Avid reader, global investor and German Marshall Fund chair Chris Schroeder, who devoured around 150 books in 2024, engages in a spirited New Year discussion about literacy, geopolitics, and the power of deep reading. Despite hand-wringing about America's reading decline, Schroeder remains optimistic about young entrepreneurs' intellectual curiosity, particularly in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Discussing his favorite 2024 reads, including Annie Jacobsen's chilling nuclear war scenarios and Oscar Jonsson's analysis of Russian military thinking, Schroeder illuminates how books offer a dramatically richer understanding of the contemporary world’s complexity than social media's soundbites. Pivoting to China's rising influence, the Washington DC based Schroeder notes how Chinese businesses are outcompeting Western rivals through superior service and pricing. His key message: America must focus on competitiveness rather than containment in an increasingly multipolar world swimming in what he calls "an ocean of black swans."

As the co-founder of VC partnership Next Billion Ventures, Chris Schroeder invests in tech startups in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The latter is an ecosystem he knows well, having dedicated a year of his life to exploring it when writing the book Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Schroeder, who is also a startup advisor, knows the role of CEO inside out, having occupied it three times over. Schroeder started his career working for the U.S. government, before making the switch to a business development role at The Washington Post in 2000, where he would become CEO and publisher three years later. Schroeder has also served as the CEO of business-to-business data, analysis, and news provider Legi-Slate, and health and wellness platform HealthCentral, which he co-founded, grew to over 15 million unique monthly users and then sold in 2011.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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Lanlan Kuang, "Staging Tianxia: Dunhuang Expressive Arts and China's New Cosmopolitan Heritage" (Indiana UP, 2024)