Podcast
The Ben & Marc Show book list: the books mentioned on the show
Andreessen Horowitz ("a16z") co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz explore everything from science to business to culture, all through the lens of technology.
Books from the latest episodes
Most recommended on The Ben & Marc Show
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When Reason Goes on Holiday
On The Ben & Marc Show, Ben Horowitz recommended Neven Sesardic's book "When Reason Goes on Holiday" in the episode "Why It's Time to Be A Techno-Optimist" (2023-10-24) to illustrate how high-IQ intellectuals and scientists often become radicalized or misguided when venturing into politics and social theory. Earlier, in the episode "Oppenheimer & the Catastrophe of Communism" (2023-08-02), Marc Andreessen brought up the book to detail Albert Einstein's past pro-communist statements and to support the argument that the atrocities of Communism were publicly known and accessible at the time.
Recommended“I'll give a plug for great book that you recommended when reason goes on holiday which is sort of the story of how the great physicists and inventors did on politics and policy and Game Theory you take super high IQ people and you put them in a research or university setting”
Where to get it
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Read Write Own
On The Ben & Marc Show, host and guest Mark Andreessen introduced Chris Dixon's new book, Read Write Own, discussing its focus on blockchain and Web3. Andreessen recommended that listeners purchase the book at physical bookstores or online, and he engaged Dixon in a conversation about what topics he wished he could have included in the original publication.
Discussed“today we have a special guest Chris Dixon who has written a new book called read write own”
Where to get it
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The WEIRDest People in the World
On The Ben & Marc Show, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz both recommended Joseph Henrich's The WEIRDest People in the World. Andreessen cited the book to explain kin-based tribal cultures, while Horowitz brought it up to examine the societal, familial, and psychological differences that distinguish Western societies from tribal kin-based cultures.
Recommended“kin based culture is you know as it's referred to in the weirdest people in the world which is a great book am which we haven't talked about in a while but am worth reading for everyone am but that that is really a cultural consistency in in in tribalism”
Where to get it
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Freedom's Forge
On The Ben & Marc Show, Ben Horowitz and Brian Schimpf discussed Arthur Herman's book Freedom's Forge. Horowitz brought up the famous book to examine the historical ramp-up of United States industrial production during World War II. Schimpf referenced the work to analyze the timeline of retooling American industry during the approximately two years of lend-lease prior to the nation's formal entry into the war.
Discussed“So a question, you guys alluded to this, but you know, there's this famous book Freedoms Forge, you know, talking about the ramp up of US industrial production during World War II”
Where to get it
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The Creative Act
On The Ben & Marc Show, Anjney Midha referenced The Creative Act by Rick Rubin while discussing art and audience service, noting specifically that the subtitle is A Way of Being.
Discussed“Like the the uh in the creative act, the the subtitle is um a way of being.”
Where to get it
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Abundance
On The Ben & Marc Show episode titled Marc Andreessen: The US is in a AI Arms Race & It Decides The World's Future, released on August 5, 2025, Marc Andreessen brought up Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Andreessen noted that he disagreed with approximately zero of the book's contents and discussed it to highlight the perspective that liberals should embrace building things and economic growth.
Recommended“there's this new book out called abundance from Ezra Klene who I would say I disagree with on approximately zero of everything”
Where to get it
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Elon Musk
On the May 16, 2024 episode of The Ben & Marc Show, Ben Horowitz recommended Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk. Horowitz suggested the book to illustrate the various crises and fundraising challenges that hardware startup CEOs face at both SpaceX and Tesla.
Recommended“If you're not familiar with this, you can read like Elon's the the the the book that Walter Isaacson wrote on Elon cuz it kind of goes through a lot of the crises he ran into in both SpaceX and Tesla.”
Where to get it
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Infamous Scribblers
On The Ben & Marc Show episode How Andreessen Horowitz Disrupted VC & What’s Coming Next, Marc Andreessen recommended Eric Burns's Infamous Scribblers to listeners interested in the historical media environment of the American colonial era.
Recommended“Um uh and so and just for people want to read about this, there's the best book on this is called in infamous scribblers. Um uh which was sort of the the the the name for for journalists in those days.”
Where to get it
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Job Stacking
On The Ben & Marc Show episode Adam Neumann: This is How You Build Iconic Companies, Marc Andreessen recommended J. Rolf Haltza's Job Stacking, describing it as an incredible how-to manual for holding down multiple jobs.
Recommended“And then by the way, there's this incredible book called Job Stacking that I always recommend which is sort of this how-to manual to how to hold down two jobs.”
Where to get it
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Radical Son
On the July 25, 2025 episode of The Ben & Marc Show, Ben Horowitz recommended David Horowitz's book Radical Son. Horowitz highlighted it as a shattering and prescient account that covers political and media cover-ups surrounding the AIDS epidemic.
Recommended“That whole story by the way is in David's David Horwitz's book called Radical Sun. Um which is one of the most it's one of the most shattering and preient books by the way.”
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.
Recommended“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.”
Where to get it
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The Man from the Future
The host on The Ben & Marc Show discussed Ananyo Bhattacharya's book The Man from the Future to explore John von Neumann's perspective. The speaker recommended the book and noted that it excels at portraying von Neumann's side of the story.
Recommended“so so there's this great book that that Ben and I've read this I think it's called The Man from the future the Van Norman book and so I think it does a very good job of telling telling about Norman's side of the story”
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.
Recommended“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 Odyssey
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.
Recommended“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
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The Reckoning
On The Ben & Marc Show in October 2024, Marc Andreessen brought up David Halberstam's book The Reckoning. He discussed the title to illustrate the severe difficulties and anguish experienced by the American auto industry during the emergence of Japanese car manufacturers.
Recommended“there's a great book actually David helber St wrote a great book called The Reckoning where he he actually told the story which is a really good book”
Where to get it
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The Red Decade
On The Ben & Marc Show, the host recommended 'The Red Decade' by Eugene Lyons during an episode in August 2023. The book was brought up to discuss the history of American journalism, specifically focusing on the level of communist enthusiasm in the United States during the 1920s.
Recommended“right which was basically and there's I'll recommend another book here called red decade uh which was written by an American journalist Eugene Lyons who kind of figured this out early and wrote this book basically about the 1920s and about the level of sort of communist enthusiasm in the United States the 1920s”
Where to get it
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Twilight of the Elites
On an episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled Marc Andreessen: The US is in a AI Arms Race & It Decides The World's Future, Marc Andreessen recommended Chris Hayes's book Twilight of the Elites. He brought up the work to illustrate an analysis of how deindustrialization and financialization have concentrated economic growth into large cities.
Recommended“and who's written a great book on it called Twilight of the Elites.”
Where to get it
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Beatles - Please Please Me
On the May 31, 2025 episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled "Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software," guest Rick Rubin referenced the Beatles and their song Please Please Me. Rubin discussed how the band listened to Roy Orbison and subsequently wrote their track based on Orbison's song, citing it as an early example of artistic sampling and remix culture.
Discussed“It's we know it very specifically in the hip-hop world, but that's really when the Beatles listened to Roy Orbison and then wrote Please Me based on his Please, Roy Orbison's Please song.”
Where to get it
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Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren
During an episode of The Ben & Marc Show released on May 9, 2024, Marc Andreessen referenced John Maynard Keynes' essay "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren." Andreessen brought up the piece while discussing historical predictions concerning automation and the evolution of human work hours.
Discussed“By the way, as ue Keynes famously said, it was his essay, I think, was Economic Prospects for Our Grandchildren, which was basically that.”
Where to get it
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Fully Automated Luxury Communism
During an episode of The Ben & Marc Show in February 2024, Mark Andreessen brought up Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani while discussing central planning, artificial intelligence, and historical communist regimes.
Discussed“in various other communist regimes there was always this kind of idea there's actually a book on this from a from a from a modern communist called fully luxur fully automated luxury communism”
Where to get it
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Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
On The Ben & Marc Show in May 2024, Marc Andreessen brought up the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. He mentioned the legislation to illustrate laws that explicitly ban health insurers in the United States from utilizing genetic data.
Discussed“So, there's this thing called the GINA law, Genetic Information Non- Non-Discrimination Act of uh 2008, and basically it it base it base bans health insurers in the US from actually using genetic data”
Where to get it
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God Is Not Great
On The Ben & Marc Show episode Building Startups: Major Shifts in Tech & Culture, aired on April 24, 2024, Ben Horowitz mentioned God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Horowitz brought up his friend Hitchens's book to illustrate a philosophical point about authority and beliefs through a criticism offered by his father.
Discussed“my friend Christopher Hitchens wrote a book called God Is Not Great and my father's criticism of that he's like look you have two choices”
Where to get it
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High Output Management
On The Ben & Marc Show in May 2024, Marc Andreessen referenced Andrew S. Grove's book High Output Management. He brought up the text while addressing a general organizational psychology problem, specifically citing Grove's remarks regarding the necessity of ambition in leadership.
Discussed“This is like I actually think this is a general kind of organizational psychology problem and Andy Grove kind of remarked about it um and I think it was high output management when he talked about well there's you need people with ambition.”
Where to get it
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Life Force
On an episode of The Ben & Marc Show in December 2023, Ben Horowitz mentioned Life Force by Tony Robbins, Peter H. Diamandis, and Robert Hariri while introducing Tony Robbins and connecting the book's focus on regenerative medicine to the episode's themes.
Discussed“as Tony's last book is a book called life force which is h a book all about regenerative medicine and um how to basically live your best healthiest life with the uh best health span possible”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
On The Ben & Marc Show in April 2025, Marc Andreessen brought up Herman Melville's Moby-Dick as a historical analogy for traditional whaling expeditions while discussing carried interest and venture capital history.
Discussed“And a whailing expedition like in Moby Dick, it's like literally a ship and a captain and a crew and they're going to like go out and they're going to try to like go get a whale and bring it back, right?”
Where to get it
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Public opinion
Walter Lippmann's book "Public Opinion" was discussed on The Ben & Marc Show in January 2024. Marc Andreessen cited the book to explain the historical origin of universities acting as policy think tanks and expert advisors to the government, noting that the concept originated during the Wilson era approximately one hundred years prior.
Discussed“this a wood Wilson idea right wood yeah it's a wi Wilson era thing almost 100 almost exactly 100 years ago is when this started um and in particularly there's there's a book called public opinion written by a guy Nam Walter Litman that sort of Define this at the time what I'm about to describe”
Where to get it
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Real Genius
On an episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled Why Silicon Valley Turned Against Defense (And How We’re Fixing It), Mark Andreessen discussed the 1985 film Real Genius, which was made by Brian Grazer. Andreessen brought up the movie to illustrate how post-Vietnam sentiment influenced cultural assumptions about weapons and the military within technological institutions.
Discussed“I just happen to watch I'm watching a lot of movies with my my 10-year-old and we've watched the movie Real Genius last night. It's a movie in 1985 actually made by our good friend Brian Graaser.”
Where to get it
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Save the cat!
On The Ben & Marc Show episode What is the Future of Hollywood?, Marc Andreessen brought up Blake Snyder's book Save the Cat! during a discussion about the entertainment industry. He highlighted the book to explain the structured 15-point template that is widely used for writing and raising screenplays.
Discussed“there's this book that has had a big impact on the entertainment industry called save the cat and it's a book on how to raise screenplays”
Where to get it
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Snowpiercer
Jacques Lob's graphic novel Snowpiercer was referenced on The Ben & Marc Show in November 2024 by Ben Horowitz. Horowitz brought up the dystopian story as a cautionary reference when discussing modern geoengineering proposals and technological systems designed to control the amount of sunlight entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Discussed“and then with AI helping us design these systems and understanding you know like there's all kinds of things in the atmospherics like we it scared me a little but I just got a a a pitch on um the thing that can control how much heat comes in from the sun which is you know there's a great dystopia”
Where to get it
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Superintelligence
On The Ben & Marc Show episode New AI Policy Update on Safety, Censorship & Unexpected Risks, released on November 6, 2024, Marc Andreessen brought up Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom. Andreessen cited the 10-year-old book by the Oxford philosopher to point out how the modern artificial intelligence doomer mindset predates large language models.
Discussed“the book that got the doomers all spun up I love pointing the this out the book that got the doomers all spun up was this uh book uh from 10 years ago by this guy Nick Bostrom is a philosopher um from Oxford um um and uh he wrote this book called Super intelligence”
Where to get it
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Tao Te Ching
On The Ben & Marc Show, Rick Rubin discussed Laozi's ancient text 'Tao Te Ching' (also referred to as The Da Jing). Rubin explained that this 3,000-year-old spiritual text served as the foundational philosophy and inspiration behind his own book about vibe coding.
Discussed“And it's a book about vibe coding by way of a 3,000-year-old spiritual text called The Da Jane, written by LaSu.”
Where 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 Case against Education
Ben Horowitz brought up Bryan Caplan's book The Case against Education on The Ben & Marc Show in the episode Crisis in Higher Ed & Why Universities Still Matter, broadcast on January 13, 2024. Horowitz discussed the book to explain the economics of higher education and introduced the concept of the sheepskin effect, noting that much of his knowledge on the topic came from Caplan, an economist and tenured university professor at George Mason University.
Discussed“um so so this is a very interesting topic and actually a lot of I know on this I learned from there's an economist named Brian Kaplan who's written a book called like the book is he's a he's a 10ar university professor at George Mason University he spent his life in Academia um but he gave his book a”
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 Mythical Man-Month
On an episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled Ben & Marc: Why Everything Is About to Get 10x Bigger, Mark Andreessen brought up Frederick P. Brooks Jr.'s book The Mythical Man-Month. Discussing how software development limitations have shifted with artificial intelligence, Mark used the historical concept from the book to illustrate that some software metaphors remain enduring, noting that nine women cannot have a baby in a month.
Discussed“The thing that we never thought would ever ever ever go away is a mythical man month. You know nine women can't have a baby in a month. Well with AI you can um you know with software it's a metaphor for software.”
Where to get it
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The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
On The Ben & Marc Show, Marc Andreessen brought up Martin Gurri's book The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium during the April 29, 2025 episode. He cited Gurri's work to explain how the internet and the rise of social media have fundamentally shifted the flow of information and challenged traditional authority.
Discussed“So, you know, a lot of my thinking on this is from from you book from our friend Martin Guri u that he wrote back in 2015 called the I think it's called the revolt the revolt of the public and the crisis of authority um in the new millennium.”
Where to get it
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The Sage Handbook Of Social Network Analysis
On The Ben & Marc Show episode Why Silicon Valley Turned Against Defense, guest Katherine Boyle referenced the movie adaptation of The Social Network rather than Peter J. Carrington's The Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis. She cited the film to explain how 2010s Silicon Valley culture became defined by a specific tech archetype.
Discussed“I've always said that I think the social network had probably the greatest influence of the 2010s in terms of being a defining movie of what technology means.”
Where 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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The ultimate resource
On The Ben & Marc Show, Marc Andreessen referenced Julian Simon's book The Ultimate Resource. Andreessen brought up the work to support his techno-optimist argument that human population growth actually drives technological progress and economic abundance rather than resource depletion.
Discussed“so this was also the argument to connect this back to the idea of human population so this this was the argument for this guy Julian Simon who I admire a lot yeah um who who wrote this book called The Ultimate resource”
Where to get it
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The Way of the Code
On the May 31, 2025 episode of The Ben & Marc Show titled "Rick Rubin: Vibe Coding is the Punk Rock of Software", host Anjney Midha discussed Rick Rubin's book The Way of the Code. Midha summarized the discussion by describing the book as a window into watching how Rubin vibed with himself during the creative process.
Discussed“My takeaway is basically that you're saying we've got to vibe with ourselves when using these tools and watching and reading the way of code is basically a window into watching how you Rick vibed with yourself in the creation of this.”
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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Too Big to Fail
On The Ben & Marc Show, Marc Andreessen mentioned Andrew Ross Sorkin's 'Too Big to Fail' during a May 2024 episode. Andreessen referenced the book while discussing the global financial crisis and the evolution of the banking sector and systemically important companies since 2008.
Discussed“The whole book on the global financial crisis that Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote was called too big to fail and the whole thing was we wanted to not have the companies, you know, cuz you know, if a bank is if a bank is not systemically important if if a bank goes down the way a normal company goes down”
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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What You Do Is Who You Are
Ben Horowitz's What You Do Is Who You Are was discussed on The Ben & Marc Show in November 2025. Margit Wennmachers mentioned the book while discussing Horowitz's writing, noting that she has long lived by its title and praising the book as an important, highly usable guide for shaping organizational culture and brand.
Discussed“I like the title I've been living by what you do is who you are forever. I like that title better, but I think this is a more important book and it's way more kind of usable for for people.”
Where to get it
Guests who recommended books
Latest mentions
“The thing that we never thought would ever ever ever go away is a mythical man month. You know nine women can't have a baby in a month. Well with AI you can um you know with software it's a metaphor for software.”
“I like the title I've been living by what you do is who you are forever. I like that title better, but I think this is a more important book and it's way more kind of usable for for people.”
“I just happen to watch I'm watching a lot of movies with my my 10-year-old and we've watched the movie Real Genius last night. It's a movie in 1985 actually made by our good friend Brian Graaser.”
“I've always said that I think the social network had probably the greatest influence of the 2010s in terms of being a defining movie of what technology means.”
“So a question, you guys alluded to this, but you know, there's this famous book Freedoms Forge, you know, talking about the ramp up of US industrial production during World War II”
“and who's written a great book on it called Twilight of the Elites.”
“there's this new book out called abundance from Ezra Klene who I would say I disagree with on approximately zero of everything”
“That whole story by the way is in David's David Horwitz's book called Radical Sun. Um which is one of the most it's one of the most shattering and preient books by the way.”
“And then by the way, there's this incredible book called Job Stacking that I always recommend which is sort of this how-to manual to how to hold down two jobs.”
“And it's a book about vibe coding by way of a 3,000-year-old spiritual text called The Da Jane, written by LaSu.”
“It's we know it very specifically in the hip-hop world, but that's really when the Beatles listened to Roy Orbison and then wrote Please Me based on his Please, Roy Orbison's Please song.”
“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”
“Like the the uh in the creative act, the the subtitle is um a way of being.”
“My takeaway is basically that you're saying we've got to vibe with ourselves when using these tools and watching and reading the way of code is basically a window into watching how you Rick vibed with yourself in the creation of this.”
“So, you know, a lot of my thinking on this is from from you book from our friend Martin Guri u that he wrote back in 2015 called the I think it's called the revolt the revolt of the public and the crisis of authority um in the new millennium.”
“Um uh and so and just for people want to read about this, there's the best book on this is called in infamous scribblers. Um uh which was sort of the the the the name for for journalists in those days.”
“And a whailing expedition like in Moby Dick, it's like literally a ship and a captain and a crew and they're going to like go out and they're going to try to like go get a whale and bring it back, right?”
“and then with AI helping us design these systems and understanding you know like there's all kinds of things in the atmospherics like we it scared me a little but I just got a a a pitch on um the thing that can control how much heat comes in from the sun which is you know there's a great dystopia”
Episodes
Link to this list from your show notes
Host or produce The Ben & Marc Show? Give your listeners every book mentioned on the show, with the episode and the minute it came up. New episodes are added as they come out.
