Reading list · 12 books
Chris Dixon's reading list
General partner at a16z and founder of a16z crypto; earlier founded SiteAdvisor and Hunch and was an active angel investor. Author of "Read Write Own" and a prolific blogger/tweeter whose reading leans toward tech history and big-idea nonfiction.
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01
Brian McCullough
He calls it the "best history I've read on the 1990-2000s era of the Web."
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02
Katie Hafner & Matthew Lyon
He recommends it for its focus on the early pioneers (1950s-1980s) who built the modern internet.
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03
Richard Rhodes
He calls it a "truly epic story, showing humanity at both its best and worst."
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04
Jill Jonnes
"One of my favorite history books," on the electrification rivalry of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse.
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05
Graham Moore
He recommends this novel on "the epic legal battle between Westinghouse/Tesla vs Edison."
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06
Ken Kocienda
He calls it "a really interesting inside look at Apple's design process under Steve Jobs."
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07
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Jane Jacobs
A "classic" his a16z crypto colleagues got him to read; he recommends it broadly.
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08
Steven Johnson
"Probably my favorite" of Johnson's books on the history of innovation.
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09
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
He ranks it "up there with Black Swan and [Taleb's] other classics."
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10
Elad Gil
"Everyone interested in the growth stage of startups should read it."
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12
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
A longtime Twitter recommendation for founders, from his own partner at a16z.
More on Chris Dixon's picks
Dixon contributed personal picks with commentary to a16z's published reading lists (notably Winter 2018) and has tweeted book recommendations for years. He gravitates to histories of computing and the internet, technology-and-society nonfiction, and historical fiction about invention. His reasons are specific and often historical.
