Book · 2025 · True Crime
The Wager
A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- mentions
- 15
- people
- 6
- podcasts
- 3
- episodes
- 5
- critical mentions
- 0
And then there's The Wager. I can't think of a single book that more people I know have said that they just read [music] the entire thing from start to finish in one sitting.
What they say about it
- Discusses writing the book“why you wrote it like this”5
- Enjoyed reading it“most enjoyed this year”2
- Reads about hardship“books about people in terrible situations”2
The best things said about it
It's about a shipwreck and these guys are stranded for 2 years.
Two of the books I've most enjoyed this year have been The Wager by David Grann.
And The Wager is amazing.
Andrew Wilkinson My First Million · Dec 2023 His new book is The Wager, a tale of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
6
9
How it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
6 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
The Wager by David Grann is a historical non-fiction book detailing the harrowing 18th-century shipwreck of a British naval vessel and the dramatic mutiny and survival trials that followed. On The Book Review, Gilbert Cruz named it one of the books he most enjoyed reading during the year. Sam Parr and Andrew Wilkinson both recommended the book on My First Million, praising it as a riveting ten-out-of-ten read about human endurance and extreme hardship. Shaan Puri also recommended the historical account to Laird Hamilton as a gripping story of early maritime exploration. On How I Write, David Perell discussed the book with David Grann, remarking that readers frequently consume the entire fast-paced narrative in a single sitting. Grann explained to Perell how a longstanding personal fascination with historical mutinies directly inspired him to investigate the archives and write the book, leading to an extensive discussion on the meticulous research required to bring such dramatic historical events to life.
Every mention
Gilbert Cruz two of the books I've most enjoyed this year have been the wager by David Gran and lone women by Victor Laval 3
Recommended
“two of the books I've most enjoyed this year have been the wager by David Gran and lone women by Victor Laval”
Discussed
“one of them is one I mentioned very briefly in my intro which was the wager by David Gran”
Discussed
“and his new book is the wager a tale of shipwreck Mutiny and murder”
Andrew Wilkinson And then I second the book The Wager. Like Sam, before I go to bed, uh I always read books about people in… 1
Recommended
“And then I second the book The Wager. Like Sam, before I go to bed, uh I always read books about people in terrible situations or in worlds that are very different than the world I inhabit. And The Wager is amazing.”
Sam Parr So this year I went on a spree where I read books about people's hardship. So I read The Wager, which was a… 1
Recommended
“So this year I went on a spree where I read books about people's hardship. So I read The Wager, which was a 10 out of 10. It's about a shipwreck and these guys are stranded for 2 years.”
Shaan Puri okay the first is called The Wager so the first two books I'm suggesting are ship books it's about uh shipp… 1
Recommended
“okay the first is called The Wager so the first two books I'm suggesting are ship books it's about uh shipping uh ships in the 1800s yep so the first one is called The Wager and so these crazy guys would sail you know their 1800s ship yeah from England all the way down through uh yeah Argentina and K”
David Grann So for example, the wager uh my most recent book I was sitting around and I was thinking oh well you know w… 6
Discussed
“So for example, the wager uh my most recent book I was sitting around and I was thinking oh well you know what would be interesting. I thought well a subject that's always interested me was mutinies.”
Discussed
“So in the first chapter of the wager they are getting ready to set off on this voyage and they have to find a ship and prepare the ship and load the ship.”
Discussed
“And then I certainly heard it on chapter one of the wager.”
Discussed
“And so, but up until the very end of the wager I was trying to cut it down because I I didn't want the beginning.”
Discussed
“And so, for example, the first sentence of the wager probably tormented me for years and years.”
Discussed
“on the wager island which depicts the captain and the gunner in this titanic struggle between two egos, two formidable figures battling it out both for power and survival.”
David Perell And then there's The Wager. I can't think of a single book that more people I know have said that they just… 3
Discussed
“And then there's The Wager. I can't think of a single book that more people I know have said that they just read [music] the entire thing from start to finish in one sitting.”
Discussed
“So, if I was like, man, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wager, such a such a good book, like how much of that being a great book comes down to research”
Discussed
“Here's how you start the wager. And I'm curious to hear why you wrote it like this.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“We are joined by Jennifer Eaggan, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jay McCannernney, author of the decade defining novel Bright Lights Big City, and David Gran, who has carved out a permanent piece of real estate on the bestseller list with his books The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Plugged
“And of course working on the wager, something you know about. Yes. Working on the wager. I I was you know read a lot of seales.”
Passing
“and before that we had the New Yorker journalist David Gran who told us about what it was like to write his latest book The Wager a tale of 18th century British Sailors who shipwreck in Mutiny on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia”