Episode · Big Technology Podcast · 2021-09-22
Books mentioned on Unraveling The Mystery Of Peter Thiel — With Max Chafkin
Max Chafkin is the author of The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, which debuts this week. The book is a fascinating, inside look into the life and rise of Silicon Valley’s most powerful and controversial venture capitalist.
Alex Kantrowitz discussed The Contrarian by Max Chafkin. Max Chafkin discussed Zero to One by Peter Thiel and others and An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and others, and criticized The Diversity Myth by David O. Sacks and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Contrarian
The Contrarian by Max Chafkin is an investigative biography examining the career, political ideology, and growing influence of Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel.
Discussed“so why is he so important that you became you know obsessed in the way that got you to write a book and you know we're about to spend about an hour talking about him”
Where to get it
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Zero to One
Why people recommend it: Peter Thiel and Blake Masters's Zero to One offers a provocative guide to startup creation, arguing that true economic progress comes from building entirely new things rather than copying existing models.
Discussed“i mean in that you know teal wrote whole book zero to one where the basic takeaway is you know businesses if they want to succeed they should they should strive for you know monopoly profits”
Where to get it
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An Ugly Truth
An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang is an investigative non-fiction book that examines Facebook's internal battles for dominance, corporate culture, and the real-world consequences of its algorithms.
Discussed“there's a line in um there's a line in the um cecilia carrying cheryl frankel book of i think it's a quote from kara swisher about it basically is like something to the effect”
Where to get it
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The Diversity Myth
The Diversity Myth by David O.
Critiqued“and if you go back to teal's um you know to the newspaper or stanford review or the or the or the book he wrote diversity myth you will find some views on um uh you know sexuality that are are really you know pretty backwards”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“he is a features editor at bloomberg businessweek and the author of the brand new book just hit shelves yesterday it's called the contrarian peter thiel and silicon valley's pursuit of power”
“so why don't we do that right after the break we'll be back here on big technology podcast we got max chaffkin uh he is the author of the contrarian peter thiel in silicon valley's pursuit of power”
“because teal and zuckerberg have an interesting relationship in fact when i was reporting always day one i was told that you know mark has a feedback culture and he likes to listen to contrarian voices”
“we'll be back here on the big technology podcast right after this with max trafkin he's the author of the contrarian peter thiel and silicon valley's pursuit of power”
“the book is the contrarian peter thiel in silicon valley's pursuit of power it's available in all bookstores you can grab it today sometime later this week you know help max become a bestseller”