All Episodes

#430 How to Write Ads That Sell

#429 Bob Dylan's Autobiography

#428 How Claude Shannon Worked

#427 How Raymond Plank Built a $50 Billion Oil Company

#426 How Obsession Built Christopher Nolan

#425 The Merchant Bankers

#424 Peter Thiel on How to Build a Creative Monopoly

#423 Soichiro Honda

#422 Joseph Pulitzer

#420 Steve Jobs In Exile

#419 Kelly Johnson: Skunk Works

#418 Phil Knight: Founder of Nike

#417 Arnold Schwarzenegger

#416 The Relentless Missionary Creating AGI: Demis Hassabis

#415 How Elon Thinks

#414 How SpaceX Works

#413 How To Run Down A Dream

#412 How Roger Federer Works

#411 Tortured Into Greatness: The Life of Andre Agassi

#410 Excellent Advice for Living

The Singular Life of Rick Rubin

#409 The Creative Genius of Rick Rubin

#408 How to Make a Few MORE Billion Dollars: Brad Jacobs

The Life of Jesus

#407 Bruce Springsteen Repairs the Hole in Himself

#406 Christian von Koenigsegg

Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac Founder

#405 How Rockefeller Worked

My conversation with Todd Graves

#404 How Larry Ellison Thinks

My Conversation with Brad Jacobs

#403 How Jensen Works

My Conversation with Michael Dell

#402 Thomas Peterffy: The $80 Billion Founder Who Automates Everything

My conversation with Daniel Ek: Founder of Spotify

#401 How Bill Gates Works

#400 The Stubborn Genius of James Dyson

#399 How Elon Works

#398 Steve Jobs In His Own Words (Make Something Wonderful)

#397 Jiro Ono: Simplicity Is The Ultimate Advantage

#396 The Obsession of Enzo Ferrari

#395 How Geniuses and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest-Growing Sport

#394 An Orphan Who Built An Empire: Leonardo Del Vecchio and The Founding of Luxottica

#393 The Marketing Genius of the Michelin Brothers

#392 Michele Ferrero and His $40 Billion Privately Owned Chocolate Empire

#391 Jimmy Iovine

#390 Rare Steve Jobs Interview

#389 The Founder of Jimmy Choo: Tamara Mellon

#388 Jeff Bezos's Shareholder Letters: All of Them!

A conversation on focus and finding your life's work

#387 Jim Simons Built The World’s Greatest Money-Making Machine

#386 Akio Morita: Founder of Sony

#385 Michael Dell

#384 Ken Griffin: Founder of Citadel and Citadel Securities

The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig

#383 Todd Graves and his $10 Billion Chicken Finger Dream

#382 Who Is Michael Ovitz?: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Most Powerful Man in Hollywood

#381 I Had Dinner With Michael Ovitz

#380 Four Hundred Pages of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger In Their Own Words

#379 Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys)

#378 The Last Oil Baron: Leon Hess

#377 Expanding A Family Dynasty: Marcus Wallenberg Jr.

#376 Jensen Huang: Founder of Nvidia

#375 The Single Biggest Individual Financier In The World. The Richest Woman In America: Hetty Green

The Most Inspiring Autobiography I've Read: Chung Ju-yung Founder of Hyundai

#374 Rare Jeff Bezos Interview

#373 Breakfast with Brad Jacobs + How To Make A Few Billion Dollars

#372: Amancio Ortega: The Genius Behind the Inditex Group

#371 James J. Hill: The Empire Builder

#370 The Founder of IKEA: Ingvar Kamprad

#369 Elon Musk and The Early Days of SpaceX

Steve Jobs and Edwin Land

#368 Rockefeller's Autobiography

#367 Inside the Contrarian Mind of Sam Zell

#366 Mr. Beast Leaked Memo

#365 Nick Sleep's Letters: The Full Collection of the Nomad Investment Partnership Letters to Partners

#364 Nick & Zak's Excellent Adventure: How Nick Sleep and Qais Zaharia Built Their Investment Partnership

#363 Li Lu and Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett

#362 Li Lu

#361 Estée Lauder

#360 Robert Kierlin: Founder of Fastenal

#359 The Russian Rockefellers: The Nobel Family Dynasty

#358 I had dinner with John Mackey, Founder of Whole Foods

#357 Haruki Murakami

#356 How The Sun Rose On Silicon Valley: Bob Noyce (Founder of Intel)

#355 Rare Bernard Arnault Interview

#354 Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man

#353 How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty

#352 J. Paul Getty: The Richest Private Citizen in America

#351 The Founder of Rolex: Hans Wilsdorf

#350 How To Sell Like Steve Jobs

#349 How Steve Jobs Kept Things Simple

Michael Jordan In His Own Words

#348 The Financial Genius Behind A Century of Wall Street Scandals: Ivar Kreuger

#347 How Walt Disney Built His Greatest Creation: Disneyland

#346 How Walt Disney Built Himself

#345 George Lucas

Steven Spielberg

#344 Quentin Tarantino

#343 The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: David Ogilvy

#342 The Lessons of History (Will & Ariel Durant)

#341 Cornelius Vanderbilt (Tycoon's War)

#340 Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant

Jay Z's Autobiography

#339 Joseph Duveen: Robber Baron Art Dealer

#338 Monty Moncrief Texas Oil Billionaire

#337 Napoleon's Maxims and Strategy

#336 How To Lose A Few Billion Dollars: Samuel Insull

#335 How To Make A Few Billion Dollars: Brad Jacobs

#334 Oprah

#333 Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac Founder: Dietrich Mateschitz

#332 Jesus

#331 Christian Dior

#330 Les Schwab (Charlie Munger recommended this book)

#329 Charlie Munger (the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack)

Reflections from my dinner with Charlie Munger

#328 Tom Murphy (Buffett's favorite manager)

#327 Ted Turner

#326 Anna Wintour

#325 Larry Gagosian (Billionaire Art Dealer)

#324 John D. Rockefeller (38 Letters Rockefeller Wrote to His Son)

Mike Bloomberg

#323 Jimmy Buffett

#322 Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)

#321 Working with Jeff Bezos

#320 The Making of Winston Churchill Part 2

Sam Zemurray (The Fish That Ate the Whale)

#319 The Making of Winston Churchill Part 1

The best interview I've ever done about Founders

#318 Alistair Urquhart (Listen to this when you’re stressed)

#317 Ed Catmull (Founder of Pixar)

#316 Bugatti

#315 Balenciaga

#314 Paul Graham (How To Do Great Work)

#313 Christopher Nolan

#312 Mark Twain

#311 James Cameron

#310 Walt Disney and Picasso

Michael Jordan (The Life)

#309 Arnold Schwarzenegger (Before He Was Successful)

#308 The Founder of Glock

#307: The World's Great Family Dynasties: Rockefeller, Rothschild, Morgan, & Toyada

#306 David Ogilvy (Confessions of an Advertising Man)

#305 Robert Caro on power, poverty, ruthlessness, & obsession

#304: Sol Price (The Founder Who Taught Jim Sinegal, Sam Walton, Jeff Bezos, Bernie Marcus)

#303 Rose Blumkin (Warren Buffett's Favorite Founder)

#302 Napoleon (The Mind of Napoleon)

#301 Tiger Woods

#300 James Dyson (Against the Odds)

#299 Steve Jobs (Make Something Wonderful)

#298 I had lunch with Sam Zell

#297 Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia)

A conversation with David and Ben from the Acquired podcast

#296 Bernard Arnault (The Richest Man in the World)

#295 I had dinner with Charlie Munger

#294 Napoleon

#293: Ray Kroc (The Making of McDonald's)

#292 Daniel Ludwig (The Invisible Billionaire)

#291 David Packard (Founder of HP)

#290 Bill Gates

#289 Brunello Cucinelli

#288 Ralph Lauren

#287 The Founder of Rolls-Royce

#286 Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger

#285 Jay Gould (How Jay Gould Built Wall Street's Biggest Fortune)

#284 Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick

#283 Andrew Carnegie

#282 Jeff Bezos Shareholder Letters

#281 Working with Steve Jobs

The Founder of Kinkos — Paul Orfalea

#280 Jimi Hendrix

#279 What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett

#278 Peter Thiel

#277 Paul Graham's Essays Part 3

#276 Paul Graham’s Essays Part 2

#275 Paul Graham

#274 Jim Clark (Silicon Graphics, Netscape)

#273 Kobe Bryant (Mamba Mentality)

#272 Kobe Bryant (The Life)

#271 Vannevar Bush (Engineer of the American Century)

#270: Vannevar Bush (Pieces of the Action)

#269 Sam Zell

#268 John Malone (Cable Cowboy)

#267 Thomas Edison

#266 Henry Ford's Autobiography

#265 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

#264 The Story of Edwin Land and Polaroid

#263 Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It

#262 Herbie Cohen (World's Greatest Negotiator)

#261 Dee Hock's Autobiography of a Restless Mind Volume One and Two

#260 One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization

#259 Bob Dylan

#258: Jay Gould (Dark Genius of Wall Street)

#257 Richard Garriott (Video Games and Space Exploration)

#256 Edward L. Bernays (Public Relations, Advertising, & Persuasion)

#255 Sam Zemurray (Banana King)

#254 John D. Rockefeller: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers

#253 Henry Goldman (Goldman Sachs)

#252 Socrates

#251 Ben Franklin and George Washington: The Founding Partnership

#250 Jacob Fugger (The Richest Man Who Ever Lived)

Steve Jobs's Heroes

#249 Steve Jobs In His Own Words

#248 John D. Rockefeller (Titan)

#247 Henry Flagler (Rockefeller's partner)

#246 Mark Leonard's Shareholder Letters

#245 Rick Rubin (In the Studio)

#244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger)

#243 Francis Greenburger (Real Estate Billionaire)

#242 Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life

#241 The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies

#240 Mozart: A Life

Steve Jobs and His Heroes

#239 The Wright Brothers

#238 Jay Z: Decoded

#237 Julio Lobo (Cuba's Last Sugar Tycoon)

#236 Nims Purja (Mountain Climber)

#235 Steve Jobs (The Pixar Story)

#234 Sam Walton: Made In America

#233 Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin (PayPal)

#232 Alexander the Great

#231 William Rosenberg (Founder of Dunkin Donuts)

#230 Lucille Ball (TV's biggest star)

#229 Sidney Harman (Founder of Harman Kardon)

#228 Michael Bloomberg

I read 66 biographies last year— Here are my top 10!

#227 The Essays of Warren Buffett

#226 Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle

#225 Winston Churchill

#224 Charles de Gaulle

#223 Unstoppable: Siggi Wilzig's Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend

#222 Ed Thorp (My personal blueprint)

#221 Charlie Munger

#220 Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine

#219 Tony Bourdain: The Definitive Biography

#218 Johan Cruyff (A Life of Total Football)

#217 Estée Lauder

#216 Paul Van Doren (Founder of Vans)

#215: J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leslie Groves (The General and the Genius)

#214 Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

#213 Michael Jordan: Driven From Within

#212 Michael Jordan: The Life

#211 Aristotle Onassis: An Extravagant Life

#210 Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

#209 Steven Spielberg: A Biography

#208 Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Bill Hewlett

#207 Claude Hopkins (Scientific Advertising)

#206 Albert D. Lasker (the creation of the advertising industry)

#205 James Dyson (Invention: A Life)

#204 Steve Jobs (Inside Steve's Brain)

#203 Georges Doriot (Birth of Venture Capital)

#202 A Few Lessons From Warren Buffett

#201 Isambard Kingdom Brunel (James Dyson's Hero)

#200 James Dyson (Against the Odds)

#199 Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life

#198 Nathan Rothschild (Rothschild Family Dynasty)

#197 Founder of the Rothschild Family Dynasty

#196 Winston Churchill (Leadership during WW2)

#195 Sid Meier (Computer game designer)

#194 Ernest Hemingway (Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy)

#193 Arnold Schwarzenegger (Arnold's first autobiography)

#192 Jim Casey (Founder of UPS)

#191 Naval Ravikant (A Guide to Wealth and Happiness)

#190 Henry Ford and Thomas Edison

#189 David Ogilvy (The book I've given as a gift the most)

#188 Joe Coulombe (Founder of Trader Joes)

#187 Albert Einstein

#186 Phil Knight (Nike)

#185 César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier (The Hotelier and The Chef)

#184 Isadore Sharp (Four Seasons)

#183 Johnny Carson

#182 Warren Buffett (The Making of an American Capitalist)

#181 Paul Orfalea (Kinkos)

#180 Jeff Bezos (Invention of a Global Empire)

Jeff Bezos (Insights, Stories, and Secrets)

#179 Jeff Bezos

#178 Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products

#177 Robert Campeau (Junk Bonds and Retail Bankruptcy)

#176 Linus Torvalds (Creator of Linux)

#175 Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

#174 Bill Gates (Overdrive)

#173 Louis B. Mayer (MGM Studios)

#172 Elon Musk (Early Days of SpaceX)

#171: Chuck Feeney (The Billionaire who gave all of his money away)

#170 Claude Hopkins (A Life in Advertising)

#169 David Ogilvy (The King of Madison Avenue)

#168 Larry Miller (Driven: An Autobiography)

#167 Jackie Cochran (Aviation)

#166 Robert Noyce (Intel)

#165 William Shockley (Creator of the Electronic Age)

#164 Robert Goddard (Rocket Man)

#163 Alfred Nobel

#162 Chuck Yeager

#161 Dr. Seuss

#160 Peter Cundill

#159 Andy Grove (Intel)

#158 Walt Disney (Disneyland)

#157 The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

#156 Theodore Roosevelt

#155 Jeff Bezos (Shareholder Letters and Speeches)

#154 Charles Schulz (Charlie Brown)

#153 Bill Bowerman (Nike)

#152 Katherine Graham (Washington Post)

#151 Frederick Smith (FedEx)

#150 Sam Walton (America's Richest Man)

#149 The Big Rich (Oil Billionaires)

#148 John D. Rockefeller (Autobiography)

#147 Sam Colt

#146 Milton Hershey (Chocolate)

#145 William Randolph Hearst

#144 Ernest Shackleton

#143 Alfred Lee Loomis (the most interesting man you've never heard of)

#142 Teddy Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan

#141 Arnold Schwarzenegger (My Unbelievably True Life Story)

#140 Bill Gates (the Making of the Microsoft Empire)

#139 J.P. Morgan

#138 Alexander Graham Bell

#137 P.T. Barnum

#136 Estée Lauder

#135 Joseph Pulitzer (Politics & Media)

#134 Edwin Land (Polaroid vs Kodak)

#133 Edwin Land (Polaroid and The Man Who Invented It)

#132 Edwin Land (Steve Jobs's Hero)

#131 Robert Friedland (Billionaire Miner)

#130 Walter Chrysler

#129 Felix Dennis (How to Get Rich)

#128 Henry Leland (Cadillac)

#127 Larry Ellison (Oracle)

#126: Larry Ellison (The Billionaire and the Mechanic)

#125 Charles Kettering (inventor, engineer, founder)

#124 Larry Ellison and Oracle

#123 Albert Champion (Record-Setting Racer to Dashing Tycoon)

#122 Alfred Sloan (General Motors)

#121 Billy Durant and Alfred Sloan (General Motors)

#120 Billy Durant (Creator of General Motors)

#119 The Dodge Brothers

#118 Forty Years With Henry Ford

#117 : Chung Ju-yung founder of Hyundai (the most inspiring autobiography I've read)

#116 Sam Bronfman (Seagram's and the Bronfman family dynasty)

#115 Ben Franklin: An American Life

#114 The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time

#113 A.G. Gaston (Black Titan and the Making of a Black American Millionaire)

#112 Frank Lloyd Wright

#111 David Geffen

#110 Henry Singleton (Teledyne)

#109 Adi Dassler (Adidas)

#108 Jim Simons (Money Printer)

#107 Sol Price (Costco)

#106 Bill Walsh (The Score Takes Care of Itself)

#105 Les Schwab (Charlie Munger recommended this book)

#104 Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA)

#103 Hetty Green (The Richest Woman in America)

#102 Akio Morita (Sony)

#101 Warren Buffett (The Tao of Warren Buffett)

#100 Warren Buffett (The Snowball)

#99 Carroll Shelby (My name is Carroll Shelby and performance is my business)

#98 Enzo Ferrari (the making of an automobile empire)

#97 Enzo Ferrari (Ferrari vs Ford)

#96 James J. Hill (Empire Builder of the Northwest)

#95 Claude Shannon

#94 Henry Singleton (The Outsiders)

#93 Ed Thorp (A Man for All Markets)

#92 Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon

#91 Jim Clayton (Sold to Warren Buffett)

#90 Charlie Munger (Poor Charlie's Almanack)

#89 David Ogilvy (Confessions of an Advertising Man)

#88 Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letters— All of them!

#87 Thomas Watson (IBM)

#86 Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber (A Genius and a Doomed Tycoon)

#85 Walter and Olive Ann Beech (Aviation Legends)

#84 Aristotle Onassis

#83 Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World

#82 David Ogilvy (Ogilvy on Advertising)

#81 Henry Royce (Founder of Rolls-Royce)

#80 Henry Ford (Today and Tomorrow)

#79 Charlie Munger (The Complete Investor)

#78 Charlie Munger (the Tao of Charlie Munger)

#77 Steve Jobs (The NeXT Years)

#76 Steve Jobs: The Early Years of Apple

#75 Henry Clay Frick: Andrew Carnegie's Partner

#74 The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

#73 Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick: The Bitter Partnership That Changed America

#72 Stan Lee: Founder of Marvel

#71 Jeff Bezos' Shareholder Letters

#70 Mark Spitznagel: The Dao of Capital

#69 Charles Goodyear: An Inventor's Obsession and the Struggle for a Rubber Monopoly

#68 Daniel Ludwig: The Invisible Billionaire

#67 Conrad Hilton: Hilton Hotel Dynasty

#66 Henry Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West

#65 Kirk Kerkorian: Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History

#64 Coco Chanel: Her Life and Secrets

#63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

#62 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

#61 Malcom McLean: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

#60 Yvon Chouinard: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 40 Years

#59 Howard Hughes: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire

#58 John Bogle: Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life

#57 John Bogle: Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution

#56 The Biography of Herb Kelleher

#55 Tycoon's War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to Overthrow America's Most Famous Military Adventurer

#54 The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

#53 Who Is Michael Ovitz?

#52 The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders

#51 Wild Company: The Untold Story of Banana Republic

#50 Marc Andreessen's Blog Archive

#49 Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life by Richard Branson

#48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson

#47 Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

#46 I Love Capitalism: An American Story

#45 Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion

#44 A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft

#43 Ray Dalio: Principles: Life and Work

#42 One From Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization

#41 The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

#40 Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid

#39 Walt Disney: An American Original

#38 The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

#37 The Fish That Ate The Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King

#36 Finding The Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent

#35 George Lucas: A Life

#34 Creativity Inc: The Autobiography of the founder of Pixar

#33 Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World

#32 Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

#31 Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

#30 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

#29 The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company

#28 The Wright Brothers

#27 A Truck Full of Money: Coding, Mania, Love, Genius: The Life of an American Entrepreneur

#26 My Life and Work: The Autobiography of Henry Ford

#25 Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson

#24 No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet

#23 The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

#22 How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story

#21 Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

#20 Danny Meyer (The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business)

#19 Becoming Steve Jobs

#18 Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

#17 Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

#16 Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller

#15 Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography

#14 The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal

#13 Elon Musk and Why SpaceX Will Colonize Mars

#12 Elon Musk & How Tesla Will Change The World

#11 The Cook & The Chef: Elon Musk's Secret Sauce

#10 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

#9 I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford

#8 The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company

#7 Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's

#6 Sam Walton

#5 Steve Jobs

#4 The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

#3 The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Edison Invented The Modern the Modern World

#2 Walt Disney

#1 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, & the Quest for a Fantastic Future