Want to know what books Scott Johnson recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Scott Johnson's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
This lyrical, evocative, thought-provoking journal of a man's quest for truth - and for himself - has touched and changed an entire generation, and is ready to reach out to a new one. At its heart, the story is all too simple: a man and his son take a motorcycle trip across America. But this is not a simple trip at all, for around every corner, through mountain and desert, wind and rain, and searing heat and biting cold, their pilgrimage leads them to new vistas of self-discovery and renewal.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an elemental work that has helped to... more This lyrical, evocative, thought-provoking journal of a man's quest for truth - and for himself - has touched and changed an entire generation, and is ready to reach out to a new one. At its heart, the story is all too simple: a man and his son take a motorcycle trip across America. But this is not a simple trip at all, for around every corner, through mountain and desert, wind and rain, and searing heat and biting cold, their pilgrimage leads them to new vistas of self-discovery and renewal.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an elemental work that has helped to shape and define the past 25-years of American culture. This special audio edition presents this adventure in an exciting new way - for the millions who have already taken this journey and want to travel these roads again, and for the many more who will discover for the first time the wonders and challenges of a story that will change the way they think and feel about their lives. Unique to audio, this edition features a new introduction by the author. less 
Brad FeldI think every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur should read the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It was written in the 1970s by a guy named Robert Pirsig. It was his first book, it's kind of a hippie philosophy treatised journey. The word that sort of came out of it was Chautauqua, he's like having a conversation with his son as they do a motorcycle trip across the country, and... (Source)
Drew Houston[There are] engineers who [dismiss] all these things that can’t be fit into an algorithm, or that don’t have some kind of mathematical rigor underpinning them, [this book] is about that question. (Source)
Tyler CowenHonorable mentions: Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and The Joy of Sex, all given to me by my mother. I believe they helped inculcate some of the 1960s-70s ethos of individual freedom into my thinking. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
2
Luke Welling, Laura Thomson | 3.98
PHP and MySQL Web Development, Fifth Edition The definitive guide to building database-driven Web applications with PHP and MySQL
PHP and MySQL are popular open-source technologies that are ideal for quickly developing database-driven Web applications. PHP is a powerful scripting language designed to enable developers to create highly featured Web applications quickly, and MySQL is a fast, reliable database that integrates well with PHP and is suited for dynamic Internet-based applications.
PHP and MySQL Web Development shows how to use these tools... more PHP and MySQL Web Development, Fifth Edition The definitive guide to building database-driven Web applications with PHP and MySQL
PHP and MySQL are popular open-source technologies that are ideal for quickly developing database-driven Web applications. PHP is a powerful scripting language designed to enable developers to create highly featured Web applications quickly, and MySQL is a fast, reliable database that integrates well with PHP and is suited for dynamic Internet-based applications.
PHP and MySQL Web Development shows how to use these tools together to produce effective, interactive Web applications. It clearly describes the basics of the PHP language, explains how to set up and work with a MySQL database, and then shows how to use PHP to interact with the database and the server.
This practical, hands-on book consistently focuses on real-world applications, even in the introductory chapters. The authors cover important aspects of security and authentication as they relate to building a real-world website and show you how to implement these aspects in PHP and MySQL. They also introduce you to the integration of front-end and back-end technologies by using JavaScript in your application development.
The final part of this book describes how to approach real-world projects and takes the reader through the design, planning, and building of several projects, including: User authentication and personalization Web-based email Social media integration Shopping cart The fifth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development has been thoroughly updated, revised, and expanded to cover developments in PHP through versions 5.6 and 7, as well as features introduced in recent stable releases of MySQL.
Free Access to Web Edition
Purchase of this book in any format, electronic or print, includes free access to the corresponding Web Edition, which provides several special features: The complete text of the book online Exercises and interactive quizzes to test your understanding of the material Bonus chapters not included in the print or e-book editions Updates and corrections as they become available The Web Edition can be viewed on all types of computers and mobile devices with any modern web browser that supports HTML5.
Contents at a Glance
Part I: Using PHP 1 PHP Crash Course 2 Storing and Retrieving Data 3 Using Arrays 4 String Manipulation and Regular Expressions 5 Reusing Code and Writing Functions 6 Object-Oriented PHP 7 Error and Exception Handling
Part II: Using MySQL 8 Designing Your Web Database 9 Creating Your Web Database 10 Working with Your MySQL Database 11 Accessing Your MySQL Database from the Web with PHP 12 Advanced MySQL Administration 13 Advanced MySQL Programming
Part III: Web Application Security 14 Web Application Security Risks 15 Building a Secure Web Application 16 Implementing Authentication Methods with PHP
Part IV: Advanced PHP Techniques 17 Interacting with the File System and the Server 18 Using Network and Protocol Functions 19 Managing the Date and Time 20 Internationalization and Localization 21 Generating Images 22 Using Session Control in PHP 23 Integrating JavaScript and PHP 24 Other Useful Features
Part V: Building Practical PHP and MySQL Projects 25 Using PHP and MySQL for Large Projects 26 Debugging and Logging 27 Building User Authentication and Personalization 28 (Web Edition) Building a Web-Based Email Client with Laravel Part I 29 (Web Edition) Building a Web-Based Email Client with Laravel Part II 30 (Web Edition) Social Media Integration Sharing and Authentication 31 (Web Edition) Building a Shopping Cart
Part VI: Appendix A Installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL
less 
Scott JohnsonI spent a ton of years doing mostly product management as opposed to software engineering (what I do now). Although I had written code and managed engineers, I wasn't really a hands on software engineer. In the wake of the dot com crisis, when everyone was unemployed, when an unexpected software engineering gig landed on me, the book PHP and MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling and Laura... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
3
Kaplan, a well-known figure in the computer industry, founded GO Corporation in 1987, and for several years it was one of the hottest new ventures in the Valley. Startup tells the story of Kaplan's wild ride: how he assembled a brilliant but fractious team of engineers, software designers, and investors; pioneered the emerging market for hand-held computers operated with a pen instead of a keyboard; and careened from crisis to crisis without ever losing his passion for a revolutionary idea. Along the way, Kaplan vividly recreates his encounters with eccentric employees, risk-addicted venture... more Kaplan, a well-known figure in the computer industry, founded GO Corporation in 1987, and for several years it was one of the hottest new ventures in the Valley. Startup tells the story of Kaplan's wild ride: how he assembled a brilliant but fractious team of engineers, software designers, and investors; pioneered the emerging market for hand-held computers operated with a pen instead of a keyboard; and careened from crisis to crisis without ever losing his passion for a revolutionary idea. Along the way, Kaplan vividly recreates his encounters with eccentric employees, risk-addicted venture capitalists, and industry giants such as Bill Gates, John Sculley, and Mitchell Kapor. And no one - including Kaplan himself - is spared his sharp wit and observant eye. less Scott JohnsonIf you're interested in high tech as a career path then I'd recommend a series of case studies around the development of products / founding of companies. Here are four examples:
Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan (1996)
Show Stopper by G Pascal Zachary (1994)
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator by Randall Stross (2013)
The... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
4
This "inside account captures the energy--and the madness--of the software giant's race to develop a critical new program. . . . Gripping" (Fortune Magazine).
Showstopper is the dramatic, inside story of the creation of Windows NT, told by Wall Street Journal reporter G. Pascal Zachary. Driven by the legendary David Cutler, a picked band of software engineers sacrifices almost everything in their lives to build a new, stable, operating system aimed at giving Microsoft a platform for growth through the next decade of development in the computing... more This "inside account captures the energy--and the madness--of the software giant's race to develop a critical new program. . . . Gripping" (Fortune Magazine).
Showstopper is the dramatic, inside story of the creation of Windows NT, told by Wall Street Journal reporter G. Pascal Zachary. Driven by the legendary David Cutler, a picked band of software engineers sacrifices almost everything in their lives to build a new, stable, operating system aimed at giving Microsoft a platform for growth through the next decade of development in the computing business.
Comparable in many ways to the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, Showstopper gets deep inside the process of software development, the lives and motivations of coders and the pressure to succeed coupled with the drive for originality and perfection that can pull a diverse team together to create a program consisting of many hundreds of thousands of lines of code. less Scott JohnsonIf you're interested in high tech as a career path then I'd recommend a series of case studies around the development of products / founding of companies. Here are four examples:
Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan (1996)
Show Stopper by G Pascal Zachary (1994)
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator by Randall Stross (2013)
The... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
5
An incredibly successful entrepreneur and the "Trump" on the UK version of The Apprentice shares his rags-to-riches story
Born in 1947 and brought up on a council estate, as a kid Alan Sugar watched his dad struggle to support the family, never knowing from one week to the next if he'd have a job. It had a huge impact on him, fueling a drive to succeed that was to earn him a sizeable personal fortune. Here he describes his amazing journey, from schoolboy enterprises like making and selling his own ginger beer to setting up his own company at 19; from Amstrad's... more An incredibly successful entrepreneur and the "Trump" on the UK version of The Apprentice shares his rags-to-riches story
Born in 1947 and brought up on a council estate, as a kid Alan Sugar watched his dad struggle to support the family, never knowing from one week to the next if he'd have a job. It had a huge impact on him, fueling a drive to succeed that was to earn him a sizeable personal fortune. Here he describes his amazing journey, from schoolboy enterprises like making and selling his own ginger beer to setting up his own company at 19; from Amstrad's groundbreaking ventures in hi-fi and computers, which made him the darling of the stock exchange, to the dark days when he nearly lost it all; from his pioneering deal with Rupert Murdoch to his boardroom battles at Tottenham Hotspur FC. He takes us into the world of The Apprentice—including how he is responsible for Piers Morgan winning the U.S version—and describes his appointment as advisor to the government and elevation to the peerage. Like the man himself, this autobiography is forthright, funny, and sometimes controversial.
less Scott JohnsonI'm currently reading a biography of Alan Sugar, a U.K. entrepreneur who created Amstrad from scratch. I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing on launching a new product and this very much sets that tone. (Source)
Neal O'GormanI'm not a fan of Alan Sugar but his book is a great example of how you can start off buying the most basic things at one price and sell them at a higher price to ultimately creating Amstrad, one of the most successful computer businesses in the world at the time. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
6
The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.
Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and... more The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.
Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.
The Everything Store will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read. less Santiago BasultoI love to read biographies and stories of companies. Hatching Twitter is a really good book, and if you’re into that sort of books, bios of Steve Jobs (by Isaacson) or Jeff Bezos are great too. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
7
Year One
Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli | 4.46
A new edition of one of the most important and critically acclaimed Batman adventures ever, written by Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns!
In 1986, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli produced this groundbreaking reinterpretation of the origin of Batman—who he is and how he came to be.
Written shortly after The Dark Knight Returns, Miller's dystopian fable of Batman's final days, Year One set the stage for a new vision of a legendary character.
This edition includes the complete graphic novel, a new introduction by writer... more A new edition of one of the most important and critically acclaimed Batman adventures ever, written by Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns!
In 1986, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli produced this groundbreaking reinterpretation of the origin of Batman—who he is and how he came to be.
Written shortly after The Dark Knight Returns, Miller's dystopian fable of Batman's final days, Year One set the stage for a new vision of a legendary character.
This edition includes the complete graphic novel, a new introduction by writer Frank Miller and a new illustrated afterword by artist David Mazzucchelli. Completing this collection are over 40 pages of never-before-seen developmental material such as character and layout sketches, sample script pages, sketches and more that provide a glimpse into the making of this contemporary classic.
This volume collects Batman #404–407. less Scott Johnson@acedtect @anxiety_wins From what I hear that is what they are aiming for. Awesome book btw. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
8
The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done—just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven, highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work... more The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done—just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven, highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic.
These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. —Rob Lightner less 
Stephen BakerA marvelously detailed book, and I found it very inspiring. An interesting way of looking at how computing has utterly changed in the last 30 years. (Source)
Scott JohnsonTracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine. This was the first book that really took a deep dive into the process of creating a high tech product from scratch. Tracy really humanized the engineering process and made me realize that was the type of industry where I wanted to be. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
9
First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic—an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this tenth anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neil Gaiman.
A storm is coming . . .
Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day... more First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic—an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this tenth anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neil Gaiman.
A storm is coming . . .
Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.
But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.
Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined—it is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. Along the way Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know. Ultimately, he will discover that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America—and that he is standing squarely in its path.
Relevant and prescient, American Gods has been lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is, quite simply, an outstanding work of literary imagination that will endure for generations. less 
Ricky WhittleNobody can break my family.I’m proud to be apart of this diverse cast & crew who are working their butts off to deliver a fantastic season 3 continuing to tell Shadows story and the awesome characters he meets along the way as in @neilhimself incredible book #readit #details🤔 https://t.co/PahPC9j3HB (Source)
Scott JohnsonAmerican Gods by Neil Gaiman. This is a brilliant thought experiment about what happens to a god when its believers stop believing. My preferred edition is the 10th Anniversary release with expanded text. (Source)
Marko RakarBasically, first of all, I am a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy books and I grew up with Douglas Adams and Arthur C Clarke. For me, this is the best of Gaiman’s books and I’ve got all of them. It’s set in the present time and talks about settlers who have settled a continent and have brought their gods with them. So, if you are Swedish and you cherish Nordic gods and move to the US, the... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
10
Number of teams that applied to Y Combinator’s summer 2011 batch: 2,089Teams interviewed: 170
Minutes per interview: 10
Teams accepted and funded: 64
Months to build a viable startup: 3
Possibilities: BOUNDLESS
Investment firm Y Combinator is the most sought-after home for startups in Silicon Valley. Twice a year, it funds dozens of just-founded startups and provides three months of guidance from Paul Graham, YC’s impresario, and his partners, also entrepreneurs and... more Number of teams that applied to Y Combinator’s summer 2011 batch: 2,089Teams interviewed: 170
Minutes per interview: 10
Teams accepted and funded: 64
Months to build a viable startup: 3
Possibilities: BOUNDLESS
Investment firm Y Combinator is the most sought-after home for startups in Silicon Valley. Twice a year, it funds dozens of just-founded startups and provides three months of guidance from Paul Graham, YC’s impresario, and his partners, also entrepreneurs and mostly YC alumni. The list of YC-funded success stories includes Dropbox (now valued at $5 billion) and Airbnb ($1.3 billion).
Receiving an offer from YC creates the opportunity of a lifetime — it’s like American Idol for budding entrepreneurs.
Acclaimed journalist Randall Stross was granted unprecedented access to Y Combinator’s summer 2011 batch of young companies, offering a unique inside tour of the world of software startups. Most of the founders were male programmers in their mid-twenties or younger. Over the course of the summer, they scrambled to heed Graham’s seemingly simple advice: make something people want.
We watch the founders work round-the-clock, developing and retooling products as diverse as a Web site that can teach anyone programming, to a Wikipedia-like site for rap lyrics, to software written by a pair of attorneys who seek to “make attorneys obsolete.”
Founders are guided by Graham’s notoriously direct form of tough-love feedback. “Here, we don’t fire you,” he says. “The market fires you. If you’re sucking, I’m not going to run along behind you, saying, ‘You’re sucking, you’re sucking, c’mon, stop sucking.’” Some teams would even abandon their initial idea midsummer and scramble to begin anew.
The program culminated in “Demo Day,” when founders pitched their startup to several hundred top angel investors and venture capitalists. A lucky few attracted capital that gave their startup a valuation of multiple millions of dollars. Others went back to the drawing board.
This is the definitive story of a seismic shift that’s occurred in the business world, in which coding skill trumps employment experience, pairs of undergraduates confidently take on Goliaths, tiny startups working out of an apartment scale fast, and investors fall in love. less Scott JohnsonIf you're interested in high tech as a career path then I'd recommend a series of case studies around the development of products / founding of companies. Here are four examples:
Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure by Jerry Kaplan (1996)
Show Stopper by G Pascal Zachary (1994)
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator by Randall Stross (2013)
The... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
Don't have time to read Scott Johnson's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
