Can I contribute my own finds?

Yes — the site has a "Submit a rare one" option for adding documents or books to the collection.

How big is the library?

The index currently lists 45 items across documents and books.

Read Rare — The rarest docs and books you've probably never read

Read Rare is a free online library of rare, hard-to-find business documents and books: internal memos, leaked handbooks, and forgotten or out-of-print titles from the people who built companies like Apple, Intel, Google, Netflix, Microsoft and Facebook. The catalog currently lists 45 items that can be read or borrowed at no cost, ranging from classic memos like Bill Gates's 1995 "Internet Tidal Wave" email and Mike Markkula's "The Apple Marketing Philosophy" to books like "The HP Way" and "Hard Drive." The site also invites visitors to submit additional rare documents.

Key Features

Curated archive of internal memos

Documents include Microsoft's 1989 Word for Windows postmortem, Steve Jobs's 2010 "Holy War with Google" email, Zuckerberg's Instagram emails, Sequoia's "R.I.P. Good Times" deck-era memo, the leaked 2023 Google "We Have No Moat" paper, the Netflix Culture Deck, and Tim Berners-Lee's 1989 CERN propos

Forgotten and out-of-print business books

A books section with titles such as "The HP Way" by David Packard, "Hard Drive" on Bill Gates, "Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple" by John Sculley, Akio Morita's "Made in Japan," and John D. Rockefeller's 1909 "Random Reminiscences of Men and Events."

Free to read or borrow

Every document and book in the index is free to read or borrow, with no stated paywall or subscription.

Browsing by index

The homepage presents the full collection as a browsable index split between Documents and Books, with author/company and year shown for each item.

Community submissions

Visitors can submit their own rare finds via a "Submit a rare one" option.

How It Works

Browse the index

Pick an item off the shelf from the Documents or Books section, each labeled with its author/company and year.

Read or borrow for free

Open any of the 45 memos, handbooks, or books and read or borrow them at no cost.

Contribute

Submit additional rare documents or books to expand the collection.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Completely free to read or borrow every item in the collection.
Highly curated mix of genuinely famous memos (Netflix Culture Deck, Google "no moat" memo) and obscure, hard-to-find items.
Spans both documents and full books, covering decades from 1909 to 2025 and industries from semiconductor manufacturing to Hollywood production.
Clear catalog presentation with author/company and year for each entry.
Open to community submissions, so the collection can grow beyond the initial 45 items.

Cons

Who It's For

Best for

Founders, investors, and operators who want to study primary-source memos and letters from the people who built iconic companies.
Business history enthusiasts and students looking for out-of-print or hard-to-find books for free.
Anyone curious about how decisions at Apple, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and Facebook actually got made.

Not ideal for

Readers wanting a broad, large-scale library or contemporary bestsellers — the catalog is a small curated set of 45 items.
People looking for fiction or general-interest books outside business and tech.

Use Cases

Reading primary-source internal memos that shaped major tech companies (e.g., Jobs's "Holy War with Google," Gates's "Internet Tidal Wave," the OpenAI founding

Studying classic business thinking via rare books like "The HP Way," "Plain Talk" by Ken Iverson, and Thomas Watson Jr.'s "A Business and Its Beliefs."

Researching strategy and crisis moments — the Nokia "Burning Platform" memo, Yahoo's Peanut Butter Manifesto, and Sequoia's "R.I.P. Good Times."

Borrowing out-of-print titles that are otherwise hard or expensive to obtain.

Finding inspiration from founders and operators (Buffett partnership letters, Markkula's marketing philosophy, the Facebook Little Red Book).

FAQ

What is Read Rare?

A free online collection of rare business documents and books — internal memos, leaked handbooks, and forgotten titles from people who built Apple, Intel, Google, Netflix, Microsoft, and Facebook.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. Every item in the index is free to read or borrow.

What kind of items are in the collection?

The 45-item index includes famous internal memos (e.g., Bill Gates's "Internet Tidal Wave," the Netflix Culture Deck, the OpenAI founding emails) and out-of-print books such as "The HP Way" and "Hard Drive."

How is the collection organized?

As a browsable index split into two sections: Documents and Books, each entry labeled with its author or company and year of publication.

Read Rare