How To Win Friends And Influence People
Dale Carnegie · 1936
Also recommended by: Alex Hormozi · Eslen Delanogare · Daymond John · Derek Sivers · André Valle · Warren Buffett
Programmer, writer and investor · Y Combinator
Books recommended by Paul Graham
Paul Graham is a computer scientist, essayist, and co-founder of Y Combinator, the startup accelerator that helped launch companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit. Before that, he created Viaweb, one of the first online store platforms on the web, sold to Yahoo in 1998. He is also the author of books such as Hackers & Painters and creator of the Arc programming language.
With 82 recommended books, his curation reflects a mind that moves easily between computer science, history, philosophy, and literature. Graham reads to think better — and his recommendations tend to favor works that challenge assumptions, explain how the world really works, or reveal how great ideas were built.
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig · 1974
The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin · 1859
”One scientist's "take" could be very convincing. The _Origin of Species_ for example.”
The moon is a harsh mistress
Robert A. Heinlein · 1966
”The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which made me want to work on AI, which led to Lisp.”
Medieval technology and social change.
Lynn White · 1962
”White's Medieval Technology and Social Change is the most fabulous book.”
The lives of the artists
Giorgio Vasari · 1568
Also recommended by: Ryan Holiday
Founders at Work
Jessica Livingston · 2007
Also recommended by: Ryan Holiday
Psmith, Journalist
PG Wodehouse
”Wodehouse is so good that I get distracted by his perfection. Not a word wrong.”
Also recommended by: Jk Rowling
Plagues And Peoples
William McNeill · 1976
”I suspect if you'd read Guns, Sails, and Empires and Plagues and Peoples, little in Guns, Germs, and Steel would surprise you.”
Also recommended by: Patrick Collison
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
William Finnegan · 2015
”It's one of those rare books that divide your life into two parts: before you read it, and after.”
Also recommended by: Barack Obama
Structure and interpretation of computer programs
Harold Abelson · 1985
Also recommended by: Patrick Collison
With the old breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa
E. B. Sledge · 1981
”Read this book”
Also recommended by: Jocko Willink
Power Law
Sebastian Mallaby · 2022
”If you want to understand how venture capital works and the effect it has had on the US economy, this is the book to read.”
Also recommended by: Patrick Collison
The Making of Europe
Robert Bartlett · 1993
”I know I've recommended this book already, but it's so good I have to do it again. Bartlett brings history to life by explaining how and why the things happened that other books merely tell you happened.”
My family and other animals.
Gerald Durrell · 1956
”It is a wonderful book, though only implicitly about "parenting."”
A Story Lately Told Coming Of Age In Ireland London And New York
Anjelica Huston · 2021
”Anjelica Huston's Story Lately Told is wonderful”
No Easy Day
Mark Owen · 2012
”Simultaneously reading Rousseau's Confessions and No Easy Day. Triangulating...”
How to be topp
Ronald Searle · 1954
”I read this during dinner and laughed so much that people must have wondered what was wrong with me.”
The Ancient City
Peter Connolly · 1974
”Peter Connolly's The Ancient City is one of the best books I've found for explaining history to kids.”
Kelly
Clarence L. Johnson · 1988
”How did I not know about this book til now?”
Sea Flight
Hugh Popham · 1954
”Hugh Popham's _Sea Flight_ is a wonderful book. I'm looking at the few pages left and wishing there were more.”
Blankie Mantita
Leslie Patricelli · 2012
”will be deeply pleasing to their respective audiences”
Richard Feynman
John Gribbin · 1997
”the Gribbins' excellent biography of Feynman”
The man who knew infinity
Robert Kanigel · 1991
”the great biography of Ramanujan”
Diocletian and the Roman recovery
Stephen Williams · 1985
”One of the best books about the late 3rd century”
Autobiography of Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope · 1883
”Trollope's Autobiography is a wonderfully candid and inspiring one”
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson · 2005
”Watterson is like Wodehouse. Because he works in an unpretentious medium, few realize how timelessly great he is.”
Clocks and culture, 1300-1700.
Carlo M. Cipolla · 1967
”I also recommend Clocks and Culture.”
Very good, Jeeves
PG Wodehouse · 1930
”Wodehouse is so good that I get distracted by his perfection. Not a word wrong.”
Mathematician's Apology
G. H. Hardy · 1940
”Among the most inspiring books I know.”
Moorish Spain
Richard Fletcher · 1992
”Fletcher's _Moorish Spain_ is a great book.”
Albert Einstein
Banesh Hoffmann · 1972
”Banesh Hoffman's biography of Einstein is the most exciting I've read. The author is a physicist who is genuinely excited about Einstein's discoveries, and it moves fast instead of trying to leave no detail unpublished (a common flaw in biographies).”
Sunset atBlandings
PG Wodehouse · 2009
”The writing in the novel Wodehouse left unfinished when he died at 93 is crisp as ever.”