Person
David Heinemeier Hansson's book recommendations
Across 4 podcasts. Every show David Heinemeier Hansson appears on, in one place — not just one.
David Heinemeier Hansson’s most recommended books
- Maverick by Ricardo Semler
- Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture by Martin Fowler
- Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns by Kent Beck
- The fourth turning by William Strauss
- Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
- Drive by Daniel H. Pink
- Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Goliath by Matt Stoller
- Jab, jab, jab, right hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish programmer, writer, entrepreneur, and racing driver. He is the creator of Ruby on Rails, a web framework written in Ruby, and a partner and chief technology officer at the web-based software development firm 37signals. Throughout various podcast appearances, he has discussed, referenced, and recommended several books that have shaped his thinking on technology, writing, and business management. For instance, he mentioned reading William Strauss and Neil Howe's The Fourth Turning to explore historical cycles and brought up David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs to highlight the prevalence of redundant office positions. When discussing unconventional workplace management and his own programming style, he enthusiastically recommended Ricardo Semler's Maverick and Kent Beck's Smalltalk Best Practices, citing the latter as a primary influence on his coding methods. Additionally, he highlighted Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture as an essential guide for anyone developing business systems. Alongside these external reads, Heinemeier Hansson reflected on his own written works, including Rework and Getting Real, discussing the editing processes behind them and noting the ongoing challenge of maintaining writing brevity in business communication.
Books recommended by David Heinemeier Hansson
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Rework
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a provocative and influential business manifesto that challenges traditional corporate wisdom, offering unconventional insights into productivity, remote work, and running a lean organization.
Discussed“In fact, when we wrote Rework, the initial manuscript that we submitted was, I think, 50,000 words.”
Where to get it
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Getting Real
Getting Real by 37 Signals, Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Matthew Linderman is a manifesto outlining a smarter, leaner approach to building software and running a business without unnecessary bloat.
Discussed“All the chapters in Getting Real, most of them are half a page. Some of them are three paragraphs.”
Where to get it
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Remote
Remote by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a foundational business guide that outlines how companies can successfully operate using distributed teams and remote work cultures.
Discussed“for example we wrote this book remote office not required in 2013 at that point we'd been working remotely Jason and I for 12 years 13 years and we thought like hey we're just stating the obvious”
Where to get it
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Maverick
Maverick by Ricardo Semler is a revolutionary business memoir detailing how the author transformed his family's traditional manufacturing company into a radically democratic workplace with employee self-management.
Recommended“One of the ones that I think maybe Jason has cited as well is Ricardo Semler who wrote a book called Maverick. I think it was published in the '90s.”
Where to get it
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Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture is a foundational software engineering text by Martin Fowler that outlines proven design solutions for complex business systems.
Recommended“One of the greatest books for anyone working on business systems. And if you had not read it, you must pick it up immediately. "Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture," I think it was published in 2001.”
Where to get it
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Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns
Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns by Kent Beck is a technical programming guide that codifies essential idioms, naming conventions, and structural patterns for writing clean and maintainable object-oriented code.
Recommended“My favorite book on the nitty-gritties of programming is a small book he wrote in the '90s called Smalltalk Best Practices.”
Where to get it
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The fourth turning
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe is a popular historical and sociological work that presents a cyclical theory of history based on recurring generational archetypes and eras lasting roughly eighty to one hundred years.
Recommended“- I read this book The Fourth Turning. You check that out. It talks about this notion of”
Where to get it
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Bullshit Jobs
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber is a sociological examination of the proliferation of pointless, high-prestige, and high-paying administrative positions in modern corporate and institutional environments.
Discussed“Um, David Graeber wrote this wonderful piece Bullshit Jobs, back in, I think it was maybe early 2010s.”
Where to get it
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Drive
Drive by Daniel H.
Discussed“there's been just a ton of research into this drive 2.0 was a Daniel Pink's book which outlines basically what motivates employees and you go they're motivated by mastery autonomy purpose”
Where to get it
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Extreme Programming Explained
Discussed“So Kent Beck is the author of Extreme Programming, one of the heretical software methodologies back in the '90s”
Where to get it
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Flow
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychological masterpiece that explores the state of optimal experience, immersion, and deep engagement where challenges perfectly match an individual's skill level, resulting in profound fulfillment and distorted perceptions of time.
Discussed“And I was really lucky to read the book "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi early on - Nice, the pronunciations, spot on. - You know what? I had to practice that with AI over the last few days because I knew I was gonna cite him and I butchered his name several times.”
Where to get it
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Goliath
Goliath by Matt Stoller is a detailed economic and political history that examines corporate monopoly power, antitrust laws, and the historical struggle between public welfare and concentrated wealth in the United States.
Discussed“I've been reading Maps dollars Goliath the book the details how the trust Buster's in the in the 20s and 30s took on JPMorgan and took on Standard Oil and all these other things”
Where to get it
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It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a practical manifesto advocating for calm, focused, and sustainable work environments.
Discussed“we wrote it it doesn't have to be crazy at work we wrote it all of this stuff resolve around writing”
Where to get it
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Jab, jab, jab, right hook
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk is a business and marketing guide that outlines modern social media strategies, emphasizing the importance of delivering consistent value before asking for a sale.
Discussed“And there's a great Gary V has this book Jab Jab Right Hook. Love the book.”
Where to get it
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Punished by Rewards
Discussed“there's another great book called punished by rewards by Alfie Cohen that outlines all the scientific research on why incentive systems don't work and the key reason is that they push out the intrinsic motivation”
Where to get it
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The Coddling of the American Mind
The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt investigates how modern safetyism, declining childhood resilience, and the rapid rise of social media are negatively impacting the mental health and emotional development of younger generations.
Discussed“it's no longer possible and I don't think we fully realized well some people have Jonathan height for example not only is the great scholar on moral philosophy but he also looks into this idea of independence with kids that why what the codling of the American mind covers this idea that kids have lost so much Independence”
Where to get it
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Winners Take All
Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas is a critical examination of elite philanthropy and how the world's wealthiest individuals attempt to solve systemic social issues through market-driven approaches that ultimately preserve the status quo.
Discussed“well and first of all also a lot of this is you go to philanthropy and winners take all is a great book and on another dress I'm trying to get a moment yes”
Where to get it
Books by David Heinemeier Hansson
Appearances
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“This is one of the big topics of "Rework." That it gave entrepreneurs the permission to embrace being a small team.”
“this is very human which perhaps is the argument for the Doomer side right like if it is so human isn't it going to defend or descend all into savagery at some point and whatever the Lord of the Flies”
“there's a great there's a guy on that helped write or help do the research for Thomas Piketty capital in 21st century called forget it was first name it's Guzman let's put it in the show notes”