History and philosophy of science

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

“Kuhn's account of how scientific paradigms shift—not through gradual accumulation but through crisis and replacement—informed Munger's skepticism about consensus views. He believed understanding how smart people stay wrong long past the evidence should have changed their minds was essential for any investor or thinker trying to avoid the same trap.”Charlie Munger

The Double Helix

“Watson's account of the race to crack DNA's structure is unsparing about the sociology of science — the competitiveness, the luck, the way credit gets allocated. Collison values it as an honest look at how major discoveries actually happen rather than how they are commemorated afterward.”Patrick Collison

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

“Rhodes's Pulitzer-winning account of the Manhattan Project shows how theoretical physics, industrial engineering, and wartime administration had to be integrated under extreme time pressure. Musk has pointed to it as a model for how a small team with clear goals can accomplish things governments and large institutions cannot.”Elon Musk

The Copernican Revolution

“Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution”Paul Graham

Consilience

“I was inspired by E. O. Wilson's book Consilience, which came out in 1998 and is a book I'd recommend.”Michael Mauboussin

But What If We're Wrong?

“Hard to read and not emerge humbled.”Marc Andreessen

The Extension of Man

“Bernal, The Extension of Man”Paul Graham

Chase, Chance, and Creativity

“wrote an outstanding book called Chase, Chance, and Creativity … It's the best book I've read on the role of luck, chance, and serendipity”Marc Andreessen

Genius

“James Gleick's biography of Richard Feynman. Collison is an admirer of Feynman's way of thinking, and this is the most complete account of where that style came from — the Rockaway childhood, the Los Alamos years, the Caltech decades. Better than Surely You're Joking for understanding the full arc.”Patrick Collison

“Richard Holmes's account of the Romantic-era scientific revolution — Banks, Davy, Herschel, Shelley — when science was still entangled with poetry and natural philosophy. Collison sees this as one of history's underappreciated acceleration episodes.”Patrick Collison