Episode · This Week in Startups · 2026-04-25
Books mentioned on Naval's $500 VC fund, the Maduro Polymarket scandal, and NYT defends theft and murder | E2280
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Jason Calacanis recommended Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke and Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman. Lon Harris discussed The Queen's gambit by Walter S. Tevis.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Thinking in Bets
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke is a practical guide on decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, using lessons from professional poker to teach readers how to separate decision quality from outcomes.
Recommended“I like Annie Duke's framing of it, Thinking in Bets. Poker great Annie Duke. the great Annie Duke. We should have her back on the pod.”
Where to get it
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The Queen's gambit
The Queen's Gambit by Walter S.
Discussed“Is she the one who Queen's Gambit is based on? No, I mean Queen's Gambit is a is a fictional story that's like was like a novel that was just I guess loosely inspired by some of these stories.”
Where to get it
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Maus I: A Survivor's Tale
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman is a landmark graphic novel depicting the experiences of Jews during the Holocaust through animal allegory.
Recommended“It turns out her dad Mhm. is the author of Maus, the amazing graphic novel. Art Spiegelman is her dad. She's a massive nepo baby.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Thinking in Bets
“You got Annie Duke's thinking in bets, and you got this chess documentary called on Netflix.”
Passing The Communist Manifesto
“It's like when when I when an influencer podcaster goes on the air and starts telling me, you know, uh quoting Engels and quoting the Communist Manifesto and he's like, well, like are are you a communist or not?”