Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel – Co-Founder of paypal and investor in Facebook has recently published a book on highly successful startsups, more specific game changing companies that innovate in Technology.

The Interview with Peter Thiel in the Podcast of Tim Ferriss made me more curious about him. Not only did the appeal of him grow after reading the Art of Learning, which I also discovered through the Tim Ferris podcast, a book that to a large part is about chess – a game in which Peter Thiel is an expert.

Peter Thiel mentioned in an article this October that the most influencing  book he ever read was the Sovereign Individual – A book about megapolitical political events happening through the lense of violence. It was written in 1997 and fortells the furture of internet including cryptocurrency(Bitcoins) and possibly being one of the reasons of Paypals first started. With a focus of creating a Cryptocurrency.

This book has as far as I have read brought some attention to the Monopoly side of business.

It does not focus much on the negative parts of it, although Thiel distances himself from it. Instead he says that where less competition is where the most value can be captured.

I am looking forward to writing more about this book.

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin – Introducton

“The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage. If we have any hope of attaining excellence, let alone of showing what we’ve got under pressure, we have to be prepared by a lifestyle of reinforcement. Presence must be like breathing.”

Josh Waitzkin became a celebrity chess prodigy after the release of the film “Searching for Bobby Fisher“.

Waitzkin started his chess carrer as a child competing with the colorful mix of personalities in the park close to his hous. He found the game exciting and he discovered an innate talent for the sport. Waitzkin had the luck to come in contact with a great teacher who could help him advance his street-savvy chess style to something more refined, whilst keeping young Waitzkins inner flair alive.

According to Waitzkin, other chess instructors tend to suffocate the same passion that is crucial for wanting to learn.

Apart from a good teacher Waitzkin had both a loving mother and and father who helped guide him through his early life.

Waitzkin also started to develop mental strategies to cope with the immense stress during tournaments, further magnified by the the fame following “Searching for Bobby Fisher”. These strategies were explained in detail by Waitzkin in the book.
Now, a young man in his early 20s, he started to practise Tai-Chi. Again he learned quickly and again, this is explained in more detail telling of the continous consciouss effort made by Waitzkin.

Not only did Josh Waitzkin become a chess champion, he also became world champion in Tai-Chi. Furthermore he holds a black belt in Brazilian Jui-jutsu and now works as a proffesional advisor for top executives in the business world who want to reach true excellence.

The art of learning really delved into the psycology of development in a way that clearly had a solid foundation in results.

By combining Body, mind and conscioness into guide-book his interesting life story also is filled with knowledge gems, filling one with inspiration.

Before delving into the Art of Learning more I would like to provide the Learnbus with a link to an interview with Waitzkin made by Tim Ferriss (Author of the 4 hour work week, 4 hour chef and early investor in Uber, Shopify and a plentiful of other enteprises.).

Here is a link to a blogpost from last month between Ferriss and Peter Thiel if you are interested.