A Book with Legs

Updated: 03 Nov 2025 • 110 episodes
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Welcome to A Book with Legs podcast, hosted by Smead Capital Management. In each episode, the folks at Smead Capital Management explore value investing through an entirely unique lens, bringing in authors to discuss books that have directly or indirectly influenced the decisions the Smead team has made on their investments in stocks and equities. The podcast is for the curious-minded looking for worldly wisdom. Investing is the last great liberal art, and the team at Smead wants to learn as much as they can. Any level of investor, business person, or thinker, whether personally or professionally, will be intrigued and engaged by these discussions.

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In this episode, Cole Smead is joined by author Brian Potter to discuss his book “The Origins of Efficiency.” The two discuss the importance and profound impact of efficiency when producing goods and services. Potter also explains how improved efficiency in penicillin production changed the world, the five factors of t

70 min
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In this episode, author and professor Mark Blyth sits down with Cole Smead to discuss a book he co-authored with Nicolò Fraccaroli titled “Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers.” Blyth unpacks the modern forces driving today’s economic shifts, explaining how they reach far beyond simple price increases. They also dis

83 min
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In this episode, professor and author Amitav Acharya joins Cole Smead to discuss his book “The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West.” The two discuss the history of world order, including its origins in Mesopotamia. Cole and Amitav also examine what historical insigh

93 min
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01:33:09
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In this special quarterly ‘book list’ episode, Bill Smead and Cole Smead discuss memorable takeaways from books they have recently read, share what they are reading now, and preview what is next on their reading list. The pair also offer fresh insights for investors, drawing on historical examples and personal experien

39 min
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15 Sep 2025 • EN

Toby Stuart - Anointed

In this episode, author and professor Toby Stuart sits down with Cole Smead to discuss his book “Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner-Take-Most World.” Together, they explore how social status shapes perception, drawing on examples from the art world to show how value has shifted from the ob

98 min
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01 Sep 2025 • EN

Alok Sama - The Money Trap

In this episode, Cole Smead sits down with author and former President and CFO of SoftBank Group International, Alok Sama, to discuss his book, “The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble.” Sama discusses his personal background and investing roots. He also details his experiences alongside SoftBank’s revolu

80 min
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01:20:43
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