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Every book Amjad Masad recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Amjad Masad has recommended or discussed 17 books on podcasts, as of September 23, 2026.
- Amjad Masad has talked about books on 6 podcasts, as of September 23, 2026.
- Those books came up in 8 episodes, as of September 23, 2026.
- The 3 books Amjad Masad has mentioned in the most episodes, as of September 23, 2026: The Emperor's New Mind, The Hard Thing About Hard Things and The Innovator's Dilemma.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Amjad Masad aired on September 23, 2026.
Updated
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Amjad Masad appears on, in one place — not just one.
Amjad Masad’s most recommended books
- The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
- The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson
- Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead
- Program Or be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff
- 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer
- Hard Drive by James Wallace
- How We Got Here by David Frum
- Infinite jest by David Foster Wallace
Amjad Masad discussed technology, startups, and science fiction across multiple podcast appearances. On My First Million, he recommended Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things as inspiration for sales-driven businesses, while also discussing Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers for its theory of business moats, Maria Konnikova's Mastermind regarding hacker Paul Le Roux, and James Wallace and Jim Erickson's biography Hard Drive. On The Tucker Carlson Show, Masad recommended Douglas Rushkoff's Program or Be Programmed to illustrate the risk of algorithms controlling individuals, and Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind to challenge the idea that the human mind operates like a computer. On the a16z Podcast, he brought up Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars to draw parallels between fictional societies governed by artificial general intelligence and modern debates about education, as well as James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg's The Sovereign Individual to discuss predictions about the future economy and the changing nation-state.
Books recommended by Amjad Masad
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The Emperor's New Mind
Roger Penrose's influential work explores the intersections of physics, consciousness, and the philosophy of mind, famously challenging the notion that human brains operate merely like computers.
Discussed“Like one of my favorite one is uh the uh Roger Penrose um Emperor's New Mind where he wrote a book about how everyone in the sort of philosophy of mind space uh and perhaps the larger scientific ecosystem start thinking about the brain in terms of a computer. And in that book he tried to show that it fundamentally”
Where to get it
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The Hard Thing About Hard Things
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz is a candid, highly practical guide to navigating the severe emotional and logistical challenges of running a startup when conventional rules do not apply.
Recommended“I think Ben Horowitz and like The Hard Things About Hard Things is it is it very good book and inspiration for especially like a more sales-driven business.”
Where to get it
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The Innovator's Dilemma
The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen is a foundational business and management book that examines why leading companies fail when confronted with disruptive technological change.
Discussed“So the terminology of sustaining versus disruptive comes from uh uh the innovator's dilemma. Uh and uh it's it's this idea that uh whenever there's a new technology trend, it sort of there's this idea of a power curve.”
Where to get it
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The Sovereign Individual
The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg is a visionary late-twentieth-century book that anticipates the decline of the nation-state and the rise of decentralized digital economies, remote work, and cryptocurrencies.
Discussed“I think the best prediction for where the world is headed and this is not a endorsement or necessarily like this is where I think the world's headed because I think part of it is uh will be slightly in uh instable unstable system but I think the sovereign individual continues to be I think a really good set of”
Where to get it
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Principia Mathematica
Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell is a massive, multi-volume foundational work in mathematical logic that famously attempted to prove the logical basis of mathematics, including taking hundreds of pages to formally demonstrate that one plus one equals two.
Discussed“So, you know, you go back, you know, Bertrand Russell wrote a book about history, philosophy and history of mathematics and like, you know, going back to the ancients and, Pythagoras and all these things.”
Where to get it
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Program Or be Programmed
Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff is a critical look at digital technology that argues individuals must understand how to code and control software or risk being manipulated by algorithms and digital platforms.
Recommended“There's a book by dog. Not Hofstadter, Rushkoff, Douglas Rushkoff. It's called Program or Be Programed.”
Where to get it
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7 Powers
7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer is an influential business strategy book that defines the core theoretical foundations of corporate moats and enduring competitive advantages.
Discussed“Hamilton Helmer wrote this book called the seven powers. And everyone Silicon Valley talks about moats. Seven powers is the theory of moats.”
Where to get it
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Hard Drive
Hard Drive by James Wallace and Jim Erickson is a biography detailing the early years of Microsoft and the relentless rise of Bill Gates.
Discussed“This is another really good old-school, very unknown uh biography, Hard Drive. It's like a '90s about Bill Gates.”
Where to get it
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How We Got Here
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich is a groundbreaking exploration of ancient human DNA, migration patterns, and population genetics that upends traditional ideas taught in grade school.
Discussed“David Reich wrote this book. It's called, I think, Who We Are, where We came from.”
Where to get it
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Infinite jest
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace is a sprawling, maximalist novel exploring addiction, entertainment, and modern American culture.
Discussed“David Foser Wallace um you know the guy from infinite just wrote a uh wrote a a essay on on TVs and you know he he he committed suicide before um before like you know the emergence of of mobile phones and things like uh but he was very preient on the impact of technology on on on society and”
Where to get it
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Make Something Wonderful
Make Something Wonderful by Steve Jobs is a compelling compilation of the iconic entrepreneur's own words, collected through speeches, emails, and personal writings.
Discussed“actually there's a line in the book that I found which I kind of went looking for which is initially they were having trouble explaining the value proposition behind the Apple too”
Where to get it
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Mastermind
Mastermind by Maria Konnikova explores the cognitive strategies of Sherlock Holmes to teach readers how to think more clearly, make better decisions, and sharpen their powers of observation.
Discussed“There's this uh story uh called the Mastermind about uh the this guy who I think grew up in uh Rhodesia and now it's in Zimbabwe and he was a hacker.”
Where to get it
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Starting strength
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is a comprehensive guide to barbell training and foundational weightlifting techniques designed to help individuals build raw strength.
Discussed“Mark repertoire he's um he wrote this book called Starting Strength and it became like the the main way most most guys at least my age like getting into uh powerlifting. It was about technique.”
Where to get it
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Superintelligence
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom is an influential examination of the potential paths, scenarios, and existential risks associated with the emergence of artificial superintelligence.
Discussed“So Elon. You know, famously read a lot of Nick Bostrom is, as I can have an adjacent figure to the rationality community.”
Where to get it
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The City and the Stars
Discussed“As we were talking, uh I I remembered this uh sci-fi story that I read once. Uh it's called The City and the Stars. And it's about this future city that's governed by AGI.”
Where to get it
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The Mindbody Prescription
The Mindbody Prescription by John E.
Discussed“Um are you familiar with the mind body prescription? No. John Sarno. Oh okay. Yes. I heard about him on Howard Stern because he was talking about how a lot of back pain is psychossematic.”
Where to get it
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Who We Are and How We Got Here
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich is a groundbreaking exploration of ancient human DNA, migration patterns, and population genetics that upends traditional ideas taught in grade school.
Discussed“David Reich wrote this book. It's called, I think, Who We Are, where We came from.”
Where to get it
Amjad Masad talked about Superintelligence, one of the books trending on podcasts right now.
Appearances
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“When I watched Pirates of Silicon Valley.”