Thiel is not suggesting that capitalism is bad. This is an ingenious framing device-just controversial enough to arouse debate, but commonsense enough to make an incrementalist acknowledge its virtue. His most provocative thesis, excerpted in a popular WSJ column, declares that "competition is for losers" and entrepreneurs should embrace monopolies. Barely 200 pages long, and well lit by clear prose and pithy aphorisms, Thiel's has written a perfectly tweetable treatise and a relentlessly thought-provoking handbook.
So it's surprising in a wonderful way just how simple Zero to One feels. Say what you want about the Thielian future of cyborg teenagers living for 200 years in pressurized cabins under the Caribbean this is not a man to be faulted for thinking too small. Dick novel: an anti-aging biotech firm, an organization dedicated to building ocean communities underwater, and a foundation that pays teenagers to drop out of college and start new companies. Indeed, the recipients of Thiel's donations seem torn from the pages of a Philip K. Thiel, a founder of PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir, might be best known for his idiosyncrasies, which helped inspire the character of Peter Gregory in the HBO series Silicon Valley. But much more than that, it's also a lucid and profound articulation of capitalism and success in the 21st century economy. Yes, this is a self-help book for entrepreneurs, bursting with bromides and sunny confidence about the future that only start-ups can build.
Into this fog of fuzzy-headed nonsense, Peter Thiel's new book, Zero to One, shines like a laser beam.
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