I recommend David Deutsch's uh The Beginning of Infinity. It's basically optimism at a cosmic level. And it's full of the realization that there are always problems. And there are solutions. And that goes on infinitely. You're always at the beginning of infinity when it comes to that.
Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “Stewart Brand, Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet, on Life’s Most Important Principle” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-stewart-brand.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.
I recommend a book by Simon Winchester called The Perfectionists, How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World. And then uh I wound up revisiting uh when I was I did a section on manuals. And so, the great manuals of history.
Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “Stewart Brand, Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet, on Life’s Most Important Principle” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-stewart-brand.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.
The Scottish Enlightenment um so they they were very impressed by and they all studied uh Diderot's Encyclopedia and they came up with their own encyclopedia called the Encyclopedia Britannica which which went from strength to strength for 100 years.
Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “Stewart Brand, Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet, on Life’s Most Important Principle” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-stewart-brand.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.
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