Business · Book club
Without Their Permission book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for Without Their Permission by Alexis Ohanian, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Alexis Ohanian cofounded Reddit in 2005 as a 22-year-old college student and sold it to Condé Nast two years later.
Alexis Ohanian · 2013 · 4h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Ohanian argues the internet has made permission unnecessary. What barriers to starting something have you actually encountered that weren't eliminated by that change?
- 2.
Reddit grew through community ownership. Which online communities have you been part of that felt genuinely owned by participants, and what made that possible?
- 3.
The founding story of Reddit involves significant improvisation and luck. How do you separate what was genuinely strategic from what was post-hoc rationalization?
- 4.
Ohanian's advocacy during SOPA/PIPA is presented as obvious. What internet freedom issues today deserve more civic attention than they're getting?
- 5.
The book is explicitly optimistic about American entrepreneurship. Does that framing hold up, and what does it leave out?
- 6.
Ohanian sold Reddit to Condé Nast and later helped buy it back. What does that arc suggest about the tensions between building communities and building companies?
- 7.
The Y Combinator model appears in many entrepreneurship books. What does it actually teach that couldn't be learned elsewhere?
- 8.
Ohanian cofounded Reddit at 22 without knowing what he was doing. What's the relationship between naivety and boldness in early-stage entrepreneurship?
- 9.
The book was written in 2013. Which of its predictions or assumptions about the internet have aged well, and which look naive from where we are now?
- 10.
Without Their Permission is a phrase that could describe both rebellion and recklessness. Where's the line?
- 11.
Who doesn't have permission to start things even with the internet? What genuine structural barriers remain that the book glosses over?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Without Their Permission?
Here are 11 book club questions for Without Their Permission by Alexis Ohanian, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on entrepreneurship, internet culture, startups.
How long should a book club discussion of Without Their Permission last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Without Their Permission?
Entrepreneurship, Internet culture, Startups, Social impact, Hustle. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Without Their Permission or questions for other book club picks.
