OVERLAP · 7 SHARED BOOKs
Books both Elon Musk and Paul Graham recommend
Elon Musk and Paul Graham both positively recommend these books.
Shared positive books
7 BOOKs-
[001]
The Selfish Gene
Popular Science
Paul GrahamTweet from December 2020 simply naming 'The Selfish Gene' in answer to a question about what he was reading.
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[002]
Foundation
Sci-Fi
Elon MuskSource note
Frequently named as the single most influential book on his thinking about civilizational longevity.
Paul Graham“I wish I could get as excited about anything I read now as I used to get about science fiction novels when I was 15.”
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[003]
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Biography
Elon Musk“His non-physics books, like 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman' are great.”
Page cites a tweet by Elon Musk.
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[004]
The Lord of the Rings
Fantasy
Elon MuskSource note
Said in interviews he read it repeatedly as a child.
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[005]
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Sci-Fi
Paul Graham“What I was actually trying to do was teach myself how to do that. I happened upon a novel by Heinlein called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which featured an intelligent computer called Mike.”
From his essay 'What I Worked On' — Heinlein's Mike is what pointed him at AI and, by way of that, at Lisp.
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[007]
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Biography
Elon Musk“[Benjamin Franklin] was an entrepreneur. He started from nothing.”
Page cites a YouTube video where Elon Musk discusses the book.