market folly

If you're looking for some good summer reads, here you go.  Marc Andreessen, founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz recently tweeted a list of books he's read and recommends. 

It's a diverse list and isn't filled with finance books like so many other recommended reading lists we post, so this will certainly broaden your horizons.  Here's the list with his tweeted comments about each book.


Marc Andreessen's Recommended Reading List 2018


Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It?  How Can We Know? by Phil Tetlock:  "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."


Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman:  "Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate.  Will stand as a cautionary tale?"


Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke:  "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."


The Spider Network by David Enrich: " '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."


A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine: "Best (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism.  You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that."


The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga:  "Smash hit in Japan, and easy to see why.  Adlerian psychology meets Stoic philosophy in Socratic dialogue.  Compelling from front to back.   Highly recommended."


All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class by Tim Shipman:  "Inside story of how Britain decided to exit the EU.  Economic self-destruction or national liberation?  Repercussions to play out for decades."


When the Wolves Bite: Two Billionaires, One Company, and an Epic Wall Street Battle by Scott Wapner.  " 'Wall Street'-esque battle between Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn over unlikely target Herbalife.  Sip a delicious Herbal Aloe Shake while reading."


But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman:  "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."


Chasing Hillary:  Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling by Amy Chozick:  "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?"


The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray: "One perspective on the politics of immigration in Europe, playing out in real time, e.g. Merkel almost getting deposed days ago.  Confusing on multiple levels from US perspective."


A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey:  "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?"


Conspiracy:  Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday: "Startlingly deep cultural history of conspiracies, examined through the lens of the brutally effective Gawker takedown, with full access to the main players."


Skin in the Game by Nicholas Taleb:  "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 Phil Tetlock's Expert Political Judgment."


12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson: "A bracing disassembly and reconstruction of a theory of individual progress in the modern world.  Fascinating compare and contrast with The Courage To Be Disliked."


Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC by Reed Tucker: "Spellbinding creative and business history of the incredibly imaginative comic book industry in the decades before it ate Hollywood."


Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House by Donna Brazile: "Visceral, raw, you-are-there recounting of living through the hack attacks and resulting meltdown of the DNC in 2016."


Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence by Bryan Burrough: "How 1960s racial politics descended into 1970s terrorist bombings, thanks to privileged college students breaking very bad."


Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater by Erik Prince: "The founding and growth of military contractor Blackwater as told by its founder and CEO; newly relevant due to the Mueller investigation."


The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Steve Kotler: "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."


Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency by Joshua Green: "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."


Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes: "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."


Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler: "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 David Goggins."


The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan: "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."


A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko by Luke Harding: "The astonishing story of the Litvinenko and Perepilichnyy assassinations in the UK; reads like a Lee Child thriller; plenty topical now."


Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell: "The film was fine but the book is unreal; incredibly vivid story of superlative American heroes."


How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Blakewell: " '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?' "



If you're looking for even more books, be sure to also check out Ray Dalio's recommended reading list, as well as Mohnish Pabrai's recommended reading list, or any of the others we've linked on the right sidebar of the MarketFolly homepage.