Lifemaxxing

Books that a16z's founders, OpenAI's CEO, LinkedIn's co-founder and Y Combinator's co-founder have told people to read, with their own words wherever they gave them. It starts with practical startup and management books and moves into the history and ideas these investors keep coming back to. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Not Buffett or Munger this time. These are the books other great investors keep recommending, from Seth Klarman's and Bill Ackman's value investing classics to Ray Dalio's history picks. When several investors named the same book, they are listed together. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Startup books grouped by the stage where they help most: testing an idea, building and selling, hiring, and scaling. Each one was recommended by a named founder or venture investor, and every note links to where they said it. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

The books that shaped Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Brian Chesky, Patrick Collison and Jensen Huang, from Zen and Shakespeare to Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. Each note says who recommended it and links to where. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

A starter shelf for new investors, grouped by approach: index funds, personal finance, value investing and market psychology. Every book was recommended by a well-known investor, and each note says who and where. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

The books Shopify founder Tobi Lütke has named in interviews with Tim Ferriss and Tyler Cowen, on Shopify's own reading list, and in his posts, from the first business books he read to the sci-fi he loves. Each pick links to its source. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

The books Jeff Bezos has named himself, the ones he assigned to Amazon's senior team, and the titles biographer Brad Stone found on the shelf behind Amazon's culture. Each pick links to the source.

Bill Gates reviews books on Gates Notes, and these are the ones he praised most: his best business book ever, his favorite book of all time, and the novel he gave to about 50 friends. Each pick comes from something he said or wrote.

Every book here is one Elon Musk has recommended or credited in an interview, a tweet or a talk, with the source linked. It runs from the science fiction he grew up on, to the engineering books he used to teach himself rocketry, to the AI books he keeps telling people to read.

Every book here is one Warren Buffett has personally recommended, in his Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters, at annual meetings, or in interviews. No made-up “billionaire reading lists”, just the books he actually told people to read. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's longtime partner at Berkshire Hathaway, spent decades telling shareholders which books to read. Every pick here comes from his own remarks at Berkshire, Wesco or Daily Journal meetings, or from the recommended reading list in Poor Charlie's Almanack, grouped by the subjects he kept coming back to.

These are Warren Buffett recommendations that rarely make the usual lists: books he named in his Berkshire shareholder letters, wrote forewords for, or praised from friends and family. For his best-known investing picks, see my separate list of 18 books Warren Buffett swears by.

Naval Ravikant and Peter Thiel are two of the most quoted contrarian thinkers in tech, and these are the books they have publicly recommended. Expect big ideas about progress, power, philosophy and the future rather than business how-to. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Half marathon shoes picked from 2026 lab and wear testing by RunRepeat and Runner's World, sorted by your goal: finishing your first 13.1 comfortably, running fast without a plate, or chasing a PR. Each note says which tester rated it and why. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Marathon shoes picked from 2026 testing by RunRepeat's lab and Runner's World, grouped by goal: getting through your first 26.2 in comfort, a forgiving plated shoe, or an all-out PR racer. Each note names the tester and why they rated it. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

First running shoes picked from Runner's World's beginner testing and RunRepeat's 2026 budget lab tests. Start with comfort, then pick by what matters to you: support, bad knees, wide feet or price. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Graphics cards for running open models like Qwen, Llama and gpt-oss at home, grouped by the biggest model each one can hold. VRAM decides what fits; bandwidth decides how fast it runs. Every note cites a named benchmark (Hardware Corner, Puget Systems, LMSYS, community llama.cpp results), not personal testing. Want a Mac or mini PC instead? See my mini PC list. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

The screens, input gear and hardware that make long sessions with Cursor, Claude Code and an AI chat window easier on your eyes, wrists and focus. Every pick comes from 2025-26 testing by Wirecutter, RTINGS, Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide or StorageReview. I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.