Person
Vivek Ramaswamy's books and book recommendations
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Vivek Ramaswamy appears on, in one place — not just one.
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur and politician. He founded Roivant Sciences, a biotechnological pharmaceutical company, in 2014 and was its chief executive officer until 2021. Ramaswamy entered national politics as the youngest presidential candidate in the 2024 Republican primaries, but withdrew his bid and endorsed Donald Trump. He is currently the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio in the 2026 gubernatorial election and has been endorsed by both Trump and the Ohio Republican Party. During podcast appearances on shows like The Ezra Klein Show, The Megyn Kelly Show, and The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Ramaswamy has both recommended and discussed foundational philosophical and economic texts. When asked for reading suggestions, he explicitly recommended Friedrich Von Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty and The Road to Serfdom, as well as Jack Hawley's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Beyond direct recommendations, Ramaswamy used Hayek's The Road to Serfdom to argue that classical libertarians recognize a nation cannot depend on adversaries for self-defense. He also referenced Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street to draw analogies regarding poll accuracy, and mentioned biblical narratives from Exodus and Genesis during discussions about human nature, feeling lost, and choosing a spouse wisely, in addition to briefly acknowledging his own book, Woke, Inc.
Books by Vivek Ramaswamy
Books recommended by Vivek Ramaswamy
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The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita, translated by Jack Hawley, is an ancient Hindu scripture that presents a profound philosophical dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna on duty, righteousness, and spiritual liberation.
Recommended“and I'd actually because I'm in the mood today I'll recommend the bgav with Gita which is a um which is you obviously religious text but has has great important”
Where to get it
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The Constitution of Liberty
Friedrich Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty is a foundational text of classical liberalism, defending individual freedom, the rule of law, and limited government.
Recommended“so I would say uh the constitution of Liberty by Friedrich Von Hayek”
Where to get it
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The Road to Serfdom
F.
Discussed“like even if you're classical hiek style libertarian read the road to serfdom he would even admit and even embrace the idea that Nation cannot depend on its adversary for its own National self-defense”
Where to get it
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A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton Gordon Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street is a widely read finance book that advocates for the efficient market hypothesis, arguing that stock market prices completely reflect all available information and that active investing cannot consistently outperform a simple index fund.
Discussed“The reality is it reminds me of there's an old book called A Random Walk Down Wall Street, something to that effect, which basically concludes that a monkey throwing darts at a dartboard, picking stocks that way would either equally perform or outperform on a post-fee basis most professional Wall Street analysts or portfolio managers.”
Where to get it
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An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore is a documentary film and companion book highlighting the looming crisis of global warming and urging urgent action to protect the environment.
Discussed“this is supposed to Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth”
Where to get it
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Bad Blood
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou is a detailed work of investigative non-fiction documenting the rise and fraudulent collapse of Elizabeth Holmes's blood-testing company, Theranos.
Discussed“Megan I don't know what I've seen in the documentaries and and uh read in in the book about her bad blood”
Where to get it
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Bible
Bible by Bible is the foundational canonical text of Judaism and Christianity, comprising ancient narratives, laws, poetry, and prophetic writings that have shaped Western civilization.
Discussed“In some ways, we are running contrary to our nature as man, which leaves a vacuum in its wake that leaves us lost, like the Israelites in The Book of Exodus.”
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 examines historical patterns of conflict between rising powers and reigning hegemons to assess modern geopolitical tensions between the United States and China.
Discussed“and that if you know there's the famous thought experiment of the thucydides trap graham allison popularized it which said that effectively when you have a an empire in decline another rising empire they're inevitably destined to enter into physical conflict”
Where to get it
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Elements
Elements by Euclid is an ancient mathematical and geometric treatise that served as a foundational textbook for thousands of years.
Discussed“And you're studying Exodus, but this might be more of a Genesis example.”
Where to get it
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Lean In
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg is a prominent corporate and feminist manifesto that examines women's leadership in the workplace and the systemic barriers they face in achieving professional success.
Discussed“i'm thinking about sheryl sandberg and her book lean in which encouraged people to work hard and go for it”
Where to get it
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Nation of Victims
Nation of Victims by Vivek Ramaswamy examines the rise of identity politics, the erosion of meritocracy, and the cultural shift toward a victimhood mindset in modern society.
Discussed“And then actually the unfinished work was what led to Nation of Victims, which is the book that I'm putting out now.”
Where to get it
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The big short
The big short by Michael Lewis is a non-fiction account that explores the housing market collapse and the traders who profited from the 2008 financial crisis.
Discussed“I got my first job in New York at an elite hedge fund in the fall of 2007 you know the fund I worked at got an honorable mention in Michael Lewis's book The Big Short this is my first job out of college”
Where to get it
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The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a complex philosophical novel that delves deeply into faith, doubt, free will, and morality through the turbulent relationships of the Karamazov family.
Discussed“actually which came from not the Bible but from fyodor dostoyevsky's book uh the brothers karamazov Brothers gay uh in his chapter entitled The Grand Inquisitor actually and it tells the story of how Christ comes back to Earth during the 15th or 16th century or whatever in Seville Spain”
Where to get it
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith is a seminal 1759 work of moral philosophy that examines the psychological foundations of human judgment, empathy, and social order.
Discussed“Adam Smith's first book was actually about ethics”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational text in classical economics that explores the nature and causes of national wealth through the division of labor, productivity, and free markets.
Discussed“1776 was the year of the birth of the nation that was the year of The Wealth of Nations that was Adam Smith's famous text it was also the year of the Declaration of Independence and I think that both of these are America's parents”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (27: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I mean I was the chief Dei Crusader anti- Dei Crusader what four or five years ago when I wrote woke Inc and criticized the spread of wokeism through Corporate America and other parts of our culture”
“we are not victims we're not a nation of victims I wrote a book a couple years ago called nation of victims we should not at our best be a nation of victims”
“So I, and sort of in this, this part of why I wrote this book, okay? And I mean the book is called "Truths," so, I better darn well have well sourced facts in here, right?”
“And so, this is one of the core themes in my book. And you're talking about that as lies as artifice. I named the book truths for a reason.”
“So it's one of the things and it's great to see you again by the way because we have mostly kept that pledge and I think it's been Yeah. It's been a fun forcing function for me to also in conversations like this to take some space and reflect on what has been still a a life-changing journey. And you”
“I wrote Woke Inc. which actually was our first basis to get to know one another that first book and I've written this is my fourth book I've written in the last three years but this one's different in that it's not actually an academic exposition of any kind.”
“I had written three books I had traveled the country I had been to Most states in this Union as a consequence of my business activities across to the books I had written”
“I had written three books I had traveled the country I had been to Most states in this Union as a consequence of my business activities across to the books I had written”
“and I've spoken about this to the left my books are all about this I've preached this to the left”
“that's what the whole book is about the capitalist punishment book that I'm putting that's out today”
“An Insider who grew up in professional politics and even learned to say the things that I'm saying now or in woke Inc as a second tongue”
“so in woke Inc the first book that I wrote one of the ideas that I threw out there was to say that if we're going to have protected classes on the basis of race and gender”
“so my most recent book capitalist punishment is all about this woke Ink My First book touches on it more lightly”
“it's like Jack Nicholson at the end of the A Few Good Men right you can't handle the truth”
“Yeah, it turns out I've written three books in the last two years and two of them are about this topic.”
“the first one is woke Inc which was for a general audience”
“and then there was a second one called capitalist punishment which was specifically about the ESG strand of this in capital markets”
“my first book is about a lot of this my second book is about a lot of this woke Inc nation of victims here's what's wrong with that vision of identity grounded on your genetic attributes”
“my first book is about a lot of this my second book is about a lot of this woke Inc nation of victims”
“my first book is about a lot of this my second book is about a lot of this woke Inc nation of victims”
“Megan that's what the whole book is about the capitalist punishment book that I'm putting that's out today”
“I mean look I actually shared a stage with Ron DeSantis Juan said an event uh you know we both spoke I was on my Wok Inc book tour he was the main speaker of people came to hear him not me but I was also on that stage”
“and I wrote a couple of books about it and now run another business thank you woke Inc”
“woke ink was my first one came out last last August”
“and this September just came out the sequel to woke Inc which is nation of victims”
“I mean this was the stuff of woke Inc I wrote a book about it a little over a year ago”
“a title of the book is entitled a theory of duty It's a play on john rawls's famous theory of justice that was a north star for much of the liberal movement for much of the latter 20th century”