Stewart Brand: “This spectacular book on how logarithmic scaling governs everything is packed with news—from the self-similar dynamics of cells and ecosystems to exactly why companies always die and cities don’t.

I dog-eared and marked up damn near every page.”

Marc Benioff: "Geoffrey West's Scale is filled with brilliant insights.

He illuminates the laws of nature underlying everything from tiny organisms and humans to cities and companies, and provides a quantitative framework for decoding the deep complexity of our interconnected world.

If you want to know why companies fail, how cities persist and what is needed to sustain our civilization in this era of rapid innovation, read this amazing book.”

Bill Miller: “If there were a Nobel Prize for transdisciplinary science Geoffrey West would have won it for the work covered in Scale. 

This is a book of great originality and deep importance, containing startling insights about topics as seemingly unrelated as aging and death, sleep, metabolism, cities, energy use, creativity, corporations, and even the sustainability of our existence. 

If you are curious about how the world really works, you must read this book.”

Nassim Taleb: “Each human should learn to read and write, to count, and for those who know how to count, scalability.

Scaling is the most important yet most hidden and rarely discussed attribute—without understanding it one cannot possibly understand the world.

This book will expand your thinking from three dimensions to four. Get two copies, just in case you lose one.”

Vinod Khosla: "The physics behind biology, cities, economics and companies.

Do they grow, scale and die by the same math equations? New insights that are enlightening and delightful."

Tobi Lutke: "Excellent book."

Tim Urban: "A great biography on Musk"

Anthony Pompliano: "Found it even better than I anticipated."

Bill Ackman: "I loved [Ashlee's] book on Elon"

One of Austen Allred's top five all-time recommended books.

Stewart Brand: "Good book"

Jay-Z: "This epic poem was kind of difficult for me to get through, but it has a beautiful rhythm.

I got lost in reading about Odysseus' struggle to get home and his longing for someone so strong, as his wife was, waiting for him. That's like a dream—that kind of strength, love, loyalty."

Michael Pollan: "... And not just because there are so many great barbecue scenes. (Henry Fielding called The Odyssey 'Homer’s wonderful book about eating', and wasn’t too far off.) But there’s lots to learn about story structure too, and why it’s often a good idea to begin in the middle."

Stewart Brand included 'The Odyssey' as one of the essential books to maintain, extend, and re-create what humans have achieved thus far.

Stewart Brand: "It’s one of the great books."

One of Richard Branson's top books to read in a lifetime.

Stewart Brand: "The ideas driving my creativity came from Koestler’s book."

Patrick O'Shaughnessy: "This is my favorite book on creativity."

Stewart Brand: "Among the several hundred books I'm studying for my book on Maintenance, none has more revelations per page than Parag Khanna's Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization.

It is about humanity's infrastructure."

Joe Gebbia mentioned 'Connectography' on Twitter.

Will Marshall: "Planet’s story is part of a new book by Ashlee Vance on space. 'Tis a bit strange to have a book talking a lot on Robbie Shlinger and I, but proud of Planet's role!"

Stewart Brand: "I’ll vouch for this exciting book in which scrappy grassroots startups liberate near-Earth orbit."

Michael Mauboussin mentioned this as one of his favorite books from 2023.

Stewart Brand mentioned that he thought 'Going Infinite' was a great book on Twitter.

Stewart Brand: "A good book"

Reid Hoffman recommended this book on LinkedIn.

Stewart Brand added 'Starlink' to his list of recommended reading.

Stewart Brand: "A good book"

Stewart Brand: "A Hall of Mirrors threw me for a complete loop. Still does. And it's prescient."

Stewart Brand: "A pretty good book"

Stewart Brand: "It's a wonderful book."

Stewart Brand: "Excellent"

Stewart Brand: "I recommend A Writer's Time, by Kenneth Atchity.

It gave me all I needed for my first book, and it informed every book since."