Episode · How I Write · 2023-10-18
David Perell & Riva Tez: books mentioned on How I Write
Riva Tez: Becoming A Free Thinker
Riva Tez is one of the freest writers I know. It’s as if the boundaries of conventional thinking don’t apply to her.
Riva Tez recommended The Odyssey, The immortalist by Alan Harrington, and The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro, and discussed Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Vasari's Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari and others, Codex sinaiticus by Constantin von Tischendorf, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and others. David Perell discussed The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings by Max Weber and the two culture and the scientific revolution by C.P. Snow.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a sweeping philosophical novel that champions objectivism, laissez-faire capitalism, and individual achievement while depicting a dystopian society collapsing under the weight of excessive government controls.
Discussed“I think we've had this conversation previously, which is that I've probably read Atlas Frye, like every two years, but like 15 years. Right. And I look back and I wish that I'd understood it better as a teenager”
Where to get it
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Vasari's Lives of the Artists
Discussed“It's currently studying Vasari's lives as an artist, like an account of like 16th century Italian artists. And one of the ones she's studying is Masaccio”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic ancient Greek poem that follows the arduous ten-year journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, encountering mythical creatures, divine wrath, and numerous trials along the way.
Recommended“Like, I'd rather read the Odyssey a hundred times than watch Netflix. Like, I am not looking for passive entertainment.”
Where to get it
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The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber is a foundational sociological study examining how religious values historically influenced the development and rise of capitalist labor practices.
Discussed“I took, uh, they invited me to a class, and the entire semester was on the, like, 300 pages of Max Weber, like basically all about The, the Protestant work ethic and I was like, this is interesting. I never realized you could go so deep in something.”
Where to get it
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Codex sinaiticus
Discussed“And the oldest New Testament, there's lots of fragments of the New Testament, but the oldest claiming New Testament, like entire copy, um, Codex, the Codex Sinaiticus, which was discovered in the late 19th century by a biblical researcher called Constantine Tischendorf”
Where to get it
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Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller is a landmark autobiographical novel renowned for its raw, unfiltered depiction of bohemian life in Paris and its boundary-pushing approach to sexuality and human experience.
Discussed“I read The Tropic of Cancer the other day. You read Tropic of Cancer, it's like, it goes from extreme explicitness, it's like a train of thought of like a man.”
Where to get it
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American Psycho
American Psycho is a controversial and satirical 1991 horror novel by Bret Easton Ellis that explores the hyper-materialistic, ultra-violent life of Wall Street yuppie and serial killer Patrick Bateman.
Discussed“Like Bret Easton Ellis, like when they wrote American Psycho, it was also like an edgy book, right, like it glorifies violence, all this kind of stuff, but it's fiction.”
Where to get it
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The immortalist
The Immortalist is a philosophical and speculative book by Alan Harrington that investigates the human desire to conquer death and imagines what society might look like in the absence of mortality.
Recommended“There's a great book actually called Alan by Alan Harrington called The Immortalists. You just talks about what society would look like if you'd, if you'd like, got rid of mortality”
Where to get it
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the two culture and the scientific revolution
The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution by C.P.
Discussed“I want to say 1945, but that year strikes me that might be off because that was right after the war. But there's a guy named C. P. Snow who wrote a book called The Two Cultures.”
Where to get it
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The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of narrative poems in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer that details the tales told by a diverse group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury.
Discussed“William Morris did the Canterbury Tales. Like, have you seen these books? Oh, it's just so beautiful.”
Where to get it
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The Aeneid
The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro is a foundational classical epic poem that follows the Trojan hero Aeneas as he travels to Italy and lays the groundwork for the founding of Rome.
Recommended“And if you read Euripides, Or like poetry, if you read the Odyssey, right, which I'm sure you have, or the Aeneid. In that, which is in my, on my mind, like the next, like the next level of foundational books after like the Bible”
Where to get it
