Person
Every book Saifedean Ammous recommended on podcasts
Saifedean Ammous appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast to discuss Bitcoin, anarchy, and Austrian economics. During the comprehensive conversation, Ammous recommended Jonathan Bier's book The Blocksize War to explain in detail how network nodes triumphed over miners during the 2017 conflicts regarding Bitcoin control, a dynamic he also analyzed through his own book, The Bitcoin Standard. In addition to recommending Bier's work, Ammous extensively discussed foundational economic literature that shaped the Austrian school of economics. He examined Carl Menger's 1871 book Principles of Economics, explaining how Menger invented marginal analysis, which remains a cornerstone of economic theory. Ammous also referenced Ludwig von Mises's 1912 work The Theory of Money and Credit, detailing how Mises developed his foundational theories on money, and he highlighted Mises's major 1940s treatise on economics, Human Action. Through these recommendations and historical references, Ammous provided listeners with a rigorous intellectual framework tracing the evolution of monetary theory, market analysis, and decentralized currency systems.
Books recommended by Saifedean Ammous
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The Bitcoin Standard
The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous and James Fouhey is a non-fiction book that examines the history of money and argues for the economic necessity of Bitcoin from an Austrian economic perspective.
Recommended“it's a great description of in 2017 essentially the miners thought that they could control bitcoin”
Where to get it
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The Blocksize War
The Blocksize War by Jonathan Bier is a detailed historical account of the intense ideological and technical conflicts over scaling and governance within the Bitcoin network.
Recommended“but there's a recent book that discusses this in detail called the blocksize war by jonathan beer”
Where to get it
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Human Action
Human Action by Ludwig von Mises, co-edited with Bettina Bien Greaves, is a monumental economic treatise that serves as a foundational text for Austrian economics and libertarian theory.
Discussed“and then in the 40s he wrote human action which is a big treatise on economics”
Where to get it
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Principles of economics
Principles of Economics by Carl Menger is a foundational text in economic theory that established the Austrian School of economics and introduced the concept of marginal analysis.
Discussed“and the um the establishment of the austrian school per se came in 1871 150 years ago when karl menger the father of the school wrote a book called principles of economics and essentially invented marginal analysis which is a big deal in economics”
Where to get it
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The theory of money and credit
Discussed“and he developed a theory of money and um he wrote a book in 1912 called the theory of money and credit”
Where to get it
Books Saifedean Ammous wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| #284 – Saifedean Ammous: Bitcoin, Anarchy, and Austrian Economics | Lex Fridman Podcast | 2022-05-11 | 7 |
Other mentions (8: passing, ad reads, own books)
“in the bitcoin standard i present the argument that money is always whatever is the hardest thing to make”
“In "The Bitcoin Standard," I present the argument that money is always whatever is the hardest thing to make.”
“Over the last 150 years since 1870, I discuss this in detail in "The Bitcoin Standard."”
“and i discussed this in detail in uh the bitcoin standard what happened in 1870 was germany won the franco-prussian war and germany was on a silver standard”
“so if you look at on in the bitcoin standard i mentioned this metric called the stock to flow ratio which is the ratio of the annual production the flow to the stockpile the existing stockpiles”
“and i discussed this in chapter four of the bitcoin standard”
“After what happened in World War I, this changed; I discussed this in detail in The Fiat Standard.”
“But with the fiat system, and this is where I make a breakthrough in my book, fiat replaces gold mining with credit creation.”