Great Books Distilled: Books by History's Greatest Innovators, Founders, and Investors

The page is a reading list sharing the best books written by history's greatest innovators, founders, and investors. This is a reading list for people who don’t have time for unimportant books—which should be everyone. I only list the best books I've read and recommend.

All Book Summaries

For the best books that I read, I go through the painstaking effort to put together and publish my personal notes including highlights, excerpts, and takeaways. You get the best 5% of the ideas in these books in a form that takes 20 minutes at most to read.

Great Books by Category

These are the best books to read, listed by category. Along with a few collections of rare and hard-to-find speeches, lectures, talks, interviews, letters, and memos that are a great way to go deeper.

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Daniel Scrivner

Best Books on Creativity

Looking for good books on creativity? This is my list of the best creativity books of all-time on Rick Rubin, Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Pixar, Apple, and more. If you only have time to read one or two books, I recommend looking at the Top Creativity Books section below.

You can also find recently released books that are worth your attention in the New and Notable section. I try to carefully curate all of my reading lists and you can be sure that any creativity book on this page is worth your time. Enjoy!

On This Page


New and Notable

This section features recently released books that are worth your attention.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being
by Rick Rubin
Print | eBook | Audiobook

The Laws of Creativity: Unlock Your Originality and Awaken Your Creative Genius
by Joey Cofone
Print | eBook
Read my book summary →


The Top Creativity Books

This section features the all-time best books written about creativity, what it is, and how to harness it.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being
by Rick Rubin
Print | eBook | Audiobook

The Laws of Creativity: Unlock Your Originality and Awaken Your Creative Genius
by Joey Cofone
Print | eBook
Read my book summary →

A handful of the all-time best books about creativity in action — including the role it played at Pixar, Apple, and the making of Prince of Persia.

Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
by Ed Catcall
Print | eBook | Audiobook

Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson
Print | eBook | Audiobook

Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products
by Leander Kahney
Print | eBook | Audiobook

Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success
by Ken Segall
Print | eBook | Audiobook
Read my book summary →

Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs
by Ken Kocienda
Print | eBook | Audiobook

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
by Tony Fadell
Print | eBook | Audiobook

The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985 - 1993
by Jordan Mechner
Print | eBook | Audiobook

Related Reading Lists

Or browse all book recommendations →

About the author

Daniel Scrivner is an award-winner designer turned founder and investor. He's led design work at Apple and Square. He is an early investor in Notion, Public.com, and Good Eggs. He's also the founder of Ligature: The Design VC and Outlier Academy. Daniel has interviewed the world’s leading founders and investors including Scott Belsky, Luke Gromen, Kevin Kelly, Gokul Rajaram, and Brian Scudamore.

Last updated
Oct 16, 2023

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