Sam Altman
Entrepreneur, Executive, Investor
Samuel H. Altman is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer, and blogger. He is the CEO of OpenAI and the former president of Y Combinator.
Sam Altman's 62 Book Recommendations
- The legend of Henry Ford
- Pandaemonium 1660-1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers
- The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
- The Trial of Socrates
- The Kite Runner
- Zero to One
- The Death and Life of Great American Cities
- Hunger of Memory
- Man's Search For Meaning
- Skunk Works
- Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
- Fundamentals of Plasma Physics
- Plentiful Energy
- Call Me by Your Name
- Brave New World
- Anna Karenina
- A Life Decoded
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
- A Pattern Language
- The Constitutional Convention: “Sunday night reading”
- The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition: “I'm reading The Endurance and "by endurance we conquer" (Ernest Shackleton's family motto) struck me as a great piece of startup wisdom.”
- The Mind of Napoleon: “An incredible primary-source portrait on a brilliant (but obviously deeply flawed) individual. Broadly applicable thoughts.”
- The Supermen: “The last two books I read were Sapiens and The Supermen (given to be by @dang). Highly recommend both.”
- The Transit of Venus: “Re-reading this book tonight. It's incredible.”
- Guns, Sails and Empires: “i just read this on your recommendation. it was excellent!”
- Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: “weekend book recommendation: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro. stayed up last night finishing; really good”
- The Principia: “Sunday night reading”
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- The Old Way
- The Beginning of Infinity: “If I had to pick one favorite book, I would pick that. Even if you don't read the whole thing, the first like 40-50 pages are, I think, the most wonderfully optimistic take on why, even in a world with AI, we're never going to run out of things to do.”
- The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914: “This is a really good book, and has been on my mind watching the Ukraine situation develop”
- The Way to Love: “It's called 'The Way to Love' by Anthony DeMello... I recommend it a lot... I just finished it, and I really enjoyed it”
- Blitzed: “I just read Blitzed... It was really good.”
- The Fabric of Reality: “your books have inspired me more than anyone else's”
- The Art of War in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378-1515: “This is correct--art of war in the Middle Ages.”
- Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It: “It's a valuable resource for any founder who wants to work with VCs.”
- The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You: “Julie Zhuo gives new managers the tools they need to help their people and company win.”
- Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible: “profiles of the future or the beginning of infinity?”
- QED: “I just reread QED and had forgotten how interesting it is. It's a quick (but not easy) very fun read.”
- The Führer: Hitler's Rise to Power: “Rereading this...”
- Meditations: “great read (cc @naval)”
- Blitzscaling: “I got to read an early copy of this, and have been waiting for it to come out so that I can recommend it to everyone”
- Medieval Technology and Social Change: “@paulg it really is great.”
- Superintelligence: “Nick Bostrom's excellent book “Superintelligence” is the best thing I've seen on this topic. It is well worth a read.”
- 1984: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Einstein: His Life and Universe: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Emperor of the Air: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- The Palace Thief: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- The Crime of Reason: And the Closing of the Scientific Mind: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Ishmael: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Ulysses: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Pride and Prejudice: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- The Great Gatsby: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Powering the Future: How We Will (Eventually) Solve the Energy Crisis and Fuel the Civilization of Tomorrow: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- American Prometheus: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Foundation: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- The Fall: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Sapiens: “The last two books I read were Sapiens and The Supermen (given to be by @dang). Highly recommend both.”
- A Canticle for Leibowitz: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- The Age of Innocence: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- Brave New World Revisited: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”
- What Do You Care What Other People Think?: “bookshelf for @kyro! most books are science/tech but here is the section w/novels.”