Some books we're reading this summer 2025

Here are some books the a16z crypto team has been reading and recommending this summer. This season’s list — part of our semiannual tradition — spans a wide range of genres from true stories and speculative fiction to poetry, but the throughlines are still clear: striving for mastery, understanding edge cases (whether human, legal, or technical), and embracing unconventional thinking. 

Repeat recommendations reveal our longstanding interests, including How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer by Adrien Newey, Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, and Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith.

See more of our recommendations in reading lists from seasons past: including summers 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019; and winters 2024, 2023, 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016.

… from Conner Brown, tech ops 

Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall, by Helena Merriman

This is the almost unbelievable true story of a group of young, untrained students digging their way under the Berlin Wall to free dozens from East Germany. Merriman delivers a meticulous and claustrophobic account of their effort; it reads like a blend of history, suspense, and engineering manual. What makes it unforgettable is not just the danger or ingenuity, but the clarity of purpose: a small team risking everything to create freedom for others. It captures the kind of mission-driven obsession that defines great startup stories — naive, fearless, and driven by the pursuit of a better world.

… from Pyrs Carvolth, go-to-market

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, by Dan Gardner and Philip E. Tetlock

I picked up this book on recommendation from a previous boss, whose morning notes on the stock market I still read religiously — and I’m so glad I did. Superforecasting can help entrepreneurs, battling at the boundaries of incomplete information and luck, to sharpen their decision-making skills. The book explores the art and science of prediction, revealing how top forecasters think and make accurate judgments under uncertainty — a critical skill for navigating new technologies and markets. Its practical insights can help entrepreneurs anticipate trends, assess risks, and make informed choices.

… from Sonal Chokshi, editorial

A Cracking of the Heart, by David Horowitz

This is one of the most profound books I have read in a long time, and feels like it came along at just the right time (even though it was published over 15 years ago, a year and a half after the author’s daughter passed). On the surface, it is a book about grieving, reckoning with regrets, “the cords of family” pulling together, and stitching stories and truths told by and about a loved one after they are gone. But it is also a book about living on one’s own terms, making meaning and finding purpose in one’s life, and connecting with each other despite differences — whether parents and children or siblings, friends and lovers or even spiritual guides. One of the biggest messages in the book is to pay attention to the ways in which your relationship continues even after death. And yet the biggest lessons the book really offers are on how to maintain relationships in life. Defending partisan positions or taking a combative, uncompromising stance on ideology may work for debating abstract ideas, but it blocks understanding the “full-bodied” complexity of the person we’re talking to (or about). While many complain about narcissism and the death of nuance in our current times, it’s actually our very self-regard — and ability to give up control/our fear — which creates a bridge to others, Horowitz (who passed away this year) shares.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë as read by Thandiwe Newton 

While I’ve always loved audio as a medium — especially (good) podcast conversations! — I’ve long struggled with paying attention in audiobooks? But since I found audiobooks read by prominent actors (or by really good voice narrators who don’t sound like AI), a whole new world of reading-by-hearing has opened up for me. For the past couple years, I’ve been revisiting classics as read by prominent actors — Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice read by Rosamund Pike, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina read by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and several others — but my favorite so far, and my #1 pick for this year, is Jane Eyre read by Thandie Newton (yes that one). Newton so fully embodies each and every character’s personality, quirks, and moods in such distinct voices that you forget it is the same person reading all of them. And even though I read this book long before, it’s as if Jane — including her agency (and humor!) came alive for the first time; it was like an entirely new story to me. I also can’t get over how out of and ahead of her time Charlotte Brontë was with this story, character development, and more. 

Geek Girl series (Geek Girl, Model Misfit, Picture Perfect, All That Glitters, Head Over Heels, Forever Geek) by Holly Smale

I read all of these in a single vacation, going from beach to trains to planes to mountains — and I must have laughed out loud in all those places because there are SO many delightful moments in this series, even for a critical and sometimes jaded reader like me. The series is about an exceptionally bright young teen making her way through a world that doesn’t really “get” her, while she navigates not just friendships and romantic relationships but also her own ambitions, beauty, confidence, desires. The entire series (note: the book version not TV!) is so good — funny, warm, full of life lessons but not on the nose — and is also appropriate for tweens and above. I’ll always have a few YA books in my regular mix and this was the best one this year for sure. 

Antimimetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading, by Nadia Asparouhova

This is the only non-fiction book (besides David Horowitz’s memoir) that I’m recommending this year because I find most non-fiction books to be: too anecdotal (stuffed with stupid anecdotes or gratuitous non-illustrative examples when I just want the argument); too long for too little payoff (the argument shoulda been conveyed in a single article or podcast, not worth a book-length treatment); too discursive (and not in a cool journey way); too derivative (like every book before it and not in a comforting, familiar way but in a “oh god not this again” way); or too dry (meant to only be scanned or parsed modularly for specific sections). I want the information, but don’t want it to come to me too dry either — I might as well read a textbook to learn a topic at that point (and I often do). But Nadia’s new book does none of the above, and is fresh and different: It is well argued, well written, flows well chapter to chapter (so belongs together as a book), and most importantly, makes the reader think and think differently. The topic — covering memes/mimetics, antimimetics, packaging messaging, focusing attention — has relevance for all kinds of builders and marketers, including crypto ones, as it applies not just to group chats but any self-organizing groups and communities communicating about ideas, persuading others, and moving from idea to reality. 

… from Christian Crowley, go-to-market 

Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami

Reading Kafka on the Shore was mesmerizing. It’s the kind of novel that lingers in your mind. Murakami has a rare gift for drawing readers deep into the interior worlds and minds of his characters. Few authors can do this so effectively and to such emotional depth. Combined with a captivating, layered narrative that pulls everything together at the end — this is one I highly recommend to anyone looking to lose themselves in a book for afternoon (or two).

… from Chris Dixon, investing 

Forage.com by Chris Dixon

I’ve been playing around with various AI tools lately and, for one of my recent projects, I vibe-coded a website that recommends books. So instead of recommending any one book this year, I’m sharing this site. 

… from Shari Doherty, marketing 

The Explorer’s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map, by Alex Hutchinson

Alex Hutchinson’s Endure and his new followup The Explorer’s Gene blend science, storytelling, and history to explore what drives us. Endure unpacks how mindset shapes resilience and physical limits, while The Explorer’s Gene dives into our inner drive to chase challenge and novelty. Together, they offer a fascinating look at what propels us in work, life, and play.

… from Jay Drain, Jr., investing

Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, by Alex Hutchinson

Hutchinson’s Endure explores the science and psychology of endurance. It’s an insightful foray into the history, evolution, and implications of sports science, with plenty of real-world examples that demonstrate how and why we can trick our brains and bodies into squeezing out better performances than we think we can. I’m a sucker for any quality content on defying human limits and Endure did not disappoint. This book is a must read for all athletes, especially endurance athletes like runners!

… from Robert Hackett, editorial 

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Since becoming a dad, I’ve been revisiting the books I loved — and that shaped me — as a child. I was prepared to groan, to be honest. Would anything hold up? Would I recoil at the tastes of my younger self? Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, really? Yet I am pleased to report that many of the reads I recollect as most formative in my youth remain good. For one, Ender’s Game stands out: It is as tight, gripping, and brutal as it was when it was published in 1985. (The subplot involving Demosthenes and Locke is also much less outlandish today than it might have first appeared in print.) I thank Andrew Wiggin for imbuing in me a lifelong love of science fiction, an appreciation I hope one day to share with my kids.

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

Look, I haven’t read Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain yet, okay. (The book is 1,200 pages, published in May, and I have a day job — all of which would make Chernow wince to hear me say.) No matter. I will use this opportunity to recommend Chernow’s latest work anyway, or at least his talks and interviews about it. In particular, check out his recent conversation with another great humorist of our age, Conan O’Brien (who happens to be the recipient of this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor). It’s full of wit and soul, like the erstwhile riverboat captain himself.

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester

I loved this book about how precision engineering has shaped the world we live in. Each chapter charts the evolution of exactitude by successive orders of magnitude, from 0.1 to 0.000 000 000 000000 000 000 000 000 000 000 01. I now can’t help but read the entirety of technological history as humanity’s decimation of nature’s inherent chaos. I also find it satisfying that the first “precise” device — a slickly bored block of iron originally invented to improve canons (courtesy of “iron mad” industrialist John Wilkinson of 18th century Britain) — would find product-market fit as the missing component in James Watts’ steam engine. One man’s barrel is another man’s piston. And so it is that an instrument intended for destruction would, by initiating the industrial revolution, go on to create so much.

… from Andy Hall, research 

Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company, by Patrick McGee

Deeply reported and sober minded account of how Apple became subjugated to China. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the nature of the competition between governments and tech companies today.

How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer, by Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey is one of the most successful Formula 1 car designers of all time. In this book, he goes deep into what has made him so good — his passion for the sport, his obsession with winning, his engineering talent, and above all, his gift for finding loopholes in the rules that he can exploit to make his car just a little bit better than the other teams’ cars. Designing a car in such an adversarial atmosphere bears more than a little similarity to crypto, and the level of nerding out in the book will appeal to many in the space.

… from Max Kesten, events

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-Smith

This book made me re-think how we define intelligence. The breadth of life in the ocean is already remarkable, but learning about how advanced certain animals are made me realize that we are living among creatures that understand the world in ways that humans never could. By combining both philosophical and scientific perspectives with his personal experiences in the sea, the author shines a light on how awesome, surprising, and gifted nature is.

… from Scott Duke Kominers, research

The Labyrinth House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji

The most recent Yukito Ayatsuji novel to be translated as part of the Pushkin Vertigo collection traps you walking around and around its labyrinth, like a Theseus unsure which thread to follow. This honkaku mystery novel is a masterful, multilayered puzzle: Every critical clue is right in front of you — yet somehow masked, leading you astray. The multilayered character motivations and identities manage to continue to surprise even after you finish the book; I’m still in awe that one author could write so many different mystery threads at once.

Rid of You, by Amrit Birdi

From a recent Kickstarter campaign, Rid of You is a mesmerizing graphic novel trilogy following a dreamer and a death faerie as they attempt to run from their past.

Nearly Perfect, by Thomas Drach

Hot off the presses this summer is this nearly perfect theory of the relationship between competitive advantage and product design. Easily the best book in-category I’ve read in years; on par with Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things in terms of insight per page (which you should also read if you haven’t yet!).

Look Ma, No Hands: A Chronic Pain Memoir, by Gabrielle Drolet

What happens when your work and life depend on your body, but your body breaks? Writer and cartoonist Gabrielle Drolet gives an accessible, deeply human, and — by design — often laugh-out-loud hilarious account of her experience with chronic hand pain. This memoir is a fast and fun read that will level-up your empathy score by at least five points. And especially for anyone whose body has ever broken in a way that left them unmoored, it will bring optimism and provide an anchor. (Also, check out her illustration art!)

100 Years of Math Milestones: The Pi Mu Epsilon Centennial Collection, by Stephan Ramon Garcia and Steven J. Miller

The U.S. undergraduate math honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon, commemorated their 2014 centennial by publishing a series of 100 problems tracing mathematics since their founding — collected in this volume. Each “year” weaves together problem-solving with math history, exploring everything from the Collatz Conjecture and the Enigma machine to the Monty Hall Problem and even the Conway-Schneeberger “15 Theorem” (which was my own small contribution to the volume).

The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy and Society, by William R. Kerr

More than ever, we need this reminder of why and how talent migration drives innovation, productivity, and growth. By my Harvard Business School colleague Bill Kerr, The Gift of Global Talent builds on decades of his and others’ research to show how in-migration has been one of America’s greatest sources of strength.

The Man Who Never Was, by Ewen Montagu

With the story having even made it to Broadway this year, it’s the perfect time to immerse yourself in Operation Mincemeat, as told by one of its architects: A nonexistent (Acting) Major, a real body, and a couple letters in a locked case combine into one of the most extraordinary acts of military deception in history.

The ComixMonger Curated Experience, from Comics N’More

Not exactly a book per se, but an algorithm to find the perfect one: One of my most extraordinary reading experiences of 2025 was a custom graphic novel bundle curated by Comics N’More’s ComixMonger, who has an encyclopedic brain for all things comics. After a brief online interview in which I shared a couple of my favorites and gave a budget, they shipped me an A+++ collection that’s been my reading for most of the last month. Strongly recommended, QED.

… from Michele Korver, regulatory

Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze

“Some law is essential to our lives and our freedoms. But too much law can place those very same freedoms at risk and even undermine respect for law itself.” This is a book of stories about real people, and how our laws in America have increasingly, and in some cases unfairly, restricted what we say, monitored what we do, and told us how we may live. 

… from Mike Manning, marketing

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe

This is a definitive account of The Troubles and its impact on Northern Ireland, told through the experiences of prominent IRA leaders and lesser-known Belfast residents caught in the crossfire. It’s astonishingly well-researched and very readable, with character arcs that get more fascinating and unpredictable as the book progresses.

… from Jason Rosenthal, operations 

The River of Doubt, by Candice Millard

Shortly after losing his run for a third presidential term, Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, mount an expedition to explore an uncharted river in the Amazon. The challenges, perils, and near death experiences they face along the way are almost unimaginable from today’s perspective. Founders enmeshed in the challenges of building their company can take comfort and find perspective in the story of what the Roosevelts attempted and endured.

… from Arianna Simpson, investing 

Focus: The ASML way – Inside the power struggle over the most complex machine on earth, by Mark Hijink

ASML is a strange and fascinating company — it’s the quiet giant that builds the enormous, complicated machines that produce the vast majority of the world’s chips. In the age of AI, its importance is only growing, and the book provides an interesting look at its history and internal dynamics.

… from Helen Stoddard, events 

There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, by Kevin Evers

While a lot of books about Taylor Swift focus on the gossip, feuds, and pop-culture aspects of her work and creative projects, this book hones in on the business of being one of the most successful artists working today. A great read with real case study shares that can apply across all businesses.

… from Tim Sullivan, editorial 

American Mermaid, by Julia Langbein

Clever, entertaining, witty, meta, fun. Penelope Schleeman, the main character in the novel, American Mermaid, has written a novel also called American Mermaid and has set off to Hollywood to help adapt it for the screen. Things go off course in horribly predictable ways when nuanced literature meets the needs of a mass audience (more romance! more action!). The book alternates between Penelope’s story and chapters of her novel (there’s the meta part). As the book progresses, the two narrative streams meet, resolving both stories in one. 

Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World, by Pádgraig Ó Tuama

I had any early interest in poetry beaten out of me by my formal schooling, which made it mandatory and therefore boring. But I started reading poetry on the regular when I found a daily poetry account on Twitter that I liked. As I’ve migrated at least some of my reading offscreen, I’ve picked up poetry collections to read in the morning. This one features a personal introduction by the editor (“Here’s why this poem resonated with me.”) followed by a deeper analysis of the poem itself. I didn’t think I’d read the analysis, but I often find them as engaging as the poems.

Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life, by Agnes Callard

It’s how to really live an examined life if you dare to deal with the consequences of doing so. Callard, a University of Chicago philosopher, advocates — passionately!— for using the Socratic method to engage with others to disturb your preconceptions. Her writing can get a little dry and digressive, but there are gems liberally scattered throughout, which make it more than worth your time. Plus, lots to disagree with, which makes it my kind of book.

… from Em Westerhold, finance ops 

What Are People For? by Wendell Berry

While my mind is typically focused on the future and its possibilities, What Are People For? is a collection of essays creating deliberate pause to contemplate our place, and our limits, in this world. I like to read Berry’s essays in small increments and sit with his wisdom after closing the book.

The Neapolitan Novels, by Elena Ferrante

This is a four book series starting with the most well-known, My Brilliant Friend. I recommend reading the whole series in order. Elena Ferrante captures Lila and Lenù’s friendship with such raw intimacy that you feel less like a reader than a silent third friend, privy to every emotion. The writing style is effortlessly beautiful and enjoyable to read.

… from Ali Yahya, investing

Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell

It might be impossible to write a more cogent explanation of the fundamental economic principles that govern human behavior. This book is filled with the basic mental models that explain a lot of what makes the world tick. It’s filled with examples from history that show how economic forces have shaped major events like the Great Depression and housing crisis.

… from Stephanie Zinn, editorial 

Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon

I laughed, I cried, I re-read Euripides. Set in Sicily after the Peloponnesian War, this book follows two unemployed potters. What starts as a trip to feed Athenian prisoners at the local quarry turns into a surprisingly high-production-value staging of Euripides, complete with props and scenery — plus lots of wine and a teeny tiny bit of magic. The innovation here is narrating the whole thing in contemporary Irish vernacular, so you’ve got Spartans saying things like “arse”, and yet it works. The book doesn’t take itself too seriously, which makes it all the more powerful when it does. I read and listened to the audiobook at the same time — a great way to hear the story in the author’s Irish accent, without missing any of the weird and beautiful Homeric epithets sprinkled throughout.

Voices from the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook, edited by Lisa Kaborycha

I am obsessed with this masterfully curated anthology of letters, poetry, publications, and various writings and other primary resources from the Italian Renaissance. The book is organized by theme, like the papacy, marriage, patronage, humanism, and others — each with an illuminating little introduction. Highlights are verses by performer and probable courtesan Gaspara Stampa as she imagines the end of a love affair (“restore now / my life to me as it was, happy and joyous” :sob:). And two accounts of a young Leonardo da Vinci being an ambitious weirdo. First by frankensteining a bunch of animals (in a painting) to scare his father. Then by pitching his skills in a letter to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, by offering to demonstrate his trebuchet designs in a city park. A classic example of a young builder seeking funding for his ideas. 

Note that this book is a companion piece to Kaborycha’s A Short History of Renaissance Italy. I also recommend her anthology of letters, A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375–1650. 

The Waves, by Virginia Woolf

I heard from X that teens can’t read third-person omniscient anymore. I sure do question this assertion but it does make me think of The Waves by Virginia Woolf, in which a narrator dictates six stream-of-consciousness perspectives, three women and three men, from childhood to the ends of their lives. There are no chapter or scene breaks. The only way to tell who’s talking is through sparse dialogue tags (“said Susan”, for example). At first I felt like it might be too experimental for my tastes. But I’m glad I stuck with it, because this novel has some lovely writing about growing up, growing old, and grief. It continues to pay off as you spend more time with it, and I hope there’s a teen out there, somewhere, reading The Waves by choice.

The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods, by Mikey Please

A very cute, very funny, kind of gross kids’ book about a chef who opens a fancy restaurant at the edge of an enchanted forest, whose inhabitants have… different tastes than those of the big city. More importantly, it’s about the power of user testing, of relying on local experts for local insights, and of repositioning a product within a new-to-you audience, while staying true to your core values. It’s also about an ogre who is craving a bag of bats. Best of all, there’s a sequel coming out in September.

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