Founders & technologists
Books recommended by Aaron Swartz
Programmer, writer and internet activist (1986–2013)
Programmer and activist who helped create RSS and Reddit. He published a review of every book he read each year on his blog, Raw Thought.
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Photo: Sage Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This is a selection of sourced recommendations, not a complete list of everything Aaron Swartz has read or praised. How we choose.
Recommendations
Books Aaron Swartz recommends
25 books from 2 sources. Each one links to the place where Aaron recommended it.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006
The handful of books, out of more than 120 read in 2006, that Aaron Swartz recommended without reservation.
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Unequal Childhoods
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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5000 BC
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “5000 BC (And Other Philosophical Fantasies)”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Complications
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
+1 other recommender: James Clear
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In Persuasion Nation
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “In Persuasion Nation: Stories”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Which Side Are You On?
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Becoming Attached
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Becoming Attached: Unfolding the Mystery of the Infant-Mother Bond and Its Impact on Later Life”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Indefensible
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Making Comics
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Against Love
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “Against Love: A Polemic”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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The eXile
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “The eXile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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Political Fictions
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
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The Corrections
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Listed in the source as “The Corrections: A Novel”.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
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Nixonland
Year-end favouriteOne of the books Aaron Swartz said he could recommend "without any reservations" from his 2006 reading.
Books I Recommend Without Reservation: 2006 Blog postaaronsw.com
The 2011 Review of Books
Aaron Swartz's review of the books he read in 2011. Only the titles he set in bold, "so great my heart leaps", are included.
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The Halo Effect
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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The Trial
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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Poor Economics
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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Bookhunter
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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The Inner Game of Tennis
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
+2 other recommenders: Austin Kleon, Dickie Bush
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The Fifth Discipline
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
Listed in the source as “The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization”.
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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Rick Perry and his Eggheads
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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The End of Loser Liberalism
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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The Lean Startup
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
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Code
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
Listed in the source as “CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software”.
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
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What It Takes
Year-end favouriteSet in bold in Aaron Swartz's 2011 review of books, his mark for the ones "so great my heart leaps at the chance to tell you about them".
Listed in the source as “What It Takes: The Way to the White House”.
The 2011 Review of Books Blog postaaronsw.com
Written by Aaron Swartz
Books Aaron Swartz wrote
Their most-published books, from Open Library. These are books they wrote, not recommendations.
Cross-recommendations
Picks others agree on
4 books Aaron recommends that at least one other person in the directory also recommends, each from their own source.
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3recommendersThe Inner Game of Tennis 3 recommendersAustin Kleon, Dickie Bush, Aaron Swartz
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2recommendersComplications 2 recommendersJames Clear, Aaron Swartz
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2recommendersThe Corrections 2 recommendersMark Manson, Aaron Swartz
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2recommendersThe Lean Startup 2 recommendersMark Manson, Aaron Swartz
Cross-recommendations
Who agrees with Aaron
People in the directory who recommended at least one of the same books.
See something wrong? Suggest a correction.