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Walter Isaacson books: every book Walter Isaacson wrote and recommended
Across 4 podcasts. Every show Walter Isaacson appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Walter Isaacson
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Steve Jobs
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Einstein
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The Code Breaker
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Leonardo da Vinci
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Kissinger
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Benjamin Franklin
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The wise men
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American sketches
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Profiles in Leadership
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Elon Musk
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A Benjamin Franklin Reader
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THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND JUDAISM
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Greatest Sentence Ever Written
Walter Isaacson’s most recommended books
- The Double Helix by James D. Watson
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Odyssey by Homer
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville
- Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Tell me how long the train's been gone by James Baldwin
- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
- Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Walter Seff Isaacson is an American journalist and professor at Tulane University who has written biographies of figures such as Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna, and Elon Musk. He is also an interviewer for Amanpour & Company. During an appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Isaacson mentioned James Watson's The Double Helix as an inspirational book given to Jennifer Doudna in her youth. During a rapid-fire discussion on On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Isaacson named several of his favorite books and literary explorations. He highlighted Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and Homer's The Odyssey as favorites centered on personal journeys, and also referenced Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the context of great personal journeys. Additionally, Isaacson mentioned Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals to illustrate different approaches to team leadership and creative tension, James Baldwin's novel Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone as part of his recent reading, and Walker Percy's The Moviegoer as a favorite book about a person going on a journey.
Books recommended by Walter Isaacson
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The Double Helix
The Double Helix by James D.
Recommended“So her father drops a book on her bed called the "Double Helix," the book by James Watson on the discovery of the structure of DNA...”
Where to get it
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The Code Breaker
The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson and Kathe Mazur is a compelling biography of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna that explores the revolutionary world of gene editing.
Discussed“The way Jennifer Doudna, the heroine of my book The Code Breaker, the one who helped invent CRISPR technology, in her lab and in her companies, if they're going to hire somebody new, even a graduate student to be in, you know, working with the pipettes and the test tubes, they make sure the whole team meets that person.”
Where to get it
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Brave New World
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a chilling dystopian masterpiece that envisions a technologically advanced future society sustained by pharmacological distraction, engineered conformity, and the systematic eradication of deep human emotion and critical thought.
Discussed“and not only will that increase the inequality in our society it will encode it permanently in our species which would just be a eugenic horror show like brave new world of the movie gattaca we don't want that to happen”
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The Odyssey
Homer's epic poem The Odyssey recounts the arduous ten-year journey of the Greek hero Odysseus as he strives to return home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, facing mythical monsters, divine wrath, and profound personal trials along the way.
Recommended“and so is the odyssey”
Where to get it
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic American novel depicting a young boy's journey down the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, confronting society and morality.
Recommended“speaking of great journeys um moby dick i think uh you could pick huck finn but moby dick is the same sort of thing”
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Moby Dick
Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a classic 19th-century novel exploring the obsessions of Captain Ahab and the dramatic whaling voyage of the Pequod.
Recommended“um moby dick”
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or, The Whale explores the obsessive, destructive quest of Captain Ahab to hunt down the white whale that maimed him, weaving a sprawling narrative that blends high-seas adventure, philosophical inquiry, and encyclopedic maritime lore.
Recommended“speaking of great journeys um moby dick i think uh you could pick huck finn but moby dick is the same sort of thing”
Where to get it
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Team of Rivals
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a celebrated historical account examining Abraham Lincoln's remarkable political leadership and his strategy of appointing former political opponents to his cabinet.
Recommended“if you read doris kearns goodwin's team of rivals or about franklin roosevelt or steve jobs they often like to have more creative tension within the team”
Where to get it
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Tell me how long the train's been gone
Tell me how long the train's been gone by James Baldwin is a powerful novel that explores the complex life, political awakening, and artistic struggles of a successful Black actor reflecting on his past from a hospital bed.
Recommended“i did just read for the you know recently james baldwin i've gotten into and tell me how long the train's been gone”
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The Moviegoer
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy is a classic philosophical novel about a young stockbroker in New Orleans grappling with alienation, routine, and a search for authenticity.
Recommended“the moviegoer by walker percy because it's about like any great book including non-fiction it's about a person goes on a journey and we're all on a journey”
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Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama is an introspective memoir chronicling the future president's early life, family history, and journey toward self-discovery.
Discussed“Barack Obama wrote in his memoir, "Every successful man is either trying to live up to his father's expectations or live down his father's sins." This is especially relevant for Elon, who had a violent and troubled childhood, with a psychologically complex father.”
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Lyndon Johnson and the American dream
Discussed“And when she was going for tenure at the university, she wrote a biography of 'Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.' They denied her tenure because it was beneath the dignity of the academy to write history through one person.”
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Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare is a complex dramatic play exploring themes of justice, morality, and human flaw.
Discussed“You want to take away his phone so he doesn't tweet at 3:00 a.m. You want to say, "Quit being so crazy." But then you realize there's a wonderful line of Shakespeare in "Measure for Measure" at the very end.”
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams's comedic science fiction masterpiece "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" follows the absurd interstellar travels of Arthur Dent after Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
Discussed“One of my theories on Elon, a minor theory, is that he read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" once too often.”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Just like in brave new world or gattaca”