Why people recommend it
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson is a classic semi-autobiographical novel that chronicles a hallucinatory and chaotic journey through Las Vegas, driven by vast quantities of mind-altering substances and a profound sense of countercultural disillusionment. On The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan recommended the book to Luke Grimes as an ideal starting point for exploring Thompson's work, recounting how the author was originally assigned to cover a motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated. Dan Houser shared on the Lex Fridman Podcast that he had a deep obsession with the book during his youth, preferring it to the film adaptation. Other figures, such as Nat Eliason on How I Write, cited the novel as the primary visual inspiration for a book cover, while David Abbott referred to Thompson's writing process while discussing his own approach. Across multiple podcast episodes, hosts and guests including David Perell and Ralph Barbosa frequently discussed Thompson's distinct style, wherein his writing heavily centered on his own experiences, cementing the book's status as a cornerstone of gonzo journalism and a defining piece of American literature that continues to captivate readers decades after its initial publication.
Who recommended it
- Joe Rogan Recommended
- Ryan Holiday Discussed
- Andrew Callaghan Discussed
- Lex Fridman Discussed
- Timothy Denevi Discussed
- David Perell Discussed
- Dan Houser Discussed
- Ralph Barbosa Discussed
- Guy Fieri Discussed
- Jordan B. Peterson Discussed
- Nat Eliason Recommended
- Jann Wenner Discussed
- Hamilton Morris Discussed
- David Abbott Recommended
- Matt Taibbi Discussed
- Sturgill Simpson Discussed
- Brendan Schaub Discussed
- Anthony Bourdain Discussed
Joe Rogan — 15 mentions
Discussed
“He's the guy from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Do you know that? You never heard of that book?”
Recommended
“Oh, just read just start off with Fear and Loathing. Okay. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a he got a assignment to cover I think it was a motorcycle race. That was the job. So I think it was for Sports Illustrated or something like that. He got a a job to just cover a race and he”
Discussed
“I mean those books Hell's Angels and and you know, Fear and Loathing is some of the best writing.”
Discussed
“yeah it's a to me it's a better book than Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which is is fun but the campaign Trail book is so insightful about America and and about Americans”
Discussed
“What do you love about his writing? Like Fear and Loathing?”
Discussed
“the Johnny Deb movie about Hunter S Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that was the movie he play the oh that was a great movie”
Discussed
“I believe he did that before he did his big sports illustrated piece which turned out to be fear and loathing in las vegas 1970”
Discussed
“that was one of the first pieces that he did before i believe he did that before he did his big sports illustrated piece which turned out to be fear and loathing in las vegas 1970”
Discussed
“you never heard of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas you never heard of this guy maybe that's crazy”
Discussed
“have you ever read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas no it's been years God damn it's good it's it's good dude he's got some great passages in it there's some some great moments that he captured on on paper that just make you go [ __ ] he had these the ability to hit these these these rare patches”
Discussed
“um uh fear and lothing in Las Vegas where he played him Johnny Depp did an awesome job of uh pull that up”
Discussed
“like if you ever Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the classic work of my favorite author Hunter Thompson and he uh had that whole thing about they were on their way to barow when the drugs began to take hold I mean it's [ __ ] great”
Discussed
“Fear and lothing in Las Vegas is still one of my favorite books just a just a [ __ ] mad crazy book”
Discussed
“ever since I found out he was a big fan of Hunter S Thompson and then when he did Fear and Loathing in Los he was good he was very good”
Discussed
“um uh they kind of like he has his character Raul Duke from um Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas MH you know he like the the novel is sort of based on very Loosely on him and this uh his friend Oscar and the crazy [ __ ] they did when they were on drugs in Vegas”
Ryan Holiday — 3 mentions
Discussed
“decides ironically to do what he talks about in uh Fear and Loathing which is uh make a beast of yourself”
Discussed
“I think about that Hunters Thompson speech all the time for people who haven't read fear and loing Las Vegas”
Discussed
“have you read um fear and lothing in Las Vegas”
Andrew Callaghan — 2 mentions
Discussed
“Well, Gonzo journalism, if you look at the official definition, was pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson and it included elements of um reality and fiction and it was always retrospective fiction. So, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is supposed to be half true and half featuring um fictional elements.”
Discussed
“Gonzo journalism, if you look at the official definition, was pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson and it included elements of um reality and fiction and it was always retrospective fiction. So, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is supposed to be half true”
Lex Fridman — 2 mentions
Discussed
“and you mentioned fear and loathing in las vegas by hunter s thompson”
Discussed
“you mentioned reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in high school and having more or a bit more of a literary mind”
Timothy Denevi — 2 mentions
Discussed
“and then a friend had an audiobook of fear and loathing and so i just remember the first time hearing that old audiobook of fear and loathing were somewhere around barstow on the edge of the desert”
Discussed
“and then a friend had an audiobook of fear and loathing”
David Perell — 1 mention
Discussed
“So if you have Hunter S. Thompson, right? He writes Fear and Loathing. This is like Hunter S. Thompson's take on what's going on.”
Dan Houser — 1 mention
Discussed
“- Plus there's the caricature of the drug world of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That's an interesting one. - I love the book so much. I was obsessed by it when I was about 17, 18. And I enjoyed the film, but I preferred the book.”
Ralph Barbosa — 1 mention
Discussed
“I was reading that book you got out there. I never The War of Art. No, no, no, no. Um Oh, the Hunter Thompson book. Yeah. Hunus Thompson was a dude or that was a chick. You don't know who Hunter Thompson is? Nah, but I kind of have heard of Thompson's work through I read in the like before”
Guy Fieri — 1 mention
Discussed
“I read Fear and Loathing Las Vegas. I don't read a lot, but I read that book probably five times. It's a great book. Such a great book. And when I got out of college, I lived in a town I didn't know anybody. I lived in Long Beach. I didn't know anybody. I just worked at this restaurant and”
Jordan B. Peterson — 1 mention
Discussed
“So for example, I remember when I was 13 or 14, so that would have been se mid70s, um I was reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and some of the uh so-called new journalists.”
Nat Eliason — 1 mention
Recommended
“It needs to have that um Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas feel to it. That was the main inspiration is I sent them that and I said this is like what we want to use as inspiration for the cover.”
Jann Wenner — 1 mention
Discussed
“I mean that was you know what what your magazine had covered and what he had covered with fear and loathing on the campaign Trail”
Hamilton Morris — 1 mention
Discussed
“Hunter S Thompson wrote about Charles inis in fear and lothing in Las Vegas talking and it's kind of a in a few different sections”
David Abbott — 1 mention
Recommended
“I mean, Hunter S. Thompson was hunting and pecking when he was writing like 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.”
Matt Taibbi — 1 mention
Discussed
“well he so hundreds of this great thing he he he wrote about it it was it was kind of a spoof of campaign coverage because he he did this whole campaign diary and then he just kind of went into this deadpan recitation of what sounded like a breaking news story about him discovering Muskies secret relationship with a”
Sturgill Simpson — 1 mention
Discussed
“and then that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas think to where that started out”
Brendan Schaub — 1 mention
Discussed
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Hunter Thompson's on checking into the hotel and the lizards are [ __ ] with this blood on the floor.”
Anthony Bourdain — 1 mention
Discussed
“I remember you know running to the store to to get fear and love in Las Vegas ser realized life-changing”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 1
Discussed
“I read Fear and Loathing, of course, and what other one did I read?”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone
- Hell's Angels
- On the Road
- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
- The War of Art
- 1984
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“just another freak in the freak Kingdom as they say at the end of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”
Passing
“You've said that you did a lot of reading when you were growing up, and you mentioned 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' by Hunter S. Thompson.”
Passing
“did uh fear and loathing in las vegas i didn't know that but uh”