Science fiction

Foundation

“Bezos has cited Asimov's Foundation series as one of the most influential works of his life. The idea of building something designed to last thousands of years — and of a small group of clear-eyed people shaping long arcs of history — maps directly onto his public statements about Amazon and Blue Origin.”Jeff Bezos

Dune

“Herbert's novel about resource control, imperial power, and ecological constraint has been cited by Andreessen as a study in how monopoly over a critical resource shapes politics across an entire civilisation. The spice-as-energy-source analogy maps cleanly onto his analysis of compute, semiconductors, and network effects.”Marc Andreessen

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

“a novel by Heinlein called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which featured an intelligent computer called Mike”Paul Graham

Hyperion

“Mentioned by Bezos in interviews on science fiction's role in long-term thinking. Dan Simmons's novel spans centuries and civilizations; Bezos has said sci-fi at this scale is useful for keeping perspective on what time horizons are actually available to ambitious people.”Jeff Bezos

Snow Crash

“Stephenson's 1992 novel coined 'metaverse' and depicted a fragmented, privatised future internet decades before the concept was plausible. Andreessen has cited it alongside Cryptonomicon as one of the books that made him believe software would restructure not just commerce but sovereignty itself.”Marc Andreessen

The Diamond Age

“I adore Diamond Age" — a favorite sci-fi pick he cites repeatedly.”Bill Gurley

Cryptonomicon

“Stephenson's 1999 novel about cryptography, World War II codebreaking, and a fictional digital currency appears repeatedly in Andreessen's recommendations. He has described it as the book that made cryptocurrency feel inevitable — a rare case where a novel functioned as both a technical and philosophical blueprint.”Marc Andreessen

The Three-Body Problem

“A recommended science-fiction favorite. A recurring recommendation from Sahil Bloom.”Sahil Bloom