Podcast
The Ben & Marc Show book recommendations
Andreessen Horowitz ("a16z") co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz explore everything from science to business to culture, all through the lens of technology.
Latest mentions
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The Creative Act
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Tao Te Ching
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The Half-Life of Facts
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Walden
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The Selfish Gene
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Ab urbe condita
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The Once and Future King
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Superforecasting
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Elon Musk
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Public opinion
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Their Jihad... Not My Jihad!
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MONEY Master the Game
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The Holy Grail of Investing
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Leviathan
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Ὀδύσσεια
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When Reason Goes on Holiday
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The Man in the High Castle
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Tempest
Most recommended on The Ben & Marc Show
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Ab urbe condita
On The Ben & Marc Show episode "Trump Vs. Biden: Tech Policy," released on July 16, 2024, the hosts discussed Moore's Law. They highlighted it as a universal, 50-year-old phenomenon in the technology industry that serves as a clear indicator for predicting future industry trends.
Discussed“Um the problem with that is there's this you know universal phenomenon in our industry that has a you know 50-year history which is you know kind of extremely it's like probably the most clear thing that we know of in terms of how to predict the future in our industry which is called Moore's Law.”
Where to get it
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Elon Musk
Ben Horowitz recommended Walter Isaacson's biography Elon Musk on The Ben & Marc Show episode AI, Robotics & the Future of Manufacturing. He suggested that listeners read the book to gain insight into the specific struggles faced by hardware executives. Horowitz noted that Isaacson details the severe operational and strategic crises that confronted both Tesla and SpaceX throughout their growth. This book recommendation occurred during a wider conversation between the hosts regarding artificial intelligence, robotics, and manufacturing.
Discussed“If you’re unfamiliar with this, you can read the book about Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which talks about the crises he encountered with both SpaceX and Tesla.”
Where to get it
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Leviathan
On The Ben & Marc Show, Thomas Hobbes's book Leviathan was referenced during the episode titled "Why It's Time to Be A Techno-Optimist." Host Marc brought up Hobbes while discussing how nature affects unprotected individuals in a state of nature. To illustrate nature's harshness, Marc quoted the phrase describing life as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. This quote highlights Hobbes's political treatise Leviathan, which explores human existence in a state of nature and the necessity of protective social structures.
Discussed“Like nature really has it out for you, um, and if you're unprotected in a state of nature like it, you know, the old, the old thing is you know life and state of nature is, is is is what is it nasty, brutish and short, poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short, Hobbes, yeah, exactly. And so so look technology,”
Where to get it
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MONEY Master the Game
On The Ben & Marc Show, guest Tony Robbins discussed his book MONEY Master the Game. Robbins explained that he authored the book while interviewing fifty of the world's leading financial experts, using the project to illustrate broader insights into wealth and longevity.
Discussed“Then I was writing 'Money: Master the Game,' you know, interviewing 50 of the smartest financial people in the world.”
Where to get it
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Much Ado About Nothing
On 'The Ben & Marc Show' episode 'Marc Andreessen on Building Netscape & the Birth of the Browser' from June 28, 2024, Marc Andreessen discussed William Shakespeare's play 'Much Ado About Nothing' while reflecting on the early days of the internet. He recalled that before the internet became widespread, books were published to help people understand how to use it.
Discussed“You remember in those days the books started to show up; before people had the internet, there were books about it.”
Speaker Marc Andreessen on Building Netscape & the Birth of the Browser 2024-06-28 Listen at 1:26:33Where to get it
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Public opinion
Walter Lippmann's book "Public Opinion" was brought up on The Ben & Marc Show in January 2024. Host Marc discussed the seminal text as a foundational work that defined and shaped the historical understanding of the role of experts in policy-making, utilizing Lippmann's insights to set up a broader conversation on higher education and universities.
Discussed“Um, and in particular there's, there's a book called Public Opinion written by a guy named Walter Lippmann that sort of defined this at the time. What I'm about to describe.”
Where to get it
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Superforecasting
On The Ben & Marc Show, Marc Andreessen discussed "Superforecasting" by Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner, and Santiago Foz during the June 2024 episode featuring Marc Andreessen on building Netscape. Marc talked about Phil Tetlock as a professor who authored a comprehensive study on political predictions. He highlighted the study's conclusion that the average credentialed expert is less likely to be correct than random chance.
Discussed“Phil Tetlock, a professor studying this topic, wrote a comprehensive study on political predictions, leading to the conclusion that the average credentialed expert is less than random likely to be correct.”
Speaker Marc Andreessen on Building Netscape & the Birth of the Browser 2024-06-28 Listen at 1:35:52Where to get it
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Tao Te Ching
On The Ben & Marc Show in May 2025, Rick Rubin discussed Lao Tzu's 'Tao Te Ching', referred to as the da jing. Rubin explained that he chose the text as the basis for his own work because it serves as a guide on how to live and understand the way.
Discussed“Well I I think this the reason I chose the lu uh the da jing to base it on because the the da jing is how to live how to be it's the way transl way.”
Where to get it
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Tempest
On The Ben & Marc Show, host Marc referenced a book by Whitaker Chambers during the August 2, 2023 episode on Oppenheimer and the catastrophe of communism. He discussed the Chambers's story about attempting to confess his past as a Soviet military intelligence recruiter to the U.S. government.
Discussed“Whitaker Chambers tells this amazing story in his book about how he tried to out himself to the U.S. government as a Soviet military intelligence recruiter and it took him six years to be taken seriously by the FBI and the Justice Department.”
Where to get it
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The Creative Act
On an episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled "Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software," Rick Rubin appeared to discuss his work. During the conversation, Rubin introduced his project, stating that "The Way of Code" is a book centered around the concept of vibe coding. The discussion connected his ideas on technology and creative process directly to his written work, framing vibe coding within the context of software development.
Discussed“The Way of Code is a book about vibe coding.”
Where to get it
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The Half-Life of Facts
During an episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software, broadcast on May 31, 2025, a speaker brought up Samuel Arbesman's book The Half-Life of Facts. The book was referenced simply by its title to support a point regarding the gradual decay and evolution of factual knowledge over time.
Discussed“There's a great book uh this guy wrote called the half-life of facts.”
Where to get it
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The Holy Grail of Investing
On The Ben & Marc Show, during the episode Tony Robbins on the Future of Health & Longevity on December 20, 2023, guest Tony Robbins discussed his book The Holy Grail of Investing. Robbins noted that it was his third financial book and expressed his belief that the podcast hosts would appreciate it.
Discussed“It's my third in the financial area, one that I think you guys would appreciate; this one is called 'The Holy Grail of Investing.'”
Where to get it
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The Man in the High Castle
Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle was referenced on The Ben & Marc Show in August 2023. However, during the discussion, Marc mentioned that he and Ben had read a different book titled The Man from the Future about John von Neumann, which successfully presented Von Neumann's side of the story.
Discussed“Also, there's this great book that Ben and I have read called The Man from the Future, the Von Neumann book, and it does a very good job of telling Norman's side of the story.”
Where to get it
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The Once and Future King
T. H. White's book The Once and Future King was discussed on The Ben & Marc Show in June 2024. Marc Andreessen shared a personal story about a cult science fiction bookstore called Future Fantasy Books in Mountain View, highlighting its historical significance as an early e-commerce site.
Discussed“There was a cult science fiction book retailer, a tiny little hole-in-the-wall bookstore on El Camino Real in Mountain View called Future Fantasy Books.”
Speaker Marc Andreessen on Building Netscape & the Birth of the Browser 2024-06-28 Listen at 1:20:01Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
On The Ben & Marc Show episode Truth Terminal - The AI Bot That Became a Crypto Millionaire, host Marc discussed The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Marc brought up the book to explain the origin of memes, contrasting common modern usages with the original definition. He noted that while people typically view memes as funny images spreading virally across the internet, Dawkins originally coined the concept in his book to describe ideas and cultural concepts that propagate throughout human society in a manner similar to biological genes.
Discussed“At its center is this idea of memes: a simple definition is a funny image that spreads virally, and the deeper definition was originally by Richard Dawkins, who introduced the idea of memes as concepts that spread in society in a way akin to genes.”
Where to get it
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Their Jihad... Not My Jihad!
On The Ben & Marc Show in December 2023, Tony Robbins discussed a book titled 'My Jihad'—authored by a young man—which described the author's realization that his true struggle was an internal one with himself, rather than an external conflict.
Discussed“The young man who wrote about it called his book 'My Jihad,' describing how he realized his true struggle was with himself.”
Where to get it
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Walden
On The Ben & Marc Show episode 'Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software' released on May 31, 2025, a speaker referred to 'Walden Pond' in the context of needing to unplug and spend time with oneself, explicitly referencing Henry David Thoreau's famous book and remarking that the author was far ahead of his time.
Discussed“throw was way ahead of his time we really need Walden Pond now”
Where to get it
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When Reason Goes on Holiday
Host Marc brought up Neven Sesardic's book "When Reason Goes on Holiday" on The Ben & Marc Show in the episode titled "Oppenheimer & the Catastrophe of Communism." Marc described the book as a detailed account of Albert Einstein's staunchly pro-communist statements during the 1920s and 1930s. He noted that the book provides thorough documentation of events occurring in Russia and emphasized that while the book elaborates on these historical details, the underlying information was already accessible to anyone who wished to seek it out at the time.
Discussed“There’s a new book out that goes through this called 'When Reason Goes on Holiday,' and it goes through in detail Einstein's statements in the 20s and 30s, in particular, that were sort of very kind of staunchly pro-communist.”
Where to get it
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Ὀδύσσεια
On The Ben & Marc Show episode "Oppenheimer & the Catastrophe of Communism" released on August 2, 2023, Marc discussed the rapid expansion of the American military production machine during the 1930s and 1940s. He highlighted the extensive research and books by economist Alexander Field, which detail how the United States successfully spun up its industrial and military output in a remarkably short period of eighteen months.
Discussed“There's actually this great book; there's an economist named Alexander Field who's done this; he's done a pair of great books in the 1930s and 1940s, but he talks in great detail about how the American military production machine basically spun up in 18 months.”
Where to get it
Host picks
Guest picks
Guests who recommended books
Latest mentions
“The Way of Code is a book about vibe coding.”
“Well I I think this the reason I chose the lu uh the da jing to base it on because the the da jing is how to live how to be it's the way transl way.”
“There's a great book uh this guy wrote called the half-life of facts.”
“throw was way ahead of his time we really need Walden Pond now”
“At its center is this idea of memes: a simple definition is a funny image that spreads virally, and the deeper definition was originally by Richard Dawkins, who introduced the idea of memes as concepts that spread in society in a way akin to genes.”
“Um the problem with that is there's this you know universal phenomenon in our industry that has a you know 50-year history which is you know kind of extremely it's like probably the most clear thing that we know of in terms of how to predict the future in our industry which is called Moore's Law.”
“There was a cult science fiction book retailer, a tiny little hole-in-the-wall bookstore on El Camino Real in Mountain View called Future Fantasy Books.”
“You remember in those days the books started to show up; before people had the internet, there were books about it.”
“Phil Tetlock, a professor studying this topic, wrote a comprehensive study on political predictions, leading to the conclusion that the average credentialed expert is less than random likely to be correct.”
“If you’re unfamiliar with this, you can read the book about Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which talks about the crises he encountered with both SpaceX and Tesla.”
“Um, and in particular there's, there's a book called Public Opinion written by a guy named Walter Lippmann that sort of defined this at the time. What I'm about to describe.”
“The young man who wrote about it called his book 'My Jihad,' describing how he realized his true struggle was with himself.”
“Then I was writing 'Money: Master the Game,' you know, interviewing 50 of the smartest financial people in the world.”
“It's my third in the financial area, one that I think you guys would appreciate; this one is called 'The Holy Grail of Investing.'”
“Like nature really has it out for you, um, and if you're unprotected in a state of nature like it, you know, the old, the old thing is you know life and state of nature is, is is is what is it nasty, brutish and short, poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short, Hobbes, yeah, exactly. And so so look technology,”
“There's actually this great book; there's an economist named Alexander Field who's done this; he's done a pair of great books in the 1930s and 1940s, but he talks in great detail about how the American military production machine basically spun up in 18 months.”
“The book 'When Reason Goes on Holiday' goes through this in detail, but the information was available to anybody who wanted to see it.”
“Also, there's this great book that Ben and I have read called The Man from the Future, the Von Neumann book, and it does a very good job of telling Norman's side of the story.”
“Whitaker Chambers tells this amazing story in his book about how he tried to out himself to the U.S. government as a Soviet military intelligence recruiter and it took him six years to be taken seriously by the FBI and the Justice Department.”
Episodes
| Episode | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|
| Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software | 2025-05-31 | 4 |
| Truth Terminal - The AI Bot That Became a Crypto Millionaire | 2024-10-22 | 1 |
| Trump Vs. Biden: Tech Policy | 2024-07-16 | 1 |
| Marc Andreessen on Building Netscape & the Birth of the Browser | 2024-06-28 | 3 |
| AI, Robotics & the Future of Manufacturing | 2024-05-16 | 1 |
| Crisis in Higher Ed & Why Universities Still Matter | 2024-01-13 | 1 |
| Tony Robbins on the Future of Health & Longevity | 2023-12-20 | 3 |
| Why It's Time to Be A Techno-Optimist | 2023-10-24 | 1 |
| Oppenheimer & the Catastrophe of Communism | 2023-08-02 | 5 |