- 32 minutes 2 secondsNYT Bestselling Historian: Why George Washington Was the Greatest Leader Who Ever Lived — H. W. Brands
George Washington didn't just win the American Revolution; he invented what it means to lead with honor, and my guest today, award-winning historian H.W. Brands, is going to tell you exactly why this man, who could have been king, chose to walk away. On this episode of Open Book, we're going back 250 years to find out what Washington got right, and what we owe it to him to protect. H.W Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written more than a dozen biographies and histories, including The General vs. the President, a New York Times bestseller. Two of his biographies, The First American and Traitor to His Class, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. I am a massive fan of Professor Brands and think you should all pick up a copy of his new book, American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington, today: https://amzn.to/4d5L6UQ Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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12 May 2026, 12:54 pm - 30 minutes 31 secondsPeter Diamandis: AI Will Cure All Disease, Reverse Aging, and You Have to Prepare
Peter Diamandis is one of the most extraordinary minds I've ever had the privilege of calling a friend, a man who doesn't just predict the future, he builds it. Today on Open Book, we're diving into his new book "We Are as Gods", and trust me, what he has to say about AI, aging, and the next decade of human history will change the way you see everything.
Peter H. Diamandis is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of over twenty-five companies in the areas of AI, health-tech, space, venture capital, and education. He is the cofounder of Singularity University and curator of Abundance360. He has degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from MIT and an MD from Harvard Medical School. His Moonshots podcast focuses on AI and other exponential technologies and routinely exceeds 1 million listeners per episode.
Get his brilliant new book We Are as Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance here: https://amzn.to/4f1gjty
Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.
Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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7 May 2026, 2:09 pm - 25 minutes 10 secondsThe Tiny Daily Habits That Rewire Your Brain - Jake Humphrey & Damian Hughes
I sat down with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes — the guys behind one of the biggest podcasts on the planet — and what they told me completely reframed how I think about success. Forget the big goals, forget the hustle porn — turns out the only thing separating the best in the world from everyone else is a handful of tiny, almost embarrassingly simple daily habits. Jake Humphrey is one of Britain's best-respected sports presenters. Formerly a Premier League presenter at BT Sport, Jake has covered events ranging from Formula 1 to the London Olympics and was the youngest-ever presenter of the BBC's Match of the Day. Damian Hughes is an expert on high-performing cultures. A trusted advisor to businesses and sportspeople around the world, he has been praised by the likes of Richard Branson, Muhammad Ali, Roger Banister, and Alex Ferguson. Get their brilliant new book Micro-Habits: Tiny Changes That Supercharge High Performance here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/476360/micro-habits-by-hughes-jake-humphrey-and-damian/9781529976205 Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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5 May 2026, 12:41 pm - 29 minutes 33 secondsHow 3 Gamblers Stole Millions From Casinos - Kit Chellel
Imagine you're smart enough to go to Wall Street, but instead you move into a Vegas apartment with six other guys and spend the next decade quietly robbing casinos blind — that's the wild true story Kit Chellel lays out in Lucky Devils, and I promise you it reads like the HBO series nobody's made yet. Kit joins me on Open Book to break down how science, obsession, and a little bit of beautiful arrogance changed the game forever.
Kit Chellel is a reporter at Bloomberg and Businessweek Magazine, covering sports gambling, financial scandals, state-sponsored espionage, and more. He has received a Gerald Loeb Award, an Overseas Press Club Award, and a feature reporting prize from the New York Press Club. He is coauthor, with Matthew Campbell, of Dead in the Water, which was shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. Read his brilliant new book Lucky Devils: The True Story of Three Rebel Gamblers Who Beat the Odds and Changed the Game here: https://amzn.to/4vWooFP Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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30 April 2026, 9:00 am - 34 minutes 28 secondsHistorian: This Event Created Trump, Giuliani & Rupert Murdoch - Heather Ann Thompson
Today's guest has done something I didn't think was possible: she made me understand the world I grew up in better than I understood it when I was living it. Heather Ann Thompson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and her new book, Fear and Fury, traces everything we're living through right now back to a single subway shooting in 1984.
Heather Ann Thompson is a historian and the Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. She writes regularly on the criminal justice system for myriad publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. She also co-runs the Carceral State Research Project at the University of Michigan.
Damn, this book was great! Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage, get your copy today: https://amzn.to/4mZtQE8
Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.
Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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28 April 2026, 9:00 am - 54 minutes 7 secondsFmr Goldman Sachs CEO: What Surviving The 2008 Financial Crisis Taught Me — Lloyd Blankfein
Lloyd Blankfein is one of the most consequential figures in the history of American finance — a kid from the Brooklyn projects who climbed to the top of Goldman Sachs and steered the firm through the worst financial crisis of our lifetime. This is a conversation I've been looking forward to for a long time, so glad to share it with you all on Open Book.
Lloyd Blankfein was Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018. I spent the first seven years of my career at Goldman Sachs, and Lloyd was my boss and mentor. He was kind to me then, and he's been kind to me ever since. I greatly admire all he's done for me, and there aren't too many people I admire more than Lloyd. His book — in my opinion — should be considered the business book of the year. Go buy it, you will not regret it!
Get a copy of Lloyd's book Streetwise: Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs here: https://amzn.to/4mVo3PJ
Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.
Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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23 April 2026, 9:00 am - 28 minutes 22 secondsHistorian: America's Origin Story Is A Lie - Craig Fehrman - Craig Fehrman
Today's guest spent five years digging through archives to uncover the real story of Lewis and Clark — and what he found will completely change the way you think about America's origin. Craig Fehrman is a journalist, a historian, and the author of The Vast Enterprise, and I'm telling you right now, this is one of the most fascinating conversations we've had on Open Book. Craig Fehrman, a journalist and historian, spent five years writing and researching This Vast Enterprise. His first book, Author in Chief, was described by Thomas Mallon in The Wall Street Journal as “one of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years.” Congrats on the book launch, Craig. Go out and get this amazing new book, This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark here: https://amzn.to/4cnR3Mw Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves
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21 April 2026, 9:00 am - 28 minutes 2 secondsApril 2026 Q&A: What Trump is Really Like, Repeal Citizens United, Declining US Dollar
We are back with another Open Book Q&A — the episode where you ask, I answer, and nobody's feelings are guaranteed to survive intact. From repealing Citizens United to what Trump is really like behind closed doors, we're getting into all of it today, so let's go. 📚Books mentioned in this episode: Fear and Fury by Heather Ann Thompson Running Down a Dream by Bill Gurley Nigel Hamilton's FDR trilogy Rick Atkinson's WWII trilogy The Visionaries by James Holland All the Wrong Moves by Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.
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16 April 2026, 9:00 am - 28 minutes 12 secondsWorld's #1 Thriller Writer: "STOP SCROLLING and BE HUMAN AGAIN" - David Baldacci
David Baldacci has sold 150 million books, and when I picked up his first novel — Absolute Power — I was a 32-year-old lawyer who thought he had life figured out. What I didn't expect was to walk away from a thriller feeling like a different person. That's what David does. He doesn't just write stories — he holds up a mirror to humanity, all the mess and the greatness of it, and he dares you to look. Today on Open Book, we're getting into the new book, the craft, and why one of the greatest storytellers alive thinks reading books might be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. David Baldacci is an award-winning global #1 bestselling author and one of the world’s favorite storytellers. His books are published in over forty-five languages and in more than eighty countries, with over 200 million copies sold worldwide. Support his brilliant charity, Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America: https://www.wishyouwellfoundation.org/ David has written so many amazing books over the years, and his latest, Hope Rises, does not disappoint: https://amzn.to/48w4h7n Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://linktr.ee/anthonyscaramucci
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14 April 2026, 9:00 am - 27 minutes 31 secondsThe Anthropologist Predicting Society's Collapse - Jitske Kramer
My guest today is Jitske Kramer — corporate anthropologist, bestselling author, and one of the most original thinkers I've had on this show. We're getting into tricksters, liminality, and why the messy middle of change is exactly where we need to be having the conversations most people are too scared to have. The book is Tricky Times, and trust me — you need to read it.
Jitske Kramer is a corporate anthropologist, bestselling author, and founder of HumanDimensions who travels the world learning from healers, leaders, and innovators to bring those insights back to the world of leadership and collaboration. She is the author of Deep Democracy, Jam Cultures, and The Corporate Tribe (2016 Management Book of the Year), among others. Through keynotes and masterclasses, she challenges organizations to make the unfamiliar feel natural — and the familiar feel brand new.
Get a copy of her wonderful and underrated book Tricky Times: Navigating The Messy Middle of Change here: https://amzn.to/48jdK1L
Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.
Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://linktr.ee/anthonyscaramucci
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9 April 2026, 9:00 am - 31 minutes 40 secondsThe Truth About AI They Don't Want You To Know - Sebastian Mallaby
Sebastian Mallaby is back as a repeat guest on Open Book, with a brilliant new book. He spent 30 hours inside the mind of the man building superintelligence, and what he found should wake all of us up. We're talking about Demis Hassabis, the chess prodigy-turned-AI god who founded DeepMind before Sam Altman even had the idea for OpenAI. This is one of the most important books I've read in years, and after this conversation, I promise you, you will never think about AI, China, or the future of your kids the same way again. Sebastian Mallaby is the author of several books, including the bestselling More Money Than God. A former Financial Times contributing editor and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. This book must be read at this time: The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence. Get it here: https://amzn.to/48dShY4 Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://linktr.ee/anthonyscaramucci
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