Bill Gurley

General partner at Benchmark Capital

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Yes. There are three books that I’ll mention. The first one that I’ve gifted the most is called Complexity by Mitchell Waldrop, which is about the rise of the Santa Fe Institute. Even when you were talking with Haidt, I think he mentioned certain things are complex adaptive systems. They’re very hard to predict, they’re very hard to analyze, they’re very hard to understand. That’s what Santa Fe’s all about. That book introduced me to network effects. When I get to go there, I usually go a couple times a year and Mike Mauboussin’s there and Josh Wolfe’s there from Lockton. I just love the learning of things I don’t know, and just pushing my brain to go farther than I would with the normal stuff I consume. It’s beautifully written. Great writer, Mr. Waldrop. There’s a book that I happen to have right here. This book, Mr. China is fantastic. He went to China in the mid ’90s and started a fund to privatize a bunch of industries. He’s from London and got his head handed to him and survived enough to write a humorous story about it. But holy shit.

Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 25 January 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 82 →
John Crowley Chairman and chief executive of Amicus Therapeutics
I’m a big fan of history, Tim. American history, revolutionary history. Living now for almost 20 years in Princeton, surrounded by revolutionary history. Even as a kid I was. There’s a great book by an author named Benson Bobrick called Angel in the Whirlwind . It’s a history of the American Revolution. Obviously, countless histories of the American Revolution have been written. This one’s pretty special in that he’s a great storyteller. There is a great hero in the book. Do you want to guess who the hero of the American Revolution is? It’s not a trick question. Tim Ferriss: I don’t even want to – I’m afraid to embarrass myself. John Crowley: George Washington. Tim Ferriss: There we go, okay. John Crowley: So, easy answer, George Washington. Tim Ferriss: I was going to go for the layup, but I was like, I might flub it. John Crowley: He picks a villain and it’s Benedict Arnold.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 5 June 2018 source ↗
Kyle Maynard American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter
A [inaudible 00:42:55] is an article that I know that you’ve recommended a bunch that I’ve gifted to all my entrepreneur friends is 1,000 True Fans .
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 19 December 2021 source ↗
Jason Portnoy Investor; early finance executive at PayPal and Palantir
That’s Love Warrior , the one I talked about earlier by
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 16 June 2022 source ↗
Sebastian Junger War correspondent and author; co-director of the documentary Restrepo
At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matheson. I also recently read Sapiens by a guy named Harari. And I’m going to give that thing over and over again to everyone I know.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 1 January 2018 source ↗

More from Bill Gurley

View profile →

More on taste & recommendation

Also answered this

Jason Portnoy, Satya Nadella, Jacqueline Novogratz, Graham Duncan, Ricardo Semler, Debbie Millman

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer