These must-read Silicon Valley books include memoirs and biographies, fiction and nonfiction about Silicon Valley, home to countless high-tech startups and industry giants, including Google, Apple, Facebook and many others. From unicorn startups and multi-million dollar internet companies to unbelievable Silicon Valley scams, learn about the entrepreneurs behind the tech boom and spend some time in the San Francisco Bay Area with these Silicon Valley books.
1. little fry by lisa brennan-jobs
“born on a farm and named in a field by her parents, artist chrisann brennan and steve jobs, lisa brennan-jobs’s childhood took place in a rapidly changing silicon valley. When she was young, Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her and introduced her to a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. her attention was exciting, but she could also be cold, judgmental, and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother became strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping that she would become the father she had always wanted her to be. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the 1970s and 1980s, Small Fry is a poignant coming-of-age story from one of our most exciting new literary voices.”
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2. broadband by claire l. evans
“In a world where tech companies are still male-dominated and women are often deterred from strong careers, broadband sheds much-needed light on the brilliant minds history forgot, from pioneering poets to databases, data experts, and hypertext dreamers to dot-com era entrepreneurs breaking glass ceilings.”
3. commissioned by riko radojcic
“Professor Andrija Krstic is a brilliant man who is engaged in cutting-edge research in semiconductor technology. But when he is presented with the opportunity to fund a high-tech AI startup, he accepts the opportunity despite the seed money being offered by a strange and somewhat shady Armenian oligarch. Krstic finds himself trying to balance two disparate worlds: that of a Silicon Valley high-tech startup racing into the technological future of the 21st century, and that of grim wealth rooted in the collapsing Soviet empire. The professor knows that he must do the right thing while he defends himself from the pressure of the Armenian oligarch who has probably told him too much.”
4. bad blood of john carreyrou
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“in 2014, theranos founder and CEO elizabeth holmes was widely seen as the next steve jobs: a brilliant stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with its groundbreaking device, which did everything the range of laboratory tests from a single drop of blood. Backed by investors including Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’ value at an estimated $4.5 billion. there was only one problem: the technology was not working. erroneous results endanger patients, leading to misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. Meanwhile, Holmes and her partner, Sunny Balwani, worked to silence anyone who voiced her doubts, from journalists to their own employees.”
5. elon musk by ashlee vance
“in the spirit of steve jobs and moneyball, elon musk is an illuminating and authoritative look at the extraordinary life of one of silicon valley’s most exciting, unpredictable and ambitious entrepreneurs, a real-life tony stark, and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new ‘creators’”.
6. after on: a silicon valley novel by rob reid
“the definitive novel of today’s silicon valley, post-flash-captures our cultural and technological moment with instantly updated insights. issues of privacy and government intrusion, post-tinder romance, nihilistic terrorism, machine consciousness, synthetic biology, and much more are tackled with authority and unabashed fun by new york times bestselling author rob reid.”
7. steve jobs by walter isaacson
“based on more than forty interviews with steve jobs conducted over two years, as well as interviews with more than 100 family, friends, adversaries, competitors and colleagues, walter isaacson has written a fascinating history of the roller coaster. the fiery, intense life and personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and fierce drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated films, music, phones, tablets, and digital publishing. Isaacson’s portrait moved millions of readers.”
8. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Chance Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio García Martínez
“Imagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a data center that powers everything from google to facebook. infrastructure engineers use a software version of this “chaos monkey” to test the robustness of online services: their ability to survive random failures and fix errors before they actually occur. tech entrepreneurs are the chaos monkeys of society. One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious Chaos Monkeys is Antonio García Martínez.
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“after stints on wall street and as CEO of his own startup, garcía martinez joined the nascent facebook advertising team. Forced to leave in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed on rival Twitter. In Chaos Monkeys, this playful opposite reveals the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how he is invading our lives and shaping our future.”
9. Sophia of Silicon Valley: A Novel by Anna Yen
“During the heady years of the tech boom, incorrigibly outspoken sophia young finds her luck in a job that puts her squarely in the path of scott kraft, the eccentric CEO of treehouse, a studio whose animated films are transforming movies for forever. Overnight, Sofia becomes an unlikely nerdy whisperer. Whether her success is due to luck, savage assertiveness, perceptive finesse (learned while dealing with her irrational Chinese immigrant mother), or a combination of all three, in her rarefied position she discovers that she can truly shine. .
“as scott kraft’s right-hand woman, intelligent sophia is in the eye of the storm, sometimes reeling, sometimes nearly losing relationships and her health, but finally learning what it means to take charge of her own future of the way the men around him do. But when engineer/inventor Andre Stark hires her to run his company’s investor relations, Sophia discovers that the big salary and high-end career she’s created for herself may not be worth living in the toxic environment of a boys’ club gone wrong.” /p>
10. what’s new new: a silicon valley story by michael lewis
“in the strange glow of the last millennium, michael lewis embarked on a safari through silicon valley to find the world’s foremost tech entrepreneur. He found this in Jim Clark, a man whose accomplishments include founding three separate billion-dollar companies. Lewis also found much more, and the result, the best-selling book, the new and the new, is an ingeniously conceived history of the Internet revolution.”
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