The Rainforest
- Author
- Victor W. Hwang and Greg Horowitt
- Published
- 2012
- Pages
- 304
- Recommended
- Once
Victor W. Hwang and Greg Horowitt, The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley (2012).
Why it’s on the list: Hwang and Horowitt’s argument that an innovation ecosystem is grown, not engineered — a rainforest rather than a plantation — and that the binding constraint is trust and social norms rather than capital or talent supply.
Where I saw it: In the replies to Sarah Guo’s March 22, 2025 question on X — “is there a book / essay about environments that best support scientific discovery? Not about specifically bell labs, cavendish, xerox parc, los alamos - but why these places were so productive?” Kyle saved the link and reconstructed the full reply-thread list on 2026-09-17; the whole recovered list is on Is There a Book… (tweet).
Metadata checked: Open Library (2012; 304 pages).
Connections
- Silicon Valley — the thing the book is trying to explain how to copy.
- City Building · Company Building — the portfolio ideas.
Not yet read.