Paper Belt on Fire

How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University

By: Michael Gibson

Narrated by: Alex Boyles

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 Publishing

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.

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.

Exposure to bigger ideas

An enjoyable read with fast pacing and many interesting references. Left me questioning some status quos.

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.

This is a most interesting book.

The title of the book doesn't do justice to the contents. Very informative and interesting ideas...