Jason Fried's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

Remote: Office Not Required

Jason Fried

4.0

The “work from home” phenomenon is thoroughly explored in this illuminating new book from bestselling 37signals founders Fried and Hansson, who point to the surging trend of employees working from home (and anywhere else) and explain the challenges and unexpected benefits. Most important, they show why – with a few controversial exceptions such as Yahoo -- more businesses will want to promote this

Recommended by Richard Branson, Jason Fried, Aleyda Solis, and 2 others.

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Vincenzo Ruggiero

Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: Rework, Getting real and Remote - The combo from Fried and DHH. [source]

Zack Onisko

I just reread Remote, which is the 37Signals guys, Jason Fried and DHH. … We're 100% remote, so that's why I picked it up again. It's a really great book, highly recommend that one. Actually all their books are really good, because they kind of write to the contrary of common Silicon Valley common sense, and they make a very common sense point about a lot of their claims, so I really like that one. [source]

2

Rework

Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

4.2

Preview Summary

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the c

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, Tony Hsieh, and 30 others.

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

Unperturbed by conventional wisdom, the authors start fresh and rewrite the rules of business. Their approach turns out to be as successful as it is counter-intuitive. [source]

Mark Cuban

Entrepreneur / Shark Tank

If given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur. [source]

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

The wisdom in these pages is edgy yet simple, straightforward, and proven. Read this book multiple times to help give you the courage you need to get out there and make something great. [source]

3

Ego is the Enemy

Ryan Holiday

4.4

Preview Summary

As in the Obstacle is the way, Ryan holiday delivers practical and inspiring philosophy, this time exploring a powerful concept that runs back centuries, across borders and schools of thought: Ego. Ego is our biggest enemy. Early in our careers, it can prevent us from learning and developing our talents. When we taste success, ego can blind us to our own faults, alienate us from others and lead to

Recommended by Charlamagne Tha God, Robert Greene, Jason Fried, and 23 others.

Charlamagne Tha God

Radio Presenter/The Breakfast Club

This is one of my favorite authors on the planet @ryanholiday one of his many books is titled “Ego Is The Enemy.” So if you want more from him on the subject of ego than what’s in this 60 second clip that’s the book… https://t.co/0QDe9V69KV [source]

Robert Greene

Author

Inspiring yet practical... teaches us how to manage and tame this beast within us so that we can focus on what really matters - producing the best work possible. [source]

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

4

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.

Daniel Coyle

4.3

Preview Summary

What is the secret of talent? How do we unlock it? In this groundbreaking work, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle provides parents, teachers, coaches, businesspeople—and everyone else—with tools they can use to maximize potential in themselves and others.

Whether you're coaching soccer or teaching a child to play the piano, writing a novel or trying to improve your golf

Recommended by Peter Attia, Rupert Murdoch, Jason Fried, and 4 others.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

Highly recommend reading The Talent Code. Wonderful book w/ great insights. [source]

Peter Attia

Founder/Attia Medical

One of the books I’ve read the most. [source]

Rupert Murdoch

CEO/News Corporation

Great reading. The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle. Forget genes! Greatness isn't born, it's grown - the hard way. [source]

5

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain

4.3

Preview Summary

The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain a

Recommended by Simon Sinek, Danielle Morrill, Emma Watson, and 10 others.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

A good book I’d recommend is “Quiet” by Susan Cain. [source]

Simon Sinek

Author

Leaders needn’t be the loudest. Leadership is not about theater. It’s not about dominance. It is about putting the lives of others before any other priority. In Quiet, Cain affirms to a good many of us who are introverts by nature that we needn’t try to be extroverts if we want to lead. Simply being ourselves is more important — and more effective. [source]

Danielle Morrill

Co-founder/Mattermark

Anyway, maybe you’re like me and figuring this out for yourself. It’s a good book for introverts and for those who love them [source]

6

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

L. David Marquet

4.5

Preview Summary

"Leadership should mean giving control rather than taking control and creating leaders rather than forging followers." David Marquet, an experienced Navy officer, was used to giving orders. As newly appointed captain of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, he was responsible for more than a hundred sailors, deep in the sea. In this high-stress environment, where there is no margin for er

Recommended by Simon Sinek, Brian Armstrong, Jason Fried, and 2 others.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

Turn the Ship Around is my favorite business book. A wonderful look at what leadership is really about. I recommend it highly. [source]

Simon Sinek

Author

So many leadership books are either theoretical (written by people who study it but don’t do it) or by people who look back and try to explain how they did it. Though both valuable, most leadership books are also very hard to implement as prescribed. That’s what makes Marquet’s book is so remarkable. A submarine commander, he used to obey traditional models of leadership … until they failed him. Unable to change any variables (people, technology or equipment), the only thing left for him to change in order to achieve success was how he acted as a leader. Based on real life events, Marquet presents his ideas in a superbly practical way — perfect for implementing. [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson

A wonderful book about a naval Admiral that was running one of the worst performing U.S. nuclear submarines and turned it around to be the best performing U.S. submarine by infusing his staff with basically saying they’re not waiting for a command, they’re saying what they intend to do. [source]

Cover unavailable

7

High-Hanging Fruit: Build Something Great by Going Where No One Else Will

Mark Rampolla

4.5

ZICO founder Mark Rampolla is building a social good movement: how to make money starting a company that is good for you, your colleagues, customers, and the world

When Mark Rampolla filled a notebook with potential startup ideas, his wife asked him some tough questions. What about this idea is exciting, beyond the possibility of a profit? How will it fit into a life that makes you and your family

Recommended by Jason Fried.

8

Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger

Peter Bevelin

4.3

Peter Bevelin begins his fascinating book with Confucius' great wisdom: "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake." Seeking Wisdom is the result of Bevelin's learning about attaining wisdom. His quest for wisdom originated partly from making mistakes himself and observing those of others but also from the philosophy of super-investor and Berkshire Hat

Recommended by Charles T. Munger, Charlie Munger, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and 2 others.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

Finally got to re-reading one of my favorite books: Seeking Wisdom, from Darwin to Munger. Highly recommended. [source]

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Author

A wonderful book on wisdom and decision-making written by a wise decision-maker. This is the kind of book you read first, then leave by your bedside and re-read a bit every day, so you can slowly soak up the wisdom. It is sort of Montaigne but applied to business, with a great investigation of the psychological dimension of decision-making. I like the book for many reasons --the main one is that it was written by a practitioner who knows what he wants, not by an academic. Enjoy it. [source]

Derek Sivers

A great overview of the lessons of Charlie Munger (partner of Warren Buffett) - and his approach to checklists of multi-disciplinary models to guide clear thinking. [source]

9

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built

Stewart Brand

4.5

All kinds of structures--domestic, commercial, institutional--are examined as they change with time and with varied usage in this fascinating, vividly accessible book that beckons toward a new frontier in architecture. 340 illustrations and photos.

Recommended by Caterina Fake, Jason Fried, and Jeremy Till.

Jeremy Till

Stuart Brand is a person who thinks clearly about our future, and therefore is in a good position to comment on the future life of architecture. [source]

10

In Praise of Shadows

Jun'ichiro Tanizaki

4.3

An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight, and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure.

Recommended by Jason Fried and Kyle Chayka.

Kyle Chayka

Tanizaki is mourning what has been paved over, which is the old Japanese aesthetic of darkness, of softness, of appreciating the imperfect—rather than the cold, glossy surfaces of industrialized modernity that the West had brought to Japan at that moment. For me, that’s really valuable, because it does preserve a different way of looking at the world. [source]

Cover unavailable

11

The Misfit Economy: Lessons in Creativity from Pirates, Hackers, Gangsters and Other Informal Entrepreneurs

Alexa Clay, Kyra Maya Phillips

3.5

A book that argues that lessons in creativity, innovation, salesmanship, and entrepreneurship can come from surprising places: pirates, bootleggers, counterfeiters, hustlers, and others living and working on the margins of business and society.

Who are the greatest innovators in the world? You’re probably thinking Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. The usual suspects.

This book isn’t about them.

Recommended by Jason Fried.

12

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

William Braxton Irvine

4.4

Preview Summary

One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives.
In A Guide

Recommended by Marc Andreessen, Timothy Ferriss, Jason Fried, and 8 others.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

The book that had the biggest impact on me this year was “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”. [source]

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Best (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism. You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that. [source]

Phil Libin

CEO/Evernote

A very interesting read. [source]

Cover unavailable

13

Revising Prose

Richard A. Lanham

4.0

This remarkable little book, intended as a supplement for any course that requires writing, models a clear, step-by-step system for creating straight-forward, concise, intelligible and readable prose.

Recommended by Jason Fried.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

One of my favorite books is called Revising Prose. What’s cool about it is that the author dissects things one sentence at a time. His ability to take a sentence and cut it up and explain it and simplify it. I think it’s a wonderful skill and a great book. It’s not really even about writing paragraphs or stories or how to organize and outline stuff. It’s like a sentence at a time and figuring out how to structure things. Love it. Great book. It’s actually – there’s this class I’ve talked about before. I’ve written a blog post about it. This class that I’d want to teach if I ever taught a college class. [source]

14

Skyfaring: A Journey With A Pilot

Mark Vanhoenacker

4.2

A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys and renews our capacity to be amazed.

The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight--a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity--to the realm of the mundane. When most people today think of flying, they imagine tedious routines that involve security

Recommended by Jason Fried.

Jason Fried

Co-Founder/Basecamp

I’ve run the gamut on my personal flying experiences. Used to love flying, then really didn’t like it, then was afraid of it, and now I enjoy it again. Skyfaring is a poetic and beautiful tome on the wonders of flying and the experiences of sailing through the air from one place to another. The author, a current 747 pilot, has such an effortless way with words. I’ve highlighted more great lines in this book than any other in the past few years. If you love how words can connect ideas, feelings and your imagination, you’ll love this book. [source]