Fred Wilson Recommended Books

"[The author] has written the first true guide for protecting a startup from self-sabotage." - Peter Thiel

"For anyone insterested in building, growing, or leading a great company, this book is an incredibly valuable resource." - Mark Zuckerberg

One of Peter Attia's answers to "any books you feel would make your reading list?"

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

"An inspiring story of a business rebirth through sheer willpower." - Larry Page

"Entertaining more than anything. I read [this book], I was like: I would never work for this guy. But entertaining and some good lessons." - Matt Mullenweg

On the "books read" section of Ev Williams' GoodReads profile.

"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

"To learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

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

Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.

"A fascinating study and still wholly relevant." - Eric Ripert

"Methods still valuable and can be used for good." - Garry Tan

Ryan Shea recommended this book on his website.

"Everyone should read some of [this author]... It's important..." - Shah Rukh Khan

One of J.K. Rowling's answers to "If you could bring only three books to a desert island, which would you pack?"

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.

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

"Has all of the human traits; if you look somewhere you will find it, either in King Lear or Hamlet or Macbeth; it’s there." - Ricardo Semler

Christopher Hitchens mentioned Shakespeare's work in the "Hitch-22" book.

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

"I think [Bill Gates] must be some kind of reincarnation of Milo Minderbinder from [this book]." - Larry Ellison

"I used to buy [this book] for a lot of people because I just thought if you hadn’t read it, you had to but maybe that era is over." - Mark Bittman

Ray Dalio can be seen reading this book on the article's main image.

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

"How I want to behave in life." - Bryan Johnson

"This book (and his life) were living proof of his family motto: 'Fortitudine vincimus' (By endurance we conquer)." - Ryan Holiday

"Just a phenomenal story." - Scott Belsky

Max Levchin recommended this book on LinkedIn.

"[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.

"[The author's] message was that there is a bigger world out there, and that I didn’t need to conform to those around me." - Ev Williams

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

"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

"Create an experience that is like nothing else." - Noah Kagan

"One of the best books on hospitality ever written." - Chip Conley

"We did a lot of reading [this book] at SoulCycle." - Julie Rice

"Every business could benefit from [this author's] framework for service and hospitality." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

"I'm a huge fan of [this author]." - Bill Gurley

"About the Restaurants industry." - Trung Phan

"So good that it may as well be non-fiction." - Naval Ravikant

"[He] says, 'Love is stronger than hate. Soft is stronger than hard. Water is stronger than stone.'" - David Blaine

"Was recommended to me by a friend." - Emma Watson

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

Neil Strauss recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

"Love [this book]." - Bryan Johnson

"The language is so good." - Jerrod Carmichael

"F*cking funny, vivid, and adventurous. Sometimes that’s what we need." - Jesse Williams

One of Paul Graham's answers to "do you know of any good books about startups?"

"A really old book, but it's a famous book." - Bill Gurley

"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

On the "books read" section of Ev Williams' GoodReads profile.

"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

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recommended this book on Twitter.

"A good book to appreciate." - Neil Strauss

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

"As steamy, dense and sensual as the jungle that surrounds the surreal town of Macondo!" - Oprah Winfrey

"If you’ve never written a book and you’re going to tell somebody you want to write a great book, [...] read this and know what a great book is." - Cal Fussman

"Epic." - Christopher Hitchens

Jocko Willink covered this book in "Jocko Podcast" Ep. 23

"To learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

"Served me well. [...] Advocates keeping one’s cool at all times." - Marc Benioff

"After meeting Mark Zuckerberg, [Evan Spiegel] immediately bought every [Snapchat] employee a copy of 'The Art Of War'." - Business Insider

"Another [book] I have to mention." - Dave Camarillo

Ryan Petersen mentioned this book on Twitter.

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

Emma Watson recommended this book on Time Magazine.

"Says that you are responsible for everything that you captivate." - Ricardo Semler

Brandon Stanton mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

"Phenomenal." - Evan Goldberg

Garry Tan mentioned this book in his blog.

"[One of] the 10 best fiction books." - James Clear

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.

"One of the few novels I’ve ever read twice." - Ev Williams

"Understand how to create meaningful online experiences so that users want to come back again and again." - Ron Conway

"Teaches you how to develop empathy for users you want to serve by talking to them." - Andrew Ng

"Explains how to do the customer development interviews in a way that will get you the most accurate and actionable feedback." - Ron Conway

"The good Lord helped me discover this book." - George Raveling

"I really like this somewhat obscure book [by the guy] who runs Jim Simons’ family office." - Graham Duncan