17 Best Silicon Valley Books

"Quite interesting." - Elon Musk

"I’m fascinated by the discussion of how Jobs developed what became known as the Reality Distortion Field. Apparently Jobs had a lifelong battle with reality and won." - Scott Adams

"I noticed a number of similarities between [Steve Jobs and I], especially when [the author] quoted Jobs’s own words. [...] but to be clear, I didn’t think that Bridgewater or I held a candle to Apple and Jobs." - Ray Dalio

List of books Bill Gates read in 2012.

"I've read 3 business books in my life. If you call [this book] a business book." - Gary Vaynerchuk

"[When I read this book] I was so blown away. I had underlined about three-quarters of the book." - George Raveling

"I couldn’t put down this thriller with a tragic ending." - Bill Gates

"Soooo good." - Andrew Wilkinson

"An incredible book that should be read by each and every player in the startup/Silicon Valley ecosystem." - Bill Gurley

"Amazing [book] about human nature." - Michael Mauboussin

Ryan Holiday recommended this book on his blog.

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

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

"I read [this book] and I said to myself this feels like an area of the world I can come to and be myself.'" - Kevin Systrom

"A superb and very timely survey of the impact of AI on the geopolitical system, the job market and human society." - Yuval Noah Harari

"One of those books you begin reading and instantly feel that everybody should know about it." - Arianna Huffington

"Truly one of the wisest and most surprising takes on AI." - Chris Anderson

"[The author] applies his superpowers to predicting the disruptive shifts that will define the AI-powered future." - Marc Benioff

"A must read for anyone serious about understanding the future of our species." - Peter Diamandis

"Clear-eyed and a must-read." - Satya Nadella

"Found it even better than I anticipated." - Anthony Pompliano

"Was written in 2015 and already feels like you could have another full book as an update." - Austen Allred

"I’m a big fan [of this book]." - MMM

"A great biography on Musk." - Tim Urban

"One of the people that I find most interesting. I'm fascinated by Elon Musk." - Casey Neistat

"A good read." - John Collison

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

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

"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

Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average."

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

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

Ryan Shea recommended this book on his website.

"Particularly great." - Patrick Collison

"I recommended it to [Patrick Collison] as 'something I thought he'd be really interested in.'" - Stewart Butterfield

"I really love tech history books like this." - Tobi Lütke

Keith Rabois recommended this book on a Medium blog post.

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

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

"A look inside startup culture, filled with hijinks." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Raoul Pal recommended this book on Twitter.

"[One of] two indispensable books of 2018." - Keith Rabois

"A really interesting inside look at, well, Apple’s design process under Steve Jobs." - Chris Dixon

"Awesome story about how ig came to be and its impact broadly on human interaction." - Casey Neistat

"I respect the hell out of Mark Zuckerberg. That’s probably not the takeaway for most people after reading this book." - Saagar Enjeti

"The history of how great ideas evolve." - Chris Fussell

"A fascinating history of the digital revolution, including the critical but often forgotten role women played from the beginning." - Sheryl Sandberg

"[One of] my best 3 books of 2022." - Ankur Warikoo

"EVERYONE BUY IT." - Jia Tolentino

Keith Rabois recommended this book on a Medium blog post.