Person
Every book Bryan Cantrill recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Bryan Cantrill has recommended or discussed 4 books on podcasts, as of December 17, 2025.
- Bryan Cantrill has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of December 17, 2025.
- Those books came up in 1 episode, as of December 17, 2025.
- The 3 books Bryan Cantrill has mentioned in the most episodes, as of December 17, 2025: Skunk Works, STEVE JOBS & THE NEXT BIG THING and The Soul of a New Machine.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Bryan Cantrill aired on December 17, 2025.
Updated
Bryan Cantrill is an American software engineer who worked at Sun Microsystems and later at Oracle Corporation following its acquisition of Sun. He left Oracle to become the Vice President of Engineering at Joyent, later transitioning to Chief Technology Officer until his departure, and is now the co-founder and CTO of Oxide Computer Company. During an appearance on The Pragmatic Engineer, Cantrill recommended The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, praising its writing and its account of the engineering work involved in building a computer at Data General. He also recommended Skunk Works by Ben Rich and Leo Janos as an influential history highlighting what engineers can accomplish when given ambitious tasks, and he suggested Steve Jobs & the Next Big Thing by Randall Stross for its nuanced view of Steve Jobs's years at NeXT, contrasting it with Walter Isaacson's biography.
Books recommended by Bryan Cantrill
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Skunk Works
Skunk Works by Leo Janos and Ben R.
Recommended“for me personally um very influential was skunk works by Ben Rich. So about the the the history of skunk works. Um Clarence Kelly Thompson was the with kind of the originator”
Where to get it
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STEVE JOBS & THE NEXT BIG THING
Steve Jobs & the Next Big Thing by Randall Stross is a detailed historical account examining Steve Jobs's lesser-known entrepreneurial venture following his initial departure from Apple.
Recommended“And then the uh the other one is Steve Jobs and the next big thing by Randall Straws. So um Steve Jobs is kind of like lionized by the industry but people forget about a very important chapter of his life namely next”
Where to get it
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The Soul of a New Machine
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder is a Pulitzer Prize-winning work of non-fiction that chronicles the intense engineering effort behind building a new computer at Data General in the late 1970s.
Recommended“first is Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kder. So this one won the Puliter Prize uh in 1980 or 1981, but about the the the building of a new computer at data general”
Where to get it
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Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is a comprehensive biography detailing the life, career, and intense leadership style of the Apple co-founder.
Critiqued“It is here to bury him. And it is very interesting about all the missteps at next and the thing that we cannot know because Jobs obviously died but I believe having read the book which gets basically next gets essentially no treatment in the Isixson biography.”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| The history of servers, the cloud, and what’s next – with Oxide | The Pragmatic Engineer | 2025-12-17 | 4 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I think it was in um the with the Rebel book um about Linux that remember him reading that he's like yeah I kind of like was shooting my mouth off”