What the founders of cryptocurrency start-ups read: 23 books that Coinbase CEO read over the past year

In early 2016, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong set a goal to read at least one book per month. Based on the information in his blog, he managed to fulfill and even exceed his “plan”, mainly listening to audio books during trainings and driving trips.

Below is a list of books read by Armstrong with his comments. Bold highlighted especially liked.

1. “Made to hold: why some ideas survive, others don't” (Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die).
   A book about how to make a message memorable so that it spreads quickly.
   
   
2. “First Player, Get Ready” (Ready Player One).
   A fascinating story about a possible development of virtual reality. People will spend more and more time in the metaverse (note: and will probably switch to e-currency).
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3. “Outsiders: eight unusual CEOs and their uncompromisingly rational recipe for success” (The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs).
   Stories about the eight CEOs and how they have reached the pinnacle of money management skills.
   
   
4. The Wright Brothers.
   Inspirational biography. It was very interesting to read about their perseverance, difficulties and readiness to withstand ridicule and disbelief - everything that the Wright brothers had to experience on the way to the invention of the airplane. I recommend to read to all creators.
   
   
5. “15 commitments of informed leadership” (The 15 Commitments Of Conscious Leadership).
   The book talks about an approach in which curiosity, the desire to learn and to be open replace the attitude towards condemnation, criticism and the desire to stay right at all costs. I find this book extremely useful.
   
   
6. “How to talk, so that children listen, and how to listen, so that children speak” (How to Talk).
   At first glance, this is a book about how to be a parent. But in essence she is about interactions with all people. This book is very useful, thanks to her, I revised my approaches to communication.
   
   
7. "High Performance Management" (High Output Management).
   Model book on management from Andrew Grove. Unexpectedly, I discovered that I have been using many ideas from the book for a long time (1: 1, OKR - goals and key results, etc.), and this in itself shows how much influence it has.
   
   
8. “The Economics of Microfinance (Partially)” (The Economics of Microfinance).
   Most of the book was read very hard. The book describes which methods work (and which do not) when you give small loans to people in developing countries.
   
   
9. Strengths Based Leadership.
   Find your strengths and focus on them. I did not find this book particularly useful.
   
   
10. "People are not needed" (Humans Need Not Apply).
    This book tells how artificial intelligence will take work away from people. These arguments do not seem convincing enough to me. This scenario is presented as a given, and then the possible consequences are discussed in a non-technical manner.
    
    
11. “The Pleasure of Discovery” (The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out).
    Collected stories of the physicist Richard Feynman. I really liked his book “You are joking, of course, Mr. Feynman!” (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!), I thought that I would like this one, but it cannot be compared with its predecessor.
    
    
12. "Alliance: Talent Management in the Networking Era" (The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age).
    How to hire and retain high-class workers. The main idea of ​​the book seemed to me quite useful. With its help, we changed the approaches to some things in Coinbase.
    
    
13. Learning To Love Yourself.
    A bit strange book. She suggests some interesting exercises (think about your own death, etc.), but in general I didn’t learn much from it.
    
    
14. “The One Minute Manager”.
    This book is a parable about management. It was interesting and easy to read, but I hardly remember most of the examples from the book, which speaks volumes.
    
    
15. "Expand your ship" (Turn The Ship Around).
    The book is about how to create the conditions for the emergence of leaders in your organization, written by a former captain of a nuclear submarine of the US Navy.
    
    
16. “Selfish Gene (Partially)” (The Selfish Gene).
    Richard Dawkins's popular book that our bodies are vehicles for the reproduction of genes (despite the fact that we often do not obey them). The reading was interesting, but it turned out that I had repeatedly come across many ideas from this book. Again, this indicates the level of influence on the masses.
    
    
17. “Four Obsessions of One Unusual Executive” (The Four Obsessions Of An Extraordinary Executive).
    Another book about team building, transparency in organizations, etc.
    
    
18. “Becoming Steve Jobs” (Becoming Steve Jobs).
    Biography of the well-known CEO of Apple. Last year I read a biography written by Walter Isaacson, but this one turned out to be a little better.
    
    
19. “Eisenhower to War and Peace (in part)” (Eisenhower in War and Peace).
    Biography of the general, who led the Allied forces during the Second World War (and perhaps saved the whole free world), who later became the president of the United States. The book is interesting, but too voluminous - I could not finish reading it to the end.
    
    
20. "Female Brain" (The Female Brain).
    This book was recommended to me by one female leader, who believes that all male CEOs should read it. Not a bad book.
    
    
21. Handbook of Aviation Terms for Pilots (The Pilot's Handbook Of Aeronautical Knowledge).
    I read it in preparation for obtaining a private pilot license.
    
    
22. "Lying" (Lying).
    How to live in uncompromising honesty.
    
    
23. “Footwear seller: memoirs of the founder and head of Nike, Phil Knight” (Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike).
    Memoirs of the founder and head of Nike, Phil Knight.
    

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/400563/