library
a curated reading list built over 200+ books across strategy, systems thinking, technical leadership, philosophy, and fiction.
books that changed how I operate
The Goal
Eliyahu Goldratt
Theory of Constraints. Find the bottleneck, exploit it, subordinate everything else.
High Output Management
Andy Grove
Output-oriented thinking, managerial leverage, focus on results not activity.
Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore
Market adoption isn't linear. Different buyers need different approaches.
systems & strategy
Thinking in Systems
Donella Meadows
System archetypes, leverage points, feedback loops. Read this back-to-back with The Goal.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy
Richard Rumelt
Vision ≠ strategy. Diagnosis → Guiding Policy → Coherent Action.
Technology Strategy Patterns
Eben Hewitt
Enterprise architecture patterns and technical portfolio management at CTO level.
The Strategy Paradox
Michael Raynor
Strategic commitment vs flexibility under uncertainty.
Antifragile
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Systems that gain from disorder.
Inadequate Equilibria
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Why institutions fail and when you can trust your own judgment over consensus.
Finite and Infinite Games
James Carse
The meta-framework underneath all strategy.
Only the Paranoid Survive
Andy Grove
Strategic inflection points and when everything changes.
Seeing Like a State
James Scott
Why top-down planning fails. Local knowledge vs imposed order.
Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton Christensen
Why incumbents lose to worse products.
CTO & technical leadership
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Martin Kleppmann
The technical depth book. Distributed systems, storage, processing.
Accelerate
Nicole Forsgren
Data-driven approach to high-performing engineering organizations.
Software Engineering at Google
Titus Winters
Engineering at scale — processes, tooling, culture.
Staff Engineer
Will Larson
Navigating the technical leadership track.
An Elegant Puzzle
Will Larson
Systems of engineering management. Best for small-to-mid teams.
The Art of Leadership
Michael Lopp
Executive-level leadership challenges.
The Art of Scalability
Martin Abbott & Michael Fisher
Organizational scaling and technical risk management.
The First 90 Days
Michael Watkins
Strategic onboarding for executive transitions.
Inspired
Marty Cagan
Product development from a strategic lens.
The Tech Executive Operating System
Aviv Ben-Yosef
Technical leadership at scale, investment prioritization.
leadership & execution
Scaling People
Claire Hughes Johnson
Operational excellence for growing teams.
The Making of a Manager
Julie Zhuo
Leading small technical teams.
Radical Candor
Kim Scott
Feedback culture without the politics.
The Manager's Path
Camille Fournier
Engineering management career progression.
Unreasonable Hospitality
Will Guidara
Building culture that people remember.
Obviously Awesome
April Dunford
Positioning done right.
business & startups
Zero to One
Peter Thiel
Contrarian thinking and monopoly strategy.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
No-bullshit founder reality.
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Build-measure-learn. The baseline.
The Outsiders
William Thorndike
Unconventional CEOs and capital allocation.
The Mom Test
Rob Fitzpatrick
How to talk to customers without lying to yourself.
Principles
Ray Dalio
Decision-making systems and radical transparency.
The Effective Executive
Peter Drucker
Time management and focus at the executive level.
philosophy
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The Stoic baseline.
Letters from a Stoic
Seneca
Discourses
Epictetus
The Elephant in the Brain
Robin Hanson & Kevin Simler
Hidden motives in everyday life.
Start With Why
Simon Sinek
fiction
Dune
Frank Herbert
prescience, political ecology, the danger of messianic leaders. the book that rewired how I think about systems and power. Dune 3 incoming.