# Caitlyn Kalinowski’s Classics List and Tobi Lütke’s Death’s End Endorsement

*By Recommended Reading from Tech Founders • May 18, 2026*

Today's authentic recommendations were all books: Caitlyn Kalinowski named three titles from a classics-heavy reading list, and Tobi Lütke gave a concise endorsement of the trilogy discussed through *Death’s End*. The clearest single pick was Herodotus's *Histories*, because it came with the strongest explanation of why it matters.

## What stood out

Today's authentic recommendations were all books. Caitlyn Kalinowski surfaced a classics-heavy reading list in conversation, while Tobi Lütke gave a terse but direct endorsement of the trilogy being praised in a post about finishing *Death’s End* [^1][^2][^3].

The strongest single recommendation was *Histories* because Kalinowski explained exactly why she values it: as the first history book, built from firsthand and secondhand accounts, and as a window into a very different era [^1].

### Most compelling recommendation

#### *Histories*
- **Content type:** Book
- **Author/creator:** Herodotus
- **Link/URL:** Not provided in the source material
- **Who recommended it:** Caitlyn Kalinowski
- **Key takeaway:** Kalinowski called it "pretty incredible" and highlighted it as the first history book, noting that it often relies on firsthand or secondhand accounts and lets readers look into a completely different era [^1]
- **Why it matters:** This was the richest recommendation in today's set because it came with a clear explanation of both the book's method and its enduring value [^1]

> "Herodotus histories is pretty incredible... it's the first history book... It's a way to look into the world at a completely different era than it is now." [^1]


[![Why we’re at the beginning of the AI hardware boom | Caitlin Kalinowski (ex–OpenAI, Meta, Apple)](https://img.youtube.com/vi/G5WTgB87rYQ/hqdefault.jpg)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=G5WTgB87rYQ&t=5566)
*Why we’re at the beginning of the AI hardware boom | Caitlin Kalinowski (ex–OpenAI, Meta, Apple) (92:46)*


### Also worth reading

#### *Mrs. Dalloway*
- **Content type:** Book
- **Author/creator:** Virginia Woolf
- **Link/URL:** Not provided in the source material
- **Who recommended it:** Caitlyn Kalinowski
- **Key takeaway:** She described it as "a very interesting book about transitions" and noted its post-war context [^1]
- **Why it matters:** The recommendation is specific about what the reader gets from it: a literary treatment of transition rather than a generic classic-novel endorsement [^1]

#### *Book of the New Sun*
- **Content type:** Book (fiction)
- **Author/creator:** Not specified in the source material
- **Link/URL:** Not provided in the source material
- **Who recommended it:** Caitlyn Kalinowski
- **Key takeaway:** Kalinowski called it "a great fiction book" that she really recommends [^1]
- **Why it matters:** It is the clearest fiction-forward pick in her list and stands on a direct, unqualified endorsement [^1]

#### *Death’s End* trilogy
- **Content type:** Book series / trilogy
- **Author/creator:** Not specified in the source material
- **Link/URL:** Not provided in the source material
- **Who recommended it:** Tobi Lütke
- **Key takeaway:** Lütke replied "incredible series" to a post that said, "Just finished *Death’s End*. My god, what a trilogy" [^2][^3]
- **Why it matters:** The signal is brief but clean: it is an explicit founder endorsement of a specific trilogy, not a vague comment about reading in general [^2][^3]

> "incredible series" [^2]

### Bottom line

If you only pick one item from today's set, start with *Histories* for the clearest articulated reason to read it [^1]. More broadly, the day's organic signals were entirely book-focused: Kalinowski's classics-heavy list on one side, and Lütke's direct trilogy endorsement on the other [^1][^2][^3].

---

### Sources

[^1]: [Why we’re at the beginning of the AI hardware boom | Caitlin Kalinowski \(ex–OpenAI, Meta, Apple\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5WTgB87rYQ)
[^2]: [𝕏 post by @tobi](https://x.com/tobi/status/2056115497226096716)
[^3]: [𝕏 post by @boycereads](https://x.com/boycereads/status/2055921442911404413)