YC’s 2017 Summer Reading List

“I thought Greenspan was bad but this book paints a positive image. Seb Mallaby is an awesome author so makes for an easy read.” – Daniel Gross

“Business-strategy-meets-Entourage. Interesting points in particular about the mailroom model and packaging deals.” – Daniel Gross

“An amazing look at FDR’S early life and his ancestors. The writing was fantastic and the history thoughtfully organized. The book covers young FDR from 1882 (his birth) until his marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. A fun read for those interested in the history of our (respectable) presidents.” – Nicole Imhof

“This book was one of the most enjoyable novels I’ve read in ages. It’s heartbreaking, hilarious, and somehow too short at 640 pages. Hill’s humanity and heart come through in scene after scene, whether he’s dissecting our political world, our relationships with our family or our obsession with media and technology. I can’t wait to read his next book!” – Fred Benenson

“I love this blog by Casey Winters.” – Gustaf Alstromer

“Neuromancer meets Jason Bourne. Written by a futurist who worked at MS, Ramez Naam. What if you could run code on your brain? Explores moral, political, military scene in a near future world that seems pretty plausible.” – Eric Migicovsky

“Drawing on twenty-first-century neuroscience and psychology, Mastermind explores Holmes’s unique methods of ever-present mindfulness, astute observation, and logical deduction. In doing so, it shows how each of us, with some self-awareness and a little practice, can employ these same methods to sharpen our perceptions, solve difficult problems, and enhance our creative powers. Very upbeat, bright and easy read. Truly enjoying it!” – Tatyana Veremyova

“A great synthesis of psychology and neurobiology, integrating the latest research. It may make you understand your own mind better.” – Jared Friedman

“Harari continues his masterful exploration of the human story he began in ‘Sapiens’ and continues it to its logical next steps. The book makes you rethink what it is and will be to be a human being.” – Geoff Ralston

“It is shocking how so many of our recent catastrophes from Katrina to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster were predicted and avoidable if only… This great book explores what happened in 7 such disasters and gives clues as to how to pay attention to the warnings we so often get, but mostly ignore.” – Geoff Ralston

“Great for self-awareness and self-knowledge. It is not an easy book but it’s really approachable and pretty short. This poem at the intro of the book sums it up.” – Ramon Recuero

I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.

“A psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor explains how finding and pursuing meaning is our primary driver in life.” – Rick Morrison

“One of the pioneers of underwater cave exploration describes his adventures where there is no room for error in extremely tight and dangerous situations.” – Rick Morrison

“Frames human perceptions of reality over the course of our development with sufficient abstraction to compare religions, economic systems, corporations and humanism in similar terms. Proposes a new value system to replace humanism: dataism.” – Joe Betts-Lacroix

“Parameterizes the difference between liberal and conservative value systems in a 6-variable space, making it easier to understand why people have a hard time understanding each other, and now to bridge those gaps. Overall, I like books that help me question and deepen by values :)” – Joe Betts-Lacroix

“An insightful read on how bubbles form and how they mature (or don’t mature) into impactful trends. I found the framework helpful given the many newer contexts since publication, e.g. artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc.” – Adora Cheung

“This book taught me how to imagine what time could be in nonlinear forms. Also, rarely does fiction move, much less teach me––some of the most beautiful text I’ve ever read.” – Adora Cheung

“The various health disciplines interested in the back have succeeded in creating an army of the partially disabled in this country with their medieval concepts of structural damage and injury as the basis of back pain.” – John Sarno, MD

“Dr Sarno’s work and insights are invaluable. Despite the horrible pain, it turns out there is nothing wrong with my back — my brain just needed a software update.” – Paul Buchheit

“Currently jumping between several physics books. Feynman does an excellent job conveying complicated concepts without making you feel there was a lot left out in his compression.” – Craig Cannon