Episode · a16z Podcast · 2025-08-01
Books mentioned on Balaji Srinivasan on the Battle Between Traditional Media & Tech
Balaji Srinivasan recommended The journalist and the murderer by Janet Malcolm, and discussed The Man Who Invented Fidel by Anthony DePalma and The Truth Machine by Paul Vigna and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The journalist and the murderer
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm is a critical nonfiction examination of the complex, often exploitative relationship between reporters and their subjects, famously opening with a stark line about the moral compromises inherent in journalism.
Recommended“Janet Malcolm, you know, talks about this and and her opening line, this is this great book called The Journalist of the Murderer.”
Where to get it
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The Man Who Invented Fidel
Discussed“the man who invented Fidel, Castro, Cuba, and Herbert El Matthews of the New York Times.”
Where to get it
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The Truth Machine
The Truth Machine by Paul Vigna and Michael J.
Discussed“this is like seven years ago and the thing is this just basically puts in book form a concept that existed for a long time so I've just got a citation for the concept right so essentially the point is that Bitcoin is decentralized cryptographic truth.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged The Network State
“this is basically from my book the network state I think it's a useful frame which is”