Mark Zuckerberg's Year of Books: His Top Picks
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg challenged himself to read a new book every two weeks, sharing his picks with millions of followers. His selections span history, innovation, and human behavior — the ideas behind Facebook's evolution.
10 min readSapiens
by Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is a historical essay that explores the evolution of the human species from the earliest Homo sapiens to the modern era. Yuval Noah Harari examines how biology, anthropology, and economics have shaped human societies, highlighting three major revolutions: the cognitive, the agricultural, and the scientific. The book offers a panoramic view of how ideas, myths, and social structures have enabled humans to dominate the planet.
Key Takeaways
- 1The Cognitive Revolution: The birth of imagination — About seventy thousand years ago, something extraordinary happened. Our ancestors, who had lived much like other animals…
- 2The Agricultural Revolution: The trap of progress — Around ten thousand years ago, humans began to cultivate crops and domesticate animals, converting from nomadic foragers…
10 min readCreativity, Inc.
by Ed Catmull
Written by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, this book explores the management philosophy and creative culture behind Pixar Animation Studios. It offers insights into how to build and sustain a creative organization, emphasizing candor, collaboration, and the importance of learning from failure. Catmull shares stories from Pixar’s history and provides practical lessons for leaders seeking to foster innovation and creativity in their teams.
Key Takeaways
- 1Early Influences: A Vision for Computer Animation — From my earliest days as a student of computer science, I was captivated by the idea that computers could one day create…
- 2The Birth of Pixar: From Technology to Storytelling — Pixar’s origin story is not a straight line—it’s a series of unlikely collaborations. When George Lucas recruited me to …
- 3The Making of Toy Story: Building a Creative Process
10 min readOn Immunity
by Eula Biss
In this thought-provoking work, Eula Biss explores the cultural, personal, and philosophical dimensions of vaccination. Drawing on myth, literature, science, and her own experiences as a mother, she examines how fears of contamination and purity shape public discourse around immunity. The book blends essayistic reflection with scientific inquiry, offering a nuanced meditation on trust, community, and the body’s relationship to society.
Key Takeaways
- 1Historical context of vaccination — The story of vaccination begins in an age before microbes were known, when smallpox ravaged populations and inoculation …
- 2Immunity as metaphor — Before it is biological, immunity is linguistic. The word itself derives from Latin *immunis*, meaning exempt from duty …
- 3The body and the collective
10 min readThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
In this landmark work, Thomas S. Kuhn introduced the concept of 'paradigm shifts' to describe how scientific progress occurs not through linear accumulation of knowledge but through revolutionary changes in fundamental frameworks. The book explores how scientific communities operate, how normal science evolves, and how crises lead to new paradigms that redefine entire fields of inquiry.
Key Takeaways
- 1Normal Science — Every scientific field, once it matures, enters what I call a period of normal science. During this time, practitioners …
- 2The Role of Paradigms — A paradigm, as I use the term, is far more than a theory. It is an entire worldview shared by a scientific community—a c…
- 3Anomaly and Crisis
10 min readRational Ritual
by Michael Suk-Young Chwe
Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge explores how rituals, ceremonies, and cultural practices serve as mechanisms for creating common knowledge among participants. Michael Suk-Young Chwe applies game theory to social and cultural phenomena, showing how shared understanding enables coordination in societies. The book bridges economics, sociology, and anthropology, offering a rational framework for interpreting cultural behavior.
Key Takeaways
- 1Defining Common Knowledge — Common knowledge is one of those ideas that seem simple until you try to unpack its implications. In game theory, knowle…
- 2Coordination and Game Theory — In traditional economics, agents make choices to maximize self-interest. Yet in real life, many of our choices depend on…
- 3Rituals as Mechanisms of Common Knowledge
10 min readThe New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander
In this groundbreaking work, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, effectively creating a racial caste system that relegates millions of African Americans to a permanent second-class status. Through detailed analysis of laws, policies, and social attitudes, Alexander exposes how mass incarceration has replaced earlier forms of racial discrimination, challenging the notion of a 'colorblind' society.
Key Takeaways
- 1Chapter One: The Rebirth of a Caste System — Every racial caste system in American history emerged during moments of social crisis—when white supremacy seemed under …
- 2Chapter Two: The Captive Neighborhood — To understand how the New Jim Crow operates, one must start with policing. In predominantly Black and brown neighborhood…
- 3Chapter Three: Justice in Black and White
10 min readLean In
by Sheryl Sandberg
Lean Six Sigma QuickStart Guide introduces readers to the principles and practices of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. It explains how to identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and improve quality in business processes through data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement. The book provides practical examples and step-by-step instructions for applying Lean Six Sigma tools in real-world scenarios.
Key Takeaways
- 1Understanding Waste and Value — One of the first truths Lean teaches us is that not every action contributes to value. In fact, a significant portion of…
- 2Core Principles of Lean and Six Sigma — Lean and Six Sigma each bring distinct yet complementary philosophies to process improvement. Lean centers on flow—ensur…
- 3DMAIC Framework
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About This List
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg challenged himself to read a new book every two weeks, sharing his picks with millions of followers. His selections span history, innovation, and human behavior — the ideas behind Facebook's evolution.
This list features 7 carefully selected books. With FizzRead, you can read AI-powered summaries of each book in just 15 minutes. Get the key takeaways and start applying the insights immediately.
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