Recommendations you can check.
General partner at Andreessen Horowitz and author of The Cold Start Problem; previously led growth teams at Uber.
17 things
Chip WarBook Chris Miller
Great history of the semiconductor industry, starting in Silicon Valley and ending in Asia.
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
The Mirage FactoryBook Gary Krist
Nice history of Los Angeles starting from 100+ years back
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
Black WaveBook Kim Ghattas
This reframes a lot of the conflict over the past decades as a rivalry between Iran/KSA
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”. Read as part of a Middle East deep dive after visiting the region.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
OutliveBook Peter Attia
Sadly this book convinced me to start running again, and to begin amateurishly cycling when I have time.
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
SolarisBook Stanisław Lem
Classic scifi. Guy shows up on a research station above a planet with a strange (alive??) ocean
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
The Cold War: A New HistoryBook John Lewis Gaddis
Concise summary of the Cold War from the end of WW2 to the fall of the USSR.
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
SuperforecastingBook Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner
Lots of interesting learnings and relevant to those making startup investments also!
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
Venture Capitalists at WorkBook Tarang Shah and Sheetal Shah
I found this much more compelling than many of the other books I’ve read on VCs, which remain a bit too high-level and adulating.
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
ResetBook Ellen Pao
So much to learn from this experience.
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished. On Ellen Pao’s account of Kleiner Perkins and Reddit.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
The Ascent of MoneyBook Niall Ferguson
Traces the history of money, the role it’s served over time, and the development of some of the major aspects of our modern financial system.
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
SuperintelligenceBook Nick Bostrom
the back half I think it goes off the rails and makes a ton of assumptions
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”. He calls the first half “an interesting thought experiment and worth reading” but faults the second half.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
Tokyo ViceBook Jake Adelstein
it’s fun but I think a lot of it probably made up. Still fun.
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”. Read as part of a deep dive on Japan before his honeymoon.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
Elon MuskBook Ashlee Vance
The back half is kind of a hit piece on his Twitter acquisition in way way too much detail
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”. He says the first half is great and that “the real definitive biography is yet to be written”.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
The Opium WarBook Julia Lovell
I’ve started to do a China history deep dive and this was on the list
From the “Books and other stuff” section of his end-of-year post, introduced as “some of my favorite (mostly non-work) reads from the past year”. Listed with context rather than a verdict.
2024-01-03·andrewchen.com ↗
PrinciplesBook Ray Dalio
Reading this because everyone else is too :) Lots of insights/lessons from Ray Dalio
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
The One DeviceBook Brian Merchant
Didn’t read this yet, but I love these recent tech history books.
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished. Listed as unread at the time.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
Area XBook Jeff VanderMeer
Reading the book ahead of time, before I see the movie!
From the “Books I started reading in 2017” section of his end-of-year post; he notes he started more books than he finished. Picked up ahead of the Annihilation film.
2018-01-31·andrewchen.com ↗
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.