Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci - The Best Books of 2024 and What To Read in 2025

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

In this final episode of 2024, Anthony reflects on the year's highlights, discussing notable guests and their impactful books. He emphasizes the importance of simple life lessons, and the political landscape, whilst also sharing insights from his own writing journey. Looking ahead, he expresses excitement for the upcoming year and what's to come on Open Book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nugget Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Welcome to Open Book. I am your host, Anthony Scaramucci. This is the final episode of 2024. So first off, I hope it was a great year for you and your family.

And I'm wishing you health and happiness in 2025. And I certainly want you to be a subscriber to our podcast and our YouTube channel. So please do that as well because we've got some great things coming up in 2025. But I'd like to spend the next 50s. 15 minutes or so in our final podcast, just going over some of the highlights of 2024, we had some of the brightest minds and sharpest thinkers, frankly, in the world on this podcast. It was authors not just here from the United States, but frankly from around the world. The first one I want to talk about is Morgan Houssel.

Beginning part of the year, he wrote a book, Same as Ever. We explored how to live a good life and navigate the future with a clearer perspective. and Morgan Hasel's great insight in this book is that lots of things are the same. What we need to do is adapt ourselves to things that are somewhat unchangeable. And of course, as always, Morgan, who wrote the best-selling book, The Psychology of Money, reminds us that it's just the simple things that we do in life that make all the difference, i.e., myself, just quickly, age 17, I read the richest man in Babylon.

Morgan read that as well. He incorporated it into the psychology of winning. It's just a simple trick. You pay 10% of your income to yourself and you buy stocks with it and you hold on to those stocks forever. And if you get to be an old man like me, you turn around and you have like a decent amount of money. And so these are simple things. Morgan was a phenomenal, phenomenal writer, phenomenal thinker. You can always go back and check out that podcast. U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, No Trade is Free. What a phenomenal book if you want to learn about Donald Trump's trade policy, the thinking, the philosophical thinking behind it, and why Mr. Lighthizer believes that no trade is free.

Interestingly enough, Robert's going to be an advisor to the administration, but it doesn't look like he's going into the administration this time. But I think his book is a great template for what's going on in the history of trade with the United States. And what Donald Trump, and believe it or not, even some of the Democrats believe, needs to be corrected about our trade policy. No trade is free. Another standout for me was the legendary Kara Swisher, not only because Kara interviewed me for my own book from Wall Street to the White House and back for an open book, but she wrote a book called Burn Book, which is a phenomenal idea, actually. So what is Burn Book to a teenager? That's their diary. Okay.

No one should read it. It has to be burnt. But Ms. Swisher, she's writing about all great things related to technology. Tech moguls, what goes on in Silicon Valley. Important book right now because Donald Trump is bringing in tons and tons of people from Silicon Valley into the White House. Now, a little cautionary tale there, for those of you that have an interest in this historically, Jack Kennedy wanted to bring the best and the brightest people into his cabinet. David Hablestan about five years after that wrote a book called The Best and the Brightest. And it was about the mistakes that people make.

Sometimes when you're too smart for your own good, you have a tendency towards arrogance or eubris. And the best and the brightest is a cautionary tale about bringing in super smart people into the White House. Of course, they let us down the road to the Vietnam War. And that was an unmitigated disaster for the U.S. So, again, not saying that will happen with the Trump administration. But people have to be careful with their own smarts, myself included, by the way. I've made mistakes related to stupidity, ego, and arrogance. But these books are great, great Reeds Burn book and David Havilsson, the best and the brightest.

With it being an election year, 2004, we brought on some of our old friends. General H.R. McMaster wrote a phenomenal book, At War with Ourselves, just talking about the things that we're doing to each other inside the country, to tear ourselves apart, but also on policy. Why do we have such a violent disagreement on U.S. policy? Years ago, we had a coordinated bipartisan strategy towards certain things that we thought were threats to the United States. And why are we doing that to ourselves today? H.R. McMaster, brilliant geopolitical thinker, and offer some really sound advice for the incoming administration

on how to handle things like the Ukrainian war or the Middle East crisis that's going on. with Gaza and Israel. Other books, George Stephanophilus, Situation Room. While I've been in the White House Situation Room, it's a lot smaller than people think. Okay, even the Oval Office is actually a lot smaller. When you walk and you're like, wait, this is the Situation Room. But Stephanophilus writes an amazing book about presidents in crisis in the Situation Room, how they make decisions. And of course, one of the things that I learned in my brief tenure in Washington is we just don't know a lot. You know, a lot of the time the president and his team are shooting in the dark as they're trying to make these decisions. It's not like Hollywood where there's a preordained script and there's going to be a positive outcome.

We have so many things that we are guessing at as we try to invoke policy, military policy, and other things. George wrote a great book about this. Franklin Foyer wrote a great book about Joe Biden called The Last Politician. It's an amazing story about how Joe Biden for 40 years ran for president. Literally, he's been running for president since 1988, actually wins the presidency in 2020. United States is exhausted from the first Trump administration and very scared related to COVID. They kick out Mr. Trump. They bring in Joe Biden.

His team actually does a reasonably good job, but we learn in this book that Mr. Biden is actually perhaps too old for the presidency. All of us age at different rates, of course, but Mr. Biden's probably 81 or 82 years old at this point. But the last politician really recounts things that he did in his career or things that he did, which were frankly remarkably good judgment at the beginning part of his administration, things like the Chips Act and the Act to Resure Manufacturing were great pieces of his legislative agenda. But of course, Mr. Biden is not able to hold on.

He loses the presidency. Donald Trump returns to the presidency being the first president, actually the second president in U.S. history. Donald Trump becomes the second president in U.S. history, Grover, Cleveland being the first, where we have a interruption. Cleveland loses and returns to the presidency. see, Trump loses the Biden. He's now back in the presidency. I'm going to make the case here that Biden ironically perhaps made Trump and Trump's movement stronger.

And of course, not giving Kamala Harris enough time, 107 days to run a campaign against him, even though she only lost by about 270,000 votes in the swing states, it gives Trump a decent, decent mandate, at least for the first 18 to 24 months of the presidency. Anyway, last politician is a pretty awesome book. Variety magazines, Ramin Situza, he wrote an instant bestseller called Apprentice in Wonderland, which told us the behind-the-scenes story of Donald Trump as a reality TV star. And for you guys in the UK, pay attention because the producer of that star, that reality television show, Mark Burnett, a fellow Brit, is coming back as special envoy to the UK.

So Mr. Trump is casting all of his people, just like a reality. reality television show personality would. It's been an interesting cast of characters. But if you want to learn about how and why read Apprentice in Wonderland, if you like going to the movies or you like renting movies, you can buy The Apprentice. It was written by Gabe Sherman. There's incredible performances. Sebastian Stan has Donald Trump, Jeremy Strong, as Roy Cohen, this nefarious lawyer that Trump had as a mentor in the late 70s into the early 80s. It's a phenomenal story about the making of Mr. Trump's personality. So Apprentice in Wonderland or The Apprentice do things I would recommend to people, of course, just to name a few.

We're going to the novels now, switching over quickly to the novels. T.J. Newman, what a great writer, several bestselling books about flying and the fear. of flying. And so all three of her books are spectacular. And also she's a phenomenal interview. So I enjoyed seeing her this year again. I'm looking forward to her next book. Brad Thor with Shadow of Doubt was a great read. Of course, Brad has been with us for many years. And then there's the legendary Daniel Silver with his 24 book on the Gabriel Alon series. And you know, I love these two novelists. I know it's summer when I get a Brad Thor book or Daniel Silver. of a book in my inbox.

It's time to sit back at the beach and have a lot of fun. So I'll have both of those guys. I'll have great books coming out in 2025. I released this year three of my own books, which is interesting. So how the hell that I do that? Well, when I was writing for a while, got that out in May. Second book was a little book of hedge funds, which was the second edition. And so I just really went back and revised some of the chapter.

I wrote that book 12 years ago. Hedge fund industry has changed a lot over the last 12 years. And so I wanted to reformat that book about the book that's probably the most important book for me, which came out this December and is available on Amazon, I think January 9th is the little book of Bitcoin. And so that's a book that I took the full year to write. I wanted to explain to people in 200 pages or less what Bitcoin actually is, how they can get comfortable with it as an investment.

If you're not watching me right now and you're listening, you can't see my shirt, but it says, Mary Crypt-Miss, I don't know, I don't like the word crypt that much, but I do like this shirt because it was a phenomenal year for Bitcoin. And I think Bitcoin's going to be one of those things that gets adopted. Legendary Michael Saylor wrote the foreword for my book, The Little Book, Bitcoin, and we just reached 100,000. So just pointing that out to people, it's been an amazing journey this year. for Team Skybridge, Team Open Book.

A very big shout out to Holly, Duncan Quinn, who's been my producer. I tell every author that comes on this podcast, Holly does all the work. I take all the credit. That's been the case for probably three or four years now. So, Holly, thank you very much for doing such a wonderful job. Holly also came up with the five words, which for some reason every author likes. Before we get on, it was saying, well, what are the five words? And we're going to get there.

We're going to get there. And so Holly comes up with that. It's just a great part of this podcast. We've got big plans for 2025. So lots of conversations coming up. Fiction writers, nonfiction writers, people that write pieces that we think are interesting, things related to history, but things related to contemporary society. We'll all be on open book this coming year in 2025.

So I hope I'll see you guys on. open book. Of course, you can always write to us in the comment section. You can tell us what you like about our podcast, what we need to do to improve our podcast. We look for any and all comments. I've heard so many things about myself, some of them very derogatory. You know, I can take it. So I can take the pain. You write anything you want. Help us get better. I guess the things I would say to you is we've left out perhaps the star of open book, and that's my mom, Marie Scaramucci. Now, so many of you have written into me and said, hey, why don't you just let her take the hosting job? I would, but, you know, she's got to get her hair done.

She's got to get her nails done. She's got to travel in and out of these department stores here locally on Long Island. So not going to do it. Okay, she's just got too nice of a life. Okay, so she's not doing it, but I'm here to do it. And she's here to ring in at the end to give you her thoughts and insights. Turning 88 this year, the very lovely Maurice Garum. Mucci, who I love dearly.

And I think if you listen to Open Book, you know you love her too. You can't help it. She's just irrepressible. New Year's Eve. I hope you guys are having a great celebration this year. I expect to be with Michael Seller. Fingers crossed, that Bitcoin will stay over $100,000. And we'll be down at his house celebrating that and welcoming the new year.

And I guess, as Holly says, any thoughts or final pieces of words of wisdom. them. I will say this. Two short years ago, I was getting creamed. My Bitcoin positions were in the 15-16,000 range. I was embroiled in the bankruptcy situation with Sam Bankman-Fried. The funny part about this stuff, my PR staff doesn't like me talking about this shit, but I actually don't care. I think it's important for viewers and listeners to hear the good, bad, and ugly about life. But the big learning lesson, something I'm constantly reminded of throughout, my life is stay with things. Keep going. As Churchill said, when going through hell, keep going. And you can't give up. I think if you do that, you'll find yourself in a positive place. Even if things don't work out perfectly, the fact that you were willing to have the courage to push yourself through a journey, a journey of your dreams, that's the thing that matters the most. So those are my final thoughts on the year. Happy, happy New Year. God bless everybody for being a part of this. And, you know, we've listed some of the books. And I'll have Holly put up a

whole list of others. I'm just going to read out some of my favorites quickly so everybody can get a sense for what I read this year that I loved. Okay, one, Anthony Pompliano, had to live an extraordinary life. What a great manual, particularly for young people. Jared Cohen, life after power, or seven presidents in their search for purpose beyond the White House. Mary Murphy, cultures of growth. What a great story about how to build a company or how to think about things. Saul Gittleman wrote a great book about universities here in the United States. If you want to learn why we've got such successful universities,

Saul Giddleman wrote a book called The Accidental Triumph, turning 90 this year, my former faculty advisor and Provost, Ameriress, at Tufts University. Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove for such a time as this, I'm being Jewish today. I thought he was an amazing guy. And I'll tell you right now, it's somebody that I will go back to. I will read his stuff in the future. Whatever he's writing, I'm going to be listening to Beirut by Jack Carr. We couldn't get Jack on this year. But I'll tell you why, if you want to learn about what's going on in the Middle East today, the incidents that took place in Lebanon in 1983, are a good place to start because the same story just remixed.

So Jack Carr, targeted Beirut. Someone that we haven't interviewed yet, but I think we're going to, is Sonia Pernell. She wrote a book called Kingmaker. She wrote a great spy book a few years back, but Kingmaker, Pamela Churchill Harriman's astonishing life of seduction, intrigue, and power. It did read like a novel, and I relished that book. Chris Dixon, a venture capitalist out in Silicon Valley. Hopefully we'll get them on the show.

Read, Right, Own, building the next era of the Internet. These were phenomenal books that I read this year, super excited about. Here's a few coming. If you like books, these books are things that I've already pre-ordered. Sahil Bloom, Saw Hill Bloom, the Five Types of Wealth, Douglas Murray, on democracies and death cults. This would include Israel, Hamas, and the future. of the West. So it's a phenomenal. He's a brilliant writer, brilliant speaker. And of course, he's somebody that I adore because he speaks out against the scourge and the hatreds

related to anti-Semitism. Bill Gates, source coat, obviously an autobiography from Bill. We'll look forward to that. Ken Follett, one of my favorite authors, I think I scared Ken by naming protagonists in his first couple of novels that I read back in 1978 at the age of 14. But Ken is a favorite on Open Book and perhaps my favorite fictional novelist. It's got a great book coming out circle of days. Anyways, it's going to be a great, exciting year on Open Book. We want you to be with us, wishing you and your family a very, very happy new year. Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday, and let's get after it in 2025. Ma, you're ready to be on the podcast, Ma? Of course you are, right? While I got you on the phone, this is my last episode of the year.

So let's talk a little bit about your field trip to the Hunt and Fish Club, which was like a breakout at the nursing home, right? I mean, how many people did you have with you, Ma? 15. All right. And how did you get to the Hunting Fish Club? Right. So you had somebody helping you, had Doug Romano's daughter helping you get in out of the restaurant, right?

But you're moving pretty... I didn't need help. You didn't need help, right? You were bragging about that, right? You were moving. Your friends needed help. But you were moving pretty fast, right? Ma, you're pretty proud of yourself, huh?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, tell me why. Tell me why you're so proud of yourself, Ma. Go ahead. Why am I so proud of myself? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Why not, Ma?

You know, you're the store of this podcast. You know what I mean? Basically, if you read the comments on YouTube, they're like, when's your mother coming back on? Okay, so go ahead. Tell us why you're so proud of yourself. Go ahead, Mom. Like my father, beautiful skin.

Well, you have a turk. neck, right, ma? I have a turkey neck. Right, that's why you were turtlenecks in the middle of the summer, right? Yeah. You're really unbelievable. And that's where you got it from, Google. Oh, you think I'm very vain, ma'amma?

Yeah, I think you're a wonderful, wonderful human being. Okay. All right, ma, all right, ma. What else you want to say? It's going to be 2025. What do you want to say to your fan base about the coming year, maw? All these wonderful. Okay.

All right. So there's a little bit of good, a little bit of good, a little bit of bad in everybody's life, but mostly good, right? All right, so you're having a good time. You're enjoying yourself, ma'am. Okay, ma. All right, I love you too.

Merry Christmas. You don't want to give a piece of advice, Marie Scaramucci wisdom for 2025 to all your fans? Yeah, I'll give you a piece of advice. All right, so it's about karma, right? It's about being good karma. Right. Yeah.

All right. And I try very hard. All right, good. All right. One day at a time, Mom. That's all. One day at a time. And I look at it or who doesn't. Okay. All right. Thanks, Mom. And I look at you. All right. Thanks, Mom. Merry Christmas, Mom. All right. When am I going to see you, Mom? I'll see you this weekend like you always do. All right. All right. All right. All right. Merry Christmas, Mom. Thank you, baby. I am Anthony Scaramucci, and that was Open Book. Thank you for listening.

If you like what you hear, tell your friends and make sure you hit follow or subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast. While you're there, please leave us a rating or review. If you want to connect with me or chat more about the discussions, it's at Scaramucci on Twitter or Instagram. I'd love to hear from you. I'll see you back here next week. When a country's productivity cycle is broken, people feel it in their paychecks,

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