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The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-09-29 17:21:09
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Max Chafkin
  • ISBN：B08V7VX39F
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Reviews

Yannis ，

More of an expanded Wikipedia entry， garnished with tech drama， than a biography - if anyone expects an intellectually & emotionally engaging work in the style of Walter Issacson， Ron Chernow， Martin Hilbert and the like， they're gonna be disappointed。 More of an expanded Wikipedia entry， garnished with tech drama， than a biography - if anyone expects an intellectually & emotionally engaging work in the style of Walter Issacson， Ron Chernow， Martin Hilbert and the like， they're gonna be disappointed。 。。。more

Daehee ，

Disappointed， because this book had potential to be the foremost biography of Peter Thiel for time to come。 It’s apparent that the author poured months and months into painstakingly researching and interviewing to gather the source material。 Instead of making good use of this opportunity， though， somewhere along the way the author developed a personal vendetta against his subject—or one could speculate that some wealthy client behind the scenes paid for this hit piece—and the book’s narrative co Disappointed， because this book had potential to be the foremost biography of Peter Thiel for time to come。 It’s apparent that the author poured months and months into painstakingly researching and interviewing to gather the source material。 Instead of making good use of this opportunity， though， somewhere along the way the author developed a personal vendetta against his subject—or one could speculate that some wealthy client behind the scenes paid for this hit piece—and the book’s narrative continuously swerves into sensational gossip， for the purpose of character assassination。 The author paints a caricature of Thiel as a kind of Hollywood super-villain， oversimplifying his complex persona into malevolent scheming at every turn。 There are many interesting details about Thiel’s life—his academic and professional background prior to Silicon Valley， the founding of PayPal & Palantir， the Thiel Fellowship， the Gawker lawsuit， and most recently Trumpism。 All this culminates in stretching the narrative in an attempt to blame the Capitol Riot on Peter Thiel， that he was the wizard behind the curtain directly responsible for planting the seeds of insurrection。 Throughout the chapters， the author tries to set out deeper contemplative questions about Thiel's underlying psychology and motives， but then can't help himself in presenting black-and-white opinions as fact， without clear evidence or quoting some mystery associate， as if the reader should just take his word for it。 Unfortunately， this style of writing destroys the author's credibility。 Don't bother with a physical copy for this one; quickly flip through a kindle edition as an amusing read。 。。。more

Richard Zhu ，

real ones read between the lines

Sanford Chee ，

Economist reviewhttps://www。economist。com/business/20。。。 Economist reviewhttps://www。economist。com/business/20。。。 。。。more

Ran ，

It could be a good book if the author didn’t spend so much time on the history of Stanford， many not interesting details about the area Peter was born， or so many other details about a guy in Stanford named X （which is nobody today）。Almost like someone tried to fill up the book to have more pages。It is PETER THIEL， write about him and only him。I skipped many paragraphs with anger because I didn’t come to learn about the history of x。

Hassaan Naeem ，

Good read for the informative pieces about Mr。Thiel’s earlier years as well as the more recent years involving the Trump presidency， Chafkin does a great job at aptly summarizing and expanding these timelines。However…there is a clear anti-Thiel agenda throughout the entire piece， and depending on how one personally views Thiel， one may or may not like this。 Most issues discussed， have valid arguments from both sides， and although Chafkin reverts to this near the end， it is not presented as such Good read for the informative pieces about Mr。Thiel’s earlier years as well as the more recent years involving the Trump presidency， Chafkin does a great job at aptly summarizing and expanding these timelines。However…there is a clear anti-Thiel agenda throughout the entire piece， and depending on how one personally views Thiel， one may or may not like this。 Most issues discussed， have valid arguments from both sides， and although Chafkin reverts to this near the end， it is not presented as such throughout the read。If you are a so called ‘Thiel acolyte’ you probably will not enjoy the angle taken。 Nonetheless， I found this an informative read。This should be re-written down the line in an Isaacson manner。 。。。more

Ajay Warrier ，

Clear Hit piece。 Mixes some amount of truth with some amount of lies。 The author is extremely biased。 Sure， Peter Thiel is no saint。 You don't get to the position he is by being a saint。 The book and author try to portray him as the second coming of the Devil Clear Hit piece。 Mixes some amount of truth with some amount of lies。 The author is extremely biased。 Sure， Peter Thiel is no saint。 You don't get to the position he is by being a saint。 The book and author try to portray him as the second coming of the Devil 。。。more

Jack ，

I only ever heard of Peter Theil as a sort of right wing odd duck。 He is so much more and scarier than that。This book is the story not only of an unprincipled and powerful man。 It's also kind of a tour through Silicon Valley of the time。 I'm well versed in the origin stories of HP and Apple， but nothing I knew before prepared me for this。Great book。 Very well written。 I only ever heard of Peter Theil as a sort of right wing odd duck。 He is so much more and scarier than that。This book is the story not only of an unprincipled and powerful man。 It's also kind of a tour through Silicon Valley of the time。 I'm well versed in the origin stories of HP and Apple， but nothing I knew before prepared me for this。Great book。 Very well written。 。。。more

Graham ，

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 F*** Peter Thiel

Ash ，

Well that was a huge waste of time and money。。。 this isn't a biography of any sorts， it's a narrative-driven hit piece。 What did Peter Thiel do to you Max？Echoing what others have said， incredibly disappointing since Thiel is such an enigmatic， interesting and complex character。 Someone with a more balanced POV should definitely take a crack at this。。。 Well that was a huge waste of time and money。。。 this isn't a biography of any sorts， it's a narrative-driven hit piece。 What did Peter Thiel do to you Max？Echoing what others have said， incredibly disappointing since Thiel is such an enigmatic， interesting and complex character。 Someone with a more balanced POV should definitely take a crack at this。。。 。。。more

Eric ，

If Michael Moore wrote a biography。。。Chafkin is embarrassingly naive， disturbingly dishonest and shamefully cynical。 I was really excited for this book and now am really looking forward to an adult tackling this book。 Daniel Schulman has shown how a partisan opponent can write a compelling， even handed and honest biography of a foe （Sons of Wichita is a tremendous look at the Koch brothers from of all things a Mother Jones staffer！） and I wish Chafkin had a bit of that talent。 Reading this book If Michael Moore wrote a biography。。。Chafkin is embarrassingly naive， disturbingly dishonest and shamefully cynical。 I was really excited for this book and now am really looking forward to an adult tackling this book。 Daniel Schulman has shown how a partisan opponent can write a compelling， even handed and honest biography of a foe （Sons of Wichita is a tremendous look at the Koch brothers from of all things a Mother Jones staffer！） and I wish Chafkin had a bit of that talent。 Reading this book we learn next to nothing about Thiel as a businessman （or person） but we learn a hell of a lot about Chafkin。 If you disagree with Max you are a "reactionary" （haven't seen that insult hurled this much since the Great Leap Forward。 To Mr。 Chafkin "libertarian" means xenophobia， closed borders and crony capitalism （in other words Chafkin has no idea what the word means）。 Thiel invented the idea of "exit" and "voice" （read Hirschman sometime， it's great！）。 Perhaps most ludicrous is Chafkin's blaming Thiel for the 1/6 insurgency。 The Contrarian is a bizarre mess of an attempted hit job that fails on all accounts。 It's so personal in its animus you have to wonder what the ax being ground here is。 Two stars because I listened to the audiobook and Will Damron does a great job！ 。。。more

Rahul Sibal ，

Inaccurate hit piece。**edit - expanded due to questions， and messages by other readers。 The basis of a biography should be facts， and not narrative。 Facts cannot be changed for the narrative。 Although， I am doubtful whether I should waste so much time writing a review， but consider the following:（a） The book portrays Nick Denton and Gawker as heroes， and victims of Peter's lawsuit。 The book fails to clarify that Gawker published the sex tape of a famous wrestler without his consent。 The wrestler Inaccurate hit piece。**edit - expanded due to questions， and messages by other readers。 The basis of a biography should be facts， and not narrative。 Facts cannot be changed for the narrative。 Although， I am doubtful whether I should waste so much time writing a review， but consider the following:（a） The book portrays Nick Denton and Gawker as heroes， and victims of Peter's lawsuit。 The book fails to clarify that Gawker published the sex tape of a famous wrestler without his consent。 The wrestler didn't have the funds to sue and protect his rights himself。 Peter agreed to fund him。 May be he did it out of vengeance， but that was the right thing to do。 The world is better of without a company that publishes sex tapes without consent。。 This is not a free speech-first amendment issue。 For a more balanced take， please read Ryan Holiday's book Conspiracies。 （b） If Mussolini says that 2 +2 =4， and I agree with him， on that specific proposition， does that make me a fascist？ Max appears to think so。 It is surprising how such philisophers with such wide ranging， and ecletic works are classified as racists， and Nazis。 Maybe， and thats a big maybe， some of their works might establish some support for right wing causes， but their majority， central works have nothing to do with racism。 Girard's main thesis is the mimetic theory， which has nothing to do with racism or Nazis。 Strauss' main argument is that due to societal censorship， philisophers are never explicit about their true meaning， and that there is always a hidden meaning to be understood。 Peter merely agreed with these specific propositions， not with everything else。 Does that make a him a racist？ Refer back to the 2 +2 example。 （c） As Paul Graham rightly says， the book failed to understand Peter's basis of being contrarian。 In fact， as the atlantic rightly points out in its book review， its Peter contrarian philosophy which made him successful in his venture capital investments。 Look at Stripe， AIRBNB。 There is no mention of these invesments， because it goes against Chafkin's narrative。 He only mentions investments which are attributable to Peter's friends， such as SpaceX （it was Luke Nosek who insisted that the Fund invest）， to drive home his narrative that it is Peter's friends/colleguess who made the right decisions and not him。 He fails to understand that maintaining contact， and listening to the advice of such colleagues is also an admirable quality。 （d） The biggest factual inaccuracy is to blame Peter for Mark's handling of right wing views/propaganda on Facebook。 Some say that Mark has a responsibility to censor/remove such information。 Others say， that it affects free speech， and is censorship。 I am not entering that debate。 My point is merely this， that Mark's actions or inactions on this point cannot be attributed to Peter。 As many sources， books， former employees of Mark will tell you， he is too independent to OBEY peter。 Take Yahoo for example。 Peter wanted Mark to sell， Mark strongly disagreed。 （e） Or take the example of ageing。 Peter's central thesis is that we should， unlike the stoics， not consider death as inevitable， and not adopt a defeatist attitude towards it。 There is an entire subreddit - longevity" which espouses that ideology。 Why should somebody be demonized for holding such a view？ You can disagree， but them bring out substantial reasons as to why such views are harmful。 （f） He interviews everyone who has a negative view about Peter， but no one who has a positive or balanced view about him （Paul Graham， Paypal Mafia such as Reid Hoffman， Keith Rabois， or even liberal venture capitalists， such as Brian Singerman， or several others。 The only people interviewed are the ones who definitely dislike him。 This is not called detailed research。The point I am making is that there are aspects about Peter that could be criticised。 But the problem of today's Left （and I am Left wing myself）， is that we don't research or understand the other/right wing person's views before debating （or rather name calling them）。 Max should have researched about him more。 His analysis is too simplistic and narrative driven， and does not do justice to a personality as complex as Peter。 Hopefully， in the future， there are more balanced biographies about Peter， out there。 。。。more

James Beggarly ，

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for the ebook。 Peter Thiel is one of the most influential， and enigmatic， leaders to come out of Silicon Valley。 Secretive， but craving respect。 Insightful enough to make PayPal a success and to put early money into Facebook， but not investing more funds into the company when given the chance （losing out on billions） and too petty to invest in Tesla because of past disagreements with Musk。 Politically naive backing Ron Paul for president， but later seeing Tr Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for the ebook。 Peter Thiel is one of the most influential， and enigmatic， leaders to come out of Silicon Valley。 Secretive， but craving respect。 Insightful enough to make PayPal a success and to put early money into Facebook， but not investing more funds into the company when given the chance （losing out on billions） and too petty to invest in Tesla because of past disagreements with Musk。 Politically naive backing Ron Paul for president， but later seeing Trump for what he could do and backing him。 This book gives you glimpses into this complicated man who seems like he wants all the money in the world and then recklessly mismanages it。 Who seems to want to change the political system， but at other times wants to tear it all down。 He seems to want to abolish college， but wants all these schools to respect him。 Such an interesting book about a very angry and dangerous man。 。。。more

Seth Fiegerman ，

An important book that not only offers a window into the life and mind of one of the most influential figures in the tech industry but also helps explain how a mix of inflammatory thinkers， fringe far right pundits and political figures， tech money and tech platforms helped pave the way for the rise of Trump and Trumpism — with Thiel one of the central figures behind all those forces。

Venky ，

The Contrarian” is easily the most controversial book I have read thus far， this year。 Racy， rambunctious and reverberating， Max Chafkin’s bold and no-holds barred portrayal of the billionaire investor Peter Thiel， is part polemical and part biographical。 Whether or not the reader agrees with all that Chafkin has to say， she sure will remember the book long after she is done with it。 The nub of the book is an unraveling of a complex and conflicting persona who seems to be a bundle of contradicti The Contrarian” is easily the most controversial book I have read thus far， this year。 Racy， rambunctious and reverberating， Max Chafkin’s bold and no-holds barred portrayal of the billionaire investor Peter Thiel， is part polemical and part biographical。 Whether or not the reader agrees with all that Chafkin has to say， she sure will remember the book long after she is done with it。 The nub of the book is an unraveling of a complex and conflicting persona who seems to be a bundle of contradictions。 A man at odds with his own philosophy， an opulent character not thinking twice before associating himself with odious characters， and a vengeful human being hell bent on destroying those who offend him deeply， Peter Thiel is one of Silicon Valley’s most iconoclastic and enigmatic protagonists。 An open and overt critic of Big tech who has in great measure contributed to its growth， an avowed proponent of privacy who is responsible for the most dominating intrusion of privacy in the West， courtesy his surveillance company Palantir， and a vociferous advocate of free and democratic speech， who singularly buried the media outlet Gawker for amongst others ‘outing’ him， Chafkin’s Thiel is a hypocritic， high flying colossus inhabiting the rarified yet delicate atmosphere of power and politics。 Thiel is most popularly and prominently known as the leader of the “PayPal Mafia”， a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since gone on to incorporate technology companies that include Tesla Inc。 LinkedIn， Palantir Technologies， SpaceX， Affirm， Slide， Kiva， YouTube， Yelp， and Yammer。 The Mafia coterie reads like a who is who of the phalanx of technological innovation and incubation – Elon Musk， Max Levchin， Steve Chen， Reid Hoffman， Ken Howrey， Chad Hurley， Joe Lonsdale， Dave McClure， Luke Nosek， Russel Simmons， amongst others。 An acolyte of Ayn Rand and her libertarian ideals， Thiel even started a “Thiel Fellows” scheme – his foundation would churn out $100，000 each to aspiring young boys and girls who would drop out of college and start their own companies。 As Chafkin chillingly illustrates in his book， the “Thiel Fellows” was a hastily and haphazardly concocted scheme that did more harm than help。 Many of the fellows either dropped out or became slaves to vices such as addiction and alcoholism。 Peter Thiel， even though reviled by many is a man who commands a maniacal degree of reverence。 As Chafkin informs his readers， his acolytes are collectively known by the phrase – ‘Thielverse’ – a separate Universe that is home to a pulsating， teeming and throbbing hotbed of fangirls and fanboys。 A Stanford alumni， Thiel， scowled at the culture that was permeating and pervading the residence halls at the University。 “Shirtless men and bikini-clad women， and music blasted from speakers during what should have been study hours。 They drank; they smoked pot; they hooked up。 Needless to say， Thiel did not partake of any of it。” It was at Stanford that Thiel honed， fine tuned and perfected his Conservatism。 Joining the College Republicans， he discovered Ayn Rand， and Rene Girard。 Girard’s concept of “mimetic desire” would go onto greatly influence Thiel in both his personal life as well as professional career。 It was also at Stanford that Thiel first became obsessed about the concept of besting death by defeating the notion of aging。 Introduced to the concept of ‘extropianism’ （“the idea that burgeoning technological advances would enable humans to live forever and the use of cryonics to freeze human brains for subsequent ‘reanimation’ using computers） by Barney Pell， a computer geek， Thiel went on to invest in companies experimenting with the science of aging。 The master manipulator that Thiel is， he also knew exactly when， where and upon whom he could hedge his fortunes on。 Initially backing the candidacy of Carly Fiorina for the Republican nomination， in the run up to the elections of 2016， he slowly but surely shifted his allegiance towards Donald Trump。 He even gave a stirring talk at the Republican National Convention。 He in fact managed to win Trump’s confidence to such a degree that he was made an integral part of the Trump transition team。 During the Trump era， companies formed by Thiel devotees and backed by him in the form of a shareholding， made absolute hay。 While Palantir made mega bucks from defense contracts floated by the US Armed Forces， Anduril， a start-up backed by Thiel landed a $5 million contract to provide equipment as part of a ‘virtual wall’ involving inexpensive cameras and other sensors， paired with Artificial Intelligence。 When Mark Zuckerberg was accused of filtering away posts put up by conservatives on his Facebook Platform， he requested Thiel to help organise a meeting involving the most prominent amongst all “Tea Party Proponents” to help resolve the issue and to explain the motto and business ethos of Facebook。 Thiel， by the way also happens to be one of the earliest backers of Facebook。 No small testimony to the power and influence wielded by Thiel in both Silicon Valley and amongst politicians。 It was such a political clout that egged on Thiel to audaciously propose the name of Balaji Srinivasan as the top pick to lead the FDA during the Trump regime。 Srinivasan happens to be a cryptocurrency entrepreneur， a Stanford University lecturer and also a co-investor along with Thiel in a company formed by Curtis Yarvin （an American far-right blogger purveying extraordinarily radical views under the pen name Mencius Moldbug， once argued in a blog titles “Unqualified Reservations” that democracy in America represented a failed endeavour and hence must be replaced by oligarchy）。 Even Steve Bannon， the ultimate alt-right proponent， found Thiel’s pick of Srinivasan， inconceivable and inappropriate。 Thiel also comes across in Chafkin’s work as a paranoid believer in the coming of an apocalypse。 Owning a gargantuan property in New Zealand， popularly known as the “Plasma Screen House” overlooking the spectacular landscape surrounding Lake Wakatipu， Thiel secured a citizenship by subverting all the necessary rules and regulations。 By making ‘strategic investments’ in a New Zealand based company， Thiel satisfied a rule which allowed anyone with more than $7 million in investment capital to stay on indefinitely in the country。 But getting a citizenship also meant displaying a concrete intent to relocate to New Zealand and a lengthy stay。 Using the weapon of contacts and lobbying， Thiel hobnobbed with the then Prime Minister of New Zealand and managed to get the citizenship despite the fact that he had resided within the territory of New Zealand for all of 12 days as against the mandatory tenure of 1，350 days。 Thiel was also fascinated by the concept of “sea steading”。 Patri Friedman， a self-styled anarcho-capitalist and the grandson of the most rabid free market economist of all time， Milton Friedman） founded the Sea steading Institute in San Francisco in 2008。 Friedman managed to procure funding from Thiel for his endeavour。 The Institute’s founding document articulated its vision in the following words， “to establish permanent， autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social， political， and legal systems”。 Thiel was so enamoured with this concept that he was optimistic about “the nature of government is to change at a very fundamental level”。 Thiel however， strategically exited Friedman’s venture by telling the latter that it would “have to stand on its own”。 Thiel’s contrarianism could also be gathered and gleaned by his choice of literature。 One of his favourite books was an abstract work， or a political screed rather penned by Venture Capitalist， James Dale Davidson， along with journalist William Rees-Mogg。 Titled ‘The Sovereign Individual’， this book represented， in the words of Chafkin， “a cyber-libertarian manifesto that predicts the end of the nation state。 An uncanny resemblance to the concept of sea steading。 Chafkin’s book is full of astonishing revelations and jaw dropping tales of deceit and deception。 It is the chronicle of a man whom the world finds it difficult to both deify and demonise。 A man who has cleaved a chasm of opposites in terms of both thought and deed。 A nihilist for some and a natty investor for the others， Thiel is a conundrum in himself， However Chafkin ends his book on a more mellow and optimistic note。 At the time of its writing， Thiel and his partner Danzeisen are proud parents of two children。 Maybe parenthood would induce a paradigm shift in the otherwise ruthless thought process of Peter Thiel。 （The Contrarian – Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power by Max Chafkin is published by The Penguin Group and will be on sale from the 21st of September 2021） 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0