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Katalin Karikó

Biochemist; Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2023

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
When I was 16 years old, I read the book from Hans Selye. Hans Selye is a Canadian scientist, but he was Hungarian so his book was translated to Hungarian. His mantra was that you have to focus on things that you can change. Many young ones are giving up because they can see that their friends or their colleagues are advancing, and it seems that they do less and somehow, they get higher salary and promoted. I told that if you notice that then you already took away your attention what you can change. Because you cannot change that.

Adam Smith, Telephone interview recorded shortly after the prize announcement, Nobel Prize Outreach, 2 October 2023 source ↗

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Jason Khalipa American Crossfit athlete
I read a lot. I think there are some really poor books at the airport, I really do. For me, I like more of a practical application book. I like a book like Mark Cuban’s Sport of Business. I Like it because it gets me fired up. I like it because it’s a real story from a real guy, just saying it like it is and it’s easy reading. It’s not so analytical and things like that. So that’s the book I like.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 1 June 2018 source ↗
Kevin Systrom American computer programmer and entrepreneur
Yeah, totally. Of course now, all my friends are having kids. I give kids books, but the one I give people that are trying to learn actively is Principles by Ray Dalio. It’s interesting actually. Someone gave me the PDF. It was a PDF before his book. Gave me the PDF and I skimmed over. I was like, “Oh, this is pretty good.” They were like, “No. I seriously think you’re going to love this.” For some reason, I didn’t get around to it for maybe a year-and-a-half, and then I read the actual book, and I was blown away. It’s both a guide to life, a guide to business, and also I think an insight into Ray and someone who’s built an amazing business. If you guys listening don’t know what he does, he runs a hedge fund called Bridgewater and he’s so much more than just a finance thinker, he’s also just a brilliant philosopher. I give that a lot because I think it’s a great guide to life.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 30 April 2019 source ↗
Chip Conley American hotelier and writer
Well, other than Man’s Search For Meaning , which is probably my number one gift, recently, the last couple years there’s a book called The 100-Year Life . The 100-Year Life , written by a couple Brits, and it sort of says, “Imagine the future where the average person lives to 100. How is that going to change on a personal and societal basis?” It’s a really interesting, observational book. The Happiness Curve , which we talked about earlier. The U-curve of happiness is what we call it. The name of the book is by Jonathan Rauch, it’s called The Happiness Curve . That’s become a favorite to gift. I also love Danny Meyer the restaurateur. He’s got one of the best books on hospitality ever written, which is called Setting the Table .
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 24 June 2019 source ↗
Lisa Ling American journalist
The book that I have gifted the most often, you would not expect this of me, but it’s called Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World .
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 6 October 2019 source ↗

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Question What is the biggest professional obstacle you have faced? Craft & work
Adam, if you know about 10 years ago, I was here in October because I was kicked out, from Penn, was forced to retire. Then my husband supported me and said that, you know, when finally visited in Germany and found that maybe BioNTech is the right place, then he said "Just try it and I will make sure that you don't regret." Looking back in my life he supported that I would go, and for nine years I commuted to BioNTech in Germany. I did all these experiments actually, with my own hands, I was 58 years old, I was still culturing plasmids and feeding cells, so it is very unlikely.
Recorded Adam Smith, Telephone interview recorded shortly after the prize announcement, October 2023, Nobel Prize Outreach, 1 October 2023 source ↗

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