Podcast
Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova book list: the books mentioned on the show
Recently mentioned books
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21 Bringing Down the House
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The Power Broker
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The hawk and the dove
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The Running Ground
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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
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An Abundance of Caution
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On the Edge
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The confidence game
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Fight
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Original Sin
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Bad Blood
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Your Face Belongs to Us
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Barbie!
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J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century
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Dr. Strangelove
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Expert Political Judgment
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On Fire
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The 48 Laws of Power
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Quit
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Elon Musk
Most recommended on Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova
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On the Edge
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, a guest named Tim mentioned reading Nate Silver's book On the Edge as inspiration for taking up tournament poker. Maria Konnikova also brought up the book later in the episode to discuss Silver's background and experience with sports betting.
Discussed“And I did read I have read your I just you know I think what sparked me into this whole thing is I read your book Maria and then I read Nate's new book and I started getting the fever, you know?”
Where to get it
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The confidence game
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, guest Tim mentioned that reading Maria Konnikova's book The Confidence Game inspired him to participate in a poker tournament. In another episode, guest Rachel Botsman praised The Confidence Game, highlighting specific chapters and how Konnikova framed complex themes of trust.
Discussed“And I did read I have read your I just you know I think what sparked me into this whole thing is I read your book Maria and then I read Nate's new book and I started getting the fever, you know?”
Where to get it
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21 Bringing Down the House
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Nate Silver mentioned Ben Mezrich's book Bring Down the House while discussing the movie adaptation 21 and the MIT Blackjack team. He noted that the book and subsequent film arrived right around the time he was first getting into poker.
Discussed“the movie 21, which is based on the book Bring Down the House by Ben Mezri, that came out kind of right when I was getting into poker and like that I guess the book had come out, the movie was maybe later, right?”
Where to get it
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An Abundance of Caution
David Zweig's book 'An Abundance of Caution' was discussed on Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova. Nate Silver introduced Zweig and the book at the start of the episode, while Zweig described the text as a difficult but necessary read that confronts tough questions regarding institutional decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Discussed“David Zwag is a journalist and author, most recently of the book, An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions.”
Where to get it
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Bad Blood
On the May 21, 2025, episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova titled "Motivated Reasoning in the Biden Campaign, Silicon Valley, and Beyond," host Nate Silver brought up John Carreyrou's book Bad Blood. Silver mentioned reading the Wall Street Journal journalist's investigative work while discussing the Theranos scandal, Silicon Valley culture, and Elizabeth Holmes.
Discussed“Look, I remember reading the uh reading the book bad blood by the Wall Street Journal journalist John Keru, I believe.”
Where to get it
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Barbie!
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Maria Konnikova mentioned Barbie while discussing Greta Gerwig being completely shut out at the Oscars.
Discussed“I decided to go to Hollywood um and I um am giving this award to Greta Gerwig who was the writer and director of Barbie um who just got completely shut out at the Oscars losing everything losing even some nominations”
Where to get it
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Dr. Strangelove
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Nate Silver brought up Peter George's book while discussing the historical context of nuclear deterrence and automated retaliation machines during the Cold War.
Discussed“lot of Dr Strange Love Too y um which is according to some experts app parody of vman vman but so yeah what they wanted was a machine that would automatically retaliate if it detected an attack”
Where to get it
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Elon Musk
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, host Nate Silver referenced Walter Isaacson's biography Elon Musk during the August 15, 2024 episode titled Lessons from The River (Maria Interviews Nate About His Book). Silver brought up the book to illustrate extreme risk-taking behavior, comparing the subject's approach to a high-stakes poker strategy.
Discussed“if you read the Walter isacson book on Elon Musk his poker strategy is literally going all in every hand until he runs out of money or wins it all”
Where to get it
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Expert Political Judgment
Expert Political Judgment by Philip E. Tetlock was mentioned on Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova. Nate Silver brought up the book when discussing how prediction markets encourage experts to make probabilistic predictions.
Discussed“if you read Phil tatlock's book that you referenced Maria expert political judgment”
Where to get it
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Fight
Nate Silver brought up the book Fight by Jonathan Allen and Amy Parnes during an episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova in May 2025. He referenced the work to discuss background reporting and context surrounding the Biden administration.
Discussed“um, one, we have talked on this program before about the book Fight by uh Jonathan Allen and Amy Parnes.”
Where to get it
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J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century
On the December 12, 2024 episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, titled The Riskies: The Best, Worst, and Most Interesting Decisions of 2024, Maria Konnikova critiqued David C. Cassidy's biography J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century. While discussing Oscar outcomes, Konnikova stated that she disliked the movie adaptation, found it boring, and disagreed completely with its awards success.
Critiqued“and I actually did not like Oppenheimer at all I thought it was a horrible movie I thought it was really boring I did not think that it should have gotten all the awards got so like I actually disagreed completely”
Where to get it
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On Fire
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Nate Silver discussed Larry Brown's memoir On Fire, noting that the author admitted in the book that he bet on baseball, though never against his own team because he always wanted them to win.
Discussed“and he um in his Memoir um admitted that yeah he did on baseball but never for his team to lose because he only wanted his team to win”
Where to get it
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Original Sin
On a May 2025 episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Nate Silver mentioned Tatha Wiley's book Original Sin. Silver brought up the title to reference reporting on the Biden administration's handling of a debate and subsequent campaign pressure.
Discussed“There's another book out called Original Sin, which takes a slightly longer exposure fights mostly about the period where Biden has this terrible debate and then is kind of forced to drop out.”
Where to get it
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Quit
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova on August 15, 2024, Nate Silver mentioned Annie Duke's book Quit while discussing risk aversion and decision-making, noting that the author is also a former poker player featured in the work.
Recommended“Annie Duke wrote a book called quit and she's in the book too also a former poker player of course”
Where to get it
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The 48 Laws of Power
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Nate Silver brought up the book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers during an episode in September 2024. Asking Maria Konnikova if she had read it, Silver described it as a very interesting book and used it to discuss the ambiguities of historical figures such as P.T. Barnum.
Discussed“have you read the book The 48 Laws of Power I have yes it's a very interesting book”
Where to get it
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The Colossus
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Maria Konnikova brought up the poker event known as The Colossus to illustrate her past struggles with strict bankroll management during her early days in Las Vegas.
Discussed“there's this event called The Colossus or as I like to call it not affectionately after that summer the Cass hole um because it has a million possible re-entries and it's a very low price point I think it was like $500 or $600”
Where to get it
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The hawk and the dove
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, Maria Konnikova brought up Nicholas Thompson's book The Hawk and the Dove, praising the work and recommending it to listeners.
Recommended“He is also the editor-inchief uh former editor and chief of Wired um and wrote a book called The Hawk and the Dove about the Cold War era. It's absolutely phenomenal. You should check it out.”
Where to get it
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The Power Broker
On the 2025-12-03 episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova titled Frisky Business: Olivia Nuzzi, Ryan Lizza, and Journalistic Ethics, Maria Konnikova brought up The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. Konnikova cited the book as an absolute feat of journalism to illustrate how the author gained long-term access to Robert Moses.
Discussed“in the Power Broker, which you know won all the awards and was, you know, kind of this absolute feat of journalism. But Moses gave him access for a long time.”
Where to get it
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The Running Ground
The Running Ground by Nicholas Thompson was featured on Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova. Maria Konnikova welcomed Thompson as a guest to discuss the very personal nature of his new book, which blends running with his relationship with his father and subjective decision-making processes. Konnikova praised the work throughout the episode, describing it as wonderful and urging all listeners to buy and read a copy.
Recommended“Um, and now we have him on because he has a new book coming out. I think the most personal book he's ever written, The Running Ground. And the book is out now. You should all absolutely read it.”
Where to get it
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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
On an episode of Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova released on October 11, 2025, Maria Konnikova brought up "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn. Konnikova referenced the classic academic text to explain the phenomenon of established scientific communities fiercely resisting paradigm shifts and outsider thoughts.
Discussed“You I'm sure you read Nate, you went to the University of Chicago, so I'm assuming that this is something that that you read maybe in more than one class. Uh Thomas Coon's structure of scientific revolutions.”
Where to get it
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What We Owe the Future
On Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, host Nate Silver mentioned the book What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill during the episode Lessons from The River. Silver brought up the title while discussing long-termism and effective altruism calculations, noting that MacAskill was one of the figures who helped establish the brand name of the effective altruism movement.
Discussed“I talked to um to will mccal who was kind of one of the founders of at least the brand name of EA and wrote a book called what we ow the future”
Where to get it
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Your Face Belongs to Us
Kashmir Hill's book Your Face Belongs to Us was recommended on Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova in April 2025. Maria Konnikova plugged the interesting book while discussing privacy concerns related to biometrics and facial recognition technology.
Recommended“there's a really good book about this by the way so Random plug for uh cash Hill's book your face belongs to us which is a really interesting and sounds like a song”
Where to get it
Guests who recommended books
Latest mentions
“the movie 21, which is based on the book Bring Down the House by Ben Mezri, that came out kind of right when I was getting into poker and like that I guess the book had come out, the movie was maybe later, right?”
“in the Power Broker, which you know won all the awards and was, you know, kind of this absolute feat of journalism. But Moses gave him access for a long time.”
“He is also the editor-inchief uh former editor and chief of Wired um and wrote a book called The Hawk and the Dove about the Cold War era. It's absolutely phenomenal. You should check it out.”
“Um, and now we have him on because he has a new book coming out. I think the most personal book he's ever written, The Running Ground. And the book is out now. You should all absolutely read it.”
“You I'm sure you read Nate, you went to the University of Chicago, so I'm assuming that this is something that that you read maybe in more than one class. Uh Thomas Coon's structure of scientific revolutions.”
“David Zwag is a journalist and author, most recently of the book, An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions.”
“And I did read I have read your I just you know I think what sparked me into this whole thing is I read your book Maria and then I read Nate's new book and I started getting the fever, you know?”
“And I did read I have read your I just you know I think what sparked me into this whole thing is I read your book Maria and then I read Nate's new book and I started getting the fever, you know?”
“um, one, we have talked on this program before about the book Fight by uh Jonathan Allen and Amy Parnes.”
“There's another book out called Original Sin, which takes a slightly longer exposure fights mostly about the period where Biden has this terrible debate and then is kind of forced to drop out.”
“Look, I remember reading the uh reading the book bad blood by the Wall Street Journal journalist John Keru, I believe.”
“there's a really good book about this by the way so Random plug for uh cash Hill's book your face belongs to us which is a really interesting and sounds like a song”
“I decided to go to Hollywood um and I um am giving this award to Greta Gerwig who was the writer and director of Barbie um who just got completely shut out at the Oscars losing everything losing even some nominations”
“and I actually did not like Oppenheimer at all I thought it was a horrible movie I thought it was really boring I did not think that it should have gotten all the awards got so like I actually disagreed completely”
“lot of Dr Strange Love Too y um which is according to some experts app parody of vman vman but so yeah what they wanted was a machine that would automatically retaliate if it detected an attack”
“if you read Phil tatlock's book that you referenced Maria expert political judgment”
“and he um in his Memoir um admitted that yeah he did on baseball but never for his team to lose because he only wanted his team to win”
“have you read the book The 48 Laws of Power I have yes it's a very interesting book”
“Annie Duke wrote a book called quit and she's in the book too also a former poker player of course”
“if you read the Walter isacson book on Elon Musk his poker strategy is literally going all in every hand until he runs out of money or wins it all”