Books for crypto builders and beyond (2024)
In the spirit of sharing what we’re reading, a regular tradition around here — see our latest list published this summer; and also check out our podcast where we discuss not just what, but how and why we read! — below are some of the books we curated for the Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) 2024 cohorts giveaway library.
You can also see books for founders from last year’s a16z crypto Founder Summit as well; we’ll post this year’s curation here soon. As always: The books in this list are not just for crypto builders and founders… The list spans biographies to company building and organizational history to creative inspiration and science fiction, with something for everyone in crypto and beyond.
…company building & how-to
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel with Blake Master
Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson (Stripe Press)
High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People by Elad Gil (Stripe Press)
High Output Management by Andy Grove
The Hard Thing about the Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
[editor’s note: listen to this related episode on building culture, in conversation with a16z crypto’s editor in chief]
Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management by Will Larson (Stripe Press)
Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory by Tim Roughgarden
Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems by Martin Kleppmann
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Law and Strategy by Constance Bagley and Craig Dauchy
Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams [editor’s note: listen to this related episode on technical and community communication, on our “web3 with 16z” podcast]
Web3 Marketing: A Handbook for the Next Internet Revolution by Amanda Cassatt
A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
The Art of Doing Science of Engineering: Learning to Learn by Richard Hamming (Stripe Press)
…builder biographies, organizations, and process of innovation
Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
Coding Democracy: How Hackers Are Disrupting Power, Surveillance, and Authoritarianism by Maureen Web
The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum by Camila Russo
Shoe Dog: A Memoir from the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
The Founders: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and the Story of PayPal by Jimmy Soni
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
…tech trends, history, open source/ other web3 themes
The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings On Linux And Open Source By An Accidental Revolutionary by Eric Raymond
Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software by Nadia Eghbal (Stripe Press)
The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod
The Everything Token: How NFTs and Web3 Will Transform the Way We Buy, Sell, and Create by Scott Duke Kominers
Designing An Internet by David Clark
Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet by Chris Dixon
…sci-fi, other fiction, & creative inspiration
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut
curated by Sonal Chokshi and Brittney Burrows