
Sam Altman's Twitter AMA - hashfav
https://www.hashfav.com/page/HashFavTech/1593
======
striking
For the question "What are some of the best books to learn from that you
recommend for a young startup founder?", I decided to transcribe the answers.

.

"Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-
Future/dp/0804...](http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-
Future/dp/0804139296)

"Republic" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Hackett-Classics-
Plato/dp/087...](http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Hackett-Classics-
Plato/dp/0872201368/) (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)

"The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mathematical-Principles-
Natu...](http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mathematical-Principles-Natural-
Philosophy/dp/1490592156/) (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp/0374533555/)

"Molecular Biology of the Cell" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-
Cell-Bruce-Alberts/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-
Alberts/dp/0815344325/) (different edition, forgive me; free through NCBI,
thanks jkimmel!)

"Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-
Computer/...](http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-
Computer/dp/0887309895)

"The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the
Supercomputer" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-
Sup...](http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-
Supercomputer/dp/0471048852/) (note: "that one's particularly good")

"Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Hateship-Friendship-Courtship-
Loveship...](http://www.amazon.com/Hateship-Friendship-Courtship-Loveship-
Marriage/dp/0375727434/)

"The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Score-Takes-Care-Itself-
Philosophy/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Score-Takes-Care-Itself-
Philosophy/dp/1591843472/)

"The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-
Time/dp/067...](http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-
Time/dp/067973337X/)

"The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James
Madison" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Convention-Narrative-
Hi...](http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Convention-Narrative-History-
Classics/dp/0812975170/)

"The Art Of War for Lovers" \- [http://www.amazon.com/The-ART-WAR-FOR-
LOVERS/dp/0671000632](http://www.amazon.com/The-ART-WAR-FOR-
LOVERS/dp/0671000632) (fixed! sorry about that...)

"Hold 'em Poker: For Advanced Players" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Hold-em-
Poker-Advanced-Players/dp/1880...](http://www.amazon.com/Hold-em-Poker-
Advanced-Players/dp/1880685221/)

"Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Solution-Selling-Creating-Difficult-
Ma...](http://www.amazon.com/Solution-Selling-Creating-Difficult-
Markets/dp/0786303158/)

"The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" \-
[http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Legendary-
Antarc...](http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Legendary-Antarctic-
Expedition/dp/0375404031/)

"Winning" \- [http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Jack-
Welch/dp/0060753943/](http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Jack-Welch/dp/0060753943/)

I wish he had answered in text. That would have made things easier :) However,
I'm still very happy to have some new additions to my reading list!

~~~
jkimmel
Molecular Biology of the Cell (Alberts) is free through NCBI! Many
investigators jokingly refer to it as 'the bible'.

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/)

~~~
kqr2
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can read it cover to cover or download
it.

    
    
      By agreement with the publisher, this book is accessible by 
      the search feature, but cannot be browsed.

~~~
jkimmel
This is true. However, you can get to any topic you want easily using the
search feature. A Table of Contents is provided, making front-to-back reading
by topic pretty trivial.

I've taken many university courses using this book and managed to read all the
required material on NCBI without much effort.

------
eric_khun
What app does he use for this? He said "Answer cam", but couldn't find it in
any store? Anyone has a link?

~~~
ssclafani
It's not public yet.

~~~
rmason
Well they missed one heck of a chance to collect email addresses, even if they
weren't ready to roll out the product.

~~~
mkagenius
If the product is good, there will be more chances ;)

------
pen2l
> _We don 't have a PR firm. I do think YC paid for an ad once in 2006 in the
> Stanford college newspaper, but we don't really do marketing. The thing we
> rely on most of all is founders we fund telling other people about our
> program._

Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally.
YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply
to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up
in frontpage, etc.

~~~
holyjaw
Putting a link to your product on your own non-commercial website isn't paid
advertising though, and it's certainly not proof-positive of a PR firm.

~~~
MichaelApproved
HN _is_ a commercial website. In addition to the links promoting YC, they also
post job listings for YC related companies.

------
mzahir
Goodreads list -
[https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/92883.Sam_Altman_s_Twitt...](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/92883.Sam_Altman_s_Twitter_AMA)

------
drham
Video Recap/Compilation:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHY8Rdxn_2o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHY8Rdxn_2o)

------
pen2l
Sam: Any reason why you couldn't set your phone down in a stable position, or
just tell someone to hold it steadily for you?

edit: I don't mean it in a mean way, just curious.

~~~
mkagenius
Its a pain to do that. Apart from that it was supposed to be a quick interview
/ informal one. Also, it was helpful when he had to show books.

------
hercule_poirot
What is HashFav?

~~~
donkeyd
Google points me here: [https://www.hashfav.com/](https://www.hashfav.com/)

