Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2022-05-11
Dwarkesh Patel & Ananyo Bhattacharya: books mentioned on Dwarkesh Podcast
Ananyo Bhattacharya - John von Neumann, Jewish Genius, and Nuclear War
Ananyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann. He is a science writer who has worked at the Economist and Nature.
Dwarkesh Patel recommended The Man from the Future by Ananyo Bhattacharya. Ananyo Bhattacharya discussed Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von Neumann and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Man from the Future
Ananyo Bhattacharya's The Man from the Future chronicles the visionary life and monumental scientific contributions of the polymath John von Neumann.
Recommended“most recently he's the author of the man from the future the visionary life of john von neumann and it was a extremely enjoyable read super interesting”
Where to get it
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Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
"Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern serves as the foundational text of game theory, examining how individuals and groups make strategic decisions under conditions of uncertainty and chance.
Discussed“now um if you look at what von neumann wrote in theory of games and economic behavior with morgenstern what he was concerned with his kind of solutions were based around cooperation so he was like were there stable solutions to games”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“he left behind a you know a massive amount of pure mathematics but really my my book focuses on um the stuff that he left behind that came about from engaging with with the real world”
“isn't it because i mean the book's called the man from the future right and i loved um von neumann's uh proof of um his automata theory you know his proof um uh that automata could could reproduce”
“i think the other thing that i sort of say in my book is i try to lay out the context of this i mean this was after the most destructive war that the world had ever known millions of people had died”
“not at all but i i would thoroughly recommend if you're gonna write a book that you try not to give up your day job a year before the worst pandemic descends that we've known about for you know decades descends on on and engulfs the planet”