Paper Belt on Fire
How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University

Philosophy PhD dropout Michael Gibson co-created the Thiel Fellowship with former school principal Danielle Strachman and entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and Bogeyman of the left Peter Thiel. A motley crew to be sure. Gibson’s 2022 tell-all Paper Belt on Fire is at its best and most differentiated......more

Fairly embarrassing half memoir, half rant. One common feature of the (public-facing) Thielverse is cussedness: being so annoyed and contemptuous, of whatever, that you become annoying and contemptible. As you'd expect, Gibson is incredibly derivative of Thiel and has the same tubthumping view of th......more

Great book. A Spiritual Squeal to Thiel's Zero to One, in many ways. It was very interesting to read about life at Thiel's hedge fund in the early days. There is very little info about this period on the internet, (I have looked) so it was interesting to hear about life at Clarium Capital. Also inte......more

I had very high expectations for the book, as I am naturally inclined to the thesis of the decline in modern educational institutions and the need to revamp the entire education system. The book was engaging but ultimately underwhelming. The story of the creation of the Thiel Fellowship and the fund......more

Great example of cloaking self interest in faux social impact messaging. Start with saying, I agree wholeheartedly with parts of this thesis. Couple years ago I got into Columbia, and after a lot of consternation, decided to attend a state school with a full ride instead. School is a performative ser......more