Bookshelf

The Principles of Quantum Mechanics

P.A.M. Dirac

I keep coming back to this.

Optics

Eugene Hecht

If I need to re-derive something in Fourier optics or interferometry, this is a great resource.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Ben Horowitz

Read this during a rough stretch. Most startup books are about strategy; this one is about what happens when strategy fails.

Zero to One

Peter Thiel

Short and opinionated. The best part is the framing around secrets, what important truths do few people agree with you on.

The Innovator’s Dilemma

Clayton Christensen

Required reading if you want to understand why good companies lose to worse products.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn

Made me realize how much of what we call ‘normal science’ is puzzle-solving within assumptions nobody questions.

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas Hofstadter

Changed how I think about self-reference and formal systems. Dense and worth rereading.

The Emperor’s New Mind

Roger Penrose

Penrose arguing that consciousness is non-computable. I don’t fully agree, but the argument is worth wrestling with.

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering: Mastering Complexity

Sanjoy Mahajan

An incredible book on how to master complexity using insight rather than precision.

Order-of-Magnitude Physics: Understanding the World with Dimensional Analysis, Educated Guesswork, and White Lies

Peter Goldreich, Sanjoy Mahajan, Sterl Phinney

Same toolkit as The Art of Insight, rougher and older — worth it for the problem sets alone.

How to Solve it: a new aspect of mathematical method

Gyorgy Polya

A classic on problem-solving heuristics that changed the way I approach problems.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Richard Feynman

The reason I got into physics.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Richard Rhodes

The best science history book I’ve read. Shows how theoretical physics became the most consequential engineering project in history.

Elon Musk

Walter Isaacson

Complicated person, useful case study for thinking about deep-tech at scale.