
Startup books and podcasts: making the most of a longer commute - golmansax
https://hackernoon.com/startup-books-and-podcasts-making-the-most-of-a-longer-commute-4321fdd96c0f
======
lawn
Obligatory shout out to Hardcore History: [http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-
history-series/](http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/)

I was never very much into history. But it didn't matter because this series
is _amazing_. I would recommend "Blueprint for Armageddon" about the first
world war, but be warned that it's very long. If you want something shorter
(it's still almost 6 hours!) try "The Destroyer of Worlds".

But really, pretty much everything is fantastic.

~~~
DanAndersen
Once you've exhausted the supply of Hardcore History episodes, here are a few
recommendations. I think these do a good job of fitting into the Dan Carlin-
style "chatting about history" as opposed to the drier "reading off a list of
names and events" style:

\- Patrick Wyman's "Fall of Rome" [
[http://wondery.com/wondery/shows/fallofrome/](http://wondery.com/wondery/shows/fallofrome/)
] and "Tides of History" [
[http://wondery.com/wondery/shows/tidesofhistory/](http://wondery.com/wondery/shows/tidesofhistory/)
]. Good discussion of the Late Imperial period and of the Early Modern Era.
Main disadvantage is that the sponsor messages are like commercials in that
they abruptly butt into the middle of the episodes.

\- "History on Fire" [
[http://historyonfirepodcast.com/episodes/](http://historyonfirepodcast.com/episodes/)
]. I find these episodes a little hit and miss, and the narrator's thick
accent does take some getting used to, but it's definitely worth a try.

\- "MartyrMade" [
[http://historyonfirepodcast.com/episodes/](http://historyonfirepodcast.com/episodes/)
]. Probably the closest to Dan Carlin in terms of style, where he's using
history as a jumping-off point to explore questions about the human condition.
Currently it contains a history of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, and also an analysis of cannibalism and ritual sacrifice in history
(a companion series to the "History on Fire" episodes about the Aztecs).

------
scardine
I have the privilege of working at a beautiful University campus and being
able to get there by bicycle. In the 45 minutes it takes for me to complete
the 7 miles of the bicycle lane along the Pinheiros river I like to hear
audiobooks and podcasts.

Some of the things I've heard lately:

\- Startups for the rest of us:
[http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/)

\- Rework (37 signals): [https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Rework-
Audiobook/B0036FL...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Rework-
Audiobook/B0036FLXLQ)

\- Algorithms to live by: [https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Algorithms-to-
Live-By-Au...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Algorithms-to-Live-By-
Audiobook/B01D24NLWO)

NONE OF THE ABOVE ARE AFFILIATE LINKS (for the trigger-happy jerks among us).

~~~
cdancette
Isn't it dangerous to listen to podcasts while riding your bike? (It seems to
me if you wear headphones you're much less likely to hear any outside noise).

~~~
antognini
In my experience I hear a lot more of my surroundings while biking even with
earbuds than in a car with the windows rolled up. I eventually stopped because
I was worried about long-term damage on my hearing from needing to turn it up
so loud.

------
BjoernKW
I can absolutely recommend the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, too.

StartUp by Gimlet on the other hand while entertaining doesn't provide a whole
lot of valuable insight in my opinion.

Personally, I'd recommend these podcasts:

\- Sales for Nerds:
[https://www.salesfornerds.io/](https://www.salesfornerds.io/) Pragmatic sales
tips for people with a technical background.

\- $100k Freelancing:
[http://www.100kfreelancing.com/](http://www.100kfreelancing.com/) Advice on
how to grow a freelancing or consulting business.

While the following technically aren't about startups or business in general
they deal with a lot of - sometimes related - matters and insights that can
help with becoming an overall better person:

\- The Tim Ferriss Show:
[https://tim.blog/podcast/](https://tim.blog/podcast/) General advice as to
how to become better at many things in life, including business.

\- 99% Invisible:
[https://99percentinvisible.org/](https://99percentinvisible.org/)
Interesting, groundbreaking, sometimes quirky, pieces of design from around
the world.

\- Design Matters:
[http://www.debbiemillman.com/designmatters/](http://www.debbiemillman.com/designmatters/)
Interviews with designers, artists and people from related backgrounds.

~~~
ahypeverse
I have to contest _7 Habits_...its conjecture on top of empty eureka after
empty eureka.

------
cglace
Am the only one that finds listening to startup podcasts to be useless?

I've listened to countless startup podcasts and read countless startup books.
Without your own experiences running a business its hard to sift through the
cruft of bad advice out there. I guess it's more entertainment than an actual
productive pursuit.

~~~
j4ship
I would say "useless" is a little harsh. You have to look take up these
resources with a goal in mind.

For the most part they are just regurgitating commonsense and nothing is new
under the sun as much as SV would want you to think.

If you want to create a health startup it probably better to become a
bioscientist instead of an MBA ... unless you are filthy rich already an just
need to learn management skills.

But for those that already have the tech skills and need a little guidance on
management, marketing, talking to VCs I think the info is good. Just dont
expect to understand how to make the next ubiquitous distributed system
(amazon ec2) without any systems/programming knowledge.

In fact I think "startup" should be considered a fad that is over. The word
holds little meaning and any meaning it had is now over. The money guys are
all over the place and the true "startups" already panned all the easy gold
from the river.

Startups as they were (if ever) cannot be create now. Now you just have an
internet business. And that pretty cool too.

If anyone happens to know a nanotechnologist working out of their garage I
would like to speak to them about a startup project

------
khuknows
I posted this question on Indie Hackers earlier this week and got some really
great podcast recommendations: [https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/which-
podcasts-do-you-rec...](https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/which-podcasts-do-
you-recommend-543913d44f)

Enjoying the "Startups for the rest of us" podcast so far
([http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/))

~~~
wj
Startups for the Rest of Us is one of my favorite as well. Lots of good
tactical advice on there. If you find yourself looking for something that is
more inspiration (at least in the early stages of your entrepreneurial
journey) I highly recommend Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series:

[http://etl.stanford.edu/](http://etl.stanford.edu/)

This was one of my talks that covers dropping out of college, a funny story
about trying to figure our pricing, as well as goes over transitioning a
business from charging for a product to charging for a service based on value:

[https://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcast/the-passion-and-
perseve...](https://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcast/the-passion-and-perseverance-
behind-a-start-up/)

------
Sir_Cmpwn
Another thing to consider is listening to lectures in other fields. I liked to
listen to astronomy, physics, astrophysics, etc lectures when I had a long
commute.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Robert Sapolsky has two stress-related lectures that were absolutely
fascinating - one titled "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers", and another one whose
title I forget that was about his work with Baboons. They were great for
making the Austin -> Dallas drive.

------
40acres
I've been really into politics and government lately, I'd recommend the
following podcasts in the genre. I cannot provide links as I'm on mobile but a
Google search should suffice.

The Weeds by Vox Media, this is a more 'wonk' and policy based podcast which
also focuses on the latest news. This year their focus has been not
surprisingly going into the finer details of ACA and Tax reform.

More Perfect by WNYC, this is a spin off podcast from the Radiolab folks which
focuses on important supreme Court cases, this podcast features audio from
oral arguments and interviews with folks involved in these landmark cases.

------
craigkerstiens
I'm a big fan of pretty much all of the content in the Heavybit library.
Heavybit is primarily focused on developer products, but a ton of the content
applies to anyone building a SaaS product or startups in general -
[https://www.heavybit.com/library/](https://www.heavybit.com/library/)

------
buddhanature
I listen to podcasts that are more meta / spiritual:

New Books in Philosophy: [http://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-
society/philoso...](http://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-
society/philosophy/)

Jesus in Books: [http://jesusinbooks.com](http://jesusinbooks.com)

Rochester Zen Center Teisho:
[http://rzcpodcasts.blogspot.co.uk/](http://rzcpodcasts.blogspot.co.uk/)

------
rayalez
Here's a collection of my top audiobooks/podcasts that I think HN readers will
love.

This is the best stuff I have discovered over the past 3–4 years, and I’m sure
you guys will enjoy each of these books, so if you haven’t read some of them
yet — I highly recommend you to check them out.

=======

Excellent audiobooks:

\- Rework [https://www.audible.com/pd/Rework-
Audiobook/B0036FLXLQ](https://www.audible.com/pd/Rework-Audiobook/B0036FLXLQ)

\- Creativity, Inc [https://www.audible.com/pd/Creativity-Inc-
Part-1-Overcoming-...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Creativity-Inc-
Part-1-Overcoming-the-Unseen-Forces-That-Stand-in-the-Way-of-True-Inspiration-
Audiobook/B00IPK3BWQ)

\- The Martian [https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Martian-
Part-1-Audiobook/B00B...](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Martian-
Part-1-Audiobook/B00B5HZGUG)

\- The Hard Thing About Hard Things [https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Hard-
Thing-About-Hard-Things-...](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Hard-Thing-About-
Hard-Things-Building-a-Business-When-There-Are-No-Easy-Answers-
Audiobook/B00I0AJC2Y)

\- Zero to One [https://www.audible.com/pd/Zero-to-One-Notes-on-Startups-
or-...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Zero-to-One-Notes-on-Startups-or-How-to-
Build-the-Future-Audiobook/B00M27LBU2)

\- On Intelligence
[https://www.audible.com/pd/B002V8LKTE](https://www.audible.com/pd/B002V8LKTE)

\- The Design of Everyday Things [https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Design-of-
Everyday-Things-Aud...](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Design-of-Everyday-
Things-Audiobook/B005I5MDGQ)

\- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! [https://www.audible.com/pd/Surely-
Youre-Joking-Mr-Feynman-Au...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Surely-Youre-Joking-
Mr-Feynman-Audiobook/B002V5D7IE)

\- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow [https://www.audible.com/pd/Homo-
Deus-Part-1-A-Brief-History-...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Homo-Deus-
Part-1-A-Brief-History-of-Tomorrow-Audiobook/B01N4DCBK6)

\- Atlas Shrugged [https://www.audible.com/pd/Atlas-Shrugged-
Part-1-Audiobook/B...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Atlas-Shrugged-
Part-1-Audiobook/B002VA3KG8)

\- Mapping Innovation [https://www.audible.com/pd/Mapping-Innovation-A-
Playbook-for...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Mapping-Innovation-A-Playbook-for-
Navigating-a-Disruptive-Age-Audiobook/B074CPC2YT)

\- Ghost in the Wires [https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Art-of-Invisibility-The-
World...](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Art-of-Invisibility-The-Worlds-Most-
Famous-Hacker-Teaches-You-How-to-Be-Safe-in-the-Age-of-Big-Brother-and-Big-
Data-Audiobook/B01N80UK3J)

\- Actionable Gamification [https://www.audible.com/pd/Actionable-
Gamification-Part-1-Be...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Actionable-Gamification-
Part-1-Beyond-Points-Badges-and-Leaderboards-Audiobook/B06XSWX5NM)

\- Algorithms to Live By [https://www.audible.com/pd/Algorithms-to-Live-By-
The-Compute...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Algorithms-to-Live-By-The-Computer-
Science-of-Human-Decisions-Audiobook/B01D24NLWO)

\- Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups
[https://www.audible.com/pd/Angel-How-to-Invest-in-
Technology...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Angel-How-to-Invest-in-Technology-
Startups-Timeless-Advice-from-an-Angel-Investor-Who-
Turned-100000-into-100000000-Audiobook/B06ZXZ3B3W)

\- Steve Wozniak autobiography [https://www.audible.com/pd/iWoz-Part-1-How-I-
Invented-the-Pe...](https://www.audible.com/pd/iWoz-Part-1-How-I-Invented-the-
Personal-Computer-and-Had-Fun-Along-the-Way-Audiobook/B002V8LA1W)

\- Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth
[https://www.audible.com/pd/Traction-How-Any-Startup-Can-
Achi...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Traction-How-Any-Startup-Can-Achieve-
Explosive-Customer-Growth-Audiobook/B01705KJRQ)

\- Mastery [https://www.audible.com/pd/Science-Technology/Mastery-
Audiob...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Science-Technology/Mastery-
Audiobook/B00A4OPH0U?ref=audlib-pd-WISHLIST-grid)

=======

Excellent podcasts:

\- YCombinator:
[https://soundcloud.com/akharris](https://soundcloud.com/akharris)

\- Indie Hackers:
[https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast](https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast)

\- Syntax (React and WebDev) [https://syntax.fm/](https://syntax.fm/)

\- Rationally Writing [http://alexanderwales.com/rationally-
writing/](http://alexanderwales.com/rationally-writing/)

\- Audio version of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
[http://www.hpmorpodcast.com/](http://www.hpmorpodcast.com/)

\- Audio version of Rationality: From AI to Zombies [https://from-ai-to-
zombies.eu/](https://from-ai-to-zombies.eu/)

~~~
garettb
Major up vote for Indie Hackers. Courtland does an amazing job!

------
purplezooey
This only goes so far in the bay area. Sooo many companies are dumbly opening
shop in those tired places like Sunnyvale and PA that now take 90 minutes to
get to from almost anywhere. No amount of podcasts or audiobooks can save you.

------
mikejholly
I really enjoy audiobooks. A great option if you drive.

------
mrbata
Thank you so much for this.

