Books Recommended by Eric Weinstein
Eric R. Weinstein is an American mathematician, economist, writer, and the managing director of Thiel Capital in San Francisco, Peter Thiel’s investment firm. He holds a Ph.D in mathematical physics from Harvard University and is a research fellow at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University.
Weinstein writes and speaks on topics related to financial risk, hedge funds, risk management, immigration, high skill labor market and more.
In 2013 he made public the theory called Geometric Unity that has sparked lots of discussions, praise, controversy and media coverage. The theory might explain why the universe works the way it does.
Books recommended by Eric Weinstein:
In Eric Weinstein’s words:
Folks frequently ask “What are the books that changed your life?” If I tell them, they are usually radically disappointed. I find that curious. I just cleared out of an office, and these are 4 shelves of spines of books that mattered enough to me to bring home. So here they are.
15 books recommended by Eric Weinstein
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature
I have another weird recommendation, which is the book Heraclitean Fire by Erwin Chargaff, who effectively shorted Watson and Crick. He told Watson and Crick that he didn't think that they were very good or very smart, and that they didn't know their chemistry. They… Read the full quote
I have another weird recommendation, which is the book Heraclitean Fire by Erwin Chargaff, who effectively shorted Watson and Crick. He told Watson and Crick that he didn't think that they were very good or very smart, and that they didn't know their chemistry. They weren't qualified to work on DNA, etc. It turned out that they got it right, and he got it wrong. When I heard that there was somebody who bet against Watson and Crick, I thought, "Well, this is just going to be the laugh of the century", but it turned out that just to short those guys required another genius. He writes about trying to suppress these guys and failing because they were right and he was wrong. He has enough presence of mind to struggle with it. [...] These are books that I think are incredibly powerful because they talk about what it's like to be one against the many.
The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession
For my science friends, I ask them to read The Emperor of Scent, by Chandler Burr, about my friend Luca Turin. It talks about a renegade scientist being stymied by the journal Nature, by various conferences, by the established research centers, and it's just a… Read the full quote
For my science friends, I ask them to read The Emperor of Scent, by Chandler Burr, about my friend Luca Turin. It talks about a renegade scientist being stymied by the journal Nature, by various conferences, by the established research centers, and it's just a wonderful introduction to how the dissident voice is marginalized. Because Luca is such a genius of olfcation and chemistry, he's able to take a perspective, which may or may not be true, but keep pushing forward and battling. So, that's one of my favorites.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
Folks frequently ask “What are the books that changed your life?” If I tell them, they are usually radically disappointed. I find that curious. I just cleared out of an office, and these are books that mattered enough to me to bring home. So here they are.
