Max Levchin Recommended Books

"In the aggregate [with other programming books] hugely shaped me." - Patrick Collison

"This is one of the great classics of computer science. I bought my first copy 15 years ago, and I still don't feel I have learned everything the book has to teach." - Paul Graham

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

Recommended on Dave Ramsey's website.

"The great management book." - Jason Calacanis

"The scientific method can be applied to business. This book draws powerful lessons from data." - Brian Armstrong

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

"As a business person, I love [this book]." - Frank Blake

"[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

Adam Sessler recommended this book on Twitter.

"Inspired me to make my New Years resolution to read one fiction book a month." - Mike Novogratz

"The devil shows up in Stalinist Russia, [...] and gives everybody what they want, and everything goes haywire." - Peter Thiel

"I read [this book] four times, and it's still unbelievably deep." - Jordan Peterson

"[One] of my favorite books." - Jack Dorsey

"A masterpiece." - PewDiePie

"Bizarre, but quite wonderful." - Jack Edwards

"Fascinating." - Fareed Zakaria

"For crypto traders." - Barry Silbert

"It was great to re-read this." - Shane Parrish

"A great story." - David Friedberg

"The first chapter alone will change your life." - Seth Godin

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

"I wish I had learned the discipline of how to decide when I was younger." - Mike Maples, Jr.

"So many of [the author's] thoughts on poker and on decision-making in general agreed with mine." - Howard Marks

"An awesome book." - Michael Mauboussin

Jason Fried mentioned this book on Twitter.

"The most mind-bending book you can imagine, because it essentially taught you always humans are flawed and influential." - Tobi Lütke

"100 percent of effective people seem to have read [this book]. In fact, it’s one of those things that when I meet somebody and they’re operating at a pretty high level, if you mention [this book], they’ve all read it." - Scott Adams

"Fundamental and had a lot to teach." - Naval Ravikant

Charlie Munger recommended this book in the "Poor Charlie's Almanack" book.

Adam Robinson mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

Ramit Sethi mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.

List of books Bill Gates read in 2011.

"The story of [the banks] that had to be bailed out." - Jon Stewart

"I really liked [this book]." - John Collison

Part of "Jeff's Reading List."

Walter Isaacson said Steve Jobs was deeply influenced by this book.

Mark Cuban's answer to "what's a book you always recommend?"

"We often referenced [this book. A] thought-provoking [book] that validated our crusade." - Marc Benioff

"A great book on strategy." - Ben Horowitz

"About how businesses get disrupted, and a lot of those themes are why startups can succeed and thrive even when there are big competitors who you would think would just wipe ’em out." - Drew Houston

"Most useful [book] I've ever read on either leadership or management [technique]." - Stewart Butterfield

Patrick Bet-David recommended this book on his website.

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

"Excited to read this new book by my friends." - Bryan Johnson

"[One of the] books that helped me think better in 2018." - Michael Mauboussin

"Utterly superb book, recommended unreservedly." - Richard Dawkins

Tom Bilyeu recommended this book on Twitter.

Derren Brown mentioned this book on Twitter.

"Fantastic. I got [this book] and I gave it to everyone in my company." - Ray Dalio

One of the books on Scott Adams' "Persuasion Reading List."

"A very good book." - Tim Ferriss

"Interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are." - Naval Ravikant

Kelly Starrett recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

Mr. Money Mustache recommended this book on his blog.

"If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies." - Reid Hoffman

"A great book." - Keith Rabois

"Jam-packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies into a single, digestible book." - Aaron Levie

"Truly amazing for founders, especially once you start to scale. Wish I'd had it early days at The Muse." - Kathryn Minshew

"[The author]'s advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A." - Brian Armstrong

"Excited to get our growth rate back to the 16x days of yore." - Ryan Petersen

Keith Rabois recommended this book on Quora.

Tom Bilyeu recommended this book on his website.

Ryan Shea recommended this book on his website.

Peter Attia mentioned reading this book on an interview for thereadinglists.com

"Overall just a fun space adventure." - PewDiePie

"A very well-written book. [...] The whole thing is a critique of individual decisions." - Ben Shapiro

"I came away with new insights into the multifaceted cultural and family dynamics that contribute to poverty." - Bill Gates

"Provides the reader with insight into how the United States got into its current mess." - Bill Nye

Jason Calacanis recommended this book on his blog.

"Human, perceptive, loving, well-told." - Stewart Butterfield

"What’s great about this adventure—which I find rare in pop culture—is the celebration of the mind, invention, and science." - Ev Williams

Noah Kagan recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.

"A fantastic read. The best." - Chris Sacca

"I loved the fact that the hero never once implies that it’s courage, spirit and faith that saves him [...] just lots of practical tinkering and problem-solving: Science the crap out of it." - Matt Ridley

"Enjoyed the book." - Christopher Paolini

"[The author's] masterpiece!" - Tom Hanks

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

"An insipring story!" - Fred Wilson

"This thrilling story about a double agent lived up to the hype." - Bill Gates

Ryan Shea recommended this book on his website.

"About the Banking industry." - Trung Phan

"Gives an overview of entrepreneurship and innovation." - Andrew Ng

"I learned a lot reading it." - Ben Horowitz

"A must read." - Bryan Johnson

Chris Dixon recommended this book on Twitter.

Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book during a Stanford lecture in 2014.

"[This author] has built multiple breakthrough companies, and [this book] shows how." - Elon Musk