Episode · Lex Fridman Podcast · 2025-10-31
Lex Fridman & Dan Houser: books mentioned on Lex Fridman Podcast #484
#484 – Dan Houser: GTA, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar, Absurd & Future of Gaming
Dan Houser is co-founder of Rockstar Games and is a legendary creative mind behind Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Red Dead Redemption series of video games. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.
Dan Houser recommended War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and 1984 by George Orwell, discussed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone by Hunter S. Thompson, The Thin Red Line by James Jones, Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, and Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, and criticized Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Lex Fridman discussed On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S.
Discussed“- Plus there's the caricature of the drug world of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That's an interesting one. - I love the book so much. I was obsessed by it when I was about 17, 18. And I enjoyed the film, but I preferred the book.”
Where to get it
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Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone
Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone by Hunter S.
Discussed“- Plus there's the caricature of the drug world of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That's an interesting one. - I love the book so much. I was obsessed by it when I was about 17, 18. And I enjoyed the film, but I preferred the book.”
Where to get it
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The Thin Red Line
Discussed“The Thin Red Line is another book— ...and movie that shows that. - Yeah, yeah, and I watched the movie years before I read the book, and I didn't understand the movie. And then I read the book, and I read a lot about the editing of the movie, and I understood why I didn't understand the movie”
Where to get it
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On the Road
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a seminal autobiographical novel that chronicles the cross-country road trips of its protagonist and captures the restless energy of the Beat Generation.
Discussed“The end of On The Road by Kerouac: "Forlorn rags of growing... ...old." I just remember closing that and thinking, "What the fuck am I doing in this big... ...world?"”
Where to get it
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War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is a monumental historical novel blending grand military strategy with intimate domestic life against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.
Recommended“War and Peace is one of the best novels written in Russian, I would argue.”
Where to get it
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Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray is a sprawling satirical novel that chronicles the intertwined lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley against the backdrop of British society during and after the Napoleonic Wars.
Discussed“So I think there's something amazing about, you know, Vanity Fair, I used to love the novel, not the magazine. Because same thing, all of life is here.”
Where to get it
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1984
1984 by George Orwell is a classic dystopian novel depicting a totalitarian regime characterized by extreme surveillance, historical denial, and psychological manipulation.
Recommended“- Love 1984. Had never listened to it or read it, and then I think I did it on Talking Book”
Where to get it
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Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E.
Discussed“- And also, I mean, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. - Yeah. Oh, yeah.”
Where to get it
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Life and Fate
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman is a sweeping masterpiece depicting the brutality and human ramifications of the Eastern Front, the Holocaust, and totalitarianism during World War II.
Discussed“- I love the bit in Life and Fate when you get...”
Where to get it
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Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic dystopian science fiction novel that depicts a technologically advanced future society controlled through engineered reproduction, psychological conditioning, and constant superficial pleasure.
Critiqued“That's my criticism of Brave New World, it's just poorly written.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (10) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“You picked five fiction books, one for each decade of your life. For the audience, they should go listen to that conversation. But you picked Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome.”
“Second one was Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Then Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald...”
“Then Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Thin Red Line by James Jones, and Middlemarch by George Eliot.”
“Then Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Thin Red Line by James Jones...”
“The Thin Red Line by James Jones, and Middlemarch by George Eliot. But just zooming out, reflecting back on that conversation, what do you think”
“- And the book I've read more than any other book is Animal Farm by George Orwell.”
“- And you also mentioned that the three great World War II books are The Thin Red Line, Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. And The End of the Affair, Graham Greene.”
“- And you also mentioned that the three great World War II books are The Thin Red Line, Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman.”
“Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. And The End of the Affair, Graham Greene. What makes for a great war book?”
“So there's, like you said, 1984 is pretty. I mean, it's a caricature.”