Episode · a16z Podcast · 2018-09-08
Books mentioned on a16z Podcast: Seeing into the Future -- Making Decisions, Telling Stories
with Steven Johnson (@stevenbjohnson), Chris Dixon (@cdixon), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90) There's a lot of research and writing out there on "thinking fast" -- the short-term, gut, instinctual decision
Steven Johnson discussed Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Farsighted by Steven Johnson, Middlemarch by George Eliot, Superforecasting by Philip E. Tetlock and others, Expert Political Judgment by Philip E. Tetlock, The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin, and Wonderland by Steven Johnson. Chris Dixon discussed Mirror Worlds by David Gelernter.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a seminal exploration of behavioral psychology that examines the two systems of the human mind—intuitive thinking and deliberate reasoning—and how cognitive biases drive systematic errors in judgment.
Discussed“like thinking fellow also blank is like that it is amazing the amount of processing and and all the heuristics we have for making short-term instinctual decisions”
Where to get it
-
Farsighted
Discussed“actually the book partially starts with the great excerpt in in Charles Darwin's Diaries where he's trying to decide whether to get married”
Where to get it
-
Mirror Worlds
Discussed“so the first is it actually gets back to that classic book that David Guillermo wrote in theme post after that is one of my dear favorite people you know I wrote I read that book when I was I guess in just in grad school”
Where to get it
-
Middlemarch
Middlemarch by George Eliot is widely celebrated as a masterwork of Victorian literature, chronicling the lives and aspirations of provincial society in the fictional town of Middlemarch.
Discussed“so reading history as you said is a part of that but it's in fact the first draft this book was had just like ridiculous amount of Middlemarch in it and in the first draft it I think my editor was like um this is great”
Where to get it
-
Superforecasting
Superforecasting by Philip E.
Discussed“it's a great question so so just to clarify it so comes all this famous study that Philip tetlock did super forecasting yeah and expert political judgment”
Where to get it
-
Expert Political Judgment
Expert Political Judgment by Philip E.
Discussed“so so just to clarify it so comes all this famous study that Philip tetlock did super forecasting yeah and expert political judgment and he did one of the most amazing kind of long-term studies of people making predictions about things”
Where to get it
-
The Hedgehog and the Fox
Discussed“and what do you found with those people he described them in the classic Fox versus Hedgehog which is you know that Hedgehog knows one big thing has one big ideology one big explanation for the world of Fox”
Where to get it
-
Wonderland
Discussed“I used to give the tours at Xerox PARC for all the visitors and actually one of the big talking points was when we had like these big muckety-mucks coming through was how like there'd be a material science expert”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“and his latest book is farsighted which is how we make the decisions that matter the most”
“I'm sonal and I'm here today with Chris Dixon a general partner on a 6 + Z crypto and Steven B Johnson who is the author of many books including where good ideas come from”
“and Steven B Johnson who is the author of many books including where good ideas come from the PBS series how we got to know a book on play called Wunderland and his latest book is farsighted”
“so there's been great we've been talking about decision making and how it plays out you know in crypto and create an innovation and also then even in personal lives like Darwin or even novels and literature like Middlemarch”
“he is the author of the new book just out farsighted how we make the decisions that matter the most”