Peter Thiel Books

One of America’s preeminent entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, Peter Thiel is one of the key forces behind the Silicon Valley tech explosion.

A long time member of the Republican party he has supported Ron Paul’s campaigns since 2007. In 2016 after first endorsing Carley Fiorina, he then put his support behind Donald Trump.

He also operates his own political action committee, Free Forever, which focused on supporting candidates who favor strong borders, supporting veterans and limiting America’s involvement in foreign wars.

Thiel started PayPal in 1998 and in 2004 was the first outside investor in Facebook. He also founded Palantir Technologies, which focuses on software for national security and global finance purposes. Over the decades he’s helped launch some of America’s biggest tech companies, from LinkedIn to Yelp. And as a partner at the Founders Fund venture capital firm he helped fund Airbnb and SpaceX.

Peter Thiel Books

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

A book for entrepreneurs, or those fascinated by them, Peter Thiel lays out his theory behind where and how the next big world-changing technology will come from.

Thiel’s basis thesis is that the next big breakthrough doesn’t come by improving on what’s already there, by competing with Google or building a better social network. It doesn’t come from competition but from outside the box, introducing something entirely new.

While improving upon something is important, it does only take the world from 1 to n. Adding something entirely new, however, takes the world from 0 to 1.

The great future innovators, by nature, will be unique.

Thiel believes that the next big idea of our time is hiding out there and the single biggest thing anyone can do to uncover it is to think for yourself.

Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Intolerance on Campus 

Hailed as one of America’s core values, this book takes on the notion of multiculturalism and why its hurting our society and ruining our Universities.

Co-authored by Peter Thiel and David O Sacks, both men use their alma matter, Stanford University, to prove their point. And the point, ultimately, is that the idea of multiculturalism isn’t about learning more and being exposed to new ideas, it’s about learning less.

Using the fascade of diversity and inclusion, our institutions of higher learning are actually stifling dissent and building groupthink factories.

The authors rely on their experience and original sources to highlight how the notion of diversity is used to control everything from the politics on campus, to university budgets to student housing. And how it goes much further, to extend to the culture war of society at large.

From there Thiel and Sacks detail what’s required to reverse this dangerous course and restore our college campuses as true institutions of independent thought.

Peter Thiel Book Recommendations

Below is a list of books Peter Thiel has publicly endorsed.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World – Adam Grant

The Sovereign Individual – James Dale Davidson & William Rees-Mogg

Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand

7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy – Hamilton Helmer

The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien

The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson

100 Plus – Sonia Arrison

Bloodlands – Timothy Snyder

Discourses on Livy – Niccolo Machiavelli

Psychopolitics – Jean-Michel Oughourlian

Resurrection From The Underground – Rene Girard

The American Challenge – Jean Jacques Servan-Schreiber

The Decadent Society – Ross Douthat

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World – Edward Creasy

The Great Illusion – Norman Angell

The New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

The Reasonableness of Christianity – John Locke

Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World – Rene Girard