James Murphy's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Eric Ries

4.3

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned profes

Recommended by Sheryl Sandberg, Andrew Chen, Ben Horowitz, and 75 others.

James Murphy

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries because it taught me how and why many businesses fail early on. Also, many of the principles found within the book can be found and applied outside of actual startup companies. [source]

Sheryl Sandberg

COO/Facebook

Provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. [source]

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Great. [source]

2

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Austin Kleon

4.3

Preview Summary

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Seth Godin, Andra Zaharia, and 8 others.

James Murphy

By FAR the book that had the biggest impact on me from the recommended reading was Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. The reason this book is so important to me is because it details something I have talked circles around for years which is the concept that nobody’s work is ever completely original. In some way, shape, or form we are always building on something that came before...and that is a good thing! Of course the book does not at all recommend any type of plagiarism but it talks about how creative work is everywhere around us and we need to notice it. Taking inspiration from what is around us and already out in the world can only help in furthering our own endeavors. The entire world is open source. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates the essence of writing and creating art better than anyone else I can think of. It is a manifesto for any young, creative person looking to make his mark. Pair up with Show Your Work which is also excellent. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff. [source]

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3

Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn

Anne Janzer

4.0

Subscriptions are shifting revenues and reshaping markets, and changing our expectations for how we buy things. Have you changed your marketing practices to thrive in this new reality?

Subscription Marketing offers creative marketing strategies for sustaining the customer relationships that build long-term success. This book is a practical guide for marketers, start-up executives, customer success

Recommended by James Murphy.

James Murphy

I am also reading Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn by Anne Janzer. With the success of many SaaS based companies I think it’s very important for marketers of all industries to understand the strategies behind not only acquiring new subscription customers but keeping your currently subscribed customers happy. In reading this book, I hope to gain insight on how the subscription based model can segue into markets which may not currently consider it an option. [source]

4

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

4.5

Preview Summary

Man's Search for Meaning has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 psychiatrist Viktor Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the stories of his many patients, Frankl argues that we can

Recommended by Tony Robbins, Dustin Moskovitz, Ev Williams, and 60 others.

James Murphy

Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl because it helped me understand the concept of “suffering” on a much deeper level. More importantly, it led me to accept that how I respond to and deal with negative situations is completely in my control. [source]

Tony Robbins

Life Coach

Another book that I’ve read dozens of times. It taught me that if you change the meaning, you change everything. Meaning equals emotion, and emotion equals life. [source]

Dustin Moskovitz

Co-founder/Facebook and Asana

Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

5

Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out

Bill Graham, Robert Greenfield

4.5

Gritty, moving, funny, and always fascinating, Bill Graham Presents is the inside story of the explosive and unforgettable man who created the business of rock.

As a child, Bill Graham fled Europe to escape Hitler's armies. He grew up on the streets of New York and in the dining rooms of the hotels in the Catskills. After failing as an actor, he headed for San Francisco right before the Summer of L

Recommended by James Murphy.

James Murphy

Bill Graham Presents My Life Inside Rock and Out because I think it’s very important for young people to understand the history of the concert business before trying to jump into it. You need to have a clear understanding of where it’s been to know where it’s going and how you can help take it there. [source]

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6

Options Volatility Trading: Strategies for Profiting from Market Swings

WARNER

3.8

How to collect big profits from a volatile options market

Over the past decade, the concept of volatility has drawn attention from traders in all markets across the globe. Unfortunately, this scrutiny has also created a proliferation of myths about what volatility means and how it works.

Options Volatility Trading deconstructs some of the common misunderstandings about volatility trading and shows y

Recommended by James Murphy.

James Murphy

Options Volatility Trading by Adam Warner also had a major impact on me because I have always been into investing and until this book I never quite understood the specific strategies behind making money when the market goes up OR down. I was familiar with short selling but wanted to explore option contracts so right after college a good friend gave me this book. I read it immediately and began putting what I learned into practice. [source]

Cover unavailable

7

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches

Dave Ramsey

4.5

From New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated talk radio host Dave Ramsey comes the secret to how he grew a multimillion dollar company from a card table in his living room.

Your company is only as strong as your leaders. These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or ma

Recommended by Andrew Youderian and James Murphy.

James Murphy

Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership book has had a huge impact on me because after reading it there was no excuse to not be a great leader. This book spells it out for the reader and I love the concise message it delivers. It has not changed my career path per se but it really opened my eyes as to what it takes to build and strengthen a great team. [source]

Andrew Youderian

When I was early on in managing my first full-time employee I read EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey. It's a book about how to be a good, empathetic manager. I was struggling to think through how to structure a compensation package for my new team member and that book helped a lot. [source]

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8

No One Here Gets Out Alive

Jerry Hopkins, Danny Sugerman

4.3

Here is Jim Morrison in all his complexity-singer, philosopher, poet, delinquent-the brilliant, charismatic, and obsessed seeker who rejected authority in any form, the explorer who probed "the bounds of reality to see what would happen..." Seven years in the writing, this definitive biography is the work of two men whose empathy and experience with Jim Morrison uniquely prepared them to recount t

Recommended by James Murphy.

James Murphy

No One Here Gets Out Alive (biography of Jim Morrison) because I have been fascinated by Jim Morrison and The Doors since I was a young kid. Jim’s level of and commitment to artistry is so rare and I wanted to understand what made him tick. This book gives a lot of insight into not only his creative genius but the events in his life that shaped him. [source]