Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan.

In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he’d just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Therefore, in order to get to the bottom of what inspired a most capable individual to the heights of financial prosperity, we’ve compiled this list of 20 inspirational books Reid Hoffman has read himself and would certainly recommend to others as well. Reading has clearly played a profound role in shaping him as a person, and furthermore, this favorite educational activity of his must have had something to do with the spirited – and rewarding for that matter – approach he takes to life. “All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA, and creation is the essence of entrepreneurship,” he wrote in The Startup of You.

For many reasons, billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman and books simply go hand in hand, whether we’re talking his favorite business classics or soul-stirring texts.

Reid hoffman book