36 books like Founding Startup Societies

By Mark Frazier, Joseph McKinney,

Here are 36 books that Founding Startup Societies fans have personally recommended if you like Founding Startup Societies. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians

Lotta Moberg Author Of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

From my list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a development economist I've been on a long quest for policies that actually help promote lives and create long-term wealth. After much searching, I've found special economic zones and other special jurisdictions as holding the key to radical prosperity for the world’s poor today and for humanity at large. Privately governed institutions leverage the power of incentives that we find in a capitalism market system to provide for social services and public goods. Any economists out there looking for hopeful projects to benefit the world economy should start with this short list of core books on this topic. Fortunately, as time goes by, the reading list in this field keeps expanding.

Lotta's book list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions

Lotta Moberg Why did Lotta love this book?

This book allows you to think radically about how to create new community and novel forms of governance.

To unshackle ourselves from a history of destructive governance, the idea of Seasteading is to start afresh, in territories not yet governed by anyone, those at sea.

The authors make a compelling case for a seemingly wild idea. 


By Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seasteading as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In these “thought-provoking visions of the future” (The Wall Street Journal), Joe Quirk and Patri Friedman of the Seasteading Institute explain how ocean cities can solve many of our environmental, technological, and civic problems, and introduce the visionaries and pioneers who are now making seasteading a reality.

Our planet has been suffering from serious environmental problems and their social and political consequences. But imagine a vast new source of sustainable and renewable energy that would also bring more equitable economies. A previously untapped source of farming that could produce significant new sources of nutrition. Future societies where people could choose…


Book cover of Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations

Lotta Moberg Author Of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

From my list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a development economist I've been on a long quest for policies that actually help promote lives and create long-term wealth. After much searching, I've found special economic zones and other special jurisdictions as holding the key to radical prosperity for the world’s poor today and for humanity at large. Privately governed institutions leverage the power of incentives that we find in a capitalism market system to provide for social services and public goods. Any economists out there looking for hopeful projects to benefit the world economy should start with this short list of core books on this topic. Fortunately, as time goes by, the reading list in this field keeps expanding.

Lotta's book list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions

Lotta Moberg Why did Lotta love this book?

This book opens your eyes to the power of jurisdictional competition and brings hope of a future where governance is conducted for the benefit of the people being governed, rather than the benefit of government bureaucrats as is the case today.

An increasing amount of SEZs, startup societies, and privately run cities are springing up across the world. Judging by their progress, this optimistic part of human development is likely to continue.

This book opens your eyes to those developments and current opportunities for new and better governance.


By Tom W. Bell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions - common-interest developments, special economic zones, and proprietary cites. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency, to the satisfaction of citizens-qua-consumers. These trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. In this groundbreaking work, Tom W. Bell describes the quiet revolution transforming governments from the bottom up, inside-out, worldwide, and how it will fulfill its potential to bring more freedom, peace, and…


Book cover of Governance Handbook: Building a Legal Framework for Charter Cities

Lotta Moberg Author Of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

From my list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a development economist I've been on a long quest for policies that actually help promote lives and create long-term wealth. After much searching, I've found special economic zones and other special jurisdictions as holding the key to radical prosperity for the world’s poor today and for humanity at large. Privately governed institutions leverage the power of incentives that we find in a capitalism market system to provide for social services and public goods. Any economists out there looking for hopeful projects to benefit the world economy should start with this short list of core books on this topic. Fortunately, as time goes by, the reading list in this field keeps expanding.

Lotta's book list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions

Lotta Moberg Why did Lotta love this book?

This book is crucial for practitioners of innovative cities, whether new SEZs, charter cities, or various forms of private communities.

It deals with legal aspects and administration in an instructive and professional way.

Anyone claiming that the community of people attempting to foster private and other forms of novel jurisdictions have not thought out the necessary details are proven wrong through this book.

It takes seriously the possible pushback of existing communities and the social institutions of education, healthcare, and the like, that will be needed for new communities to gain public support. 

By Charter Cities Institute,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Governance Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete For You

Lotta Moberg Author Of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

From my list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a development economist I've been on a long quest for policies that actually help promote lives and create long-term wealth. After much searching, I've found special economic zones and other special jurisdictions as holding the key to radical prosperity for the world’s poor today and for humanity at large. Privately governed institutions leverage the power of incentives that we find in a capitalism market system to provide for social services and public goods. Any economists out there looking for hopeful projects to benefit the world economy should start with this short list of core books on this topic. Fortunately, as time goes by, the reading list in this field keeps expanding.

Lotta's book list on special economic zones and private jurisdictions

Lotta Moberg Why did Lotta love this book?

This book lays out the logic of governance without state-sanctioned governments.

For those not already convinced, it explains in detail how society functions, at its best, when run by a private corporation rather than entities with monopoly of force.

In the world of commerce at large, those who serve reaps the rewards. Governance is supposed to be about service.

When incentives of service align with those of profits, the probability of good governance is at its highest. 

By Titus Gebel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Free Private Cities as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Imagine a system in which a private company offers you protection of life, liberty and property as a "government service provider". This service includes internal and external security, a legal and regulatory framework and independent dispute resolution. You pay a contractually fixed fee for these services per year. The government service provider, as the operator of the community, cannot unilaterally change this "citizens' contract" with you later on. As a "contract citizen", you have a legal claim to compliance and a claim for damages in the event the provider does not perform. You take care of everything else by yourself,…


Book cover of Success Through Manipulation: Subconscious Reactions That Will Make Or Break You

Sandy Graham Author Of You Speak For Me Now

From my list on to influence human society.

Why am I passionate about this?

Over the past decade, I’ve become very concerned with the direction authoritarianism is taking human society. It’s a global problem that now infects America, leaving us with a partisan divide we may not be able to bridge. My recommended books helped me understand the situation and how one might speak out against this negative force effectively. Convinced that bombarding readers with facts alone is useless, I chose to provide a novel that is interesting and captivates readers. My goal is to entice readers to press on to the end regardless of their political persuasion, in hopes that along the way some thought will be devoted to the issues raised.

Sandy's book list on to influence human society

Sandy Graham Why did Sandy love this book?

Our future is determined by us, and our actions are determined by our thought processes. In other words, the future of human society can be influenced by manipulating group thought. Colin applies years of training and experience as a hypnotist to give us a view of how the human brain functions and how it can be manipulated.

He views it as two computing systems. A subconscious mind performing 40 million tasks/second deals only in the present, ignoring abstract things like “yesterday,” “don’t,” etc. The second conscious mind uses 40 tasks/second to control and program the first. It doesn’t exist in babies and develops during childhood. How that growth is managed determines its adult thought process and ultimately group thought. Colin provides insights on how it can be manipulated for good or bad results.

By Colin Christopher, Chris Simon (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Success Through Manipulation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

MANIPULATIONGet it, before it gets you! Do you realize you are being manipulated, or are you oblivious? Do you know who or what is manipulating you? Can you identify the manipulation? If you can identify it, can you do anything about it? How is manipulation affecting you? Can you change these effects? Can you use them to your advantage?Success through Manipulation delves deeply into how you think and how your mind reacts to your environment, friends, family, work, and much more.Learn how to stop reacting, become consciously aware and take control of your mind. Manipulate your thinking and become more…


Book cover of Flawed

Marie-Hélène Lebeault Author Of The Ancestors' Key

From my list on YA SFF about utopian societies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an avid reader turned author. I’m a Canadian YA Speculative Fiction author who takes books along as I hike, cycle, and go to the beach. I love audiobooks! In the years leading up to writing my first novel, I must have read over three hundred books. My favorites were Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction. When I ran out of happy, positive, and wholesome books, I started writing them. I feel like I'm often called back to my favorites, and hope more authors will jump on the happy train! Now that the world has literally turned into a Dystopian Society, perhaps more authors will start writing about hope and change.

Marie-Hélène's book list on YA SFF about utopian societies

Marie-Hélène Lebeault Why did Marie-Hélène love this book?

I love Cecelia Ahern’s earlier books and this was her first YA duology. The second book is called Perfect. This society also praises beauty and perfection, but mistakes are punishable offenses with a serious consequence of being branded, literally, are Flawed. The book is chilling in so many ways, but what I loved about it is that making mistakes is an inherently ‘human’ thing to do. Older generations have been taught to avoid making mistakes at all costs, or at least never own up to them. The younger ones are learning that it’s all part of life and we should all have a little more compassion. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have.

By Cecelia Ahern,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Flawed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society in Flawed in which obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found…


Book cover of Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

Ian D. Brooks Author Of Intention: Building Capabilities to Transform Your Story

From my list on personal development books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a passion for helping people realize being better through sharing my thoughts and experiences to guide them on their path. My curiosity of understanding “why people do what they do?” started when I was 13. The search for this questions evolving answer led me on an educational, career, and personal journey that authored a unique perspective to move people forward. Working with people for over 25 years through clinical therapy, personal coaching, and now through my company Rhodes Smith Consulting, I see patterns in the struggle to transform. Books offer me new perspectives or reinforce old ones in expanding my knowledge and helping people master their own intentions. Enjoy!

Ian's book list on personal development books

Ian D. Brooks Why did Ian love this book?

How well do we know someone? Malcom Gladwell asks readers to explore biases in a way that begins to question the personal interactions we have each day. Using examples based on prejudice, assumption, fear, false trust, and preconceived notion, the book exposes the nature of human connection and an internal battle we face when interacting with or judging others. Our unconscious actions are built from survival instinct and previous experiences that become exposed when we meet someone new or cannot reconcile someone’s actions with whom we thought they were. This inability to understand others impacts how we navigate our lives and decern perceived threats that often result in wrong actions being taken. This book begs us to look deeper into the assumptions we carry within ourselves when Talking to Strangers.

By Malcolm Gladwell,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Talking to Strangers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Brought to you by Penguin.

The highly anticipated new book from Malcom Gladwell, host of the chart-topping podcast Revisionist History.

With original archival interviews and musical scoring, this enhanced audiobook edition of Talking to Strangers brings Gladwell's renowned storytelling to life in his unparalleled narrating style.

The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger's motives?

Through…


Book cover of Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure

Eric Porter Author Of A People's History of SFO: The Making of the Bay Area and an Airport

From my list on airports teaching us about society.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve long had an ambivalent relationship with airports. They have been the starting point for my adventures, but I have also known well the discomfort, boredom, stress, surveillance, bad food, and other unpleasantries that often define airport experiences. Despite my ambivalence, I’ve found airports to be fascinating places where differently situated people (travelers and workers) encounter one another. I’ve learned that those encounters, as well as airport operations and design, tell us something about the places where they are located and the broader societies in which we live. I’ve since become aware that reading (and writing) about airports are also great ways to gain such insights. 

Eric's book list on airports teaching us about society

Eric Porter Why did Eric love this book?

Airports are also highly charged, often controversial symbols of the places where they are located and of the condition of modern life more generally.

This book was one of the first books I read as I was beginning my own project. It helped me understand the complex meanings circulating around airports (in the United States and elsewhere) since the first ones were built in the early twentieth century. I also appreciated the irreverence and humor in the account, even when discussing rather grim subjects, and this helped to affirm my own ambivalent perspective on airports.

By Alastair Gordon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Naked Airport as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall

Luke Heaton Author Of A Brief History of Mathematical Thought

From my list on grand, unifying ideas for how the world works.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a scientist and inventor, who has always been drawn to grand, overarching narratives, and unifying ideas. I have degrees in Mathematics and Architecture, a PhD in Biophysics, and spent 11 years studying fungal networks at the University of Oxford. I am currently working with the award-winning architect Ben Allen, to commercialize a patent for making POMB (poly-organic mycelium blend): a light-transmitting, thermally insulating, carbon-negative building material.

Luke's book list on grand, unifying ideas for how the world works

Luke Heaton Why did Luke love this book?

Moffett is a leading specialist on social insects, and the core of his penetrating insight is that we ought to clearly distinguish between collective behavior and social behavior. Our ability to see that one stranger belongs to our society, while another stranger does not, is utterly crucial, and Moffett speaks with authority when he claims that humans are the only animals where different societies merge over time. In particular, he correctly notes that time and time again there has been a fusion between human societies under the heel of a conquering force. By carefully considering our bee-like nature, as well as our chimp-like nature, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind has created sprawling civilizations of unrivalled complexity and provides some valuable insights into what it will take to sustain them.

By Mark W. Moffett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Human Swarm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A specialist on social insects writes about the origins and implications of our own vast social organisation, and the ways in which our ethnic and national distinctions mirror those of other animals.

In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. In the vein of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivalled complexity - and what it will take…


Book cover of The Crock of Gold

Rhys Hughes Author Of My Rabbit's Shadow Looks Like a Hand

From my list on underrated offbeat humorous fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

The world is a strange place and life can feel very weird at times, and I have long had the suspicion that a truly imaginative and inventive comedy has more to say about reality, albeit in an exaggerated and oblique way, than much serious gloomy work. Comedy has a wider range than people often think. It doesn’t have to be sweet, light, and uplifting all the time. It can be dark, unsettling and suspenseful, or profoundly philosophical. It can be political, mystical, paradoxical. There are humorous fantasy novels and short story collections that have been sadly neglected or unjustly forgotten, and I try to recommend those books to readers whenever I can.

Rhys' book list on underrated offbeat humorous fantasy

Rhys Hughes Why did Rhys love this book?

This book is luminous. The world of everyday reality and the world of magic overlap and interact and influence each other. There are philosophers and gods, leprechauns and (once again) taking animals, and women wiser than all of them put together. The plot concerns a crime that never occurred and various types of bizarre trouble that result from it. Adventures follow adventures in a picaresque manner, not all of them necessarily connecting with any other, a free and easy approach that gives great fluidity to the whimsical narrative.

By James Stephens,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Crock of Gold as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Crock of Gold (1912), one of three original novels by James Stephens, is a work only a master of fiction and folklore could imagine. Taking up the major philosophical and psychological concerns of the early-twentieth century-over a decade before works by T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, among others, would cement literary Modernism's place in history-Stephens' novel is a groundbreaking and important work.

The text centers on the Philosopher and his wife, the Thin Woman, who undergo a series of journeys and harrowing trials. Faced with danger both human and divine, the two characters are forced to weather…


Book cover of Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians
Book cover of Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations
Book cover of Governance Handbook: Building a Legal Framework for Charter Cities

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in society, globalization, and Europe?

Society 31 books
Globalization 114 books
Europe 956 books