Books for crypto builders and beyond (2022)

a16z crypto editorial

12.18.22

In the spirit of sharing what we’re reading — a regular tradition around here; see our just-published winter reads (+games) as crowdsourced from team a16z crypto — below are some of the books we curated for the giveaway library at our recent inaugural a16z crypto Founder Summit.

But… the books in this list are not just for founders, nor are they only about crypto; the list also includes works covering tech history, company building, and the recurring theme of innovation past/ present/ future. Whether science or science fiction, memoir or organizational history, or textbook, there’s something here for everyone interested in crypto and beyond.

listed alphabetically by author:

The Nature of Technology: What it Is and How it Evolves by W. Brian Arthur

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann by Ananyo Bhattacharya

A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography by Dan Boneh and Victor Shoup

Proof of Stake: The making of ethereum and the philosophy of blockchains by Vitalik Buterin

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

Designing an Internet by David Clark

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsch

Selected Short Stories by Philip Dick

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner

Alan Turing: Enigma by Andrew Hodges

The Hard Thing about the Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Bob Iger

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs

Pentagon’s Brain: An uncensored history of DARPA, America’s top-secret military research agency by Annie Jacobsen

Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer by Steven Johnson

Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes

Masters of Doom by David Kushner

The Company: A short history of a revolutionary idea by John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge

Virtual Society: The Metaverse and the New Frontiers of Human Experience by Herman Narula

Algorithmic Game Theory edited by Noam Nisan, Tim Roughgarden, Eva Tardos, Vijay Vazirani

The Infinite Machine: How an army of crypto-hackers is building the next internet with Ethereum by Camila Russo

Coding democracy: How hackers are disrupting power, surveillance, and authoritarianism by Maureen Webb

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

curated by Sonal Chokshi and Brittney Burrows

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