Patrick Collison
Co-founder of Stripe. Publishes the contents of his bookshelf, marking the standouts.
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
Grossman’s Life and Fate is maybe a useful counterpoint.
Computer Lib/Dream Machines by Ted Nelson
Computer Lib -- one of the greatest books about the possibilities of computers ever written.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Dealers of Lightning by Michael A. Hiltzik
Dealers of Lightning -- the best history of PARC.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner
From Counterculture to Cyberculture -- Stewart Brand and his surrounding milieu.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech by Sally Smith Hughes
Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech -- the definitive history of Genentech.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Making Silicon Valley by Christophe Lécuyer
Making Silicon Valley -- there aren't many books that say a lot about the Valley pre-Shockley; this one goes back to the 30s.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Masters of Doom by David Kushner
There's a closely-related genre of great books (like Masters of Doom and Show-Stopper) that cover important projects in the industry's history.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Revolution in The Valley by Andy Hertzfeld
Revolution in The Valley -- a hundred stories from the early days of the Mac, collected by one of its creators.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Season of the Witch by David Talbot
Season of the Witch -- a cultural history of San Francisco from the late 60s to the early 80s.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Show-Stopper! by G. Pascal Zachary
There's a closely-related genre of great books (like Masters of Doom and Show-Stopper) that cover important projects in the industry's history.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
Swimming Across by Andrew S. Grove
Swimming Across -- Andy Grove's memoir.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
The Chip by T. R. Reid
The Chip -- the invention of the microchip.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop
The Dream Machine -- probably the best overall book about the early days of computing and the internet.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner
The Idea Factory -- sets the context for the hardware inventions that directly led to Silicon Valley.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
The Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz
The Little Kingdom -- the early days of Apple Computer and the Macintosh.
on patrickcollison.com · 19 Aug 2024 · Report
A Great Leap Forward by Alexander J. Field
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
A Vast Machine by Paul N. Edwards
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Anthropic Bias by Nick Bostrom
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Asimov's New Guide to Science by Isaac Asimov
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Business Adventures by John Brooks
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Computer Lib/Dream Machines by Ted Nelson
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Dealers of Lightning by Michael A. Hiltzik
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Expert Political Judgment by Philip E. Tetlock
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Feynman Lectures on Computation by Richard Phillips Feynman
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Foucault's Pendulum By Umberto Eco by -Author-
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Global Catastrophic Risks by Nick Bostrom
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinger
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
I Didn't Do It for You by Michela Wrong
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY? by Stephen Webb
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz by Michela Wrong
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Incompleteness by Rebecca Goldstein
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Justice as Fairness by John Rawls
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Longitude by Dava Sobel
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Medieval Technology and Social Change by Lynn Townsend White
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Men, Machines, and Modern Times by Elting E. Morison
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Metamagical Themas by Douglas R. Hofstadter
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Mindstorms by Seymour Papert
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Moral Mazes by Robert Jackall
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Myth of the Machine by Lewis Mumford
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Nixon Agonistes by Garry Wills
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Ocean Flying by Louise Sacchi
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
On Lisp by Paul Graham
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca the Younger
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Orality and Literacy: 30th Anniversary Edition (New Accents) by Walter J. Ong
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Out of Mao's Shadow by Philip P. Pan
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Pacific by Simon Winchester
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming by Peter Norvig
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Plagues and Peoples by William Hardy McNeill
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Plato at the Googleplex by Rebecca Goldstein
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charles T. Munger
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Popper Selections by Karl Popper
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Postcards from Tomorrow Square by James M. Fallows
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Quantum Computing since Democritus by Scott Aaronson
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
River Town by Peter Hessler
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Science by John R. Gribbin
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Season of the Witch by David Talbot
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens by K. C. Cole
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
Spacetime and Geometry by Sean M. Carroll
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics by Gerald Jay Sussman
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Technics and Civilization by Lewis Mumford
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Morier
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Arabs by Eugene L. Rogan
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
The Big Score by Michael S. Malone
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Chip by T. R. Reid
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The City in History by Lewis Mumford
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Cowshed by Xianlin Ji
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
The Educated Mind by Kieran Egan
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Hunters by James Salter
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Journalist And The Murderer by Janet Malcolm
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Man Behind the Microchip by Leslie Berlin
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Nature of Mathematical Modeling by Neil Gershenfeld
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Old Way by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Paris Review Interviews, I by Philip Gourevitch
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics by Nicholas J. Higham
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Gordon, Robert J.
On his bookshelf, marked as one he thought was particularly great.
The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
The feminine mystique by Betty Friedan
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Toward a Theory of Instruction by Jerome Bruner
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region by Harold Gilliam
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
On his bookshelf, marked as substantially above average.
Everything Patrick Collison recommends — not just books — on rcmnd →