Reading List
Books and essays that compound judgment — how to think about power, markets, knowledge, and agency.
Reading is how I update my model of the world. Not for status, not for finishing badges — for better decisions under uncertainty. The through line is simple: knowledge is conjecture and criticism, power compounds, markets are more honest than most institutions, and agency is a skill you train. Philosophy, startups, finance, systems — different surface, same project: see clearly, act freely, stay hard to capture.
Below is everything currently in Calibre, then a short list of essays and PDFs that punch above most books.
232 books
Douglas AdamsThe Ultimate Hitchhiker…
Scott AdamsGod's Debris
Scott AdamsHow to Fail at Almost E…
Scott AdamsLoserthink How Untraine…
Scott AdamsReframe Your Brain The…
Scott AdamsWin Bigly Persuasion in…
AdyashantiFalling into Grace
Liaquat Ahamed1873: The Rothschilds,…
Daniel AmmannThe King of Oil: The Se…
Edited & Transl…The World as Will and R…
Rindsberg AshleyThe Gray Lady Winked Ho…
Isaac AsimovThe Last Question
Robert AxelrodThe Evolution of Cooper…
Kalid AzadMath, Better Explained
Safi BahcallLoonshots: How to Nurtu…
Eric BergerLiftoff
Jorge Luis Borg…Labyrinths (1964)
Nick BostromSuperintelligence: Path…
J. BRADFORD DEL…Slouching Towards Utopia
Colin & Carr, B…Working Backwards
Luke BurgisWanting. The Power of M…
Stephen J. BurnDavid Foster Wallaces I…
Marty & Jones,…EMPOWERED: Ordinary Peo…
Albert CamusThe Myth of Sisyphus an…
Daniel P. Carpe…Reputation and Power: O…
Sean CarrollQuanta and Fields: The…
Sean CarrollSomething Deeply Hidden
Sean CarrollThe Biggest Ideas in th…
Steve CaseThe Third Wave An Entre…
Edward Chancell…The Price of Time
Andrew ChenThe Cold Start Problem…
Ron ChernowTitan: The Life of John…
Ted ChiangExhalation Stories
Ted ChiangThe Lifecycle of Softwa…
Swami Chinmayan…ASHTAVAKRA GITA - SONG…
Clayton M. Chri…The Innovator's Dilemma
Brian ChristianAlgorithms to Live By T…
Robert CialdiniPre-Suasion A Revolutio…
Robert B. Ciald…Influence: The Psycholo…
Rich CohenThe Fish That Ate the W…
Paul CorreiaThe Book of Five Rings…
Brian CoxBlack Holes
Professor Brian…The Planets
Robert X Cringe…Accidental Empires
Eric D. Beinhoc…The Origin of Wealth
Ray DalioHow Countries Go Broke…
Ray DalioThe Changing World Orde…
James Dale Davi…The Sovereign Individua…
Richard DawkinsThe Ancestors Tale A Pi…
Richard DawkinsThe Extended Phenotype…
Richard DawkinsThe Selfish Gene, 40th…
David DeutschThe Beginning of Infini…
David DeutschThe Fabric of Reality T…
Jared DiamondGuns, Germs, and Steel…
Jared DiamondThe Third Chimpanzee fo…
Matthew DicksStoryworthy
Chris DixonRead Write Own Building…
Charles DuhiggThe Power of Habit Why…
Annie DukeThinking in Bets: Makin…
April DunfordObviously Awesome
Will DurantFallen Leaves: Last Wor…
Will DurantThe Lessons of History
Will DurantThe Story of Philosophy
George DysonTuring's Cathedral
Greg EganDiaspora
Greg EganPermutation City
Nir EyalIndistractable
James Ph.D. Fad…The Psychedelic Explore…
J. Doyne FarmerMaking Sense of Chaos:…
Niall FergusonThe Ascent of Money A F…
Adam FergussonWhen Money Dies
Timothy FerrissThe 4-Hour Workweek
Richard FeynmanQED The Strange Theory…
Richard P. Feyn…Perfectly Reasonable De…
Richard P. Feyn…Six Easy Pieces: Essent…
Richard P. Feyn…The Feynman Lectures on…
Richard P. Feyn…The Feynman Lectures on…
Richard P. Feyn…The Feynman Lectures on…
Richard P. Feyn…The Pleasure of Finding…
Richard P. Feyn…What Do You Care What O…
Harvey S. Fires…Men and Rubber The Stor…
Edward FishmanChokepoints: American P…
Benjamin Frankl…The Autobiography of Be…
Milton FriedmanCapitalism and Freedom
Milton FriedmanFree to Choose A Person…
Milton FriedmanWhy government is the p…
Kahlil GibranThe Prophet
Elad GilHigh Growth Handbook: S…
René GirardAll Desire is a Desire…
René GirardThe Scapegoat
M.D. William Gl…Choice Theory A New Psy…
James GleickGenius the life and sci…
Seth GodinPurple Cow
Eliyahu M. Gold…The Goal: A Process of…
Adam GrantOriginals How Non-Confo…
John GribbinDeep Simplicity Chaos,…
Andrew S. GroveOnly the Paranoid Survi…
Kapil GuptaA Masters Secret Whispe…
Kapil GuptaAtmamun The Path To Ach…
Kapil GuptaDirect Truth: Uncomprom…
J Storrs HallWhere Is My Flying Car…
Robin HansonThe Elephant in the Bra…
Yuval Noah Hara…Homo Deus A Brief Histo…
Yuval Noah Hara…Sapiens A Brief History…
Tim HarfordThe Undercover Economis…
Robert L Heilbr…The Worldly Philosopher…
Arthur HermanHow the Scots Invented…
Hermann HesseSiddhartha
Cesar HidalgoWhy Information Grows T…
Douglas R. Hofs…Godel, Escher, Bach - A…
Ben HorowitzThe Hard Thing About Ha…
Ben HorowitzWhat You Do Is Who You…
Walter IsaacsonSteve Jobs
Julian JaynesThe origin of conscious…
Claire Hughes J…Scaling People: Tactics…
Eric JorgensonThe Almanack of Naval R…
Eric & Srinivas…The Anthology of Balaji
Horace Freeland…The Eighth Day of Creat…
Daniel KahnemanThinking, fast and slow
Alexander C. Ka…The Technological Repub…
Peter R KazanjyFounding Sales
Kevin KellyThe Inevitable
Tracy KidderThe Soul of A New Machi…
Mervyn & Kay, J…Radical Uncertainty
Ezra KleinAbundance
Matthew C. KleinTrade Wars Are Class Wa…
KrishnamurtiThink on These Things
KrishnamurtiTotal Freedom The Essen…
Jiddu Krishnamu…The Book of Life Daily…
Ray KurzweilThe Singularity Is Near…
A.G. LafleyPlaying to Win: How Str…
Bruce LeeStriking Thoughts: Bruc…
Fei-Fei LiThe Worlds I See Curios…
Cixin LiuThe Three-Body Problem…
Gordon Livingst…Too Soon Old, Too Late…
Roger LowensteinWhen Genius Failed The…
Nisargadatta Ma…I Am That
Nancy Forbes &…Faraday, Maxwell, and t…
Sebastian Malla…More Money Than God: He…
Sebastian Malla…The Infinity Machine: D…
Sebastian Malla…The Power Law: Venture…
Michael S. Malo…The Big Score: The Bill…
Chiara MarlettoThe Science of Can and…
Antonio Garcia…Chaos Monkeys
Marty CaganInspired: How To Create…
M.D. Gabor MateWhen the Body Says No T…
Gabor MatéThe Myth of Normal: Tra…
Johnjoe McFaddenLife on the Edge
Jed McKennaSpiritual Enlightenment…
Donella H. Mead…Thinking in Systems
ANTHONY DE MELLOAwareness
ANTHONY DE MELLOStop Fixing Yourself Wa…
ANTHONY DE MELLOThe Way to Love
Melanie MitchellComplexity: A Guided To…
Stephen MitchellBhagavad Gita
Stephen MitchellTao Te Ching
Matt MocharyThe Great CEO Within
Behzad MohitThermoinfocomplexity A…
Charles T. Mung…Poor Charlie's Almanack
OshoAbsolute Tao
OshoAutobiography of a Spir…
OshoLove, freedom, and alon…
OshoThe Book of Secrets
Swami Paramanan…The Upanishads
Judea PearlThe Book of Why The New…
PlatoThe Allegory of the Cave
Michael PollanHow to Change Your Mind…
Karl PopperThe Open Society and It…
Karl R. PopperThe Logic of Scientific…
Kamal RavikantLive Your Truth
Quick ReadsSummary of Tools of Tit…
David ReichWho We Are and How We G…
Matt RidleyGenome: The Autobiograp…
Matt RidleyHow Innovation Works
Matt RidleyThe Evolution of Everyt…
Matt RidleyThe Rational Optimist H…
Matt RidleyThe Red Queen. Sex and…
Carlo RovelliReality Is Not What It…
Carlo RovelliSeven Brief Lessons on…
Carlo RovelliThe Order of Time
Rick RubinThe Creative Act: A Way…
Richard RumeltGood Strategy/Bad Strat…
Bertrand RussellHistory of Western Phil…
Bertrand RussellThe Conquest of Happine…
Bertrand RussellThe Problems of Philoso…
SaadThe Parasitic Mind: How…
Carl SaganCosmos
Carl SaganThe Demon-Haunted World…
Thomas C. Schel…The Strategy of Conflict
Brent SchlenderBecoming Steve Jobs
Arthur Schopenh…Counsels And Maxims
Arthur Schopenh…Essays and Aphorisms
James C. ScottSeeing Like a State: Ho…
Gino SegrèA Matter of Degrees - W…
SenecaLetters from a Stoic
SenecaOn the Shortness of Life
SenecaTao of Seneca
Steve ShipsideBenjamin Franklins The…
Michael A. Sing…The Untethered Soul: Th…
Frank SlootmanAmp It Up
Jimmy SoniThe Founders: The Story…
Thomas SowellBasic Economics
Shawn Coyne Ste…Nobody Wants to Read Yo…
Steven StrogatzInfinite Powers How Cal…
Rory SutherlandAlchemy The Dark Art an…
Nassim Nicholas…Antifragile Things That…
Nassim Nicholas…Fooled by Randomness: T…
Nassim Nicholas…Skin in the Game: Hidde…
Nassim Nicholas…The Bed of Procrustes -…
Nassim Nicholas…The Black Swan
Peter ThielZero to One: Notes on S…
Silvanus P. Tho…Calculus Made Easy
Edward O. ThorpA Man for All Markets
Eckhart TolleThe Power of Now A Guid…
Donald J. TrumpTrump: The Art of the D…
Peter TurchinWar and Peace and War:…
Michael J. Case…The truth machine the b…
Tom WainwrightNarconomics
Bill WalshThe Score Takes Care of…
Alan WattsThe Book on the Taboo A…
Alan WattsZen and the Beat Way
Alan W. WattsThe joyous cosmology ad…
Alan W. WattsThe Way of Zen
J. D. WilliamsThe Compleat Strategyst…
Stephen WolframA new kind of science
Lee Kuan YewFrom Third World to Fir…
Paramahansa Yog…God Talks with Arjuna:…
Peter ZeihanDisunited Nations
Peter ZeihanThe Accidental Superpow…
Peter ZeihanThe End of the World is…
William ZinsserOn Writing Well, 30th A…
Gregory Zuckerm…The Man Who Solved the…
Essays
- Billion Dollar PDFs — Memos, decks, papers, and threads that moved real capital
- Instapaper #2023239314
- Instapaper #2006346990
- Instapaper #2025326415
- Instapaper #2023639448