Episode · The Shawn Ryan Show · 2026-03-09
Books mentioned on #286 Ethan Thornton - This 22-Year-Old Built a .50 Cal Rifle Out of Home Depot Parts
Ethan Thornton is the Founder and CEO of Mach Industries, a defense technology company developing next-generation unmanned systems and hydrogen-powered weapons platforms to redefine modern warfare and energy logistics. Ethan left MIT after one semester in 2023 to focus on building Mach full-time.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a philosophical novel that explores a dystopian United States where society's most productive creators go on strike against heavy-handed regulations and collectivism.
Recommended“Have you read Atlas Shrugged? No. It's my favorite book. It's no book's a perfect answer and there's a lot about the book I don't like.”
Where to get it
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The Jungle
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a muckraking novel exposing the brutal and unsanitary conditions of the early twentieth-century meatpacking industry and the exploitation of immigrant labor.
Recommended“Like if you go and read like the the jungle is like probably the best book that highlights this. But you go and read humanity discovered these new technologies.”
Where to get it
