What books does Sundar Pichai recommend?
Sundar Pichai's book recommendations pair a technologist's curiosity with a reader's warmth, spanning genomics, aviation history, and novels he shares with his son. The CEO of Alphabet and Google, who led the company's AI-first turn after building Chrome and Android, reads across science, biography, and management. This collection of 7 titles is drawn from his official Twitter, interviews, forewords, and public talks, and its themes are biographies and memoirs, science and technology, and history. He wrote that he "loved 'The Gene'" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, calling it "an intimate and fascinating history of the most fundamental unit of life," and praised David McCullough's The Wright Brothers as a story that "resonates with anyone who believes deeply in the power of technology to change lives." A softer note comes from Peter Brown's The Wild Robot, which he read with his son and says "we both enjoyed."
Last updated February 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
bySiddhartha Mukherjee
2016592 Pages“Loved 'The Gene' by @DrSidMukherjee. An intimate and fascinating history of the most fundamental unit of life.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: Official Twitter Account
byDavid McCullough
2015320 Pages“This is a story that resonates with anyone who believes deeply in the power of technology to change lives and the resistance some have to new innovations.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: Rotary Club of Oklahoma City Speech
Read by Sheryl Sandberg, Sundar Pichai, Reid Hoffman and 1 others
Measure What Matters
How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
byJohn Doerr
2018320 Pages“Measure What Matters will transform your approach to setting goals for yourself and your organization... it took courage to write an OKR that might well fail, but there was no other way if we wanted to be great.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: Book Foreword
Read by Sheryl Sandberg, Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook and 2 others
Trillion Dollar Coach
The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell
byEric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle
2019240 Pages“Bill's passion for innovation and teamwork was a gift to Apple and the world. Trillion Dollar Coach captures his tireless spirit so future generations can learn from one of our industry's greatest leaders.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: Official Book Blurb
Read by Sundar Pichai
byPeter Brown
2016288 Pages“I’ve been reading with my son... The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, which we both enjoyed.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: The Verge Interview
Born a Crime
Stories from a South African Childhood
byTrevor Noah
2016304 Pages“I recently finished Born a Crime by Trevor Noah... it was a great read.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: The Verge Interview
byRohinton Mistry
1995603 Pages“I recently read 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry. It’s a very moving book, and I’m a big fan of his work.”
— Sundar Pichai
Source: Google for India 2017 Q&A
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Frequently asked questions
What books does Sundar Pichai recommend?
His 7 recommendations include The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Wright Brothers by David McCullough, Measure What Matters, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
What is Sundar Pichai's top book recommendation?
He says he "loved 'The Gene'" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, describing it as "an intimate and fascinating history of the most fundamental unit of life," reflecting his interest in science and biology.
Where do Sundar Pichai's book recommendations come from?
They come from his official Twitter, a Rotary Club of Oklahoma City speech, forewords and blurbs for Measure What Matters and Trillion Dollar Coach, and interviews with The Verge and Google for India.
Has Sundar Pichai written any books?
He is credited on the forewords of Trillion Dollar Coach and Measure What Matters, contributing to both rather than authoring standalone books of his own.
What genres does Sundar Pichai read most?
His recommendations favor biographies and memoirs and science and technology, along with history and leadership and management, plus fiction he enjoys with his family.