines make me cry without fail, irrespective of how many times I read them, and one is [this book]." - J.K. Rowling

"Loved it." - PewDiePie

"For articulating, intentionally or not, what it means to be in love with the idea of love, in love with your own memories, with your own control, with a prevailing aloneness." - Tavi Gevinson

Bryan Callen recommended this book on YouTube.

"Among my five favorite books of all time." - Nick Thompson

"Just as relevant today as it was in 1999." - Jonathan Haidt

Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average."

Keith Rabois recommended this book on a Medium blog post.

Daniel Kottke said he and Steve Jobs definitely read this book prior to the India trip.

"Read [this book]." - Walter Isaacson

"It changed my life like it changed everyone else’s." - Bob Dylan

"Opened up the ecstatic beauty of life’s little moments to me as a teenager." - Josh Waitzkin

Lex Fridman mentioned this book on Instagram.

"For a first-time entrepreneur: [this book] is an excellent introduction to many key issues." - Keith Rabois

"Shortly after I arrived in New York, [this author] claimed to have diagnosed the same syndrome in [this book]." - Christopher Hitchens

"[One of four books] where I learned how the world works." - Charles Koch

"Talks about operations in decentralized organizations, especially compared to centralized ones." - Changpeng Zhao

"I am re reading now." - Shah Rukh Khan

"A book that I gave out a lot." - Alain de Botton

Evan Spiegel's favorite book.

Justin Boreta's answer to "if you could take one book to a desert island, what would it be?"

Noah Kagan recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

"A fantastic read. The best." - Chris Sacca

"I loved the fact that the hero never once implies that it’s courage, spirit and faith that saves him [...] just lots of practical tinkering and problem-solving: Science the crap out of it." - Matt Ridley

Max Levchin recommended this book on LinkedIn.

"Enjoyed the book." - Christopher Paolini

"[The author's] masterpiece!" - Tom Hanks

"I read [this book] 20 years ago or so." - Tobi Lütke

"Love [this book]!" - Cameron Winklevoss

"The early PayPal team worked well together because we were all the same kind of nerd. We all loved science fiction: Cryptonomicon was required reading." - Peter Thiel

Daniel Pink mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"Probably the single most valuable book a startup founder could read." - Paul Graham

"Interviews with technology founders from one of the best investors of all time." - Ryan Holiday

"A bunch of really great interviews [Jessica] did with a bunch of just OGs of entrepreneurship." - Alexis Ohanian

"Collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days." - Ron Conway

"I love newer books like [this book]." - Daymond John

James Altucher mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.

Scott Belsky mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"The first book that absolutely threw me." - Douglas Murray

"How to make your message memorable so it will spread." - Brian Armstrong

"Our marketing bible." - Andrew Wilkinson

"Informs a lot of our public outreach in terms of making our services more essential for our users." - Changpeng Zhao

Sahil Lavingia recommended this book on Notion.

"Written directly by the guy who started the famed Ogilvy and Mather advertising firm in New York (which “Mad Men” is based off of)." - Neville Medhora

Noah Kagan recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

Eric Weinstein tweet about books that mattered enough to him.

Tristan Harris mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

Charles Poliquin recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

"[The author has] a great curiosity and [...] a great love for things." - Walter Isaacson

Daniel Pink mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"I read [this book] right when I started Toms. There’s so many things that I took from [it] that allowed Toms to have this incredible growth." - Blake Mycoskie

Fred Wilson recommended this book on his blog.

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

List of books Bill Gates read in 2012.

"I really like [this book]." - Edward Norton

"Great; it’s fine." - Nick Kokonas

James Altucher mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"Marvelous." - Art De Vany

"My favorite book." - Bill Gates

"I'm so drawn to [the author]'s view of society back then, and to his sarcasm." - Jennifer Lawrence

"Was not written to be a young adult book. It’s an adult book. But it sort of drifted there because the protagonist is a teenager." - Gretchen Rubin

"I love [this book]. I read it at four different times in my life. Teenager and later." - Larry King

"My [mother] recommended [this book]." - Tim Draper

"It was the first 'anti-hero' I had ever encountered and I thoroughly fell for Holden Caulfield." - Kathie Lee Gifford

"A grandly entertaining novel for the new century." - Oprah Winfrey

"Great." - Donald Glover

Shah Rukh Khan mentioned this book in an interview.

Melinda Gates recommended this book on Likewise.com.

"I like what [this author] writes, it also helps me understand certain aspects of the religion that he writes about, so that’s good." - Shah Rukh Khan

"I like the genre of past books written about the future." - Peter Thiel

"Great book." - Naval Ravikant

"If you read [this book] before you’ve thought about molecular anything or 3D printing, then it changes your mind." - Seth Godin

Kelly Starrett recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

"Taylor Swift's 'Delicate' video is full of parallels to [this book]." - Korey Lane

"Melinda and I really like [this book]. When we were first dating, she had a green light that she would turn on when her office was empty and it made sense for me to come over." - Bill Gates

"I can’t do that. I’m sorry. I’ll never be a novelist." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

"I’ve read [this book] at different points in my life." - Daniel Pink

"I'm a sucker for efficiency. This book gets so much out of what is, ultimately, a rather slim story. I adore it." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

"[The author] found he'd taken on all the great American themes, from the original 'dream' itself to the corresponding loss of innocence." - Christopher Hitchens

"One of my favorite business books." - Matt Mullenweg

Richard Branson recommended this book on his "70 must-read books" blog post.

One of Sam Altman's answers to "What are some of the best books you recommend for a young startup founder?"

Patrick Bet-David recommended this book on his website.

"Are you a new manager? Are you a little scared? Fear not. [This author] is here to help." - Daniel Pink

"Combines cutting-edge analysis of how organizations work with engaging and accessible examples of how theory plays out in real life, with stories of what [the author] did right and wrong." - Gretchen Rubin

"Gives new managers the tools they need to help their people and company win." - Sam Altman

"An excellent, approachable and comprehensive guide for those making the transition into management." - Stewart Butterfield

"My management skills immediately improved after I started to do some of the things that [this author] recommends." - Ali Abdaal

"If you're a manager of product, design or engineering for a company built on empowered product teams, it's worth your time." - Marty Cagan

"Made me move to Silicon Valley and double down on being a tech entrepreneur." - Brian Armstrong

"Fastest." - Chris Do

"Highly recommend reading." - Thomas Frank

Kevin Systrom recommended this book on Facebook.

"I know most of the guys in the band read [this book]." - Mike Shinoda