Marc Andreessen’s 2007 Reading List

This idea comes from a wonderful book called A Perfect Mess, which explains how not keeping a schedule has been key to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s success as a movie star, politician, and businessman over the last 20 years.

To read about this new strategy—and it is a fascinating strategy—pick up a copy of David Swensen’s excellent book Pioneering Portfolio Management, which describes his approach in detail.

Stop reading this blog right now. Go get it. Read it, and then come back. I’ll wait. It’s that good.

First, if you haven’t had the pleasure, be sure to read True Names, Vinge’s 1981 novella that forecast the modern Internet with shocking clarity.

Accelerando is the best envisioning of the Singularity committed to paper so far.

Thirteen is undoubtedly Morgan’s best-written novel so far—this is an author whose skills are growing rapidly, and this book shows it.

Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap—together, Reynolds’ flagship trilogy—are three of the darkest, largest-scale, and most scientifically complex hard science fiction novels ever written. Highly recommended to anyone who thinks that sounds like a good idea (I did!).

Altered Carbon is definitely the place to start, Morgan’s first and perhaps most inventive novel, Robert Heinlein meets Raymond Chandler—and first of a trio.

Start with Old Man’s War (don’t worry, they put the old dude in a young body, so you don’t need to find out what it’s like to fight aliens after hip replacement surgery).

Buy it, read it, keep it under your pillow and absorb it via osmosis.

However, I’ve recently been reading Randall Stross’s marvelous book about Thomas Edison, The Wizard of Menlo Park.

It’s the best book I’ve read on the role of luck, chance, and serendipity in medical research—or, for that matter, any creative endeavor.

To quote Aaron Brown—a legendary Morgan Stanley derivatives trader and poker expert—from his extraordinary book The Poker Face of Wall Street, when talking about hiring traders at an investment bank: