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What are you reading currently?


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Zero to One by Peter Thiel

 

I liked this book, definitely a different perspective than I'm used to reading

Same here. I love the idea of aiming for a monopoly. Not the usual, "If we can gain 2% of that $2B market share........", along with the other dozen competitors doing the same thing.

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This thread is great for people looking for reading ideas. My library is going to be busy finding me books over the next few months. Thanks guys.

 

I just finished Jimmy, the autobiography of Jim Pattison, one of Canada's richest men. He's an interesting character. It's lacking in a few areas, partially because he wrote it in 1987 and hasn't updated it since. But the stories of when he first started building his empire in the 1970s are quite interesting. I'd recommend it for anyone who's interested in conglomerates.

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Seems like everyone is reading books about business (which I guess should be expected on a board like this). A few of my favorite books are about investing (Margin of Safety, The Most Important Thing etc.), but I generally find books about business to be a waste of time. I prefer to read about history and politics.

 

Currently working through Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme. Interesting insight into the personalities during the last 50 years of the Roman Republic, as well as human nature in general.

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I'm waiting for Thiel to write the book about his hedge fund, One to Zero. BAM! 

 

Recently finished The eboys, about the Benchmark VC firm. Great stories from the last bubble about firms like Webvan, Priceline, and eBay. If you skip most of the book and just read the stories about Webvan / Priceline / eBay , it's a pretty great book. I'd like to read the book about Priceline, that sounds like a great story.

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Zero to One by Peter Thiel

 

I liked this book, definitely a different perspective than I'm used to reading

Same here. I love the idea of aiming for a monopoly. Not the usual, "If we can gain 2% of that $2B market share........", along with the other dozen competitors doing the same thing.

 

Yeah, I liked the way he looked at Google from different angles:

But suppose we say that Google is primarily an advertising company [as opposed to a search engine company with a monopoly].  That changes things.  The U.S. search engine advertising market is $17 billion annually.  Online advertising is $37 billion annually.  The entire U.S. advertising market is $150 billion.  And global advertising is a $495 billion market.  So even if Google completely monopolized U.S. search engine advertising, it would own just 3.4% of the global advertising market.  From this angle, Google looks like a small player in a competitive world.

What if we frame Google as a multifaceted technology company instead? ...

[pages 26 to 27]

 

Now I'm reading How Asia Works by Joe Studwell.

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I read The Frackers last month.  It's been recommended by others.  I would also highly recommend it.  Non-technical.  Reads more like a good story.  You'll learn about the history of the oil industry and how wildcatters operate.  Also a lot of good historical info on Continental, Cheniere, and Chesapeake.

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