Reading list
A few of the books on my shelf right now. I keep this page informal—just a snapshot of the titles I reference most when thinking about business, product design, coding, finance, and the stories behind the people building those worlds.
Product, business & strategy
Creative Selection
Ken Kocienda
Inside Apple's design process during the golden age of Steve Jobs—insider's view of how inspiration, collaboration, and craft shaped products like the iPhone and iPad.
Hooked
Nir Eyal
Practical look at habit loops and behavioral design—helpful when building experiences that encourage repeat use without feeling pushy.
The Advantage
Patrick Lencioni
Organizational health as a strategic edge—useful for keeping teams aligned and motivated through change.
The Culture Map
Erin Meyer
Playbook for collaborating across teams and cultures—handy when projects span continents and time zones.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen
Classic on disruptive innovation and why great companies miss the next wave—useful framing for product bets that feel risky.
Coding & engineering
Relevant Search
Doug Turnbull & John Berryman
Deep dive into search relevance engineering—great companion when tuning ranking, recall, and evaluation loops.
Finance & markets
Fiasco
Frank Partnoy
Inside story of a Wall Street derivatives trader—revealing account of the financial industry's complexity and risk, useful for understanding market mechanics.
Going Public
Frank Partnoy
How modern markets and IPOs really work—helpful grounding for anyone building products around listings or capital formation.
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Charles T. Munger
Munger's mental models and investing philosophy—great reminder to look for simple truths inside complex systems.
Principles
Ray Dalio
The founder of Bridgewater Associates shares the principles that guided his success—framework for decision-making, building systems, and navigating complexity.
The Everything Store
Brad Stone
Amazon's rise told through its founder—company biography packed with lessons on operational intensity and customer obsession.
Autobiographies & memoirs
Barbarian Days
William Finnegan
Surf memoir with sharp reporting—reminder that craft comes from patience and obsession.
Made in America
Sam Walton
The autobiography of Walmart's founder—story of building a retail empire from a single store, packed with lessons on scale, operations, and customer focus.
Titan
Ron Chernow
Biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr.—blends finance history with a study of power, philanthropy, and long-range planning.
Science
Genome
Matt Ridley
The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters—exploration of the human genome that reveals how genes shape behavior, disease, and evolution.