33rd Selected Links
Happy weekend! Here are some links to things I've been reading or watching that you might also enjoy:
1. The Podcast Reader. This year, I've had the honour of being a (very small) part of creating a new magazine featuring transcripts of great longform podcasts. Edition One (August) has just been published! You can purchase a print or digital copy or, better yet, subscribe here. Listening to long and complex podcasts isn't always easy: you can drift off and lose the thread, it's finicky to pause and rewind, and it's impossible to 'skim' the conversation. With longform podcasts emerging as an indispensable sense-making medium, we wanted to bring their insights to new audiences and make digesting those insights easier for all. This is a not-for-profit venture, and a portion of the cover price goes to the featured podcasts. All credit for bringing this idea to life goes to our incredible team, especially David Loggia.
2. An open letter from John Maynard Keynes to FDR, printed inThe New York Timeson December 31, 1933. Its best line, on believing that increasing the quantity of money will raise output and income: "this is like trying to get fat by buying a larger belt."
3. A recent, three-and-a-half-hour conversation between Messrs Taleb and Wolfram.
4. Peter Thiel's 2014 Reddit AMA to promote the launch of Zero to One. There's a lot of good stuff in the thread. One user asks: "Peter, what's the worst investment you've ever made? What lessons did you learn from it?" Thiel responds: "Biggest mistake ever was not to do the Series B round at Facebook. General lesson: Whenever a tech startup has a strong up round led by a top tier investor (Accel counts), it is generally still undervalued. The steeper the up round, the greater the undervaluation."
5. 'The new battle of ideas: How an intellectual revolution will reshape society', aNew Statesmanarticle by Paul Collier. I had Paul on the podcast (in March) because he writes and speaks with such passion and moral clarity (as well as saying things I think are important). This article is no exception and melds many of his recent riffs.
Have a great weekend,
Joe