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Every book David Sacks recommended on podcasts
Across 3 podcasts. Every show David Sacks appears on, in one place — not just one.
David Sacks’s most recommended books
- The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama
- The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff
- San Fransicko by Michael Shellenberger
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
- How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Changing World Order by Ray Dalio
- Dead Center by Joe Manchin
David Sacks is a prominent technology investor and podcaster who appears on the All-In podcast alongside Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg. Throughout the podcast, Sacks has recommended and discussed several influential books spanning economics, technology, and social issues. He praised Ray Dalio's book How Countries Go Broke, noting that he read it over the weekend and found it available online for free. Sacks also frequently champions Jonathan Haidt's work, mentioning that he distributed copies of The Coddling of the American Mind at a summit and recommending both that book and The Anxious Generation to listeners. In the realm of business and tech history, Sacks gave a plug to Jimmy Soni's The Founders, detailing the history of PayPal and noting that he optioned it for a television series. He also highlighted Michael Shellenberger's San Fransicko as his top book choice of the year, praised Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's Barbarians at the Gate as an excellent business book, and engaged in discussions surrounding these works.
Books recommended by David Sacks
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The End of History and the Last Man
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama is a prominent political science and philosophy book arguing that the worldwide spread of liberal democracies may signal the endpoint of humanity's sociocultural evolution.
Discussed“And remember in the 1990s the leading philosopher or international relations theorist the most celebrated book was the end of history by Francis Fukyama and what he basically said is that we're at the end of history because liberal democracy has won and it's only a matter of time before the whole world becomes liberal democracies.”
Where to get it
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The Coddling of the American Mind
The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt investigates how modern safetyism, declining childhood resilience, and the rapid rise of social media are negatively impacting the mental health and emotional development of younger generations.
Recommended“so my previous book The cing of the American mind began when my by the way I I I gave a copy to everyone at our Summit last year so we gave away 1800 of it was my pick”
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.
Recommended“and if you haven't read Michael's book San Francisco you did some great reporting there as well”
Where to get it
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1984
1984 by George Orwell is a classic dystopian novel depicting a totalitarian regime characterized by extreme surveillance, historical denial, and psychological manipulation.
Discussed“So, I do worry about the potential for AI to be used to surveil us, censor us, control us as Orwell described in 1984. So, if that's where the Pope is going with this, I very much agree with him.”
Where to get it
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The Happiness Hypothesis
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt is a popular psychology book that explores ancient wisdom through the lens of modern scientific research.
Discussed“Jonathan Heights, uh, book from years ago, uh, the happiness hypothesis. Yes. A great study in there on economic progress being the best predictor of happiness.”
Where to get it
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How Countries Go Broke
How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio is an analytical examination of currency debt markets, historical economic cycles, and national financial collapses.
Discussed“this week Ry is releasing a new book called how countries go broke in which he analyzes and shares his studies on this particular topic and I'm really excited for Ry to join me here uh today”
Where to get it
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The Anxious Generation
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt is a prominent non-fiction book that explores the profound psychological impacts of smartphones and social media on youth mental health.
Discussed“I know you've done a lot of media lately and a lot of it has focused on the anxious generation which has obviously got some really important topical conversations embedded within it”
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“I think this is right out of Atlas Shrugged where if you've ever read that book that begins with like a train wreck that in that case it kills a lot of people”
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“in 20121 as everyone knows Ray published The Changing World Order why Nations succeed and fail I declared it the book of the year”
Where to get it
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Dead Center
Dead Center by Joe Manchin is a political book focusing on bipartisanship, common sense governance, personal responsibility, and the history of American public service.
Discussed“And Chamath and I will be interviewing him uh on his new book, Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense.”
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“i'm not disagreeing with chamoth but the the point the point that resonates with me that friedrich said is actually the book sapiens really did impact my thinking as a vc which is you know yuval harari makes this point that it's narratives that kind of define you know humans”
Where to get it
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White Fragility
White Fragility by Dr.
Critiqued“these hr consultants who've written these books like on the was it uh d'angelo or whatever on white fragility and you know how how to be an anti-racist i mean they're all making a fortune in corporate fees”
Where to get it
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Barbarians at the Gate
Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar is a classic work of narrative business journalism documenting the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco.
Recommended“barbarians at the gate was better booked was it was a tv movie with james gardner it was good yeah it's worth watching the book is excellent the book is focused next level”
Where to get it
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Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides' Trap?
Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides' Trap? by Graham Allison and Andrew Hastie explores the historical pattern wherein a rising power threatens to displace a ruling hegemon, frequently culminating in war.
Recommended“a really good book about this is the Thucydides Trap um by Graham Allison who's a Harvard professor and he discusses different strategies we can take.”
Where to get it
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Every Life Is on Fire
Every Life Is on Fire by Jeremy England is a popular science book that examines the thermodynamic foundations of living systems and how physical laws shape biological processes.
Recommended“it's called Every life is on fire by this guy named Jeremy England and he highlights how all of evolution is effectively predicted by statistical physics”
Where to get it
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Nexus
Nexus by Ramez Naam is a science fiction novel that explores transhumanism, biotechnology, and a brain-computer interface that allows individuals to connect directly with one another.
Recommended“there's a lot of great science fiction written about this whole sort of transhumanist idea a book series i really like is uh nexus by ramez nam who actually was a developer at microsoft and you know then became a writer and he writes with i'd say a high degree of sort of accurate accuracy and specificity about these technologies”
Where to get it
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The Founders
The Founders by Jimmy Soni is the gripping chronicle of PayPal and the ambitious entrepreneurs who ultimately shaped the modern technology landscape of Silicon Valley.
Recommended“one project I will give a little plug to is Jimmy Sony's book the founders which is the story of PayPal and the entrepreneurs who shaped Sil Valley that came out in 2022”
Where to get it
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#positivity
Critiqued“Phil is doing what all people on crisis do write self-help books it's called positivity which is ironic because the only thing Phil has ever tested positive for is narcissistic personality disorder that's so good this inspirational Tome is a whopping 84 Pages Oprah has taken inspirational shits bigger than this on Amazon it says people who enjoyed this book”
Where to get it
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A Fighting Chance
Discussed“this is from her memoir in 2014 a fighting chance she wrote outsider quoting larry summers”
Where to get it
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An Inconvenient Minority
Discussed“so for example there's a book written recently about asian-americans in the United States called the inconvenient minority”
Where to get it
- Apple in China by Patrick McGee
- Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
- Bible by Bible
- Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez
- Deception by Rand Paul
- Destined for War by Graham T. Allison
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- Free speech for me--but not for thee by Nat Hentoff
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance
- How to Be a (Young) Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Nic Stone
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky
- In Defense of Looting by Vicky Osterweil
- Losing Ground by Charles Murray
- Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- Super Pumped by Mike Isaac
- Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom
- Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
- The art of John Bolton by John Bolton
- The big short by Michael Lewis
- The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington
- The Clash of Civilizations? by Samuel P. Huntington
- The Emerging Democratic Majority by John B. Judis
- The end of history by Francis Fukuyama
- The Federalist papers by Alexander Hamilton
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- The Gray Lady Winked by Ashley Rindsberg
- The Last LIne of Defense by Eric Schmitt
David Sacks’s latest episodes with books
David Sacks’s book recommendations by year
All 57 books David Sacks recommended or discussed across 53 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.