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Mohamed ElBaradei

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Unfortunately, I don’t. My wife now reads fiction. I don’t have the time to read fiction. My wife reads the fiction and summarizes it to me, but I wish at one point I’ll have time again to read fiction. It is a luxury I cannot afford right now.

Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗

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Bill Gurley General partner at Benchmark Capital
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.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 25 January 2023 source ↗
Dax Shepard Actor and film-maker; host of the Armchair Expert podcast
Yeah, there’s a number one. I can’t stop talking about it. I’ve read it three times now. I will read it again soon, is Titan , the Ron Chernow book about
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 19 November 2020 source ↗
Graham Duncan Investor; co-founder of East Rock Capital
Yeah. So in financial markets, I really like this somewhat obscure book called The Aspirational Investor by this guy, Ashvin Chhabra, who runs Jim Simons’ family office. Jim Simons started Renaissance Technologies, which is the dominant quant fund.
Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 1 March 2019 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 ↗

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Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief
I have a lot of respect and admiration for President Carter. It was a delight when I got the Nobel Peace Prize to get a letter from him. It meant a lot to me, getting that letter from a man who is my idol in many ways. ... He always has the courage to express his views, his convictions. He doesn’t hesitate to run against the current. He has always had a moral certitude. He looks at the ethics and morality of his action, and that’s key. Whatever we do in life, whether privately or publicly, we need to have a compass. We need to be sure that what we do is not only good for us, but good for the people at large. That’s ethics. That’s morality. I think we need to always know that our work is not just good for us in the short term, but it’s morally correct. And when I talk about morality, I don’t talk about religion. I talk about a moral code, a moral value, which I think we all have, being honest, being fair, being correct. These are values I think we all share.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗
Question Which writers or artists have most influenced your work? Taste & recommendation
One of my mentors, Tom Frank, a professor of law at NYU, he was really instrumental in making me understand that we need to look at the global picture, and we always need to not take anything for granted, but go very much through a process of critical thinking before we formulate our views. So he was, I think, instrumental in shaping my views as to how to pursue my career in the future.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗
Question What has been most rewarding about being a parent? Relationships
I think it’s more modeling. I never bring in my children and say, “Listen, these are the values you should follow in life.” I think it’s a modeling by my wife and me. I think we give them a good life. They saw how we go through life: a difficult time, a hard time, good time. I am very happy. I think they are good kids. If I have hope, it’s because I look at my children.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗
Question Which teacher, parent, coach, or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them? Relationships
My father was a lawyer. My mother was a homemaker. My father was president of the Egyptian Bar Association. He was involved very much during the Nasser era — which was one of the most repressive eras in Egyptian history — in fighting for democracy, fighting for human rights, and I think that to a lot of extent shaped my view as to what I wanted to do in the future. I wanted to have a world where people are free to express their views, to have freedom of worship, to have freedom from want, and I saw poverty in Egypt when I grew up. To me, freedom, in the larger sense — to be able to speak, to worship, free from want, free from fear — I think it was a key as to what I thought I would like to do when I grow up.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗
Question What is the biggest professional obstacle you have faced? Craft & work
No. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out quite that way. At that time, everybody was euphoric that we will have a new world order, you know, a world order that does not rely on nuclear weapons, nuclear deterrence. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way. ... We still have thousands of warheads in existence. We still have more than 20 — 30 countries relying on nuclear deterrence for their own survival.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗

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