Episode · This Week in Startups · 2026-04-11
Books mentioned on Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274
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Jason Calacanis recommended Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, and discussed Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins, My Life in Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins, Designer's Guide to Creating Charts & Diagrams by Nigel Holmes, and Wordless Diagrams by Nigel Holmes. Also mentioned: Hyperion by Dan Simmons and These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Scientific Advertising
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins is a foundational early twentieth-century business text that establishes core principles of direct-response marketing, tracking, and consumer psychology.
Discussed“And then there was this My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by uh David uh These are two works by Claude Hopkins and you know, my thesis is um there are a lot of lessons”
Where to get it
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My Life in Advertising
My Life in Advertising by Claude C.
Discussed“And then there was this My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by uh David uh These are two works by Claude Hopkins and you know, my thesis is um there are a lot of lessons”
Where to get it
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Designer's Guide to Creating Charts & Diagrams
Discussed“And you're a fan of books, I see. Well, no. I'm a fan of scribbling in them. Like this is a book I bought with my dad, Democracy in America.”
Where to get it
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Wordless Diagrams
Discussed“And you're a fan of books, I see. Well, no. I'm a fan of scribbling in them. Like this is a book I bought with my dad, Democracy in America.”
Where to get it
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Democracy in America
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville is a foundational socio-political study offering an insightful external perspective on the American political and cultural landscape.
Recommended“I'm a fan of scribbling in them. Like this is a book I bought with my dad, Democracy in America. If you haven't read it, you should read it. But you should scribble on every page of your books.”
Where to get it
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Hyperion
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is a celebrated science fiction masterpiece that reimagines Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in a distant-future interstellar setting.
Recommended“So, have you read a book called Hyperion? No, but I'm aware of it. Okay. Well, first of all, Jason, my gift to you, read it. It'll blow your mind. It's it's crazy.”
Where to get it
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These Burning Stars
Recommended“Uh I'm reading the audiobook version while I push my kids around in strollers. Uh it's called The Kingdom trilogy. First book is These Burning Stars. I am not a like um I'm not into books that are like thrillers per se.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“So, I'm trying to not click on Ogilvy on advertising. This was like an old um book on advertising.”