The Chris Voss Show

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The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen Mar 28, 2024

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The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen https://amzn.to/3IXIp80 A fascinating examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy. The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives. By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen shows us how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good—the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. Among those virtues were the habits of industry, temperance, moderation, and sincerity, which the Founders viewed as part of a daily struggle for self-improvement, character development, and calm self-mastery. They believed that political self-government required personal self-government. For all six Founders, the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with enslavement of African Americans, although the Virginians betrayed their own principles. The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Picture in the Sand by Peter Blauner Mar 27, 2024

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Picture in the Sand by Peter Blauner https://amzn.to/3JeZeLP "On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book." ―Stephen King Peter Blauner's epic Picture in the Sand is a sweeping intergenerational saga told through a grandfather's passionate letters to his grandson, passing on the story of his political rebellion in 1950s Egypt in order to save his grandson's life in a post-9/11 world. When Alex Hassan gets accepted to an Ivy League university, his middle-class Egyptian-American family is filled with pride and excitement. But that joy turns to shock when they discover that he’s run off to the Middle East to join a holy war instead. When he refuses to communicate with everyone else, his loving grandfather Ali emails him one last plea. If Alex will stay in touch, his grandfather will share with Alex – and only Alex – a manuscript containing the secret story of his own life that he’s kept hidden from his family, until now. It's the tale of his romantic and heartbreaking past rooted in Hollywood and the post-revolutionary Egypt of the 1950s, when young Ali was a movie fanatic who attained a dream job working for the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille on the set of his epic film, The Ten Commandments. But Ali’s vision of a golden future as an American movie mogul gets upended when he is unwittingly caught up in a web of politics, espionage, and real-life events that change the course of history. It's a narrative he’s told no one for more than a half-century. But now he’s forced to unearth the past to save a young man who’s about to make the same tragic mistakes he made so long ago.About the author Peter Blauner is the author of eight novels, including SLOW MOTION RIOT, winner of an Edgar Allan Poe award for best first novel from Mystery Writers of America, and THE INTRUDER, a New York Times bestseller. He began his career as a journalist for New York magazine in the 1980s - covering crime, politics, and other kinds of bad behavior - and segued into writing fiction in the 1990s. His short fiction has been anthologized in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES and on NPR's SELECTED SHORTS FROM SYMPHONY SPACE. In recent years, he has also written for several television shows, including Law & Order: SVU and the CBS series, Blue Bloods. His newest novel is SUNRISE HIGHWAY, published in September 2018, by Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with his wife, author Peg Tyre.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America by George S. Takach Mar 26, 2024

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Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America by George S. Takach https://amzn.to/49jxBMc A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the new Cold War. So much of what we hear about China and Russia today likens the relationship between these two autocracies and the West to a “rivalry” or a “great-power competition.” Some might consider it alarmist to say we are in the midst of a second Cold War, but that may be the only responsible way to describe today’s state of affairs. What’s more, we have come a long way from Mao Zedong’s infamous observation that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Now we live in an age more aptly described by Vladimir Putin’s cryptic prophecy that “artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia, but of all mankind, and whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become ruler of the world.” George S. Takach’s incisive and meticulously researched new volume, Cold War 2.0, is the book we need to thoroughly understand these frightening and perilous times. In the geopolitical sphere, there are no more pressing issues than the appalling mechanizations of a surveillance state in China, Russia’s brazen attempt to assert its autocratic model in Ukraine, and China’s increasingly likely plans to do the same in Taiwan. But the key here, Takach argues, is that our new Cold War is not only ideological but technological: the side that prevails in Cold War 2.0 will be the one that bests the other in mastering the greatest innovations of our time. Artificial intelligence sits in our pockets every day—but what about AI that coordinates military operations and missile defense systems? Or the highly sophisticated semiconductor chips and quantum computers that power those missiles and a host of other weapons? And, where recently we have seen remarkable feats of bio-engineering to produce vaccines at record speed, shouldn’t we be concerned how catastrophic it would be if bio-engineering were co-opted for nefarious purposes? Takach thoroughly examines how each of these innovations will shape the tension between democracy and autocracy, and how each will play a central role in this second Cold War. Finally, he crafts a precise blueprint for how Western democracies should handle these innovations to respond to the looming threat of autocracy—and ultimately prevail over it.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O’Brien Mar 25, 2024

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Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien https://amzn.to/3TzbziA A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From New York Times bestselling author Keith O'Brien, a captivating chronicle of the incredible story of one of America’s most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures—baseball immortal Pete Rose—and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century “Baseball biography at its best. With Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose finally gets the book he deserves, and baseball fans get the book we’ve been craving, a hard-hitting, beautifully-written tale that will stand for years to come as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating figures in American sports history.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of King: A Life Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago that still stands today. He was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn’t. In the 1980s, Pete Rose came to be at the center of one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. He kept secrets, ran with bookies, took on massive gambling debts, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined him, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game. Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America’s most epic tragedies—the rise and fall of Pete Rose. Drawing on firsthand interviews with Rose himself and with his associates, as well as on investigators' reports, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O’Brien chronicles how Rose fell so far from being America’s “great white hope.” It is Pete Rose as we've never seen him before. This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O’Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn’t change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change. About the author The New York Times Book Review has hailed Keith O’Brien for his “keen reportorial eye” and “lyrical” writing style. He has written two books, been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting, and contributed to National Public Radio for more than a decade. O’Brien’s radio stories have appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition, as well as Marketplace, Here & Now, Only a Game, and This American Life. He has also written for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Politico, Slate, Esquire.com, and the Oxford American, among others. He is a former staff writer for both the Boston Globe and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. As a newspaper reporter, he won multiple awards, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. He was born in Cincinnati and graduated from Northwestern University.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Disproven: My Unbiased Search for Voter Fraud for the Trump Campaign, the Data that Shows Why He Lost, and How We Can Improve Our Elections by Ken Block Mar 24, 2024

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Disproven: My Unbiased Search for Voter Fraud for the Trump Campaign, the Data that Shows Why He Lost, and How We Can Improve Our Elections by Ken Block https://amzn.to/4aqniqn Many searched for evidence of voter fraud in 2020, only a few were unbiased professionals . . . and only one has written a book about his experience. If you value the integrity of our elections—or want a behind-the-scenes look at an attempt at overturning one—Disproven by Ken Block takes you out of the voting booth and into the chaos that was the attempt to challenge the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In November 2020, data specialist Ken Block received a phone call from the Trump Campaign. They wanted to hire him to find evidence of election fraud. What followed were late night and early morning requests to assess fraud claims at a blistering pace and ultimately find definitive evidence about the role voter fraud played in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Multiple subpoenas later, Block reveals the truth about being one of the few professionals hired to prove the Trump Campaign’s allegation that voter fraud cost Donald Trump the 2020 presidential election. He explains what the voter data tells us and exposes the sobering truth that our federal elections are operating on hundreds, if not thousands, of disparate voting systems prone to error—a threat to national election integrity. Disproven is an insider’s look at the results of an inflammatory claim, a flawed system, and the changes drastically needed before the results of another election are threatened or contested.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Dr. Rolf Haag, SPXGODFATHER, Shares His Stock Market Trading Secrets Mar 23, 2024

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Dr. Rolf Haag, SPXGODFATHER, Shares His Stock Market Trading Secrets Spxgodfather.com About the Guest(s): Dr. Rolf Haag, also known as the SPXGodfather, is a highly experienced trader and educator in the field of options trading. He was born and raised in Germany and completed his bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees in Frankfurt. In 1997, he moved to the USA and became a US citizen in 2008 while maintaining his German citizenship. Dr. Hogg has had a successful career as the president, CEO, and board member of three large automotive supplier companies. However, his passion lies in trading and mentoring others to become successful traders. He founded SPXGodfather, LLC, where he provides education and mentorship to traders, focusing on trading the S\&P 500 index options. Dr. Hogg's goal is to help traders become more successful by providing them with a process and strategy to follow. Episode Summary: In this episode of The Chris Voss Show, host Chris Vos interviews Dr. Rolf Haag, also known as the SPXGodfather. Dr. Rolf Haag shares his journey from being a successful CEO in the automotive industry to becoming a full-time trader and educator. He explains his passion for trading the S&P 500 index options and how he aims to be the best in this specific area. Dr. Rolf Haag emphasizes the importance of simplicity in trading and shares his strategy of using simple puts and calls to make profitable trades. He also discusses the significance of understanding leading indicators such as futures, the US dollar, and premiums in making informed trading decisions. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Rolf Haag highlights the importance of managing losses and shares his approach to minimizing losses and maximizing profits in trading. Key Takeaways: Dr. Rolf Haag, also known as the SPXGodfather, is a highly experienced trader and educator who focuses on trading the S&P 500 index options. His trading strategy involves using simple puts and calls to make profitable trades, with a focus on understanding leading indicators such as futures, the US dollar, and premiums. Dr. Rolf Haag emphasizes the importance of managing losses and keeping them to a minimum in order to be successful in trading. He offers a personal and educational service to his subscribers, providing live trading sessions and guidance to help them become more successful traders. Dr. Rolf Haag provides a free day pass to his trading room, allowing interested individuals to experience his trading approach firsthand. Notable Quotes: "In this business, it's not about how much money you make, it's how much money you don't lose in the next trade." "I see myself as a specialty NBA coach. I take an NBA player that is already at a good level and make him better in one particular area." "The best trades are between two and seven minutes. You make every trade, you make a thousand dollars, you make this a couple of times per day, and that is a pretty good gig for 2, 3, 4 hours in front of your laptop." "I want you to make money. I know every member of my team by name. I'm very keen on the educational part. I really put a lot of effort into helping everybody."

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina Mar 22, 2024

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Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina,Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina https://amzn.to/3VxCRbB A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation. All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down. But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands. After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers...but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Lost Man’s Lane: A Novel by Scott Carson Mar 21, 2024

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Lost Man's Lane: A Novel by Scott Carson https://amzn.to/3IP6pdq A teenager explores the darkness hidden within his hometown in this spellbinding supernatural thriller from bestselling author Scott Carson. For a sixteen-year-old, a summer internship working for a private investigator seems like a dream come true—particularly since the PI is investigating the most shocking crime to hit Bloomington, Indiana, in decades. A local woman has vanished, and the last time anyone saw her, she was in the backseat of a police car driven by a man impersonating an officer. Marshall Miller’s internship puts him at the center of the action, a position he relishes until a terrifying moment that turns public praise for his sharp observations and uncanny memory into accusations of lying and imperiling the case. His detective mentor withdraws, friends and family worry and whisper, and Marshall alone understands that the darkness visiting his town this summer goes far beyond a single crime. Now his task is to explain it—and himself. Lost Man's Lane is a coming-of-age tale of terror that proves why its author has been hailed as “a master” by Stephen King and one who consistently offers “eerie, gripping storytelling” by Dean Koontz. About the author Scott Carson is the pen name of Michael Koryta, a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted into major motion pictures, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A former private investigator and reporter, his writing has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, and Dean Koontz, among many others. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, he now lives in Indiana and Maine.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality by Benjamin Shestakofsky Mar 20, 2024

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Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality by Benjamin Shestakofsky https://amzn.to/49QFVUB This systematic analysis of everyday life inside a tech startup dissects the logic of venture capital and its consequences for entrepreneurs, workers, and societies. In recent years, dreams about our technological future have soured as digital platforms have undermined privacy, eroded labor rights, and weakened democratic discourse. In light of the negative consequences of innovation, some blame harmful algorithms or greedy CEOs. Behind the Startup focuses instead on the role of capital and the influence of financiers. Drawing on nineteen months of participant-observation research inside a successful Silicon Valley startup, this book examines how the company was organized to meet the needs of the venture capital investors who funded it. Investors push startups to scale as quickly as possible to inflate the value of their asset. Benjamin Shestakofsky shows how these demands create organizational problems that managers solve by combining high-tech systems with low-wage human labor. With its focus on the financialization of innovation, Behind the Startup explains how the gains generated by these companies are funneled into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs. To promote innovation that benefits the many rather than the few, Shestakofsky compellingly argues that we must focus less on fixing the technology and more on changing the financial infrastructure that supports it.About the author Benjamin Shestakofsky is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is affiliated with AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture and Society. His research focuses on the relationship between work, technology, organizations, and political economy in the age of AI. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Lessons Learned: From the Short Stories of My Life by Laurie Koss Mar 19, 2024

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Lessons Learned: From the Short Stories of My Life by Laurie Koss https://amzn.to/4ajQbog Everyone has a story. Laurie Koss has five hundred and fifteen. In her page-turning debut book, the award-winning Canadian artist has crafted a memoir like no other. Each page of Lessons Learned is a single story concluding with a thought-provoking quote. Perfect for today’s busy lifestyle, Lessons Learned is unique because the reader can choose to enjoy the stories chronologically like a novel, flip to a random page to uncover which lesson they chance upon, or read one-story-per-day for a daily dose of inspiration. The quotes that complete each story originate from diverse literary, cultural, and historical sources. They make Lessons Learned a one-of-a-kind experience as the reader is encouraged to take a moment at the end of each page to ponder the lesson or have a laugh. Koss’ childhood stories begin in 1960’s Vancouver, B.C., with topics spanning from her budding interest in art to her keen intuition and family ghost stories to the tumultuous family dynamics created by a loving but alcoholic parent. With each story—and each life lesson learned—readers witness the coming-of-age and self-discovery of a young artist determined to create the life she dreams of living. But life rarely goes as smoothly as we plan. Following the dips and successes of her romantic life, family, and career, Koss also illustrates the unexpected heartache of a life-altering illness and ongoing struggles with friendships—and the spiritual growth that can arise when we’re open to learning from these experiences. Offering a blend of introspection, vulnerability, and creativity, Koss brings to life universal experiences that connect us all, interspersed by unique and often hilarious “Only Me” moments. Koss’ storytelling takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from 1960s hippies to the 2020 pandemic. Her tales are a time portal to various eras and a reminder that we, too, have stories and history worth sharing. Story by story, quote by quote, Laurie Koss entertains with self-effacing humour, compassion, and insight, proving there is a lesson to be learned in every moment life offers. Lessons Learned is a collection of short stories to treasure, savour, and share with loved ones. It is sure to become a must-read for those seeking a refreshing, laugh-out-loud, heartfelt, and entertaining book. What You’ll Discover Inside: 515 One-Page Short Stories Family and Friendship Popular Culture The Unexplainable Married Life & Parenting Overcoming Challenges Achieving Goals Trusting Intuition Finding Meaning in Life Over 500 thought-provoking quotes About the author Laurie Koss is an award-winning contemporary Canadian artist best known for her close-up floral paintings. Her work adorns two national commissions: Canada Post’s 2015 Flower Series stamps and a 2015 Royal Canadian Mint twenty-dollar collector’s coin. She is a Senior member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and enjoys her role jurying art and mentoring emerging artists. Born and raised in Vancouver—where she studied Fine Arts and English at the University of British Columbia—Laurie now lives in Kelowna with her husband. When she’s not painting or writing, (or stumbling into “only me” moments), she enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, teaching/practicing yoga, travelling, tending her vegetable garden, and pursuing a path of self-improvement. Lessons Learned is her first book.

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