@pmarca's Recently Read Books List

Thread: Books I've recently read and recommend
Thumb 22b2da3b2580d4e428be0bcd7d13921f Curated by Soro | Based on @pmarca on Twitter

"How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love—All versions of a bigger question: How do you live?"

"The film was fine but the book is unreal; incredibly vivid story of superlative American heroes."

"The astonishing story of the Litvinenko and Perepilichnyy assassinations in the UK; reads like a Lee Child thriller; plenty topical now."

"The median American is a moderate national socialist – statist to the core on both economic and social policy. Given public opinion, the policies of First World democracies are surprisingly libertarian."

"What's it like to train with a Navy SEAL in winter in New York for a whole month? Featuring the truly remarkable American hero @davidgoggins."

"Best (?) book so far on the Democratic side of the 2016 race, most provocatively on the impact of the press coverage of the email hacks on the last stages of the race."

"Best (?) book so far on the Republican side of the 2016 race, and a deep dive into the intellectual origins of Bannonism and to some extent Trumpism."

"Startling walk through a series of domains where peak human performance is rising at remarkable rates due to "flow state". Thought provoking and then some."

"The founding and growth of military contractor Blackwater as told by its founder and CEO; newly relevant due to the Mueller investigation."

"How 1960s racial politics descended into 1970s terrorist bombings, thanks to privileged college students breaking very bad."

"Visceral, raw, you-are-there recounting of living through the hack attacks and resulting meltdown of the DNC in 2016."

"Spellbinding creative and business history of the incredibly imaginative comic book industry in the decades before it ate Hollywood."


"Skin in the game as conflict of interest, or as attaching one's livelihood to one's speech? Who to listen to, and why. Ideal counterpart to @PTetlock's Expert Political Judgment"

"Startlingly deep cultural history of conspiracies, examined through the lens of the brutally effective Gawker takedown, with full access to the main players."

"Certainly the story is well known, but given author's propensity to post photos of himself wearing running shoes in Iowa, potentially relevant again starting next year?"

"One perspective on the politics of immgiration in Europe, playing out in real time, e.g. Merkel almost getting deposed days ago. Confusing on multiple levels from US perspective."

"On the bus/in the plane with the Hillary campaign. Revealing in many dimensions at once, and highly entertaining. Best book on the 2016 campaign so far?"

"Wide-ranging meditation on how to think about the reality that we're probably wrong about most things we believe. Hard to read and not emerge humbled."

""Wall Street"-esque battle between Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn over unlikely target Herbalife. Sip a delicious Herbal Aloe Shake while reading."

"Inside story of how Britain decided to exit the EU. Economic self-destruction or national liberation? Repercussions to play out for decades."


"Best (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism. You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that."

""Billions"-esque saga of global financial market manipulation, at mind-boggling scale and hiding in plain sight, by a small cabal of bankers in London."

"Compact guide to probabilistic domains like poker, or venture capital. Best articulation of "resulting", drawing bad conclusions from confusing process and outcome. Recommend for people operating in the real world."


"Is the future knowable, and by whom? All pundits and commentators should publish their prediction track records, yet don't. What to pay attention to and what to ignore."
