Today on Open Book, we’re diving into one of the biggest questions in human history: why do civilizations rise—and why do they collapse? Cambridge scholar Luke Kemp joins me to explain why the forces shaping our future might be the same ones that brought down every empire before us.

Luke Kemp is a research affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. He has lectured in economics and human geography and has advised the World Health Organization, the Australian Parliament, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and many other institutions. His research has been covered by media outlets such as The New York Times, the BBC, and The New Yorker.

This book was a revelation, get it now: Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse here: https://amzn.to/4lrFlDm

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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The world feels like it’s unraveling—oil shocks, AI replacing jobs, and markets trying to figure out what comes next. Mike Novogratz and I break down why this economy is splitting in two, where Bitcoin and oil go from here, and how smart investors survive the chaos. Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Novogratz served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012 to 2015. He serves as the Chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation. Learn more about Galaxy here: https://www.galaxy.com/ Follow Anthony on X: https://x.com/Scaramucci Follow Novo on X: https://x.com/novogratz 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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In this month’s Q&A episode of Open Book, I answer questions from viewers across YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X on topics ranging from politics and global markets to career decisions, philosophy, and parenting. We cover Citizens United, the national debt, and the future of crypto, while also offering personal insights on finding your calling, managing time, and navigating difficult moments in life. 📚 Books recommended in this video: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius https://amzn.to/4uoAo2k The Iliad by Homer https://amzn.to/4uhpR8S The Odyssey by Homer https://amzn.to/4uflV8V Lincoln at Gettysburg by Gary Wills https://amzn.to/4dd5Iux The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson https://amzn.to/4ullaLh American Scripture by Pauline Maier https://amzn.to/40hBcZ1 Traitor to His Class by H. W. Brands https://amzn.to/40TB4z3 The Bible (King James Version) https://amzn.to/4rlTUd6 Ryan Holiday’s books https://amzn.to/4s7xDRw 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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I've spent a lot of time studying China — the culture, the power, the politics — and I thought I knew the story, but my guest today, historian Frank Dikötter, absolutely blew my mind, because the founding myth of the world's most powerful authoritarian state is built on a lie. Stick around, because this conversation is going to change the way you see China forever. 📚Books mentioned in the episode: Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow https://amzn.to/4raPPIy The China Mission by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan https://amzn.to/4u9GD9S Red Dawn Over China by Frank Dikötter https://amzn.to/4slHr9Y Frank Dikötter lives in Palo Alto, California, where he is the Milias Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His books have changed the way historians view China, from the classic The Discourse of Race in Modern China to his award-winning People's Trilogy documenting the lives of ordinary people under Mao. Get his brilliant new book, which was a Barnes & Noble Reads Best Book of February 2026, Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity here: https://amzn.to/4slHr9Y 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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This week was absolutely insane — we've got US and Israeli strikes on Iran, markets somehow shrugging it off, and the Trump administration trying to kneecap Anthropic even while using their AI to pick military targets. And if that's not enough, we're going to talk about Jane Street and some serious questions around Bitcoin market manipulation. Mike and I are breaking it all down here on All Things Markets.

Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Novogratz served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012 to 2015. He serves as the Chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation. Follow Anthony on X: https://x.com/Scaramucci Follow Novo on X: https://x.com/novogratz 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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Today we've got the brilliant Elizabeth Day on Open Book, and let me tell you, her new novel One of Us is the book of the year — a razor-sharp, hilariously dark dive into the corruption of power, class warfare, and rich people behaving very, very badly. Elizabeth breaks it all down with the kind of insight that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about who's really running the world — and why it's all falling apart.

Elizabeth Day is the author of The Party and other books, as well as one of the most influential podcasters at work today. Her show, How to Fail, has become a go-to hitmaker, launching authors such as Meg Mason and Glennon Doyle onto the bestseller list in the UK. I predict that this is the novel of the year (yes, I know it's March), get your copy of One of Us here: https://amzn.to/4012yCs

Listen to her brilliant podcast "How To Fail With Elizabeth Day here: https://pod.link/1407451189 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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Welcome back to All Things Markets — Today, Mike Novogratz and I are ripping into the big stuff: tariffs getting struck down, a potential $56 trillion national debt, and whether the bond market is just calmly whistling past the fiscal graveyard. Mike and I debate Fed cuts, the AI labor shock that could upend the middle class, and why baby boomers may go down as the most overrepresented — and self-interested — generation in modern political history. Buckle up — this one’s about power, money, and what kind of future we’re actually building.

Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Novogratz served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012 to 2015. He serves as the Chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation.

Follow Anthony on X: https://x.com/Scaramucci

Follow Novo on X: https://x.com/novogratz

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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Peter Caddick-Adams is a lecturer in military history and current defense issues at the UK Defence Academy. He is the author of Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell and Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. He holds the rank of major in the British Territorial Army and has served with U.S. forces in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. 📚Get a copy of his books here:

Sand and Steel: The D-Day Invasion and the Liberation of France

Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45

Fire and Steel: The End of World War Two in the West Winston Churchill: The Prime Ministers Series

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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Today on All Things Markets, Mike and I tackle the forces reshaping everything — from AI replacing jobs to the real story behind tariffs, the dollar, and Bitcoin. If you think the ground isn’t shifting under the global economy right now, you’re not paying attention — and we’re going to break down exactly what that means for your money and your future. Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Novogratz served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012 to 2015. He serves as the Chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation. Follow Anthony on X: https://x.com/Scaramucci Follow Novo on X: https://x.com/novogratz 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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This 200th episode of Open Book marks an incredible milestone in our journey, and it feels especially fitting to celebrate it with a conversation about books, leadership, and the enduring power of ideas with James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble. Thank you to every listener, reader, and supporter who has made this community what it is — your curiosity and commitment to learning are the reason we’re here. James Daunt is Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest retail bookseller, of stationery and gift retailer Paper Source, and of Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom.

📖 Books mentioned in this episode:

Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Golden Boy by Patricia Finn

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

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. He is the host of the podcast Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School, he lives in Manhasset, Long Island.

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Steven Pressfield is the author of The War of Art, which has sold millions of copies globally and been translated into multiple languages. He is a master of historical fiction with Gates of Fire being on the required reading list at West Point and the recommended reading list of the Joint Chiefs. His other books include A Man at Arms, Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Artist's Journey, Tides of War, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Last of the Amazons, Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, Killing Rommel, The Profession, The Lion's Gate, The Warrior Ethos, The Authentic Swing, An American Jew, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Knowledge.

Get a copy of Steven's phenomenal books:

• The War of Art
• Gates of Fire
• Turning Pro
• The Legend of Baggar Vance
• The Warrior Ethos
• The Daily Pressfield
• Govt Cheese: A Memoir

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. He is the host of the podcast Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School, he lives in Manhasset, Long Island.

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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