6 books like Seasteading

By Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman,

Here are 6 books that Seasteading fans have personally recommended if you like Seasteading. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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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 Founding Startup Societies: A Step by Step Guide

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?

Startup Societies are the next generation of SEZs.

In this book, the authors lay out not only the technical, but also the cultural aspects of founding startup societies.

While mainstream people still see the prospects of these kinds of societies as radical, unrealistic, or even harmful, this book allows you not only to dream, but to realize that full-scale projects of new societies, and even new cities, are possible.

These can be governed in radically different ways than the towns and cities we are accustomed to, to the benefit of prosperity and cultural fulfillment of its people. 

By Mark Frazier, Joseph McKinney,

Why should I read it?

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


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 Not Your Job: Discover the surprising way to save time, avoid burnout, and do what you love forever

Kathleen Allen Author Of Entrepreneurship For Dummies

From my list on inspiring you to get off your butt and start a business.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a real passion for entrepreneurship, so much so that I married an entrepreneur and produced two children who became entrepreneurs. During my 25 years as a professor in the Greif Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Southern California, one of the top programs in the U.S., I had the privilege of inspiring and mentoring hundreds of new entrepreneurs. I found my passion in technology businesses. I had the business skills needed to help scientists and engineers raise funding, bring their inventions to market, and build their companies. I managed to start and run four ventures of my own as well as write several books about entrepreneurship.

Kathleen's book list on inspiring you to get off your butt and start a business

Kathleen Allen Why did Kathleen love this book?

I like this book because it’s very complementary to Peter Thiel’s book.

It emphasizes how to make yourself the focus of your “zero to one” effort.

Too many entrepreneurs burn out before they go the distance, usually because they’re exhausted and frustrated trying to manage their employees and all the tasks associated with the business.

Brantley, a successful entrepreneur, proposes a new approach that gets entrepreneurs out of micromanaging (which they tend to do) by leveraging the time and talent of their best people.

I tend to get myself into the weeds on things that are important to me (like a business), and this book helped me see what I was doing before I did any real damage.

I think you’ll feel like he wrote the book for you. No fluff, just great advice and tools you can actually use.

By Pierce Brantley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Not Your Job as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death

Timothy Recuber Author Of The Digital Departed: How We Face Death, Commemorate Life, and Chase Virtual Immortality

From my list on changing your thinking about death and dying.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a sociologist who has just written a book about the ways that we engage with death and dying online, and before that I wrote a book about media coverage of disasters. Macabre subjects have always fascinated me, I guess, not because they are macabre but because they reveal a great deal about the ways we live and our sense of the value of life itself.

Timothy's book list on changing your thinking about death and dying

Timothy Recuber Why did Timothy love this book?

This book is a really fun investigation by a brilliant journalist who leads readers through a thorough yet skeptical look at the Silicon Valley-based movement known as “radical life extension” or “transhumanism.”

From hobbyists, to hackers, to scientists, to venture capitalists, a broad contingent of people in and around the “tech” space are convinced today that techno-scientific advancement will eventually allow humanity—or at least a certain small cadre of the wealthiest and savviest humans—to live forever.

There are heavy ideas here, and the book will give you a lot to think about, but it manages to be a breezy read despite the often troubling subject matter.  

By Mark O'Connell,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked To Be a Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“This gonzo-journalistic exploration of the Silicon Valley techno-utopians’ pursuit of escaping mortality is a breezy romp full of colorful characters.” —New York Times Book Review

Transhumanism is a movement pushing the limits of our biology—of our senses, intelligence, and lifespans—with technology. Its supporters have reached a critical mass and now include some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley and beyond, among them Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Ray Kurzweil.

In this provocative and eye-opening account, journalist Mark O’Connell explores the staggering (and terrifying) possibilities that present themselves when you think of your body as an outmoded device. He visits…


Book cover of Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations
Book cover of Founding Startup Societies: A Step by Step Guide
Book cover of Governance Handbook: Building a Legal Framework for Charter Cities

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