Episode · This Week in Startups · 2021-12-02
Books mentioned on Podcasting, crypto and favorite finds with Acquired's Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal | E1337
David and Ben from Acquired.FM join Jason to talk about their favorite podcast moments from 2021 (1:29), valuations across startups & crypto (35:50), top content recommendations (1:10:00) and so much more!
Jason Calacanis recommended Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, Powerhouse by James A. Miller, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Martian by Andy Weir, Grinding it Out by Ray Kroc and others, On Writing by Stephen King, The dark tower by Stephen King, and Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and others, and discussed Carrie by Stephen King. Ben Gilbert recommended Who is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovitz and The Expanse by James S.A. Corey.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E.
Recommended“i don't know if you guys have ever read man's search for meaning oh yeah oh yeah that's right very late holiday read record i've read it three times in my life and maybe it's a good idea for me to read it”
Where to get it
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Who is Michael Ovitz?
Who is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovitz is a compelling memoir by the legendary Hollywood superagent detailing the rise of Creative Artists Agency and the mechanics of the entertainment industry.
Recommended“earlier this year after doing all the research for the andreessen horowitz couple of episodes that we did um obviously they based that a lot on caa and so i was like i should learn about caa and i read michael ovitz's”
Where to get it
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Powerhouse
Powerhouse by James A.
Recommended“i have the ultimate uh build on that the oral history of creative artist agencies your nest yes listen and i'm in this right now and i'm like it's 12 hours into the audiobook so that's a great compliment to the ovitz one”
Where to get it
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Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a gripping science fiction novel about a lone astronaut who wakes up with amnesia on a desperate interstellar mission to save Earth from an extinction-level extinction event caused by a sun-dimming microorganism.
Recommended“i really like the martian and the follow-up to that project hail mary came out from andy weir i just bought it that's my holiday reading it's uh it's great i really enjoyed it”
Where to get it
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The Martian
The Martian by Andy Weir is a hard science fiction novel about an astronaut stranded alone on Mars who must use his engineering ingenuity and scientific knowledge to survive.
Recommended“i on the on the fiction tip i really like the martian and the follow-up to that project hail mary came out from andy weir i just bought it that's my holiday reading it's uh it's great”
Where to get it
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Grinding it Out
Grinding it Out by Ray Kroc and Robert Anderson is the candid autobiography of the man who built McDonald's into a global fast-food empire through relentless persistence and operational discipline.
Recommended“and then on the bio tip uh i finally got around to grinding it out the ray kroc story oh absolutely fantastic if you've seen the movie the founder have you seen the founder”
Where to get it
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On Writing
Stephen King’s On Writing is part memoir and part masterclass on the craft of storytelling.
Recommended“i also reread because i started writing my next book um i really listened to when i was in italy um and that's as much as i'll say uh but it's not a tactical book like angel this is a book like big think book”
Where to get it
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Carrie
Carrie is Stephen King's debut horror novel, published in 1974, which follows a tormented teenage girl gifted with psychokinetic powers.
Discussed“well there's an amazing anecdote he was doing um he was a teacher he wrote like three pages about carrie and just about how this girl had had her first menstruation cycle and the girls made fun of her whatever and he was very frustrated with it crumpled it up and threw it away”
Where to get it
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The dark tower
The Dark Tower is a sprawling epic fantasy series by Stephen King that blends elements of horror, Westerns, and science fiction to follow a gunslinger on a mystical quest across multiple dimensions.
Recommended“uh you what do you guys got quickly on stephen king though uh quick shout out his gunslinger series not as well known but it's his magnum opus it's so good so so good”
Where to get it
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Working Backwards
Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr is an insider account of Amazon's unique management practices, operational discipline, and customer-centric business strategies.
Recommended“uh then i had working backwards by the way uh which is the amazon book just because i'm trying to institute the writing culture inside of my companies”
Where to get it
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The Expanse
The Expanse by James S.A.
Recommended“uh sticking with the the fiction and the sci-fi building off the march in the expanse i've not watched the tv show but the books are so good i feel like not enough people know about these”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“michael ovitz yeah it is so good i mean if you like shoe dog or uh ride of a lifetime or any of these like unbelievable like business thrillers it is it is definitely one of those”
“michael ovitz yeah it is so good i mean if you like shoe dog or uh ride of a lifetime or any of these like unbelievable like business thrillers it is it is definitely one of those”
“other recommended to me that i need to read as part of our you know learning about this space in hollywood and all the analogies to tech um oh gee have you ever read the genius of the system uh it was recommended to me years ago i gotta read it”
“i also reread because i started writing my next book um i really listened to when i was in italy um and that's as much as i'll say uh but it's not a tactical book like angel this is a book like big think book”