Bookshelf

Welcome to my digital bookshelf!

For a long time, school tricked me into thinking reading was a chore. I've since found the antidote:

follow your own curiosity relentlessly.

This digital bookshelf is the result of that philosophy. It is a living catalog of (most of) the physical books that I own, guided by whatever subject interests me most at any given moment.

To help you navigate, I've color-coded my recommendations:

• Orange: Personal favorites that drastically changed how I see the world. These books are either unusually dense with insights or contain a single, transformative idea that provides a new model for the world. These are the rare books whose lessons have stuck with me long after reading.

• Green: Strong recommendations that are well worth reading (and re-reading).

• Blue: Everything else I've found interesting.

The book titles are links that will take you to the Amazon page for the edition I own.

I hope you find something below that sparks your interest too!

• On Gravity A. Zee (2013)
• Think Again Adam Grant (2021)
• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World Adam Grant (2016)
• Alex’s Adventures in Numberland Alex Bellos (2010)
• Fossil Future Alex Epstein (2022)
• How History Gets Things Wrong: The Neuroscience of Our Addiction to Stories Alex Rosenberg (2018)
• The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska (2025)
• The Cold Start Problem Andrew Chen (2021)
• The Hidden Globe Atossa Araxia Abrahamian (2024)
• The Dawn of Modern Cosmology: From Copernicus to Newton Aviva Rothman (ed.) (2024)
• The Intelligent Investor (Rev. ed.) Benjamin Graham (2006)
• Security Analysis (6th ed.) Benjamin Graham & David L. Dodd (2008)
• How Big Things Get Done Bent Flyvbjerg & Dan Gardner (2023)
• Source Code: My Beginnings Bill Gates (2025)
• Pump: A Natural History of the Heart Bill Schutt (2021)
• Becoming Steve Jobs Brent Schlender & Rick Tetzeli (2015)
• How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations Carl Benedikt Frey (2025)
• Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World Carl T. Bergstrom & Jevin D. West (2020)
• The Order of Time Carlo Rovelli (2018)
• Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli (2016)
• Reality Is Not What It Seems Carlo Rovelli (2017)
• Good Energy Casey Means with Calley Means (2024)
• On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin (2008)
• Poor Charlie’s Almanack Charles T. Munger (2005)
• Read Write Own Chris Dixon (2024)
• Never Split the Difference Chris Voss (2016)
• The Next 500 Years Christopher E. Mason (2021)
• Scaling People Claire Hughes Johnson (2023)
• Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman (2011)
• Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony & Cass R. Sunstein (2021)
• The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power Daniel Yergin (1990)
• Why Nations Fail Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson (2012)
• Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson (2023)
• Longitude Dava Sobel (1995)
• Connect David Bradford & Carole Robin (2021)
• Origin Story David Christian (2018)
• The Beginning of Infinity David Deutsch (2011)
• The Fabric of Reality David Deutsch (1997)
• The Dawn of Everything David Graeber & David Wengrow (2021)
• Introduction to Electrodynamics (4th ed.) David J. Griffiths (2013)
• Probability for the Enthusiastic Beginner David J. Morin (2016)
• Introduction to Classical Mechanics David Morin (2008)
• The Tower and the Bridge David P. Billington (1983)
• Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide DK (2020)
• Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide DK / BirdLife International (2022)
• The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World E. S. Creasy (1851)
• Material World Ed Conway (2023)
• The Clockwork Universe Edward Dolnick (2011)
• Electricity and Magnetism (3rd ed.) Edward M. Purcell & David J. Morin (2013)
• High Growth Handbook Elad Gil (2018)
• Principles of Neural Science (6th ed.) Eric R. Kandel, John H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, et al. (2021)
• The Second Machine Age Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee (2014)
• Revolution in Miniature (2nd ed.) Ernest Braun & Stuart Macdonald (1982)
• Francis Bacon: The Major Works Francis Bacon (2008)
• European Intellectual History from Rousseau to Nietzsche Frank M. Turner (ed. Richard A. Lofthouse) (2016)
• A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design Frank Wilczek (2015)
• Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality Frank Wilczek (2021)
• Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems Galileo Galilei (2008)
• How to Solve It George Pólya (1945)
• Differential Equations and Linear Algebra Gilbert Strang (2014)
• The Dealmaker Guy Hands (2021)
• How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch Harry Cliff (2021)
• To Engineer Is Human Henry Petroski (1985)
• The Most Important Thing Howard Marks (2011)
• How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon Iwan Rhys Morus (2023)
• The New Science of Strong Materials J. E. Gordon (1968)
• Where Is My Flying Car? J. Storrs Hall (2021)
• The Milestones of Science: How We Came to Understand the Universe James D. Stein (2023)
• Invention: A Life James Dyson (2021)
• The Conservative Futurist James Pethokoukis (2023)
• The Mimetic Brain Jean-Michel Oughourlian (2016)
• The Genesis of Desire Jean-Michel Oughourlian (2010)
• The Muscle Ladder Jeff Nippard (2023)
• Totally Random Jeffrey Bub & Tanya Bub (2018)
• A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution Jeremy D. Popkin (2019)
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days Jessica Livingston (2007)
• How to ADHD: An Insider’s Guide to Working with Your Brain (Not Against It) Jessica McCabe (2024)
• Physics: A Complete Introduction (Teach Yourself) Jim Breithaupt (2013)
• Proof and the Art of Mathematics Joel David Hamkins (2020)
• Business Adventures John Brooks (2014)
• Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants John D. Clark (2018)
• Measure What Matters John Doerr (2018)
• Quantum Computing: From Colossus to Qubits John Gribbin (2017)
• The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck (1939)
• The Idea Factory Jon Gertner (2012)
• The Well-Tempered City Jonathan F. P. Rose (2016)
• Network Medicine: Complex Systems in Human Disease Joseph Loscalzo, Albert-László Barabási & Edwin K. Silverman (2017)
• On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State Joseph R. Strayer (1970)
• How the World Made the West Josephine Quinn (2024)
• Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens K. C. Cole (2009)
• Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering (3rd ed.) K. F. Riley, M. P. Hobson & S. J. Bence (2006)
• The Great Transformation Karl Polanyi (1944)
• A City on Mars Kelly & Zach Weinersmith (2023)
• The Discrete Charm of the Machine Ken Steiglitz (2019)
• Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective Kenneth O. Stanley & Joel Lehman (2015)
• The Great Divergence Kenneth Pomeranz (2000)
• The Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas (1974)
• The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal M. Mitchell Waldrop (2018)
• The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (Updated) Marc Levinson (2016)
• Prefabrication and the Re-Evolution of Construction Marty Corrado (2021)
• The Rational Optimist Matt Ridley (2010)
• How Innovation Works Matt Ridley (2020)
• Why We Sleep Matthew Walker (2017)
• Life 3.0 Max Tegmark (2017)
• Our Mathematical Universe Max Tegmark (2014)
• The Moment of Lift Melinda Gates (2019)
• Spectacular Flops: Game-Changing Technologies That Failed Michael Brian Schiffer (2019)
• Fractal Worlds Michael Frame & Amelia Urry (2016)
• The Big Score Michael S. Malone (1985)
• The Complete Essays Michel de Montaigne (tr. M. A. Screech) (2003)
• Physics of the Future Michio Kaku (2011) 🌟
• How to Read a Book Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren (1972)
• Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field Nancy Forbes & Basil Mahon (2014)
• Antifragile Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2012)
• Skin in the Game Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2018)
• The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007)
• Fooled by Randomness Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2001)
• Superintelligence Nick Bostrom (2014)
• My Inventions and Other Writings Nikola Tesla (2011)
• Elements of Euclid (Oliver Byrne Edition) Oliver Byrne (2010)
• A Mathematician’s Lament Paul Lockhart (2009)
• What Is Life? Paul Nurse (2020)
• Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity Peter Attia with Bill Gifford (2023)
• Ignorance: A Global History Peter Burke (2023)
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel with Blake Masters (2014)
• Shoe Dog Phil Knight (2016)
• The Art of the Personal Essay Phillip Lopate (ed.) (1994)
• The Singularity Is Nearer Ray Kurzweil (2024)
• No Rules Rules Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer (2020)
• The Scapegoat René Girard (1989)
• A Theater of Envy: William Shakespeare René Girard (1991)
• All Desire Is a Desire for Being René Girard (2022) 🌟
• Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World René Girard (1987)
• Nudge: The Final Edition Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein (2021)
• A Little History of Religion Richard Holloway (2016)
• The Character of Physical Law Richard P. Feynman (1965)
• Six Easy Pieces Richard P. Feynman (1994)
• Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures Richard P. Feynman & Steven Weinberg (1987)
• The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680–1790 Ritchie Robertson (2020)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (New & Expanded) Robert B. Cialdini (2021)
• Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire Roger Crowley (2015)
• The Road to Reality Roger Penrose (2004)
• Something Deeply Hidden Sean Carroll (2019)
• Dialogues and Essays Seneca (ed. John Davie) (2007)
• Letters from a Stoic Seneca (tr. Robin Campbell) (1969)
• The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Siddhartha Mukherjee (2022)
• How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine… for Now Stanislas Dehaene (2020)
• Insanely Great Steven Levy (1994)
• The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future Steven Novella, Bob Novella & Jay Novella (2022)
• To Explain the World Steven Weinberg (2015)
• The Short Story of Art Susie Hodge (2017)
• Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing Thomas G. Wong (2021)
• Capital and Ideology Thomas Piketty (2019)
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas S. Kuhn (1962)
• The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe, 1648–1815 Tim Blanning (2007)
• Your Life Is Manufactured Tim Minshall (2023)
• Too Big for a Single Mind Tobias Hürter (2023)
• Build Tony Fadell (2022)
• Materials and Dematerialization Vaclav Smil (2013)
• How to Feed the World Vaclav Smil (2023)
• Invention and Innovation Vaclav Smil (2023)
• Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century Vaclav Smil (2006)
• Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World Vaclav Smil (2020)
• How the World Really Works Vaclav Smil (2022)
• Pieces of the Action Vannevar Bush (2022)
• Gene Machine Venki Ramakrishnan (2018)
• Why We Die Venki Ramakrishnan (2023)
• The Fabric of Civilization Virginia Postrel (2020)
• The Nature of Technology W. Brian Arthur (2009) 🌟
• Elon Musk Walter Isaacson (2023)
• Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders 1965–2014 Warren E. Buffett (ed. Max Olson) (2015)
• The Lessons of History Will Durant & Ariel Durant (1968)
• A Little History of Science William Bynum (2013)
• Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics William Dunham (1990)
• The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs… William N. Thorndike, Jr. (2012)
• China’s Gilded Age Yuen Yuen Ang (2020)