Books, essays, and podcasts that shaped how I think about building things. The best code builders are great readers and writers - I really believe that.
David Thomas & Andrew Hunt
This one's a classic for a reason. I read it early in my career and it stuck with me. The idea of being a "pragmatic" developer - not dogmatic about tools or methodologies, just focused on what works - that's how I try to operate. "Good enough" software that ships beats perfect software that doesn't.
Ryan Singer (Basecamp)
This changed how I think about product development. At Picap, we moved from Scrum to Shape Up and productivity went through the roof. The idea of "appetite" instead of estimates, and giving teams full ownership of shaped work - it just makes sense. Free to read online.
Martin Kleppmann
Dense but essential. When you're scaling a platform to millions of users like we did at Picap, you need to understand distributed systems, consistency models, replication. This book is the reference I keep coming back to. Not a quick read, but worth the investment.
Robert C. Martin
Uncle Bob's books. Some people find them preachy, but the core ideas are solid. Code should be readable. Functions should do one thing. Dependencies should point inward. These principles have saved me countless hours of debugging over the years.
Peter Thiel
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?" That question haunts me. The book argues for building something genuinely new instead of copying what exists. With Brainz Lab, I'm trying to build infrastructure that doesn't exist yet - AI-native observability. Zero to one, not one to n.
Eric Ries
Build, measure, learn. Minimum viable product. Validated learning. These concepts are so embedded in startup culture now that we forget someone had to articulate them first. The book is a bit dated but the core methodology still holds.
Ben Horowitz
No bullshit advice about the parts of building a company that no one wants to talk about. Layoffs, demotions, when things are falling apart. As someone who's led engineering teams through tough times, this book felt real. Not aspirational startup porn - actual hard-won wisdom.
Patrick Lencioni
A fable format that makes it easy to digest. Trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, results - the pyramid makes sense. I've used this framework to diagnose team issues at Picap. When something feels off, I go back to these five layers.
Simon Sinek
The biology of leadership - how oxytocin, cortisol, and our tribal instincts shape team dynamics. The core message: create safety for your team and they'll do extraordinary things. As a leader, you eat last. Simple but powerful.
Stephen Covey
A classic that lives up to the hype. "Begin with the end in mind" and "seek first to understand" are principles I come back to constantly. Dense with wisdom, worth re-reading every few years.
Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
Quick read, actionable advice. One minute goals, one minute praise, one minute redirects. Sometimes the simplest frameworks are the most useful.
Spencer Johnson
A tiny book about dealing with change. Read it in an hour, think about it for years. Change is inevitable - the question is whether you adapt quickly or get left behind.
Ethan Mollick
This is the most practical book on working with AI I've found. Ethan Mollick actually uses these tools and thinks deeply about what they mean for work, creativity, and learning. His substack is great too. If you're trying to figure out how to integrate AI into your workflow - not just hype, actual integration - start here.
Brian Christian
Understanding the challenges of AI alignment isn't just for researchers. If you're building products with AI - like I am - you need to understand what can go wrong and why. This book is accessible but doesn't dumb things down. Important reading for anyone in this space.
James Clear
Systems over goals. 1% better every day. The compound effect of small changes. I've used these principles for everything from coding habits to exercise. The book is perhaps overhyped, but the core framework is genuinely useful.
Tim Ferriss
Look, the title is clickbait and some of the advice is dated. But the underlying ideas - questioning assumptions about work, designing your lifestyle intentionally, automation and delegation - these planted seeds for how I think about my "one person + AI" experiment now.
Daniel Kahneman
Understanding how your brain actually works - the biases, the shortcuts, the two systems - makes you a better decision maker. Dense book, took me months to get through, but it fundamentally changed how I think about thinking.
Morgan Housel
Not about getting rich - about understanding your relationship with money. The difference between being rich and being wealthy. Why we make irrational financial decisions. Short chapters, each one hits.
Mark Manson
Counterintuitive life advice. Choose your struggles. Not everything matters equally. Sometimes you need someone to tell you to stop trying to be positive all the time and just deal with reality.
Matthew Walker
This book scared me into sleeping more. The science is clear - sleep deprivation destroys everything: memory, creativity, immune system, decision making. As a father and entrepreneur, sleep is the first thing to go. This book convinced me to protect it.
Dan Martell
The concept of "buyback rate" - calculating whether a task is worth your time vs hiring someone else to do it. As a solo founder with AI tools, this framework helps me decide what to delegate to AI vs what needs my attention.
Tiago Forte
Knowledge management for the digital age. How to capture, organize, and retrieve information. I don't follow the PARA system religiously, but the principles of offloading your brain to a system you trust are solid.
Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
From the creators of Google Ventures' design sprint. Simple tactics for protecting your time and attention. The "highlight" concept - choosing one thing each day that matters - has stuck with me.
Ali Abdaal
Productivity shouldn't feel like punishment. Ali's approach is about finding ways to enjoy the work, not just grinding through it. A nice counterbalance to hustle culture.
Rob Fitzpatrick
How to talk to customers without them lying to you. Essential for anyone building products. Your mom will tell you your idea is great - that's not validation. This book teaches you to ask the right questions.
Alex Hormozi
How to create offers so good people feel stupid saying no. Alex's framework for packaging value is eye-opening. Even if you never run a gym, the principles apply to any business.
Alex Hormozi
The follow-up to Offers, focused on getting attention and generating leads. Practical, tactical, no-BS. Alex gives away more than most people sell.
Noah Kagan
Stop overthinking and start doing. Noah's approach is refreshingly action-oriented. You don't need months of planning - you need to test your idea this weekend.
Josh Kaufman
Business school in a book. Covers all the fundamentals - marketing, sales, finance, systems - without the $100K tuition. Good reference to keep on the shelf.
Being a dad is the most important thing I do. These books have helped me be more intentional about it.
Simone Davies & Junnifa Uzodike
The Baby, Toddler, and Child books. Montessori isn't just about schools - it's a philosophy of respecting children's autonomy and following their natural development. These books are practical guides for applying those principles at home.
Philippa Perry
About breaking cycles. Understanding how your own upbringing affects your parenting. Uncomfortable in places, but important. The goal isn't to be perfect - it's to be aware.
Hunter Clarke-Fields
Mindful parenting for the reactive moments. When your toddler is melting down at 6am and you haven't had coffee yet - this book helps you respond instead of react.
Eve Rodsky
How to divide domestic labor fairly. Being a good partner is part of being a good parent. This book gives you a system for having those conversations.
The godfather of startup essays. "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" changed how I structure my days. "Do Things That Don't Scale" is essential reading for anyone building a startup. I revisit these regularly.
DHH and Jason Fried have been writing about building software and companies for decades. Opinionated, sometimes controversial, always thought-provoking. Their philosophy of small teams, profitability over growth, and shipping fast influenced how I think about building Brainz Lab.
My go-to dev podcast. Great interviews with people building interesting things in open source and software. I listen while doing chores or walking. It's how I stay connected to what's happening in the broader dev community.