Reading list · 14 books
Keith Rabois's reading list
Investor (Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, now his own firm) and operator from the PayPal mafia, with senior roles at PayPal, LinkedIn, Slide, and Square. One of the most prolific book recommenders in tech, with a dedicated reading list and constant Twitter/Quora picks.
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01
Andrew S. Grove
A core recommendation from his reading list; he treats Grove as the canonical management text.
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02
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
He recommends it as reflecting the brutal 2000-2003 startup era.
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03
Ken Kocienda
He named it "one of two indispensable books of 2018," on Apple's product process.
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05
7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
Hamilton Helmer
Recommended on his Medium reading list as a strategy framework.
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06
The Score Takes Care of Itself
Bill Walsh
A leadership pick from his reading list, on standards and culture.
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07
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Robert M. Sapolsky
"A bit of a long commitment but worth it. Provocative."
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08
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Erik Larson
He notes Churchill books "take on different meanings during crisis vs peace."
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10
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Max Tegmark
He calls it the "best AI introduction, accessible to sophisticated readers."
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11
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
Recommended on his Medium reading list as essential broad-knowledge reading.
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12
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Richard Hamming
"Not for everyone but recommend for tech folks."
More on Keith Rabois's picks
Rabois published a long reading list (originally on Medium) and recommends books constantly on Twitter and Quora, often with terse verdicts. His tastes are broad: management classics (Grove), Silicon Valley/Apple history, statistics and decision-making, Churchill-era history, and neuroscience. He is known for naming "indispensable books of the year" and pushing operators toward rigor.
