Books both Patrick Collison and Sam Altman recommend

Patrick Collison's Bookshelf

Flagged green (particularly great); Deutsch's epistemology of progress is a direct intellectual ancestor of Progress Studies, which Collison co-founded with Tyler Cowen.

twitter.com

“[David Deutsch's] books have inspired me more than anyone else's, and i think hold a big clue about how we get from here to agi.”

December 2022 tweet from @sama. Altman has repeatedly named The Beginning of Infinity as his favorite book in interviews, most prominently in a 2025 conversation with Mathias Doepfner.

web.archive.org · 24 Good Books to Read Heres What Sam Altman of Y Combinator Is Reading

The page cites an archived Shelfie article listing Altman's bookshelf.

Patrick Collison's Bookshelf

Flagged blue on Collison's bookshelf — substantially above average.

goodreads.com

Listed in Altman's 2015 Twitter AMA recommendations for founders. The Xerox PARC story is a recurring reference point for him on building research labs that ship.

Patrick Collison's Bookshelf

Flagged blue on Collison's bookshelf — substantially above average.

twitter.com

“It really is great.”

The page cites a Sam Altman tweet about the book.

web.archive.org · 24 Good Books to Read Heres What Sam Altman of Y Combinator Is Reading

The page cites an archived Shelfie article listing Altman's bookshelf.

web.archive.org · 24 Good Books to Read Heres What Sam Altman of Y Combinator Is Reading

The page cites an archived Shelfie article listing Altman's bookshelf.

news.ycombinator.com

The page cites a Hacker News post where Altman recommended startup-founder reading.

web.archive.org · 24 Good Books to Read Heres What Sam Altman of Y Combinator Is Reading

The page cites an archived Shelfie article listing Altman's bookshelf.

twitter.com

“Re-reading this book. It's incredible.”

The page cites a Sam Altman tweet about the book.