Reading list: the books for what you are building
Tell us your business model, industry and stage, or how you invest, and get the books worth your time, picked from 30,000 on building and backing companies. Chosen by ratings and what they are about.
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643 books written by investors and founders
Now readingAtomic HabitsJames Clear4.31★
Change your answersFounder · Climate and energy · Seed
Your reading list
ShortlistThe best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
The best matches for everything you told us, ranked.
- 1
This Changes Everything
Capitalism vs. The Climate
Naomi Klein · 2014
4.1628,175 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
Forget everything you think you know about global warming. It's not about carbon, it's about capitalism. The good news is that we can seize this crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better. In her most provocative…
- 2
The New Map
Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
Daniel Yergin · 2020
4.176,248 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
A Wall Street Journal besteller and a USA Today Best Book of 2020 Named Energy Writer of the Year for The New Map by the American Energy Society “ A master class on how the world works.”, NPR Pulitzer Prize-winning author and global energy expert,…
- 3
- 4
Windfall
The Booming Business of Global Warming
McKenzie Funk · 2014
4.03673 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
A fascinating investigation into how people around the globe are cashing in on a warming world: McKenzie Funk has spent the last six years reporting around the world on how we are preparing for a warmer planet. Funk shows us that the best way to understand…
- 5
A World of Three Zeros
The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions
Muhammad Yunus · 2017
3.681,723 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and bestselling author of Banker to the Poor offers his vision of an emerging new economic system that can save humankind and the planet Muhammad Yunus, who created microcredit, invented social business, and earned a Nobel…
- 6
The Necessary Revolution
How individuals and organizations are working together to create a sustainable world.
Peter M. Senge · 2008
3.84522 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy around the world, and where “regenerative” commercial buildings – ones that create more energy than they use – are being…
- 7
More and More and More
An All-Consuming History of Energy – The International Bestseller on Climate Change and Fossil Fuels
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz · 2025
4.05520 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
The radical, paradigm-shifting international bestseller that destroys our delusions about energy consumption and will change the way we talk about climate change. We have long been taught that humanity’s relationship with energy is one of progress, with wood…
- 8
The Day the World Stops Shopping
How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
J.B. MacKinnon · 2021
4.135,441 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet, but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping. We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must.…
Books on climate and energy.
- 1
Taming the Sun
Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet
Varun Sivaram · 2018
4.06510 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyInnovation
About the book
How solar could spark a clean-energy transition through transformative innovation--creative financing, revolutionary technologies, and flexible energy systems. Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and…
- 2
Race for Tomorrow
Survival, Innovation and Profit on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis
Simon Mundy · 2022
4.22207 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyInnovationCompany building
About the book
In this extraordinary journey through twenty-six countries, Simon Mundy meets the people on the front lines of the climate crisis, showing how the struggle to respond is already reshaping the modern world – shattering communities, shaking up global business,…
- 3
The Elements of Power
Gadgets, Guns, and the Struggle for a Sustainable Future in the Rare Metal Age
David S. Abraham · 2015
4.06264 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Our future hinges on a set of rare metals that few of us have even heard of. In this eye-opening book, a natural resource strategist reveals the critical importance of these transformative elements to our technological lifestyle and the consequences of our…
- 4
Energy
A Beginner's Guide
Vaclav Smil · 2006
3.991,520 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
As Einstein pointed out in his famous equation, E=MC2, all matter can be described as energy. It is everywhere; it is everything. In this engaging book, prolific author and academic Vaclav Smil provides an introduction to the far-reaching term and gives the…
- 5
Scale
The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
Geoffrey B. West · 2017
4.115,764 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany buildingInnovation
About the book
The former head of the Sante Fe Institute, visionary physicist Geoffrey West is a pioneer in the field of complexity science, the science of emergent systems and networks. The term “complexity” can be misleading, however, because what makes West’s discoveries…
- 6
Quantum Supremacy
Michio Kaku · 2023
3.783,798 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
An exhilarating tour of humanity's next great technological achievement, quantum computing, which may eventually illuminate the deepest mysteries of science and solve some of humanity's biggest problems, like global warming, world hunger, and incurable disease,…
- 7
Badass
Making Users Awesome
Kathy Sierra · 2015
4.171,194 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Imagine you’re in a game with one objective: a bestselling product or service. The rules? No marketing budget, no PR stunts, and it must be sustainably successful. No short-term fads. This is not a game of chance. It is a game of skill and strategy. And…
- 8
The Grid
The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future
Gretchen Bakke · 2016
3.854,881 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future.America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be…
What founders at seed need most: company building, finding product-market fit, raising money, first sales, marketing and growth.
- 1
Get Backed
Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams
Evan Baehr · 2015
4.36356 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
HOW DO YOU LAUNCH THE VENTURE OF YOUR DREAMS? Get Backed isn’t just about startup fundraising. It’s a handbook for anyone who has an idea and needs to build relationships to get it off the ground. Over the last 3 years, entrepreneurs Evan Loomis and…
- 2
The Elements of User Experience
User-Centered Design for the Web
Jesse James Garrett · 2002
4.014,134 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
Smart organizations recognize that Web design is more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. A site that really works fulfills your strategic objectives while meeting the needs of your users. Even the best content and the most sophisticated…
- 3
80/20 Sales and Marketing
The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More
Perry Marshall · 2013
4.191,904 ratings · Goodreads
First salesMarketing and growthCompany building
About the book
Stop "Just Getting By" ... Master The 80/20 Principle And Make More Money Without More Work. When you know how to walk into any situation and see the 80/20's, you can solve almost ANY marketing problem. 80/20 can demolish any sales and advertising problem.…
- 4
Achieving Excellence in Fundraising + Website
Eugene R. Tempel · 2003
4.02249 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
The third edition of this acclaimed resource, Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, explains the fundraising profession's major principles, concepts, and techniques. With contributions from noted experts in the field, and filled with illustrative examples,…
- 5
A Project Guide to UX Design
For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making
Russ Unger · 2009
3.871,774 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
“If you are a young designer entering or contemplating entering the UX field this is a canonical book. If you are an organization that really needs to start grokking UX this book is also for you. " -- Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft User…
- 6
Selling the Invisible
A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Harry Beckwith · 1997
3.9410,059 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
You can't touch, hear, or see your company's most important products... So how do you sell, develop, make them grow? That's the problem with services. This "phenomenal" book, as one reviewer called it, answers that question with insights on how markets work…
- 7
Risky is the New Safe
The Rules Have Changed . . .
Randy Gage · 2012
3.86348 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and #1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Risky Is the New Safe is a different kind of book for a different kind of thinking--a thought-provoking manifesto for risk takers. It will challenge you to think laterally, question…
- 8
Venture Deals
Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Brad Feld · 2011
4.1117,486 ratings · Goodreads
Raising moneyCompany building
About the book
Praise for Venture Deals"My biggest nightmare is taking advantage of an entrepreneur without even realizing it. It happens because VCs are experts in financings and most entrepreneurs are not. Brad and Jason are out to fix that problem with Venture Deals.…
Leading and managing a team as the company grows.
- 1
The Dichotomy of Leadership
Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink · 2018
4.3616,134 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
THE INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Extreme Ownership comes a new and revolutionary approach to help leaders recognize and attain the leadership balance crucial to victory. With their first book, Extreme…
- 2
Joker One
A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Donovan Campbell · 2009
4.154,545 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
After graduating from Princeton, Donovan Campbell, motivated by his unwavering patriotism and commitment, decided to join the service, realizing that becoming a Marine officer would allow him to give back to his country, engage in the world, and learn to…
- 3
The Ride of a Lifetime
Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
Robert Iger · 2019
4.4099,495 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life. In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt…
- 4
The Goal
A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eliyahu M. Goldratt · 2004
4.0786,160 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is transforming management thinking throughout the world. It is a book to recommend to your friends in industry - even to your bosses - but not to your competitors. Alex Rogo is a harried…
- 5
Inspired
How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan · 2008
4.2226,350 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Learn to design, build, and scale products consumers can't get enough of How do today's most successful tech companies–Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla–design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of…
- 6
The Manager's Path
A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change
Camille Fournier · 2017
4.2510,686 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
Managing people is difficult wherever you work, but the tech industry as a whole is pretty bad at it. Tech companies in general lack the experience, tools, texts, and frameworks to do it well. And the handful of books that share tips and tricks of engineering…
- 7
EntreLeadership
20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
Dave Ramsey · 2011
4.1914,050 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover and radio and podcast host Dave Ramsey comes an informative guide based on how he grew a successful, multimillion dollar company from a card table in his living room. Your company is only…
- 8
American Icon
Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company
Bryce G. Hoffman · 2012
4.425,255 ratings · Goodreads
Leading and managing
About the book
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY. At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all…
Published in the last three years, newest first, for what you told us.
- 1
The Only Possible Solution
How to Shape the Future for Our Next Generations
Fons Burger · 2026
4.40999 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
What if climate change, biodiversity loss, food and water insecurity, inequality, declining health, political polarization, and the erosion of trust are not separate crises at all? What if they are all symptoms of the same underlying system failure? In…
- 2
Wasteland
The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
Oliver Franklin-Wallis · 2023
4.442,908 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy, and finds out the dirty truth behind a simple question: what really happens to what we throw away? In…
- 3
Dirtbag Billionaire
How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away
David Gelles · 2025
4.162,500 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Named one of Financial Times’s Best Books of 2025 New York Times reporter and bestselling author David Gelles reveals how Patagonia became a global leader in doing well by doing good and how other companies are adopting its principles. This is the inside…
- 4
The Future of the Responsible Company
What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 50 Years
Vincent Stanley · 2023
4.18374 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Simple but powerful advice on how and why to rethink your business structure in a time when traditional capitalism is no longer working for people or the planet. Vincent Stanley, Patagonia's Director of Philosophy, with Yvon Chouinard, founder and former…
- 5
Hey, Hun
Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing
Emily Lynn Paulson · 2023
3.5814,654 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthFirst salesCompany building
About the book
She signed up for the sisterhood, free cars, and the promise of a successful business of her own. Instead, she ended up with an addiction, broken friendships, and the rubble of a toppled pyramid . . . scheme. Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the…
- 6
Crude Capitalism
Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market
Adam Hanieh · 2024
4.50296 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energy
About the book
A groundbreaking history of oil and it's importance to US politics, finance, militarism and consumerism from an award-winning author and scholarThis expansive history traces the hidden connections between oil and capitalism from the late 1800s to the current…
- 7
The Pricing Roadmap
How to Design B2B SaaS Pricing Models That Your Customers Will Love
Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt · 2023
4.43207 ratings · Goodreads
Finding product-market fitCompany building
About the book
"The definitive resource on SaaS pricing, I absolutely can not recommend this book enough." Viktor Heide, COO of Contractbook.com, Forbes "30 under 30" A foolproof method to achieve skyrocketing sales, growth, and profits for your software as a service…
- 8
The First-Time Manager
Sales
Mike Weinberg · 2023
4.43282 ratings · Goodreads
First salesCompany building
About the book
The First Time Manager Series has sold over 500,000 copies and is a go-to guide for new and aspiring sales managers on what to expect and how to succeed. The jump from sales superstar to sales manager has made or broken many a sales career. As a…
How companies like yours were actually built, from the people who built them.
- 1
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Alex Epstein · 2014
4.062,500 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
A sure-to-be-controversial defense of the fossil fuel industry Conventional wisdom says fossil fuels are an unsustainable form of energy that is destroying our planet. But Alex Epstein shows that if we look at the big picture, the much-hated fossil fuel…
- 2
Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson · 2011
4.161,391,990 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
Walter Isaacson's worldwide bestselling biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years--as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and…
- 3
How the World Really Works
A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future
Vaclav Smil · 2022
3.9414,856 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
* THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 'Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors . . . If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read. It's a tour de…
- 4
The Quest
Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
Daniel Yergin · 2011
4.145,291 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year In this gripping account of the quest for the energy that our world needs, Daniel Yergin continues the riveting story begun in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Prize. A master…
- 5
American Kingpin
Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web
Nick Bilton · 2017
4.4155,362 ratings · Goodreads
Founder stories
About the book
From New York Times-bestselling author Nick Bilton comes a true-life thriller about the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the online black market Silk Road. In 2011, Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian idealist…
- 6
The Elon Musk Blog Series
Wait But Why
Tim Urban · 2016
4.701,837 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
In 2015, Elon Musk reached out to blogger Tim Urban and asked him if he'd take a crack at explaining Elon's endeavors, and the industries surrounding them, to the world. Tim accepted, and after extensive meetings with Elon and his staff, he wrote four blog…
- 7
Big Coal
The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future – The Deadly Environmental Costs of Our National Addiction
Jeff Goodell · 2006
3.98461 ratings · Goodreads
Climate and energyCompany building
About the book
As oil prices increase, Coal has effectively become the default fuel for electricity generation in the twenty-first century. Goodell debunks the faulty assumptions underlying coal's revival and shatters the myth of cheap coal energy. In the tradition of…
- 8
Elon Musk
Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Ashlee Vance · 2015
4.12456,221 ratings · Goodreads
Founder storiesCompany building
About the book
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in…
What founders at seed keep coming back to, if you have not read them yet.
- 1
Crossing the Chasm
Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
Geoffrey A. Moore · 2002
4.0332,109 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany buildingFirst sales
About the book
Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities…
- 2
Building A Story Brand
Donald Miller · 2017
4.2726,500 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses. Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven…
- 3
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Violate Them at Your Own Risk
Al Ries · 1993
4.0522,738 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growthCompany building
About the book
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout, the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning, note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if…
- 4
The First American
The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
H.W. Brands · 2000
4.1123,067 ratings · Goodreads
Marketing and growth
About the book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this “thorough biography of ... America’s first Renaissance man” ( The Washington Post ) by the two-time Pulitzer Prize…
- 5
- 6
Bad Blood
Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John Carreyrou · 2018
4.40285,283 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers. In…
- 7
Freakonomics
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt · 2005
4.01911,271 ratings · Goodreads
Company building
About the book
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?…
- 8
To Sell is Human
The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
Daniel H. Pink · 2012
3.8726,914 ratings · Goodreads
Company buildingFirst sales
About the book
From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes a surprising--and surprisingly useful--new book that explores the power of selling in our lives.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day…
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Which books we recommend never depends on it: they are chosen from their ratings and what they are about.
From the record
Written by the people who write the cheques
Books by investors and founders we hold records for. The author links to what they have done, not just what they wrote.
The Lean Startupby Eric Ries, Eric Ries2011 · 4.11★L
Lean Inby Sheryl Sandberg, Meta2013 · 3.94★T
The Hard Thing About Hard Thingsby Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz2014 · 4.19★D
Delivering Happinessby Tony Hsieh, Tony Hsieh2000 · 4.04★#
#Girlbossby Sophia Amoruso2014 · 3.64★T
The One Thingby Gary Keller, Pocketchange Investments2012 · 4.12★P
Principlesby Ray Dalio2017 · 4.09★Read what the people you are pitching read.
Every investor and founder on our records links to their books and the podcasts they are on.