Patrick Collison Recommended Books
Patrick Collison has recommended 121 books. Browse the complete reading list with quotes and sources below.
Patrick Collison is the co-founder and CEO of Stripe.
(Read more on Wikipedia)121 Books Recommended
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The Beginning of Infinity
Explanations That Transform the World
"A really beautiful modern philosophy book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Naval Ravikant, Sam Harris, Mark Zuckerberg, Steven Pinker, Chris Anderson, Mark Bell, Ryan Shea
A Pattern Language
Towns, Buildings, Construction
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Naval Ravikant, Sam Altman, Stewart Brand, Gretchen Rubin, Liz Lambert
The Inner Game of Tennis
The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
"A really good book that I very highly recommend." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Learning to Learn
"One of my favorite books." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Dream Machine
"Particularly great." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
How Asia Works
"A really good book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"In the aggregate [with other programming books] hugely shaped me." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Perspective on McKinsey
"Can’t shake the feeling that a consultant wrote this book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Mind-Body Problem
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Masters of Doom
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
"One of my favorite books about building software." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Alexis Ohanian, Jeff Atwood, Tobi Lütke, Austen Allred, Elon Musk, Trung Phan
Poor Charlie's Almanack
The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Naval Ravikant, Marc Andreessen, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Tim Ferriss, Drew Houston, Ramit Sethi, Daniel Ek, Shane Parrish, Tai Lopez, Courtland Allen, Patrick Bet-David, John Collison
Business Adventures
Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
A Course in Mathematical Analysis
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens
Frank Oppenheimer and His Astonishing Exploratorium
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Tristan Harris, Keith Rabois, Matt Mullenweg, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Michael Batnick
On the Shortness of Life
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
On Intelligence
How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Matterhorn
A Novel of the Vietnam War
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Mindstorms
Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Stories of Your Life and Others / Arrival
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Longitude
The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
A Great Leap Forward
1930s Depression and U.S. Economic Growth
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming
Case Studies in Common Lisp
"In the aggregate [with other programming books] hugely shaped me." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Stuff Matters
Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Global Catastrophic Risks
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Hard Landing
The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Enlightened Economy
An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850
"It's very good." - Patrick Collison (Source)
A Culture of Growth
The Origins of the Modern Economy
"All of [this author’s] work is great, but [this book] in particular really stands out to me." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Expert Political Judgment
How Good Is It? How Can We Know?
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Nature of Mathematical Modeling
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Old Way
A Story of the First People
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Paris Review Interviews, I
16 Celebrated Interviews
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Feynman Lectures on Computation
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
On Lisp
Advanced Techniques for Common Lisp
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Age of Ambition
Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
The Rise and Fall of American Growth
The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Stewart Butterfield, Marc Andreessen
Tuxedo Park
A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
"It’s very good." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Asimov's New Guide to Science
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Incompleteness
The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Plagues and Peoples
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Anthropic Bias
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Foucault's Pendulum
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Feminine Mystique
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
China Airborne
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Dealers of Lightning
Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Educated Mind
How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Men, Machines, and Modern Times
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Scramble for Africa
White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Ocean Flying
A Pilot's Guide
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Plato at the Googleplex
Why Philosophy Won't Go Away
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Wind, Sand and Stars
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Justice as Fairness
A Restatement
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Medieval Technology and Social Change
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Technics and Civilization
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Arabs
A History
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Big Score
The Billion Dollar Story of Silicon Valley
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Secret Commonwealth
Book Of Dust, Book 2
"Going to own up to being very excited that there's a new Philip Pullman book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
A Vast Machine
Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Sum
Forty Tales from the Afterlives
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Toward a Theory of Instruction
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Wittgenstein's Vienna
"Have also been enjoying [this book]." - Patrick Collison (Source)
A Decade of Research
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 1970-1980
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Computer Lib
Dream Machines
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Democracy in America
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Popper Selections
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Science
A History
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Spacetime and Geometry
An Introduction to General Relativity
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Man Behind the Microchip
Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Planet Remade
How Geoengineering Could Change the World
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The C Programming Language
"In the aggregate [with other programming books] hugely shaped me." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
I Didn't Do It for You
How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Quantum Computing since Democritus
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Long Way
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Whole Earth Discipline
Why Dense Cities, Nuclear Power, Transgenic Crops, Restored Wildlands, and Geoengineering Are Necessary
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Metamagical Themas
Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
The City in History
Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Modern Operating Systems
"In the aggregate [with other programming books] hugely shaped me." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Myth of the Machine
Technics and Human Development
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Out of Mao's Shadow
The Struggle for the Soul of a New China
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
River Town
Two Years on the Yangtze
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Season of the Witch
Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Chip
How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Ocean of Life
The Fate of Man and the Sea
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz
Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Nixonland
The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Postcards from Tomorrow Square
Reports from China
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Count of Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo, Book 1
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Cowshed
Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
The Hunters
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Dracula
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Nixon Agonistes
The Crisis of the Self-Made Man
Patrick Collison labeled this book "particularly great." (Source)
Orality and Literacy
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Spastic Diplegia--Bilateral Cerebral Palsy
Understanding the Motor Problems, Their Impact on Walking, and Management Throughout Life
"Congrats, Mom!" - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Journalist And The Murderer
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Moral Mazes
The World of Corporate Managers
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Pacific
Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
Patrick Collison labeled this book "substantially above average." (Source)
Reasons and Persons
"I don't totally agree, but I think it's a really interesting modern take on moral philosophy." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
7 Powers
The Foundations of Business Strategy
"Deeply incisive." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Keith Rabois, Daniel Ek, Peter Thiel, Reed Hastings, Ryan Petersen
Freedom's Forge
How American Business Produced Victory in World War II
"About the logistical efforts -- led mostly by high school dropouts and immigrants -- that yielded the Arsenal of Democracy." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Electronic Payment Systems for E-Commerce
"Our childhood home in Limerick was previously inhabited by one of the authors of this book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Scientific Freedom
The Elixir of Civilization
"One of the best [books putting forth different visions for how science can be structured]." - Patrick Collison (Source)
The Infidel and the Professor
David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought
"Great book." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Organizing Genius
The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
"Talks a bit about this phenomenon of a really productive small group." - Patrick Collison (Source)
The Precipice
Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
"A great contribution." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
A Shot to Save the World
The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
"[This book], about the creation of the COVID vaccines, is terrific." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
The Power Law
Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future
"By far the best book I've read on the sector." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine
"Very good (And Eugene Kleiner's first cousin!)." - Patrick Collison (Source)
The Billion-Dollar Molecule
The Quest for the Perfect Drug
"Lots about entrepreneurship, science, pharmacology, risk, importance of work ethic, management practices, fundraising, and the impressive depth of US capital markets." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Genentech
The Beginnings of Biotech
"Enjoyed [this book]." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Talent
How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World
"They've seen how undergrad & grad programs, academic departments, YC, startups, Apple, and Pioneer do talent selection." - Patrick Collison (Source)
The Idea Factory
Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
"Sets the context for the hardware inventions that directly led to Silicon Valley." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Financial Shenanigans
How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports
John Collison called this "a well-targeted gift from [Patrick Collison]." (Source)
Also recommended by:
Designing Brand Identity
An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team
"It's excellent: exceptionally data-rich and comprehensive." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Also recommended by:
Generations
The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future
"It's excellent: exceptionally data-rich and comprehensive." - Patrick Collison (Source)
Other Recommenders
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.
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