How to Rule the World | Theo Baker

How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University

Accolades & Praise

• Award Winner: Winner of the George Polk Award for investigative reporting.
• "Poignant, maddening, and genuinely hilarious, How to Rule the World is to be devoured—and fast..." — Mark Leibovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Town.

Extended Synopsis

Slush funds. Shell companies. Yacht parties. This is life for Silicon Valley’s favored teenagers. Seventeen-year-old Theo Baker arrived for freshman year at Stanford University as a tech-obsessed coder, stepping into what seemed like paradise with Rodin sculptures next to nuclear laboratories and inventors lounging with Olympians. But Baker soon discovered a culture that embraced corner-cutting and vested infinite excess in the hands of kids with few safeguards.

Stanford, he realized, was less a school than a business whose primary product was students—especially those earmarked as the next trillion-dollar startup founders. At the helm was Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a superstar neuroscientist. When Baker joined the student newspaper and began investigating the president's record, he uncovered never-reported allegations of research misconduct spanning two decades.

Only one month into college, Baker began receiving anonymous letters, going on stakeouts, and dodging high-powered PR teams. By the end of the year, Tessier-Lavigne was out as president. How to Rule the World is a shocking, hilarious, and moving debut that offers an unprecedented inside view of Silicon Valley's ultimate training ground.

About the Author

Theo Baker is an investigative journalist and the winner of the prestigious George Polk Award for his college newspaper reporting that brought down Stanford’s president. He is a graduate of Stanford University.

Reader Targeting

• Readers of gripping investigative journalism, institutional exposés, and real-life political drama.
• Fans of sharp, witty memoirs exploring higher education and tech culture.
• Those interested in accountability, ethics, and the inner workings of elite universities.

Bibliographic & Physical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

What is How to Rule the World about?
It is an investigative memoir by George Polk Award winner Theo Baker detailing his freshman year at Stanford University, where his reporting for the student newspaper exposed research misconduct that led to the university president's resignation.

Who wrote this book?
The book is written by Theo Baker, a Stanford graduate and award-winning student journalist.

Is this book based on true events?
Yes, it is a factual, firsthand account of real investigative reporting and institutional events at Stanford University.

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