Paul Graham Books
Paul Graham is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and essayist known for co-founding Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, which later became Yahoo! Store.
Known for: ANSI Common Lisp, An Introduction To Political Theory, Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, How to Start a Startup, On Lisp: Advanced Techniques for Common Lisp
Books by Paul Graham
ANSI Common Lisp
ANSI Common Lisp is a comprehensive introduction to the Common Lisp programming language, written by Paul Graham. The book covers both the fundamentals of Lisp syntax and semantics as well as advanced...
An Introduction To Political Theory
An Introduction to Political Theory provides a comprehensive overview of the key concepts, ideologies, and debates that shape modern political thought. It explores fundamental ideas such as liberty, e...
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
Hackers & Painters is a collection of essays by Paul Graham exploring the intersection of technology, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Drawing parallels between computer programmers and artists, Grah...
How to Start a Startup
This book is a collection of essays and talks by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, offering practical and philosophical guidance on launching and growing a startup. It covers topics such as ide...
On Lisp: Advanced Techniques for Common Lisp
On Lisp is a comprehensive exploration of advanced programming techniques in Common Lisp. Paul Graham delves into the power of Lisp macros, functional programming, and metaprogramming, demonstrating h...
Key Insights from Paul Graham
The Origins and Structure of Common Lisp
When Lisp first appeared in the late 1950s, it was born from John McCarthy’s attempt to formalize computation in terms of symbolic reasoning. Unlike most languages created to control machines, Lisp was designed to model thinking. Its central innovation—the idea that code and data share the same repr...
From ANSI Common Lisp
Atoms, Lists, and Expressions: The DNA of Lisp
Every Lisp program begins with atoms and lists. These are not merely data structures; they are the substance of Lisp’s syntax and meaning. An atom might represent a number, a symbol, or a string. A list, on the other hand, represents both data and computation. When Lisp evaluates a list, it interpre...
From ANSI Common Lisp
The Nature and Purpose of Political Theory
Political theory begins with a distinction. It is not merely empirical, as political science often is, nor purely speculative, as philosophy can be. It occupies a middle ground—concerned with values, power, and legitimacy as they apply to actual human societies. To study political theory is to engag...
From An Introduction To Political Theory
Liberty: The Meaning of Freedom
Few words inspire as many passions or provoke as many disputes as liberty. In our discussion, we distinguish between negative and positive liberty following Isaiah Berlin’s influential framework. Negative liberty refers to freedom from interference—‘I am free when no one prevents me from doing what ...
From An Introduction To Political Theory
The Hacker Ethos
The heart of hacking lies in curiosity — the desire to know how things work and the impulse to make them better. Hackers thrive in environments where freedom and exploration are possible. What defines them isn’t formal training or credentials but the depth of their interest. Many great programmers b...
From Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
Wealth Creation
Many misunderstand wealth as something static — a fixed pie you must fight over. But startups reveal something more profound: wealth can be created by solving problems that were previously unsolved. When you make something people want, you create value. Startups accelerate this process by making cre...
From Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
About Paul Graham
Paul Graham is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and essayist known for co-founding Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, which later became Yahoo! Store. He is also the co-founder of Y Combinator, a pioneering startup accelerator. Graham’s essays on technology, startups, and programmin...
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Paul Graham is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and essayist known for co-founding Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, which later became Yahoo! Store. He is also the co-founder of Y Combinator, a pioneering startup accelerator. Graham’s essays on technology, startups, and programmin...
Paul Graham is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and essayist known for co-founding Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, which later became Yahoo! Store. He is also the co-founder of Y Combinator, a pioneering startup accelerator. Graham’s essays on technology, startups, and programming have influenced generations of developers and founders worldwide.
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Paul Graham is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and essayist known for co-founding Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, which later became Yahoo! Store.
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