# The Inner Game of Tennis, Berkshire Hathaway, and Memex *By Recommended Reading from Tech Founders • April 29, 2026* Tim Ferriss surfaced a practical performance book, Paul Tudor Jones praised an Acquired episode that changed how he sees Buffett, and Garry Tan pointed back to Vannevar Bush’s Memex as a long-running intellectual influence. A Social Radars episode on Silicon Valley Bank was the timely listening pick. ## What stood out Today’s strongest recommendations came with unusually clear reasons to pay attention: Tim Ferriss extracted a reusable performance rule from *The Inner Game of Tennis* [^1], Paul Tudor Jones said an Acquired episode on Berkshire Hathaway changed how he sees Buffett [^2], and Garry Tan pointed back to Vannevar Bush’s Memex idea as a framework he has carried since 1999 [^3]. A separate Paul Graham co-sign made one timely podcast episode on Silicon Valley Bank worth saving as well [^4][^5]. ## Start here ### *The Inner Game of Tennis* - **Content type:** Book - **Author/creator:** W. Timothy Gallwey - **Link/URL:** No direct book URL was provided in the source; source context: [Tim Ferriss post](https://x.com/tferriss/status/2049158988504142096) - **Who recommended it:** Tim Ferriss [^1] - **Key takeaway:** Ferriss highlighted the book’s case for relaxed concentration and pulled out one operating rule: the secret to winning is “not trying too hard,” and the feeling of overexertion is a cue to reset priorities, technique, focus, or mindfulness rather than press harder [^1] - **Why it matters:** This was the most useful recommendation in the set because it came with a concrete diagnostic readers can apply immediately. > “The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills; he discovers the true basis for self-confidence; and he learns that the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard.” [^1] ## Two evergreen picks with different use cases ### Acquired’s Berkshire Hathaway episode - **Content type:** Podcast episode - **Author/creator:** Acquired - **Link/URL:** No direct episode URL was provided in the source; source context: [Invest Like The Best interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S31J5ACsOqU) - **Who recommended it:** Paul Tudor Jones [^2] - **Key takeaway:** Jones said the episode changed his view of Buffett enough that he apologized for underrating him, crediting the episode for showing that Buffett understood compound interest at age 9, sought out Benjamin Graham at 17, and later paired with Charlie Munger [^2] - **Why it matters:** This is the cleanest investing recommendation of the day because it connects Buffett’s early formation to Jones’s bigger point about compounding. [![Legendary Trader Paul Tudor Jones on AI Risk, Bubbles and Buffett](https://img.youtube.com/vi/S31J5ACsOqU/hqdefault.jpg)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=S31J5ACsOqU&t=1330) *Legendary Trader Paul Tudor Jones on AI Risk, Bubbles and Buffett (22:10)* ### Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Memex article - **Content type:** Article / paper - **Author/creator:** Vannevar Bush - **Link/URL:** No direct article URL was provided in the source; source context: [Garry Tan post](https://x.com/garrytan/status/2049030936659100066) - **Who recommended it:** Garry Tan [^3] - **Key takeaway:** Tan said the Memex concept has been on his mind since 1999 and centered Bush’s claim that the mind “operates by association” [^3][^6] - **Why it matters:** Tan’s emphasis was not on storing more pages, but on the links between them—his clearest explanation of why associative connections matter more than a static archive [^6] > “The human mind operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next.” [^6] ## One timely episode with a direct link ### Social Radars episode with Ron Conway on Silicon Valley Bank - **Content type:** Podcast episode - **Author/creator:** Social Radars - **Link/URL:** [https://pod.link/1677066062/episode/MmRjMWUwMmUtNWEwYi00OTY2LTg1YTctZTRmYmU3MjFlNjAz](https://pod.link/1677066062/episode/MmRjMWUwMmUtNWEwYi00OTY2LTg1YTctZTRmYmU3MjFlNjAz) - **Who recommended it:** Paul Graham [^5] - **Key takeaway:** Graham boosted an episode Jess Livingston described as Ron Conway’s first public account of the frantic, behind-the-scenes effort that kept Silicon Valley Bank’s failure from triggering a Depression-style financial panic, and added that there are “real bombshells” [^4][^5][^4] - **Why it matters:** This is less evergreen than the other picks, but it appears to offer rare firsthand context on a defining startup-finance event. ## Bottom line If you only open one resource, start with *The Inner Game of Tennis* for the clearest reusable framework. If you want an investing listen, go to Acquired’s Berkshire Hathaway episode; if you want a foundational idea for knowledge work, go to Bush’s Memex. The Social Radars episode is the timely add-on for recent Silicon Valley history. --- ### Sources [^1]: [𝕏 post by @tferriss](https://x.com/tferriss/status/2049158988504142096) [^2]: [Legendary Trader Paul Tudor Jones on AI Risk, Bubbles and Buffett](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S31J5ACsOqU) [^3]: [𝕏 post by @garrytan](https://x.com/garrytan/status/2049029392501018892) [^4]: [𝕏 post by @jesslivingston](https://x.com/jesslivingston/status/2049224188771135671) [^5]: [𝕏 post by @paulg](https://x.com/paulg/status/2049226128603172949) [^6]: [𝕏 post by @garrytan](https://x.com/garrytan/status/2049030936659100066)