Brian Armstrong

Billionaire, Entrepreneur, Executive, Investor

Brian Armstrong is an American entrepreneur who co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase with Fred Ehrsam in 2012, after working as a software engineer at Airbnb, and became its first CEO. He also founded the science-publishing site ResearchHub and co-founded the longevity company NewLimit.

Brian Armstrong's 48 Book Recommendations

• Strengths Based Leadership
• The New One Minute Manager
• The Economics of Microfinance, second edition
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
• Humans Need Not Apply
• Eisenhower in War and Peace
• Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (Federal Aviation Administration)
• Turn the Ship Around!: “A book about enabling leaders in your organization written by the former U.S. Navy Captain of a nuclear submarine.”
• The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: “Another book about building teams, creating clarity in organizations, etc.”
• The Female Brain: “This book was recommended to me by a female executive who suggested all male CEOs read it. It was quite good.”
• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: “This book discusses a way of approaching work where you are curious, eager to learn, and open, instead of focusing on blame, criticism, and commitment to being right. I found it to be quite helpful.”
• Made to Stick: “How to make your message memorable so it will spread.”
• Ready Player One: “A compelling picture of how VR might play out. People will spend more and more time in the meta-verse (side note: and likely end up using digital currency).”
• Sperm Wars: “Many human behaviors and feelings can be explained by evolutionary psychology. We are vehicles for our genes to survive and replicate, with a really cool neocortex bolted on top that sometimes defies those genes.”
• The Psychology of Achievement: “You can create any life you want, and are not at the effect of your circumstances.”
• When I Say No, I Feel Guilty: “Life is better when you only agree do the things you really want to do.”
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: “Most brands try to do and be too much, but the customer can only remember you for one thing. Each brand should do one thing, and be the best in that category.”
• Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: “A framework to simulate how customers experience your product, especially the moments of confusion.”
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: “A way to have a happy life. Remain curious and enjoy the journey.”
• Loonshots: “Enjoyed reading Loonshots”
• The Wright Brothers: “An inspiring biography. It was incredible to hear about the determination, constraints, willingness to endure ridicule, disbelief, etc that the two brothers endured on their journey to invent the airplane. A worthwhile read for all builders.”
• The Selfish Gene: “Richard Dawkin’s famous book about how our bodies are vehicles to replicate our genes (even though we occasionally defy them). It was interesting but I found I had already heard many of the ideas in this book, which (again) speaks to how influential it is.”
• The Alliance: “How to hire and retain great employees. I found the central concept to be pretty helpful, and it changed how we approach a few things at Coinbase.”
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk: “Ostensibly, a book about parenting. But it is really about how to communicate with all people. I found this book quite helpful and it changed how I communicate.”
• High Output Management: “Andy Grove’s classic book on management. Surprisingly, I found I was already using many of the management ideas in this book (1:1, OKRs, etc) which is a testament to just how influential this book is.”
• Shoe Dog: “Memoir by the Nike founder and CEO, Phil Knight.”
• Becoming Steve Jobs: “A biography of the famous Apple CEO. I read the Walter Isaacson biography last year, but found this one slightly better.”
• The Dip: “Disproportionate success comes to the top 1% of people in any field, but getting there takes 10+ years... This book made me move to Silicon Valley and double down on being a tech entrepreneur. I sometimes recommend it to people who are trying to decide what to do with their life.”
• The God Delusion: “Many people believe simply based on how they grew up, without ever questioning.”
• Atlas Shrugged: “Celebrate the creators in the world (even when they struggle). They may be more valuable than we think.”
• Good to Great: “The scientific method can be applied to business. This book draws powerful lessons from data.”
• The Singularity Is Near: “Change is accelerating, humans are bad at predicting it, and A.I. will likely transform the world by the late 2030’s. Many major problems, like education and disease, will be totally transformed by this in our lifetimes.”
• Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age: “Paul Graham’s writing: Probably the greatest number of insights per paragraph on this list, and a master of metaphors... See Hackers and Painters for a printed version of some of his essays.”
• The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success: “The Outsiders: Stories about eight CEOs and how they mastered capital allocation.”
• Work Rules!: “Many of these ideas come from Laszlo Bock’s book, Work Rules (Laszlo was the former head of HR at Google) and the Netflix culture deck. I’d recommend reading both.”
• A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution: “I recommend reading Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg’s book, A Crack In Creation, for a great overview of this topic.”
• Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: “Really enjoyed reading Ray Dalio's recent book, The Changing World Order”
• From Third World to First: “From Third World to First by Lee Kuan Yu (founder of Singapore) - talks about building a new country, worth reading for understanding nation-building.”
• The Master Switch: “I do agree that all networks tend toward centralization over time. Great book on this”
• Read Write Own: “Enjoyed reading @cdixon 's new book Read Write Own. Suggest you pick up a copy!”
• Project Hail Mary: “Best sci fi book i've read in a long long time. Has lots of real science/engineering in it. Incredible read.”
• Working Backwards: “Enjoyed this book, worth reading! Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon”
• How Innovation Works: “Really enjoyed reading this new book from Matt Ridley. How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom”
• The Sovereign Individual: “Took a fresh read of Sovereign Individual - was really ahead of it's time, a lot of original thinking (some really out there stuff too)”
• The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building: “Excited to see Matt Mochary's book finally come out: I've really enjoyed working with Matt, and have referred a number of people on my team (and other entrepreneurs) to this content as a concise summary of how to build a well run organization.”
• What You Do Is Who You Are: “I read an early copy of @bhorowitz's new book about company cultures, and thought it was great! Check it out”
• The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity: “The vast majority of products in the world cause frustration, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Products fail by trying to be all things to all people.”
• Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company: “I recently finished reading Bill and Dave, a biography about the founders of HP, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. I’d like to share some of the lessons learned from it that resonated with me... The book is worth checking out.”