Marc Andreessen Book Recommendations

Private Truths, Public Lies

The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification

by Timur Kuran

"The book that's had the biggest impact on me." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Poor Charlie's Almanack

The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

by Charlie Munger

"Tremendous." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Courage to Be Disliked

The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness

by Ichiro Kishimi

"Smash hit in Japan, and easy to see why. Adlerian psychology meets Stoic philosophy in Socratic dialogue. Compelling from front to back. Highly recommend." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Behave

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

by Robert M. Sapolsky

"Robert Sapolsky's magnum opus on human behavior." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Can't Hurt Me

Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

by David Goggins

"Anytime anybody feels mopey about what's happening in their startup or in their life, this is the book to read to reset all the expectations." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

A Spy Among Friends

Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

by Ben Macintyre

"True, chilling saga of straight up, profoundly deep treason and betrayal. Sociopaths in high positions of power and influence. Hair curling." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

More from Less

The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources―and What Happens Next

by Andrew McAfee

"One of the best books [of 2019]." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

High Output Management

by Andrew S. Grove

"The best book on management ever written." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

12 Rules for Life

An Antidote to Chaos

by Jordan Peterson

"A bracing disassembly and reconstruction of a theory of individual progress in the modern world." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Extreme Ownership

How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

by Jocko Willink

"I hand out more copies of this book than any other. How to take responsibility for yourself and for those around you. Modern Stoicism, as applied in the military, business, and life." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

But What If We're Wrong?

Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past

by Chuck Klosterman

"Wide-ranging meditation on how to think about the reality that we're probably wrong about most things we believe. Hard to read and not emerge humbled." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

A Guide to the Good Life

The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

by William B. Irvine

"Best (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism. You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Only the Paranoid Survive

How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company

by Andrew S. Grove

"One of my favorite topics. And so that is also a very good book [I] recommend." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Rational Optimist

How Prosperity Evolves

by Matt Ridley

"Sparkling explanation of how the economy evolves, producing the glorious cornucopia of goods and services available all around us. How to feel good about the future even in dark times." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Becoming Steve Jobs

The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

by Brent Schlender

"In this deeply-researched book, you'll find the most honest portrait of the real Steve Jobs." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Tycoons

How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy

by Charles R. Morris

"On how four great builders of the 19th century built the world we live in today." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

How to Live

Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

by Sarah Bakewell

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Who Is Michael Ovitz?

by Michael Ovitz

"Learn how to build an empire and transform an industry from the Jedi master of modern Hollywood." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Rise of Superman

Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance

by Steven Kotler

"Startling walk through a series of domains where peak human performance is rising at remarkable rates due to "flow state". Thought provoking and then some." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

by Ben Horowitz

"Let’s just say, we started out relationship with vigorous disagreement, and we’ve continued that to this day." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Spider Network

How a Math Genius and a Gang of Scheming Bankers Pulled Off One of the Greatest Scams in History

by David Enrich

"'Billions'-esque saga of global financial market manipulation, at mind-boggling scale and hiding in plain sight, by a small cabal of bankers in London." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Wizard of Menlo Park

How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

by Randall E. Stross

"A great biography of Edison." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Skin in the Game

Incerto, Book 5

by Nassim Taleb

"Skin in the game as conflict of interest, or as attaching one's livelihood to one's speech? Who to listen to, and why." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Thinking in Bets

Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

by Annie Duke

"Compact guide to probabilistic domains like poker, or venture capital." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

What You Do Is Who You Are

How to Create Your Business Culture

by Ben Horowitz

"My partner Ben Horowitz has a new book!" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Born Standing Up

A Comic's Life

by Steve Martin

"Nothing about his career was an accident, which I thought was fascinating." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Kill Decision

by Daniel Suarez

"It'll keep you up late at night." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Civilian Warriors

The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror

by Erik Prince

"The founding and growth of military contractor Blackwater as told by its founder and CEO; newly relevant due to the Mueller investigation." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Strange Death of Europe

Immigration, Identity, Islam

by Douglas Murray

"One perspective on the politics of immgiration in Europe, playing out in real time, e.g. Merkel almost getting deposed days ago. Confusing on multiple levels from US perspective." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Conspiracy

Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue

by Ryan Holiday

"Startlingly deep cultural history of conspiracies, examined through the lens of the brutally effective Gawker takedown, with full access to the main players." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Walt Disney

The Triumph of the American Imagination

by Neal Gabler

"The best biography on Walt Disney." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Thinking, Fast and Slow

by Daniel Kahneman

"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 (Source)

The Power of Productivity

Wealth, Poverty, and the Threat to Global Stability

by William W. Lewis

"On how technology-driven productivity growth improves human welfare and creates more jobs and higher wages." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Edison

by Edmund Morris

"On perhaps the greatest American builder of all, the builder who brought electricity to us all, Thomas Edison." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Living with a SEAL

31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

by Jesse Itzler

"What's it like to train with a Navy SEAL in winter in New York for a whole month? Featuring the truly remarkable American hero David Goggins." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Lone Survivor

The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

by Marcus Luttrell

"The film was fine but the book is unreal; incredibly vivid story of superlative American heroes." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Triumph of the City

How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

by Edward Glaeser

"How cities drive the development of civilization, by putting people together. Highly relevant to the future of the Internet!" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

A Very Expensive Poison

The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West

by Luke Harding

"The astonishing story of the Litvinenko and Perepilichnyy assassinations in the UK; reads like a Lee Child thriller; plenty topical now." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

An Apology for the Builder

by Nicholas Barbon

"Written in 1685. [...] Some things never change!" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Devil's Bargain

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency

by Joshua Green

"Best (?) book so far on the Republican side of the 2016 race, and a deep dive into the intellectual origins of Bannonism and to some extent Trumpism." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Expert Political Judgment

How Good Is It? How Can We Know?

by Philip E. Tetlock

"Is the future knowable, and by whom? All pundits and commentators should publish their prediction track records, yet don't." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

When the Wolves Bite

Two Billionaires, One Company, and an Epic Wall Street Battle

by Scott Wapner

"'Wall Street'-esque battle between Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn over unlikely target Herbalife. Sip a delicious Herbal Aloe Shake while reading." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Schulz and Peanuts

A Biography

by David Michaelis

"Amazing. And, basically, the biographer makes the case that Peanuts was the longest, continuous work of American art ever made." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

All Out War

The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class

by Tim Shipman

"Inside story of how Britain decided to exit the EU. Economic self-destruction or national liberation? Repercussions to play out for decades." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Slugfest

Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC

by Reed Tucker

"Spellbinding creative and business history of the incredibly imaginative comic book industry in the decades before it ate Hollywood." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Whole Earth Discipline

Why Dense Cities, Nuclear Power, Transgenic Crops, Restored Wildlands, and Geoengineering Are Necessary

by Stewart Brand

"On why even environmentalists should be pro building, pro cities, pro nuclear, and pro genetic engineering." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise

by George Gilder

"On how economic systems that encourage aggressive entrepreneurship build the most for the benefit of the most." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The 4-Hour Workweek

Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

by Tim Ferriss

"[The author] basically takes all of the time management and personal productivity theories of the last 20 to 30 years and pushes them to 11, to paraphrase 'Spinal Tap.'" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Hacks

The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House

by Donna Brazile

"Visceral, raw, you-are-there recounting of living through the hack attacks and resulting meltdown of the DNC in 2016." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Shattered

Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign

by Jonathan Allen

"Best (?) book so far on the Democratic side of the 2016 race, most provocatively on the impact of the press coverage of the email hacks on the last stages of the race." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Days of Rage

America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence

by Bryan Burrough

"How 1960s racial politics descended into 1970s terrorist bombings, thanks to privileged college students breaking very bad." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Chasing Hillary

Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling

by Amy Chozick

"On the bus/in the plane with the Hillary campaign. Revealing in many dimensions at once, and highly entertaining. Best book on the 2016 campaign so far?" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Golden Gates

Fighting for Housing in America

by Conor Dougherty

"On why we can't build in great American cities like San Francisco today and what we need to do about it." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Myth of the Rational Voter

Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies

by Bryan Caplan

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Lean Startup

How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

by Eric Ries

"[The author] has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Without Their Permission

The Story of Reddit and a Blueprint for How to Change the World

by Alexis Ohanian

"Software is eating the world and [this book] is your ultimate cookbook." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Fabric of Civilization

How Textiles Made the World

by Virginia Postrel

"The story of technology is a story of human ingenuity, and nowhere is this more clear than in the story of textiles." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

How to Decide

Simple Tools for Making Better Choices

by Annie Duke

"Provides exercises for how to decide." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Believe in People

Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World

by Charles Koch

"An unrelenting picture of optimism that's a roadmap for solving our country's biggest problems." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Zero to One

Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

by Peter Thiel

"The first book any working or aspiring entrepreneur must read—period." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

A Higher Loyalty

Truth, Lies, and Leadership

by James Comey

"Certainly the story is well known, but given author's propensity to post photos of himself wearing running shoes in Iowa, potentially relevant again starting next year?" - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Network State

How To Start a New Country

by Balaji Srinivasan

"[The author] has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met, and [this book] may be his best." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Blitzed

Drugs in the Third Reich

by Norman Ohler

"One of the craziest books I've ever read; highly recommend." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital

The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages

by Carlota Perez

"Describes a general model for the deployment of new technologies." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Innovator's Dilemma

When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

by Clayton M. Christensen

"Really critical to understanding how this industry works." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Maverick and His Machine

Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

by Kevin Maney

"If you want to read what's it's like to work for someone harsh, read [this book]. He makes all of today's entrepreneurs look like cream puffs." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Infamous Scribblers

The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism

by Eric Burns

"A great articulation of how the news business actually grew up in the US." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Rise and Fall of American Growth

The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War

by Robert J. Gordon

"I disagree with the book, but it's a very well written book." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Ancient City

A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome

by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges

"The single best book I have found on who we are and how we got here." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Spanish Civil War

by Hugh Thomas

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Homage to Catalonia

by George Orwell

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Guarded Gate

Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America

by Daniel Okrent

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Witness

by Whittaker Chambers

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Radical Chic

And Mau Mauing The Flak Catchers

by Tom Wolfe

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Lenin

The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror

by Victor Sebestyen

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Beyond Good And Evil

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The True Believer

Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

by Eric Hoffer

"A brilliant book on the nature of mass movements and collective psychology." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Captive Mind

by Czeslaw Milosz

"The definitive work on intellectual life under totalitarianism." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The WEIRDest People in the World

How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

by Joseph Henrich

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Who We Are and How We Got Here

Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

by David Reich

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

A Conflict of Visions

Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

by Thomas Sowell

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Vision of the Anointed

by Thomas Sowell

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

History Has Begun

The Birth of a New America

by Bruno Macaes

"On the country and culture the United States is evolving into, not necessarily decline, but something very different." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Machiavellians

Defenders of Freedom

by James Burnham

"Together [with 'The Managerial Revolution'], the best explanation for the current structure of our society and politics." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The Managerial Revolution

What is Happening in the World

by James Burnham

"Together [with 'The Machiavellians'], the best explanation for the current structure of our society and politics." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Spain In Our Hearts

Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939

by Adam Hochschild

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Mine Were of Trouble

A Nationalist Account of the Spanish Civil War

by Peter Kemp

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Lindbergh

by A. Scott Berg

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Ambassador

Joseph P. Kennedy at the Court of St. James's 1938-1940

by Susan Ronald

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Second Coming of the KKK

The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition

by Linda Gordon

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

War for Eternity

The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right

by Benjamin R. Teitelbaum

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The New Right

A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics

by Michael Malice

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Hitler

A Global Biography

by Brendan Simms

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Hitler

Ascent

by Volker Ullrich

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Hitler

Downfall

by Volker Ullrich

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The God That Failed

by Richard H. Crossman

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Romance of American Communism

by Vivian Gornick

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Joseph McCarthy

Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator

by Arthur Herman

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Lenin on the Train

by Catherine Merridale

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

A New World Begins

The History of the French Revolution

by Jeremy D. Popkin

"On the French Revolution." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

Fascism

The Career of a Concept

by Paul Gottfried

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Antifascism

The Course of a Crusade

by Paul Gottfried

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

The Power of the Powerless

Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe

by Vaclav Havel

"The definitive work on practical life under totalitarianism." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

No Offense

Civil Religion and Protestant Taste

by John Murray Cuddihy

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Ordeal of Civility

Freud, Marx, Levi-Strauss, and the Jewish Struggle With Modernity

by John Murray Cuddihy

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy

How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy

by Richard Hanania

"A sobering reexamination of how democratic governments actually make decisions." - Marc Andreessen (Source)

The End of History and the Last Man

by Francis Fukuyama

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Alexandre Kojève

Wisdom at the End of History

by James H. Nichols Jr.

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Intellectuals

From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky

by Paul Johnson

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Intellectuals and Society

by Thomas Sowell

Marc Andreessen recommended this book on Twitter. (Source)

Play Nice But Win

A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader

by Michael Dell

"An incredible window into what it’s like to be in a founder’s shoes, and the difficult work of growing a company." - Marc Andreessen (Source)