Great Books Distilled: Summaries of Bestselling Business and Investing Books

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham For over 50 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Many people set it as a goal to read all of Warren’s shareholder letters chronologically. Which is certainly a fascinating way to see how Berkshire Hathaway evolved year after year. This book is different. It breaks from this chronological order to instead group things Warren has said over the years by topic. So, for instance, you can see his ideas on the importance of culture or the power of incentives holistically — as a single body of work. What I love about this book is the focus on Warren’s ideas. Warren Buffett has built one of the largest conglomerates in history — full I’d incredible companies from See’s Candies to GEICO — from a standing start in 1965. I would argue that if you only have time to study one entrepreneur and investor, that you should study Warren Buffett. There’s no better way to do that than with this book. I know it’s one I’ll be rereading for the rest of my life. YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Notes & Transcript Find my full notes and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/warrens-essays. Chapters (0:00) Chapters coming… Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Extra Stuff Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → Browse every book featured on Outliers → Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham For over 50 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Many people set it as a goal to read all of Warren’s shareholder letters chronologically. Which is certainly a fascinating way to see how Berkshire Hathaway evolved year after year. This book is different. It breaks from this chronological order to instead group things Warren has said over the years by topic. So, for instance, you can see his ideas on the importance of culture or the power of incentives holistically — as a single body of work. What I love about this book is the focus on Warren’s ideas. Warren Buffett has built one of the largest conglomerates in history — full I’d incredible companies from See’s Candies to GEICO — from a standing start in 1965. I would argue that if you only have time to study one entrepreneur and investor, that you should study Warren Buffett. There’s no better way to do that than with this book. I know it’s one I’ll be rereading for the rest of my life. YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Notes & Transcript Find my full notes and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/warrens-essays. Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Chapters (0:00) Chapters coming… Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Extra Stuff Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → Browse every book featured on Outliers → Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Playing Field by Graham Duncan is BY FAR the best piece of writing I've read on the journey we must all make to reach mastery in our fields. While Graham writes about the journey to master the art of investing, everything in it is broadly generalizable. In Graham’s view we must all progress from apprentice, to professional, to self-actualization, operating at scale with impact, and eventually (if we make it) mentoring the new generation. It’s a wonderful meditation on mastery — what it is, what it looks like, and most importantly the journey to get there. Brought to you by HVMN. With Ketone-IQ, fuel your best anytime with a boost of awesome-feeling energy and clarity. Unlock the power of nature's superfuel—no fasting or keto diet required. YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Notes & Transcript Find my full notes, top highlights, and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/playing-field. Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Playing Field by Graham Duncan YouTube & Substack Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack. Join Outliers Club Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $9.99/month or $98/year. Join now → Extra Stuff Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → Browse every book featured on Outliers → Get in Touch Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/ Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the latest episode of Great Books Distilled, we explore Jimmy Soni’s bestselling book, The Founders. The Founders tells the founding story of PayPal and the personalities who shaped it, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Reid Hoofman. To write the book, Jimmy Soni conducted hundreds of interviews and had unprecedented access to thousands of pages of internal material. In this interview, we explore the most interesting aspects of this incredible story and what we can learn from it, and we go behind the scenes to explore the five-year story of writing the book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joey Cofone, Founder & CEO of the much loved “tools for thinkers” company Baronfig, joins me on Outlier Book Club to decode his new book, The Laws of Creativity. We cover why creativity isn’t magic, how creators across history from Albert Einstein to Grace Hopper and Bruce Lee wielded creativity to reach incredible heights, practical ways to hone your creativity, a framework for generating ideas, Joey’s process for writing the book, and so much more. “At this point in my career, I have art directed over 100 products from a rough idea into consumer’s hands. I’ve collaborated with incredible creators like James Clear and Roxane Gay. There came a point where it was very obvious how it all worked and fit together—because I was always interested not just in what I was doing but how I was doing it.” — Joey Cofone EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/laws-of-creativity-joey-cofone   FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/laws-of-creativity-joey-cofone-transcript    CHAPTERS (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:49) - Origin Story of The Laws of Creativity (00:06:39) - Distilling Down the Laws of Creativity (00:08:17) - What Creativity Is and Why It Isn’t Magic (00:18:17) - On Zeno’s Paradox and Choosing to Finish (00:22:58) - The Laws of Mindset, Action, and Greatness (00:25:57) - Joey’s Favorite Law: The Law of Competition (00:29:55) - The Law of Precision (00:33:00) - The Law of The Muse (00:36:06) - On Borrowing vs Stealing Ideas (00:39:42) - The Law of Simplicity (00:42:56) - The Law of Good Enough (00:46:51) - Joey’s Process for Writing the Book (00:55:54) - Knowing When the Book Was Done (01:02:07) - The Highs and Lows of Creating Baronfig (01:04:54) - Creativity vs Business (01:08:21) - Baronfig: The Idea Company ABOUT THE BOOK In his book The Laws of Creativity, Joey debunks why creativity isn’t magic and shares what it is, how it works, and how you can harness it in your everyday life. Learn how to unlock your originality and awaken your creative genius with Joey Cofone—award-winning designer and Founder & CEO of the much loved “Tools for Thinkers'' brand Baronfig. Each of the 39 Laws of Creativity are illustrated with inspiring, enlightening, and surprising stories of iconic creators across history—including Albert Einstein, Serena Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., Harry Houdini, Grace Hopper, Bruce Lee, and many more. Joey breaks down how these titans of history wielded creativity to reach incredible heights. “Drawing on decades of experience, Joey Cofone has distilled the elements of creativity into an excellent, easy-to-use guide. The Laws of Creativity provides a roadmap for unleashing the creative force inside you.” — James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s episode featuring Joey Cofone, author of The Laws of Creativity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We explore becoming a better writer. We’re joined by Verlyn Klinkenborg, author and Yale professor. We cover learning from farm life and work, finding rhythm in writing, and debunking writing cliches.  “So what I do now is essentially help students escape from their education. That's my enterprise every year. And it's always fun, because they escape quite readily. They all know that what they're making in their classes is an artificial product that doesn't actually have any particular interest for anyone except them.” – Verlyn Klinkenborg  EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-show-notes  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-transcript  CHAPTERS This episode is our definitive guide to becoming a better writer. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:54) – Rural life and the “home place” (00:04:50) – Raising animals and eating meat (00:11:07) – Learnings from farm life and work (00:15:35) – Verlyn’s reading habits (00:28:40) – Verlyn’s book Several Short Sentences About Writing (00:34:49) – What is academic prose? (00:40:08) – Why people should use shorter sentences in writing (00:44:43) – Finding rhythm in writing (00:48:49) – Self authorization and noticing the world around you (00:55:26) – Writing cliches that are untrue (01:06:43) – Writing is rooted in experience more than language ABOUT SEVERAL SHORT SENTENCES ABOUT WRITING Verlyn Klinkenborg teaches creative writing at Yale University, and was a member of the editorial board of The New York Times for 16 years. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Esquire, and National Geographic, and he has authored several books, including Several Short Sentences About Writing. This book aims to debunk general cliches about writing and creativity and remove obstacles keeping us from clear self-expression. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts. Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices