Vinod Khosla Book Recommendations

Life on the Edge

The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology

by Johnjoe McFadden

"Each chapter illustrates one of life’s puzzles and makes you think differently about the world." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Blitzscaling

The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies

by Reid Hoffman

"An insightful book on how to scale at a very fast pace​ and more importantly WHEN." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Lying

by Sam Harris

"One of my favorite one hour reads about intellectual honesty. I wish more people were this honest!" - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Range

Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

by David J. Epstein

"Discovers that in most fields , generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. [...] Every high school and college student should read it." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Brand Flip

Why customers now run companies and how to profit from it

by Marty Neumeier

"A very well done book on branding and new brand values. It will be the death of many incumbents." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Behave

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

by Robert M. Sapolsky

"Among the best insights into our brain and behavior." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Eating the Big Fish

How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders

by Adam Morgan

"Brand building for entrepreneurs trying to upset the incumbents." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Lifespan

Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To

by David Sinclair

"Reveals incredible scientific breakthroughs about aging and ways we can slow down, or even reverse, the process." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Deep Learning

by Ian Goodfellow

"For a slightly more technical read [on AI]." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

"A previous favorite." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Scale

The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies

by Geoffrey West

"The physics behind biology, cities, economics and companies." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Inflamed Mind

A Radical New Approach to Depression

by Edward Bullmore

"Reveals the new breakthrough on the link between depression and inflammation of the body and brain." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Jungle Grows Back

America and Our Imperiled World

by Robert Kagan

"A powerful, urgent essay into why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

McMafia

A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld

by Misha Glenny

"Fun though older book." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Loonshots

How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries

by Safi Bahcall

"A key to understanding why Silicon Valley culture is changing the world." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

From Bacteria to Bach and Back

The Evolution of Minds

by Daniel C. Dennett

"Long but worth every page." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Case Against Sugar

by Gary Taubes

"Not surprising but explicit description of the American psych on sugar and fat by the sugar industry. I would not have believed this much influence is possible." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

What You Do Is Who You Are

How to Create Your Business Culture

by Ben Horowitz

"Shows the value of having principles an organization and its leaders believe in and can stick with when it gets hard to do so and real tradeoffs are involved." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Future of Capitalism

Facing the New Anxieties

by Paul Collier

"Outlines ethical ways of healing the deep new rifts that are tearing apart the fabric of the United States and other Western societies." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Against Empathy

The Case for Rational Compassion

by Paul Bloom

"A good case against too much empathy." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Last Days of Night

A Novel

by Graham Moore

"I don’t read fiction, but this almost historical fiction is fun especially for Silicon Valley types." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Formula

The Universal Laws of Success

by Albert-László Barabási

"This book transforms how our success-obsessed society approaches their professional careers and long-term goals." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Troublemakers

Silicon Valley's Coming of Age

by Leslie Berlin

"Tells the story of the world I have always lived, loved and believed in, despite the recent techlash." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

by Yuval Noah Harari

"An important examination into today’s most pressing political, technological, social, and existential issues as we move into the unchartered territory of the future." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Mindfulness in Plain English

by Henepola Gunaratana

"Easy access to meditation." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

An Elegant Defense

The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives

by Matt Richtel

"Explains for the lay reader the intricate biology of our immune system." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Friday Black

by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

"Reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that black men and women contend with every day in this country." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Coddling of the American Mind

How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

by Greg Lukianoff

"Dives into the new problem on college campuses, Safetyism." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Drunk Tank Pink

And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

by Adam Alter

"Fun read about our biases and how our brain functions." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Uninhabitable Earth

Life After Warming

by David Wallace-Wells

"A look into the future and how global warming will impact everything." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Third Pillar

How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind

by Raghuram Rajan

"Provides a solid framework as to why things begin to deteriorate, and how society can successfully find their way back to a secure and stable plane." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Homo Deus

A Brief History of Tomorrow

by Yuval Noah Harari

"Not that I agree with all of it, but it is still mind-bending speculation about our future." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark

The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

by Donald N. Thompson

"A look at the economics and the marketing strategies that enable the modern art market to generate such astronomical prices." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Other People's Money

Inside the Housing Crisis and the Demise of the Greatest Real Estate Deal Ever Made

by Charles V. Bagli

"Not very far from the truth on the financial services industry though the authors biases come through." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Atomic Habits

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

by James Clear

"A decent book on self-help tools, not a category I am generally a fan of." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

This Is Your Brain on Music

The Science of a Human Obsession

by Daniel J. Levitin

"Fascinating though older book." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Winners Take All

The Elite Charade of Changing the World

by Anand Giridharadas

"While today’s rich and powerful are fighting for equality and justice, [this book] argues that it is being done in a way that will preserve their position at the top of society." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

by Shoshana Zuboff

"Dives into the largest act of capitalist colonisation ever attempted - the colonisation of our minds, our behaviour, our free will, our very selves." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

"Great, very quick overview of astrophysics." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Line Becomes a River

Dispatches from the Border

by Francisco Cantú

"Provides a different world view for those of us protected from some 'reality'." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Breakthrough

Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer

by Charles Graeber

"Guides readers through the scientific research transforming immunotherapy." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Antifragile

Incerto, Book 3

by Nassim Taleb

"I recommend everybody read [this book] if they're setting off on a career as a personal philosophy." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

How to Change Your Mind

What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

by Michael Pollan

"A fun exploration of psychedelic drugs, especially for someone who has never tried them." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Negotiating the Impossible

How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (without Money or Muscle)

by Deepak Malhotra

"I recommend to every entrepreneur, investor, & CEO - and anyone else who deals with difficult negotiations." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Skin in the Game

Incerto, Book 5

by Nassim Taleb

"I like his ideas a lot, especially in Antifragile and the first half of this book. I've always complained about pundits relative to doers." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Why We Sleep

Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

by Matthew Walker

"Best book on the subject [of sleep]." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

by Richard Bach

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

The Invisible Gorilla

And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us

by Christopher F. Chabris

"Rigorously written (unlike many pysch books), fun, funny,surprising, enlightening." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Success Equation

Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing

by Michael Mauboussin

"Important investing, business, sports." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Score Takes Care of Itself

My Philosophy of Leadership

by Bill Walsh

"Among the best books! A way of living, working & commitment to excellence." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Checklist Manifesto

How to Get Things Right

by Atul Gawande

"Very good; definitely worth reading." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

Only the Paranoid Survive

How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company

by Andrew S. Grove

"One of favorite books on entrepreneurship." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Seventh Sense

Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks

by Joshua Cooper Ramo

"I like the author but wish there were more causality/details." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Master Algorithm

How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

by Pedro Domingos

"If you want speculation about what the master AI might need (one view)." - Vinod Khosla (Source)

The Peacemaker's Code

by Deepak Malhotra

"Based on [the author's] class at HBS, War & Peace & lessons on leadership, negotiation, strategy & the human condition." - Vinod Khosla (Source)