Technology shapes the modern world, from how we communicate to the devices we use every day. For anyone fascinated by tech and innovation, books provide an enlightening window into this fast-changing sector.
The best technology books profile the companies and leaders driving progress, unpack complex subjects, uncover little-known histories, and extract powerful lessons. They open our eyes to what drives innovation, why some technologies triumph while others fade away, and where things might be headed next.
After extensive analysis, here are my picks for the 10 best books about technology:
1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Published: 2011
Author: Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson‘s sweeping biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs unveils one of history‘s greatest innovators and business leaders. Compiled from over 40 interviews with Jobs himself and conversations with more than 100 friends, colleagues and family members, it reveals his relentless perfectionism and obsession with simplicity that fueled Apple‘s groundbreaking designs. This compelling page-turner has become a staple of any technology reading list.
What you‘ll learn: What drove Steve Jobs’ uncompromising vision and how he resurrected Apple to become history’s most valuable company
Best for: Anyone seeking inspiration from one of tech’s luminaries
2. How Google Works by Eric Schmidt
Published: 2014
Authors: Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg
Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg created an insider‘s guide to innovation based on their experience scaling Google into a global technology powerhouse. From hiring "smart creatives" to managing superfast growth, they reveal the principles and best practices that built one of the world‘s most influential companies. It provides a masterclass in technology leadership that aspiring founders should not miss.
What you’ll learn: Google’s approach to innovation, hiring, strategy, and problem-solving to drive relentless improvement
Best for: Founders, managers, anyone interested in Google or Silicon Valley culture
3. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Published: 2014
Author: Peter Thiel
Billionaire PayPal founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel delivers a crash course on how to build successful technology startups. He provides paradigm-shifting advice on product development, company culture, strategy and more that helped his startup reach a billion-dollar valuation. Required reading for every aspiring founder.
What you’ll learn: How to develop creative ideas and bring innovative products to market
Best for: Entrepreneurs and product managers
4. Console Wars by Blake Harris
Published: 2014
Author: Blake Harris
Console Wars recounts the epic 1980s rivalry between Sega and Nintendo to dominate the video game industry through the eyes of Sega‘s leaders. This highly entertaining history shows how scrappy underdog Sega took on mighty Nintendo before internal dysfunction undermined its success. Business readers will relish the compelling tale of competition, leadership and missed opportunities.
What you‘ll learn: The challenges and missteps Sega faced battling Nintendo
Best for: Gamers, managers and business readers
5. The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
Published: 2014
Author: Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson’s fascinating The Innovators tells the sweeping history of the digital revolution through the people that made it possible. Spanning computing pioneers like Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing through to Silicon Valley legends, it profiles the minds that created the technologies now essential to everyday life. Both informative and inspiring.
What you’ll learn: The incremental breakthroughs and flashes of genius powering the computer and Internet age
Best for: Anyone wanting to understand technology’s evolution and the visionaries behind it
6. The Master Switch by Tim Wu
Published: 2010
Author: Tim Wu
In The Master Switch, Internet scholar Tim Wu presents a compelling history of American information technologies going back to the late 19th century. He argues the openness that allowed these technologies to flourish is recurrently threatened by industries closing networks to competition. This thought-provoking read offers vital lessons about innovation, markets and regulation needed now more than ever.
What you’ll learn: Why the Internet’s openness is so fragile and how past technologies succumbed to become closed monopolies
Best for: Technologists, historians, policy makers, regulators
7. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
Published: 2015
Author: Ashlee Vance
Ashlee Vance captures a rare glimpse inside legendary entrepreneur Elon Musk and his companies Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity that are transforming transportation technology. Written with unprecedented access to Musk, his family and colleagues, it paints a vivid portrait of the most daring CEO of our time and offers for any leader lessons in relentless ambition and drive.
What you’ll learn: The risks Elon Musk took to launch Tesla, SolarCity and SpaceX to revolutionize cars, solar and space exploration
Best for: Aspiring founders and anyone intrigued by Musk
8. Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
Published: 2009
Authors: Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
Nudge highlights how small changes to how choices are presented can influence behavior for the better. From retirement savings to healthier eating, altering the environment we make decisions in via “choice architecture” often leads to improved outcomes. Technology designers seeking ethical ways to influence user behavior should find it essential reading.
What you’ll learn: How to ethically “nudge” people towards wiser choices
Best for: Product designers, policy makers, business leaders
9. Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
Published: 2016
Authors: Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
Algorithms now guide many aspects of everyday life, but how good are they really? Algorithms to Live By explores the computer science behind many common algorithms we rely on to highlight their flaws and weaknesses. The authors reveal the tradeoffs made optimizing code for speed over accuracy holds surprisingly relevant lessons for questions we face in life around balancing optimality and efficiency. A paradigm-changing read for understanding the algorithms permeating modern existence.
What you’ll learn: How computer algorithms make tradeoffs between accuracy, speed, memory and more to effectively function (and where they fall disastrously short)
Best for: Anyone wanting to better understand the algorithms impacting their life
10. The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick
Published: 2010
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Written with unprecedented access and cooperation from Facebook personnel, journalist David Kirkpatrick tells the captivating story of the social network’s meteoric rise to global ubiquity. From Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard origins through major crises and decisions, it insightfully chronicles key moments of leadership and innovation that grew Facebook’s empire in a breakneck 15 years.
What you’ll learn: How Facebook took over the world through critical technical breakthroughs, calculated strategic maneuvers and relationships among its trailblazing team
Best for: Social media network founders and executives
These 10 books deliver penetrating insight into the companies, people, breakthroughs and challenges that collectively shaped technology as we know it. For anyone passionate about computers, innovation and human progress, they supply an invaluable education that is impossible to find elsewhere on what drives change and progress.
The most powerful lessons they teach though extend far beyond silicon computers and touchscreen interfaces. Ambition. Vision. Relentless determination. Openness to new approaches. Willingness to take risks and confront critics. An understanding of human needs and behavior. An eye on the future instead of the present. These timeless qualities emerge repeatedly across these stories of people that fundamentally transformed the realm of what’s possible with technology.
