The consensus shelf

A book one founder loves is a taste signal; a book five founders love is the canon. These are the books two or more of the 37 founders actually read, ranked.

1
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business
Clayton M. Christensen
Most-read — read by Ben Horowitz, Jensen Huang, Marc Andreessen, Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, Brad Jacobs and Jeff Bezos
2
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
read by Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Ben Horowitz, David Senra and Marc Andreessen
3
High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
read by Brian Armstrong, Jensen Huang, Larry Ellison and Ben Horowitz
4
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
Andrew S. Grove
read by Ben Horowitz, Jensen Huang, Steve Jobs and Charlie Munger
5
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight
read by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and David Senra
6
The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg
read by Brian Armstrong, Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel
7
A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety
Jimmy Carter
read by Bill Gates and Richard Branson
8
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli
read by Brian Armstrong and Marc Andreessen
9
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson
read by Elon Musk and Charlie Munger
10
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
John Brooks
read by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
11
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
read by Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel
12
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
Jim Collins
read by Brian Armstrong and Jeff Bezos
13
Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony
Akio Morita with Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura
read by Akio Morita and David Senra
14
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
Charles T. Munger (ed. Peter D. Kaufman)
read by Warren Buffett and David Senra
15
Project Hail Mary: A Novel
Andy Weir
read by Bill Gates and Brian Armstrong
16
Sam Walton: Made in America: My Story
Sam Walton
read by David Senra and Jeff Bezos
17
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
read by Bill Gates and Jensen Huang
18
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
read by Richard Branson and Walt Disney
19
The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand
read by Larry Ellison and Mark Cuban
20
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Ben Horowitz
read by Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen
21
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
read by Elon Musk and Richard Branson
22
The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham
read by John Bogle and Warren Buffett
23
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
read by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel
24
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein
read by Elon Musk and Paul Graham
25
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
William N. Thorndike Jr.
read by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
26
The Rational Optimist
Matt Ridley
read by Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen
27
The Right Stuff
Tom Wolfe
read by Peter Thiel and Richard Branson
28
The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins
read by Charlie Munger and Paul Graham
29
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Ron Chernow
read by Charlie Munger and David Senra
30
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson
read by Richard Branson and Walt Disney
31
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
Shunryu Suzuki
read by Phil Knight and Steve Jobs