What I learned from reading Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street by William Poundstone.----Come see a live show with me and Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like The Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here! ----Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium — Subscribers can listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes and every bonus episode. ---Claude Shannon was as close to a sure thing as existed [2:53]The beginning of information theory [7:11]Project X [9:09]introduction to Ed Thorpe [15:05]using math and physics to beat Las Vegas [18:03]Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon meet [20:45]testing Thorpe’s Blackjack theory [26:00]The core of John Kelly’s philosophy of risk can be stated without math. It is that even unlikely events must come to pass eventually. Therefore, anyone who accepts small risks of losing everything will lose everything, sooner or later. The ultimate compound return rate is acutely sensitive to fat tails. [28:23]I’d be a bum in the street with a tin cup if the markets were efficient. —Warren Buffett [44:30]how Claude Shannon begins studying the stock market [46:45]Claude Shannon and Henry Singleton [48:16]why and how Ed Thorp started investing in stocks [49:49]Thorp starts a hedge fund and starts working remotely [52:49]Ed Thorp meets Warren Buffett [54:20]An acid test of Princeton/Newport’s market neutrality came in the Black Monday crash of October 19, 1987. The Dow Jones index lost 23 percent of its value in a single day. Princeton/Newport’s $ 600 million portfolio shed only about $ 2 million in the crash. Princeton Newport’s return for the year was an astonishing 34 percent. [59:36]the implosion of Long Term Capital Management [1:07:00]The thing you should do is the opposite of what you feel you should do. –Jim Clayton [1:09:10]A quote from 1738: A man who risks his entire fortune acts like a simpleton, however great may be the possible gain. — Daniel Bernoulli [1:13:00]Claude Shannon: A smart investor should understand where he has an edge and invest only in those opportunities. The methods Claude Shannon used to invest [1:17:10]—“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman ----Come see a live show with me and Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like The Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here! ----Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium — Subscribers can listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes and every bonus episode. ---[0:25] Claude Shannon trained a powerful intellect on topics of deep interest, and continued to do so beyond the point of short term practicality[5:50] Insulated from opinion of all kinds[9:09] A simple way to describe the impact of information theory[10:39] Resourceful at a young age[11:50] An ordinary childhood[12:41] Follow your natural drift[14:40] Too many facts; too few principles[16:10] His indecisive nature inadvertently helps him[17:00] An important turning point in Shannon’s life[18:30] Vannevar Bush: The first person to see Claude Shannon for who he was [21:00] The results of Claude Shannon’s thesis[23:20] How Claude Shannon worked in his 20s[25:30] The main takeaway from the book: The world isn’t there to be used, but to be played with, manipulated by hand and mind[30:00] Succeeding with no prior knowledge in the specific field[31:20] Working on what naturally interests you is time well spent[32:45] Working at Bell Labs / The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation[36:49] Fire Control / What he worked on during the war[38:15] Claude Shannon’s work on cryptography[40:05] Take many different ideas from unrelated fields[43:35] Leaving Bell Labs for MIT[48:52] Claude Shannon on investing[1:01:15] Shannon’s design for his own funeral—“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Claude Shannon was brilliant. He was the Einstein of computer science... only he loved "fritterin' away" his time building machines to play chess, solve Rubik's cubes and beat the house at roulette.If Shannon had worked more diligently - instead of juggling, riding a unicycle and abandoning project after project - would he have made an even greater contribution to human knowledge? Maybe... and maybe not. Are restlessness and "fritterin'" important parts of a rich and creative life?Read more about Tim's work at http://timharford.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.