Podcast
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg book recommendations
Industry veterans, degenerate gamblers & besties Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg cover all things economic, tech, political, social & poker.
Latest mentions
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Abundance
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The End of History and the Last Man
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The Federalist Papers
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Pour Your Heart Into It
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Project 2025:
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Outliers
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The Proud Tower
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Hillbilly Elegy
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Lean In
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The Anxious Generation
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Dune
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Fight Club: A Novel
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Future shock
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Steve Jobs
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Le capital au XXIe siècle
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Nation of Victims
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Thank You for Smoking
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Principles
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Atlas Shrugged
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The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
Most recommended on All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
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Principles
On various episodes of All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg between 2021 and 2023, the hosts repeatedly brought up Ray Dalio's book Principles. David Friedberg and other speakers cited Dalio's frameworks regarding institutional culture, employee attrition, and macroeconomic cycles of rising and falling empires to debate current global economic and corporate trends.
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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Dune
Discussed“It's like that scene in Dune where he eats his tooth and releases that poison gas. That's right, get better soon, JCal.”
Where to get it
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Fight Club: A Novel
On All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg, Jason Calacanis mentions Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club. He draws comparisons between a scene in the book and a real-life party moment involving actor Meat Loaf, and later cites a quote from the novel while discussing frustrations within the Bitcoin community.
Discussed“This is what I was thinking, this is what it reminded me of, this is Sax's personal Vietnam, this is oh yeah, it's a great scene, great scene, love that that's a great scene from Fight Club, that's Meatloaf, right?”
Where to get it
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Hillbilly Elegy
Discussed“We all read Hillbilly Elegy; I don't know if we talked about it on this pod years ago, but you and I certainly talked about it a bunch.”
Where to get it
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Thank You for Smoking
Discussed“They're taking screenplay writing software, Sac, so you’ll appreciate this, having produced two amazing movies, thank you for smoking and the Dolly film, called Dollyland.”
Where to get it
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The End of History and the Last Man
Discussed“I mean, look, cuz cuz what happened is I mean, just to uplevel this for a second is that you you had Fukuyama write the end of history, which basically said that democratic capitalism is the end- all beall and we're basically down to one system and the whole world's going to run on that system.”
Where to get it
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The Federalist Papers
On the All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg podcast, the hosts discussed 'The Federalist Papers' by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. A speaker noted that Alexander Hamilton wrote about the pardon power in Federalist Paper number 74. The host also mentioned using ChatGPT to review Federalist Papers 10 and 51, where James Madison emphasized governance structures meant to ensure state and federal balance, and referenced Federalist Paper number 58 regarding the House of Representatives' control over taxation and spending.
Discussed“if you go back to the arguments for the pardon being in the Constitution you can see that Alexander Hamilton wrote deeply about it in Federalist Paper number 74”
Where to get it
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1984
Discussed“yeah I think we just defined George rell's 1984 like or cancel culture”
Where to get it
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2001. a Space Odyssey
Discussed“If you read the original treatment written by Arthur Clarke for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was written before the movie and then the book was written after the movie, he makes a really compelling point. He says that when civilizations achieve a sophisticated enough level of technology, there's no longer a need to physically transport yourself from”
Where to get it
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Abundance
Discussed“He's got a new book with Derek Thompson, Abundance, and he co-founded Vox in 2014, and he's our guest here today before Trump ships him to El Salvador.”
Where to get it
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Animal Farm
Discussed“But you have this mantra; it is communist-like, where it's like the commandments written on the barn in Animal Farm where it is propaganda that’s so at odds with reality; it’s just absurd.”
Where to get it
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Atlas Shrugged
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, kills a lot of people.”
Where to get it
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Barbarians at the Gate
Discussed“Yeah, it's worth watching. The book is excellent, focused next level.”
Where to get it
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Enlightenment Now
Discussed“Read Pinkner's book or Enlightenment Now and just go through those 200 charts he puts in there; it will blow your mind.”
Where to get it
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Future shock
Discussed“And by the way, you know, it might be time to read Future Shock again by Alvin Toffler, who predicted so much of this mess in which we find ourselves—the incapacity of human beings to adapt to such rapid technological change.”
Where to get it
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How to Be a (Young) Antiracist
Discussed“No, I mean these HR consultants who've written these books, like on the—was it D'Angelo or whatever on white fragility? And you know, how to be an anti-racist?”
Where to get it
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I Love Capitalism!
Discussed“another uh interesting book you might like i love capitalism by ken langone who um you know built uh he built uh home depot and it's a pretty great story about both stories of capitalism”
Where to get it
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Il futuro della vita
Discussed“40% of the bacteria in the oceans are killed every day by viruses This is a great stat that Jennifer Doudna uses in her book that on the discovery of CRISPR”
Where to get it
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It's a Book!
Discussed“One good investment in his 30-year career, but he wrote a book about it and tells all the VCs to kiss his rear.”
Where to get it
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Jurassic Park
Discussed“And now we have to just I think face the reality that we are in competition And I think that's what is making the press even more complicated I'm not saying the press is targeting people they consider competitive But the press is not getting Vlad Elon Or Zuck for interviews But because Mark Andreessen has you know Clubhouse now”
Where to get it
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King Henry V
Discussed“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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Le capital au XXIe siècle
Discussed“And with, you know, you read Thomas Piketty's book 'Capital,' he speaks so much about wealth disparity, um, in an era of globalization, uh, in an era of technification, in an era when the world is seeing some people have extraordinary gains but most people not, on a relative basis.”
Where to get it
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Lean In
Discussed“And you wrote a book, 'Lean In,' and you are an expert on this and having compassion for people who are suffering is absolutely beautiful.”
Where to get it
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Lifespan
On All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg, David Friedberg recommended the book Lifespan by Harvard researcher David Sinclair and Matthew D. LaPlante during episode 26. He discussed how the book explores aging as a disease, details life extension strategies, and covers topics such as fasting and exercise triggering gene expression to support longevity.
Discussed“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 leading work on basically calling aging a disease and life extension.”
Where to get it
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Lifespan
Discussed“David Sinclair who wrote the book lifespan and as a Harvard biochemists has highlighted that there's basically a gene the circuit genes as about seven of them in humans”
Where to get it
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Nation of Victims
Discussed“Yeah, it turns out I've written three books in the last two years and two of them are about this topic.”
Where to get it
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Nineteen Eighty-Four
Discussed“There was a great tweet that encapsulated this—it’s like we've merged George Orwell with Iran, where Elon Musk, the heroic entrepreneur, tries to rescue freedom of speech, while simultaneously, an Orwellian ministry of truth is being created by the federal government.”
Where to get it
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Outliers
Discussed“I believe, and so it's even... didn't Malcolm... didn't Malcolm Gladwell write something which was roughly the equivalent of like you're better off getting the top 10 student at a non-Ivy versus like the 50th student at an Ivy or something? I don't know; there was like something like maybe it was like a chapter?”
Where to get it
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Pour Your Heart Into It
Discussed“If anybody has read 'Pour Your Heart Into It,' Schultz's biography, it's absolutely fantastic. He really had an obsession with user experience, like writing people's names on the cups, that was a Starbucks innovation.”
Where to get it
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Project 2025:
Discussed“He also mentioned that he had never read the conservative project, Project 2025, until others accused him of supporting it, claiming it was written by a right-wing group. He started analyzing the project critically, indicating that he is open to changing his approach and is interested in his legacy.”
Where to get it
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Project Hail Mary
Discussed“Has anybody read Andy Weir's Hail Mary yet? The guy who did The Martian?”
Where to get it
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Sapiens
In an August 2021 episode of All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg, the hosts briefly referenced Yuval Noah Harari's book 'Sapiens'. David Sacks explained that the book significantly shaped his perspective as a venture capitalist by highlighting Harari's point that shared narratives are foundational in defining human societies and binding them together.
Discussed“This is the cliff notes version of 'Sapiens'.”
Where to get it
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Steve Jobs
Discussed“Also, you have to build all the cars; if Elon does get out this Robo-taxi vehicle for $25k, which he seems like is well on the way with the Model 3, to getting to this—this was an early mockup from Walter Isaacson's book, which looks pretty sharp, and it doesn't have—it's like a two-seat car, so these things zigzagging around”
Where to get it
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The Anxious Generation
Discussed“Did any of you guys read Jonathan Haidt's book, Anxious Generation?”
Where to get it
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The art of John Bolton
Discussed“Can we talk by the way could we just talk about this Bolton book I mean what the [ __ ] I mean he he did ask you jimping to help him win the election and he bartered buy soybeans to help me win the election I mean this is insane I think I think we need to we need”
Where to get it
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The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Discussed“On August 22nd of 2019, Michael Burry, who is famous from The Big Short, discloses a three percent position in the company and highlights that ninety percent of GameStop's 5,700 stores are free cash flow positive.”
Where to get it
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The Fish That Ate the Whale
Discussed“uh i'll just give my closing the fish that ate the whale a book about sam zumari who was the banana king”
Where to get it
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The Godfather
Discussed“i ended up reading all mario pouta's godfather uh which is very graphic and interesting but if you've seen the movie i don't think you get much more from the book”
Where to get it
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The House of Morgan
Discussed“but then um i started reading ron chernow's um biography of uh oh yes rockefeller yeah and so i don't know if anyone's made it through that 727 page two i got about 500 pages in It is detailed”
Where to get it
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The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
Discussed“And then on the book front, man, the Michael Lewis book about SBF is going to be next level; I cannot wait for that. Sacks, you're a media junkie; what do you have on your list of things you're looking forward to, or should I say, what do Tucker's writers have put down for you?”
Where to get it
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The Proud Tower
Discussed“What I will blame them for is taking the demonization up to eleven, taking the vitriol all up to eleven because that could poison the mind of someone who's already mentally disturbed and say, 'Okay, well, wait a second, if he is Hitler, why wouldn't I be Colonel van Stenberg for assassinating him?”
Where to get it
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The Ride of a Lifetime
Discussed“Yeah, did you guys read the book he wrote, A Ride of a Lifetime? What is it?”
Where to get it
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The Trump Tapes
Discussed“you probably saw the book that came out with the tapes of trump saying that you know he was trying to play it down sax as a lifelong republican what were your thoughts when the republican presidential candidate the republican president said uh hey i'm trying to play this down”
Where to get it
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War and Peace
Discussed“There are decades and layers to this story, like 'War and Peace'; if you only read one half of the final chapter, you might think you understand, but in reality, there's a lot to unpack.”
Where to get it
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White Fragility
Discussed“No, I mean these HR consultants who've written these books, like on the—was it D'Angelo or whatever on white fragility? And you know, how to be an anti-racist?”
Where to get it
Host picks
Guest picks
Guests who recommended books
Latest mentions
Discussed Abundance
“He's got a new book with Derek Thompson, Abundance, and he co-founded Vox in 2014, and he's our guest here today before Trump ships him to El Salvador.”
Discussed The End of History and the Last Man
“You've got Francis Fukuyama had a piece this week basically predicting imminent Russian defeat and that there's going to be a new birth of freedom for the West.”
Discussed The Federalist Papers
“And then in the Federalist Paper number 58 he said the House of Representatives has control over the quote power of the purse which gives the people’s representatives authority over taxation and spending but they also warned along with Alexander Hamilton of the dangers of unchecked government power through burdensome taxation and excess spending which would ultimately erode individual freedoms.”
Discussed Pour Your Heart Into It
“If anybody has read 'Pour Your Heart Into It,' Schultz's biography, it's absolutely fantastic. He really had an obsession with user experience, like writing people's names on the cups, that was a Starbucks innovation.”
Discussed Project 2025:
“He also mentioned that he had never read the conservative project, Project 2025, until others accused him of supporting it, claiming it was written by a right-wing group. He started analyzing the project critically, indicating that he is open to changing his approach and is interested in his legacy.”
Discussed Outliers
“I believe, and so it's even... didn't Malcolm... didn't Malcolm Gladwell write something which was roughly the equivalent of like you're better off getting the top 10 student at a non-Ivy versus like the 50th student at an Ivy or something? I don't know; there was like something like maybe it was like a chapter?”
Discussed The Proud Tower
“What I will blame them for is taking the demonization up to eleven, taking the vitriol all up to eleven because that could poison the mind of someone who's already mentally disturbed and say, 'Okay, well, wait a second, if he is Hitler, why wouldn't I be Colonel van Stenberg for assassinating him?”
Discussed Hillbilly Elegy
“You know, I read, you know, the Hillbilly Elegy author, um, you know, I was, you know, my surprise at that happening caused me to ask questions.”
Discussed Lean In
“And you wrote a book, 'Lean In,' and you are an expert on this and having compassion for people who are suffering is absolutely beautiful.”
Discussed The Anxious Generation
“Did any of you guys read Jonathan Haidt's book, Anxious Generation?”
Discussed Dune
“All I want to say about Dune...”
Discussed Fight Club: A Novel
“So that's fine; of course, it's Fight Club. That's a great quote!”
Discussed Future shock
“And by the way, you know, it might be time to read Future Shock again by Alvin Toffler, who predicted so much of this mess in which we find ourselves—the incapacity of human beings to adapt to such rapid technological change.”
Discussed Steve Jobs
“Also, you have to build all the cars; if Elon does get out this Robo-taxi vehicle for $25k, which he seems like is well on the way with the Model 3, to getting to this—this was an early mockup from Walter Isaacson's book, which looks pretty sharp, and it doesn't have—it's like a two-seat car, so these things zigzagging around”
Discussed Le capital au XXIe siècle
“And with, you know, you read Thomas Piketty's book 'Capital,' he speaks so much about wealth disparity, um, in an era of globalization, uh, in an era of technification, in an era when the world is seeing some people have extraordinary gains but most people not, on a relative basis.”
Discussed Nation of Victims
“Yeah, it turns out I've written three books in the last two years and two of them are about this topic.”
Discussed Thank You for Smoking
“You know, it's like smoking in a way, where when I made the movie thing for smoking, Christopher Buckley told me, you know, he's the author of the book and he said, 'Look, there's something uniquely American about defending people's right to do something that's manifestly harmful.' The main character in Thank You for Smoking is a spokesman for big”
Discussed Principles
“I've talked about Ray Dalio's book, Principles, before and some of the work he's done on this where he is so adamant about getting culture right within the organization, how you operate, that they almost have, I think, a 30% attrition rate after the first year of people that come in.”
Discussed Atlas Shrugged
“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, kills a lot of people.”
Discussed The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
“And then on the book front, man, the Michael Lewis book about SBF is going to be next level; I cannot wait for that. Sacks, you're a media junkie; what do you have on your list of things you're looking forward to, or should I say, what do Tucker's writers have put down for you?”