
Paper Belt on Fire
How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alex Boyles
-
By:
-
Michael Gibson
About this listen
Paper Belt on Fire is the unlikely account of how two outsiders with no experience in finance—a charter school principal and defrocked philosopher—start a venture capital fund to short the higher education bubble. Against the contempt of the education establishment, they discover, mentor, and back the leading lights in the next generation of dropout innovators and in the end make their investors millions.
Can such a madcap strategy help renew American creativity? Who would do such a thing?
This story is the behind-the-scenes romp of one team that threw educational authorities into a panic. It fuses real-life personal drama with history, science, and philosophy to show how higher education and other institutions must evolve to meet the dire challenges of tomorrow.
©2022 Michael Gibson (P)2022 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Journey to the Edge of Reason
- The Life of Kurt Gödel
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true - yet never provable - continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.
-
-
Interesting story of a great mathematician
- By James Orlin on 04-28-22
-
When the Heavens Went on Sale
- The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Ashlee Vance, Robert Petkoff
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.
-
-
Great Background for the New Rocket Startups
- By daniel kreigh on 05-27-23
By: Ashlee Vance
-
What's Our Problem?
- A Self-Help Book for Societies
- By: Tim Urban
- Narrated by: Tim Urban
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait but Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times.
-
-
Good for a while but then goes hard off the rails
- By g27c on 04-20-23
By: Tim Urban
-
The Oldest Cure in the World
- Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting
- By: Steve Hendricks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One in ten American adults tried intermittent fasting last year, and they may be on to something. The latest research shows that fasting repairs cellular damage, improves the outcomes for chemotherapy patients, and helps with keeping a healthy weight, leading to a resurgence in recent years. Journalist Steve Hendricks’s The Oldest Cure in the World tells the history of fasting—from the ancient world (Jesus treated an epileptic with fasting) to its rediscovery centuries later.
-
-
Great history, light on the science
- By Dvdmon on 09-16-22
By: Steve Hendricks
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Journey to the Edge of Reason
- The Life of Kurt Gödel
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true - yet never provable - continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.
-
-
Interesting story of a great mathematician
- By James Orlin on 04-28-22
-
When the Heavens Went on Sale
- The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
- By: Ashlee Vance
- Narrated by: Ashlee Vance, Robert Petkoff
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.
-
-
Great Background for the New Rocket Startups
- By daniel kreigh on 05-27-23
By: Ashlee Vance
-
What's Our Problem?
- A Self-Help Book for Societies
- By: Tim Urban
- Narrated by: Tim Urban
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait but Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times.
-
-
Good for a while but then goes hard off the rails
- By g27c on 04-20-23
By: Tim Urban
-
The Oldest Cure in the World
- Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting
- By: Steve Hendricks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One in ten American adults tried intermittent fasting last year, and they may be on to something. The latest research shows that fasting repairs cellular damage, improves the outcomes for chemotherapy patients, and helps with keeping a healthy weight, leading to a resurgence in recent years. Journalist Steve Hendricks’s The Oldest Cure in the World tells the history of fasting—from the ancient world (Jesus treated an epileptic with fasting) to its rediscovery centuries later.
-
-
Great history, light on the science
- By Dvdmon on 09-16-22
By: Steve Hendricks
-
The Pattern Seekers
- How Autism Drives Human Invention
- By: Simon Baron-Cohen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why can humans alone invent? In The Pattern Seekers, Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen makes a case that autism is as crucial to our creative and cultural history as the mastery of fire. Indeed, Baron-Cohen argues that autistic people have played a key role in human progress for 70,000 years, from the first tools to the digital revolution. How? Because the same genes that cause autism enable the pattern seeking that is essential to our species' inventiveness.
-
-
I made it about halfway through
- By David on 06-26-21
-
The Crooked Path to Abolition
- Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution
- By: James Oakes
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln's antislavery strategies.
-
-
Lincoln’s Transformation
- By A View from Greensboro on 12-04-22
By: James Oakes
-
Breath Taking
- The Power, Fragility, and Future of Our Extraordinary Lungs
- By: Michael J. Stephen MD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an expert in pulmonary medicine, the story of our extraordinary lungs, the organ that both explains our origins and holds the keys to our future as a species.
-
-
Great & informative book
- By Michelle Mendoza on 03-03-21
-
The Exponential Age
- How Accelerating Technology Is Transforming Business, Politics, and Society
- By: Azeem Azhar
- Narrated by: Azeem Azhar
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
High-tech innovations are created at a dazzling speed, and it all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace. Azeem Azhar knows this better than most. Over the last three decades, he has founded companies bought by Amazon and Microsoft, served as the Economist’s first ever internet correspondent, and created a leading international tech newsletter and podcast, the Exponential View. Now, Azhar offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology is changing the world.
-
-
Good & Bad
- By Jeff on 10-04-21
By: Azeem Azhar
-
The Family Roe
- An American Story
- By: Joshua Prager
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite her famous pseudonym, no one knows the truth about “Jane Roe”, Norma McCorvey (1947-2017), whose unwanted pregnancy in 1970 opened a great fracture in American life. Journalist Joshua Prager spent years with Norma, discovered her personal papers, a previously unseen trove, and witnessed her final moments. With an explosive revelation at the core of the case, he tells her full story for the first time.
-
-
Just wow.
- By Schmulie on 05-15-22
By: Joshua Prager
-
The Cryptopians
- Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze
- By: Laura Shin
- Narrated by: Laura Shin
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.
-
-
Entirely too long, detailed, and boring
- By Zee on 12-23-22
By: Laura Shin
-
Black Fortunes
- The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires
- By: Shomari Wills
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The astonishing untold history of America's first Black millionaires - former slaves who endured incredible challenges to amass and maintain their wealth for a century, from the Jacksonian period to the Roaring '20s - self-made entrepreneurs whose unknown success mirrored that of American business heroes such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison.
-
-
True His/Herstory
- By Brazy Brazy on 06-25-18
By: Shomari Wills
-
Range
- Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- By: David Epstein
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel.
-
-
If you're highly curious, read this
- By anon. on 06-07-19
By: David Epstein
-
Sizing People Up
- A Veteran FBI Agent's User Manual for Behavior Prediction
- By: Robin Dreeke, Cameron Stauth
- Narrated by: Robin Dreeke
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After two decades as a behavior analyst in the FBI, Robin Dreeke knows a thing or two about sizing people up. He's navigated complex situations that range from handling Russian spies to navigating the internal politics at the Bureau. Through that experience, he was forced to develop a knack for reading people - their intentions, their capabilities, their desires and their fears. In Sizing People Up, Dreeke shares his simple, six-step system that helps you predict anyone's future behavior based on their words, goals, patterns of action, and the situation at hand.
-
-
Self Reflection
- By IC on 07-20-20
By: Robin Dreeke, and others
-
Viral
- The Search for the Origin of COVID-19
- By: Matt Ridley, Alina Chan
- Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened. In this uniquely insightful book, a scientist and a writer join forces to try to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan.
-
-
A pivotal work in search of truth around the Covid19 virus in a world where facts got downgraded in favour of politics
- By Pal on 11-25-21
By: Matt Ridley, and others
-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- By: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
-
-
History through a far left lens
- By Josh on 09-03-20
By: Kurt Andersen
-
When Brains Dream
- Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep
- By: Antonio Zadra, Robert Stickgold
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by two world-renowned sleep and dream researchers, When Brains Dream debunks common myths while acknowledging the mysteries that persist around both the science and experience of dreaming.
-
-
Should be "next-up" on your reading list!
- By Paul Coca on 02-21-22
By: Antonio Zadra, and others
What listeners say about Paper Belt on Fire
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lucas Chu
- 11-29-22
Learning more from this book than from Harvard classes
This is the first book I’m reviewing before I finish, because I want people who are considering getting the book today to get the book (audible is free first month and if you try to cancel). In case you want more details:
This book is a history of the Thiel Fellowship, Thiel Capital and 1517 fund, and Silicon Valley contrarianism.
It’s an inside look into a group of one of the most profitable investors.
This book is also a commentary on the modern university, startup culture, and the American Dream as well as the narratives around them. It sheds light on what talent, innovation, and progress really is.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this book is a call to action to work on problems worth solving. It’s a call to shake off what we’ve learned. It’s a call for founders, students, and investors, for all of us, to work on important problems now.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Elfstrom
- 12-16-22
Brilliant and inspiring!
In a world where courage and leadership are in short supply, the author Michael Gibson bravely textualizes how we can move beyond human development stagnation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jon
- 12-04-22
An inspiring entrepreneurial story wrapped in a futuristic mantra of societal change
A wild ride for any lover of TRUE disruption. Michael’s first hand account of the mid-2000s tech boom combined with his actual zag counter to others zigging makes for an incredible tale of sparking a movement. As a millennial saddled by debt and a useless college degree it’s extremely heartening to hear how we are reevaluating the US relationship with higher education. We are lucky to have Michael be a “former philosopher” as he could have toiled away in academia for decades opposed to actually building upon his thesis which has changed many lives and the trajectory of an industry.
Recommended for any future entrepreneur, banker, college student, and founder.
Bravo.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jdickey
- 12-02-22
A business book that is so much more than most
The Anti-Christ, marxists at Oxford, getting expelled from hackathons, the impact of clock towers, the nature of art - this is not your average book on business, entrepreneurship, and startups.
Paper Belt on Fire provides an inside seat to over a decade of truly contrarian efforts that have produced incredible results. The stories are inspiring and if we are fortunate, will inspire many to boldly go where we as a society need more people to venture.
Well worth the time for anyone who is curious about hedge funds, venture capital, Silicon Valley, being bold, and the biggest challenges facing us today - or who just enjoys interesting people and stories well told.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tony Choueke
- 09-14-24
This is a most interesting book.
The title of the book doesn't do justice to the contents. Very informative and interesting ideas...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CottonTail
- 12-06-22
Better than any self help book.
Brilliant. Strangely this is a more inspiring self-help book than more than half I’ve read. It’s a call to arms. The future is ours if we realize the inevitable truth “the only thing I know, is I know nothing” trusting the process of open mindednesses- breaking away the chains of the debilitating elite establishment. And the author happen to be my brother- so, though I have a slight bias. This book is truly great and needs to be devoured by all with an inkling of giving way of the cocoon and becoming the butterfly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dmca
- 02-13-23
Michael Gibson is our generation’s William Blake
We have been tricked. The world isn’t progressing as we have been led to believe. Outside the narrow realm of information processing, we are stuck in the 20th century. Gibson makes the compelling for a trajectory of human progress that inspires. A must read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- bobbyg603
- 02-16-23
Take that diploma and shove it
If you’ve ever thought that college is a scam, the education system is boring and antiquated, or climbing the corporate ladder is nonsense, this book is a terrifically enjoyable read/listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-24
Beautifully Written, Thought Provoking Content
Listened to the book in 2 days.
Very information dense—Michael’s writing style is wandering and thoughtful. It touched a lot of ground over a condensed span while preserving poetic flare.
Of course, the content and messaging is awesome as well… bombastic and thought provoking. How do you change the world without asking for permission? By doing simply doing it.
I’ve ordered a physical copy to re read at a slower pace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jamie Keeney
- 03-19-23
Awesome
Very eye opening, would highly recommend this book particularly if you are thinking about college.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful