Episode · The Ben & Marc Show · 2025-05-31
Books mentioned on Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software
On this episode of "The Ben & Marc Show", a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz sit down with legendary music producer and bestselling author Rick Rubin to explore the origin of his unexpe
Rick Rubin discussed Tao Te Ching by Lao Tze and others, Beatles - Please Please Me by The Beatles, and Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. Marc Andreessen discussed The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Anjney Midha discussed The Creative Act by Rick Rubin and The Way of the Code by Rick Rubin.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching by Laozi is an ancient foundational text of philosophical Taoism that explores the concept of the Tao, the natural order of the universe, and the virtue of effortless action.
Discussed“And it's a book about vibe coding by way of a 3,000-year-old spiritual text called The Da Jane, written by LaSu.”
Where to get it
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Beatles - Please Please Me
Discussed“It's we know it very specifically in the hip-hop world, but that's really when the Beatles listened to Roy Orbison and then wrote Please Me based on his Please, Roy Orbison's Please song.”
Where to get it
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Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu is a foundational text of Eastern philosophy and Taoism that explores the nature of reality, effortless action, and spiritual enlightenment.
Discussed“Well I I think this the reason I chose the lu uh the da jing to base it on because the the da jing is how to live how to be it's the way transl way.”
Where to get it
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The Half-Life of Facts
The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman is a non-fiction book that explores how scientific knowledge, facts, and physical models decay or evolve over time much like radioactive isotopes.
Discussed“There's a great book uh this guy wrote called the half-life of facts.”
Where to get it
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Walden
Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a classic transcendentalist reflection on the value of simplicity, self-reliance, and intentional living in deliberate harmony with nature.
Discussed“throw was way ahead of his time we really need Walden Pond now”
Where to get it
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The Creative Act
The Creative Act: A Way of Being is a guide to harnessing artistic perspective and spiritual approaches to creativity by legendary music producer Rick Rubin.
Discussed“Like the the uh in the creative act, the the subtitle is um a way of being.”
Where to get it
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The Way of the Code
Discussed“My takeaway is basically that you're saying we've got to vibe with ourselves when using these tools and watching and reading the way of code is basically a window into watching how you Rick vibed with yourself in the creation of this.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“The Way of Code is a book about vibe coding.”
“The Way of Code is a book about vibe coding.”
“Well I I think this the reason I chose the lu uh the da jing to base it on because the the da jing is how to live how to be it's the way transl way.”
“It's funny because I have read the da Jing, but only because I have a friend who's a professor of Chinese who did a translation and I was like, "Oh, well, I'll read that."”