Person
Every book David Friedberg recommended on podcasts
David Friedberg’s most recommended books
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
- Changing World Order by Ray Dalio
- The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager
- Lifespan by David A. Sinclair, Matthew D. LaPlante
- King Henry V by William Shakespeare
- Our Energy Future by Christian Ngo
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- The Grid by Gretchen Anna Bakke
- The Idea Factory by Jon Gernter
David Albert Friedberg is a South African-American entrepreneur, businessman, and angel investor. He founded The Climate Corporation and served as its chief executive, overseeing its $1.1 billion sale to Monsanto in 2013, the first unicorn transaction in the emerging agricultural technology sector. Friedberg later founded and leads The Production Board (TPB). He co-hosts the All-In podcast with David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, and Chamath Palihapitiya. Across his career he has contributed to 32 patents. He invests as an angel in technology, food, agriculture, and life sciences startups with 16 exits. On the All-In podcast, Friedberg recommended several books on science, innovation, and economics. He strongly recommended Jon Gertner's The Idea Factory for the history of Bell Labs, Nick Lane's The Vital Question as a favorite work of media, and Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now to highlight improvements in global standards of living and material conditions. Furthermore, he recommended Thomas Hager's The Alchemy of Air to explain the historical breakthrough of synthetic fertilizer and Ray Dalio's Principles to frame geopolitical dynamics.
Books recommended by David Friedberg
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Principles
Principles by Ray Dalio is a prominent business and life guide written by the billionaire investor, detailing the systematic mental models and foundational guidelines he developed throughout his career.
Discussed“You have been in the Ray Dalio camp concerning the end of empires and whether the U.S. might be winding down its supremacy. Dalio pretty much asserts that this is the moment; is there any light between your position and his?”
Where to get it
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Enlightenment Now
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker is a widely acclaimed book that uses data and numerous charts to argue for long-term human progress, global prosperity, and the triumphs of reason and science.
Discussed“If you look Steve Pinker's book Enlightenment Now has a great statistic a set of statistics on this, but the amount of time that humans are spending on leisure activities per week has climbed extraordinarily over the past couple of decades.”
Where to get it
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Changing World Order
Ray Dalio's Changing World Order is a sweeping macroeconomic exploration of how major global empires rise, decline, and transition through cycles of debt, economic dominance, and conflict.
Discussed“Ray dalio had this great book about this the changing world order I don't know if you if you read it”
Where to get it
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The Alchemy of Air
The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager is a historical nonfiction work detailing the invention of the Haber-Bosch process and the subsequent creation of synthetic fertilizer.
Recommended“And if not for the invention of the Haber-Bosch process, which you can read about in the book The Alchemy of Air, and the creation of ammonia as a synthetic fertilizer, humans would all have starved in the mid-20th century.”
Where to get it
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Lifespan
Lifespan by David A.
Recommended“on this one i would point folks to read the book lifespan by david sinclair who's a researcher at harvard and he's done a lot of kind of leading work on on basically calling aging a disease and life extension so the book lifespan highlights i think a lot of his research and findings”
Where to get it
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King Henry V
King Lear is a classic tragedy by William Shakespeare that examines themes of madness, betrayal, generational conflict, and the deconstruction of absolute authority.
Recommended“The other one that he wrote, which is called Life Ascending, those two books you must read if you don't want to be a letter, in my opinion.”
Where to get it
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Our Energy Future
Our Energy Future by Christian Ngo and Joseph Natowitz is a comprehensive examination of global energy systems, technological developments, and future sustainability challenges.
Recommended“and by the way if you guys ever want to read an interesting book about how the grid operates um there's a book called the grid and it talks about how the electrical uh power grid system was built in the united states and how inefficient it is and all the problems”
Where to get it
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Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a science fiction novel about an astronaut who wakes up with amnesia on a desperate interstellar mission to save Earth from an extinction-level solar threat.
Recommended“Has anybody read Andy Weir's Hail Mary yet? The guy who did The Martian?”
Where to get it
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The Grid
The Grid by Gretchen Anna Bakke is an insightful non-fiction book that examines the history, construction, and inherent inefficiencies of the electrical power grid system in the United States.
Recommended“and by the way if you guys ever want to read an interesting book about how the grid operates um there's a book called the grid and it talks about how the electrical uh power grid system was built in the united states and how inefficient it is and all the problems”
Where to get it
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The Idea Factory
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner is a comprehensive history of Bell Labs and the golden age of American technological innovation.
Recommended“I recently read a book that I liked. I don't know if I talked about it called The Idea Factory on the history of Bell Labs and the great age of American innovation. Strongly recommend it.”
Where to get it
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Vital Question
Vital Question by Nick Lane is a landmark biochemistry book exploring the deepest origins of life and how biological energy evolved.
Recommended“um it's called the vital question by a guy named Nick Lane someone recommended it to me”
Where to get it
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When Genius Failed
When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein is a gripping work of narrative non-fiction chronicling the dramatic rise and catastrophic collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.
Recommended“go read the book when genius failed if you want to read the story it's a it does a good job summarizing it”
Where to get it
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A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America by John Adams is a comprehensive historical treatise examining the principles of republican governance and political theory.
Discussed“In 1787, John Quincy Adams, there he goes, published a work called a defense of the constitutions of governments of the United States of America.”
Where to get it
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American prison
American Prison by Shane Bauer is an investigative exposé chronicling the author's undercover experience working as a guard in a private corporate prison in Louisiana to expose systemic failures, violence, and the economics of punishment.
Discussed“there's a book from a few years ago that this guy named shane bauer wrote i'm just trying to remember the name i think it's called american prison and uh the guy goes undercover and he goes and works in a in a in a penitentiary in louisiana”
Where to get it
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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“san francisco we're basically an atlas shrugged i mean the uh you know half the storefronts are closed they're boarded up”
Where to get it
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Deception
Deception by Rand Paul is a detailed political book that investigates the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and alleges a massive cover-up involving public health officials.
Discussed“I want to talk about your new book, Deception, The Great COVID Coverup. What was at the heart of the coverup from your point of view?”
Where to get it
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Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is a science fiction novel about a gifted boy recruited into an advanced military academy to prepare for an alien invasion through simulated space battles.
Discussed“the leveling up that happens in the book Enders game I think is a good example of this where the guy goes through the entire kind of ground up and then ultimately he's commanding armies of spaceships and space”
Where to get it
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San Fransicko
San Fransicko by Michael Shellenberger is a critical examination of urban decay, homelessness, and governance in modern American cities, arguing that progressive policies have severely harmed places like San Francisco.
Discussed“I think this is what your book and uh um you know in a lot of the videos you've made at least the message I got was San Francisco”
Where to get it
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Sapiens
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is a sweeping narrative that traces the evolutionary and historical development of the human species from prehistoric bands to modern civilizations.
Discussed“by the way this is the cliff notes version of sapiens everybody yes let's know it's version of sapience”
Where to get it
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The Federalist papers
The Federalist papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay is a foundational collection of essays defending the United States Constitution and outlining the structure of the American government.
Discussed“in the Federalist Papers 10 and 51 James Madison emphasized that the structure of govern was meant to ensure that both state and federal governments would limit each other's excesses including their financial ones”
Where to get it
The other 5 books David Friedberg recommended or discussed, ranked
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
- The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
- The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke
- Titan by Ron Chernow
Appearances
Other mentions (4: passing, ad reads, own books)
“By the way, when people go to church and read the Bible, Yes. they're not all hearing the same sermon. They're like when you go to a gospel church in the South, it's not the same experience as going to a Catholic church in San Francisco, right?”
“we also algor's Inconvenient Truth and so so much of the kind of investing and Technology Community that's oriented around solving problems associated with climate change”
“This is the cliff notes version of 'Sapiens'.”
“And anyway, all of this stuff's laid out in his books, and it supports a lot of the research that's being done. Obviously, fasting and exercise also trigger this gene expression and enable measures of longevity to kind of be showing up biologically.”