Cover of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Book · 1998 · Biography & Autobiography

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

by Hunter S. Thompson · Brought up by 21 people on 10 podcasts

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson has been mentioned in 40 episodes across 10 podcasts (8 episodes recommend it and 32 episodes discuss it), through . Most frequently brought up by Joe Rogan (14 episodes), Ryan Holiday (3 episodes) and Anthony Bourdain (1 episode) on The Joe Rogan Experience (24 episodes), Lex Fridman Podcast (3 episodes) and How I Write (2 episodes).

#109 of 17,131 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts

episodes
40
podcasts
10
people
21
episodes recommend it
8

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is still one of my favorite books just a just a mad crazy book.
Joe Rogan · The Joe Rogan Experience · Feb 2011 Listen at 13:23

Questions about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Who recommends Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson on podcasts?

Joe Rogan (2 episodes), Ryan Holiday (1 episode), Anthony Bourdain (1 episode), Dan Houser (1 episode) and David Abbott (1 episode) have recommended Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson on podcasts. In all, 21 people brought it up across 10 podcasts (7 people recommended it).

Which podcasts mention Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the most?

The Joe Rogan Experience (24 episodes), Lex Fridman Podcast (3 episodes), How I Write (2 episodes), Stuff You Should Know (2 episodes) and The Daily Stoic (2 episodes), among 10 podcasts in all.

Is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas recommended, or only discussed?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson was recommended in 8 episodes and discussed without a recommendation in 32 episodes, as of 2026-07-13.

What do people say about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience (2011-02-10): "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is still one of my favorite books just a just a mad crazy book."

When was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last mentioned on a podcast?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson was last discussed on The Shawn Ryan Show by Ryan Holiday on 2026-07-13.

What they say about it

Grouped from 40 episodes
  • Reads it young“when I was about 17, 18”
    4
  • Favorite book“still one of my favorite books”
    2
  • More than just partying“a book about drugs and alcohol”
    2

The best things said about it

6 of 47 · every mention
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.
Joe Rogan The Joe Rogan Experience · May 2013
Discussed
You think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book about drugs and alcohol, which it is, but it's the subtitle of that book is about the American dream.
Ryan Holiday The Shawn Ryan Show · Jul 2026
Discussed
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is supposed to be half true and half featuring fictional elements.
Andrew Callaghan The Jordan Harbinger Show · May 2025
Recommended
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.
Dan Houser Lex Fridman Podcast · Oct 2025
Discussed
Have you ever read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? No? It's been years. God damn, it's good. It's good, dude. He's got some great passages in it.
Joe Rogan The Joe Rogan Experience · Dec 2015
Recommended
I remember you know running to the store to to get fear and love in Las Vegas ser realized life-changing.
Anthony Bourdain The Joe Rogan Experience · Sep 2011

Where and when it comes up

Mentions by year

02017220182201902020220213202242023620249202542026so far

Podcast episodes that discussed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by year. One episode counts once, however often the book came up.

Number 23 of the most mentioned books on podcasts in 2025

How it comes up

Recommended means the speaker tells listeners to read it.

Episodes, each counted once, by the strongest way it came up.

Most episodes, by podcast

Top 9 of 10 shows

21 people who brought it up

Most recommendations first

Also: David Perell · David Rutherford · Hamilton Morris · Jann Wenner · Matt Taibbi · Ralph Barbosa · Sturgill Simpson · Tim Ferriss · Timothy Denevi

Why people recommend it

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson is a wildly eccentric journalistic novel that chronicles a drug-addled road trip across the American Southwest in search of the elusive American Dream. Joe Rogan suggested on The Joe Rogan Experience that Luke Grimes pick up the book as an ideal starting point for exploring the author's literary catalog, noting how the writer originally secured the assignment to cover a motorcycle race. Tank Abbott also mentioned the title on the podcast while comparing his own writing process to the author's unique hunt-and-peck typing method. Nat Eliason shared on How I Write that the manic aesthetic of the book served as the primary visual and thematic inspiration for the cover design of his own publication. Ryan Holiday noted on The Daily Stoic that readers should look past the common association with wild debauchery, observing on The Shawn Ryan Show that the underlying subtitle directly addresses the fate of the American culture. Joe Rogan revisited the title in subsequent episodes featuring guests like Terry Bradshaw and Ben Affleck, praising the raw power of the prose. Finally, David Perell highlighted the book on How I Write as a prime example of gonzo journalism where the author's subjective perspective dominates the entire narrative landscape.

Every mention

47 quotes from 40 episodes · 6 passing or ad reads below
Joe Rogan Oh, just read just start off with Fear and Loathing. Okay. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a he got a as… 14
Discussed
“He's the guy from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Do you know that? You never heard of that book?”
The Joe Rogan Experience #2511 - Terry Bradshaw 2026-06-09
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
“you never heard of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas you never heard of this guy maybe that's crazy”
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
“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
“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”
Recommended
“Fear and lothing in Las Vegas is still one of my favorite books just a just a [ __ ] mad crazy book”
Ryan Holiday I think about that Hunter S. Thompson speech all the time, for people who haven't read Fear and Loathing La… 3
Discussed
“You think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book about drugs and alcohol, which it is, but it's the subtitle of that book is about the American dream”
Discussed
“Hunter S. Thompson is one of the great writers of all time. Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are two books we carry in the painted porch, which I read when I was falling in love with reading as a high school and college student.”
Discussed
“The epigraph in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is, he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
Recommended
“I think about that Hunter S. Thompson speech all the time, for people who haven't read Fear and Loathing Las Vegas, maybe you've seen the movie, you think it's this book about debauchery and partying and craziness”
Discussed
“But I think his reputation would be fundamental, Hunter S. Thompson's reputation, the reputation of that book would be fundamentally different if we said, well, this was actually three trips as you point out in the book.”
Discussed
“have you read um fear and lothing in Las Vegas”
Anthony Bourdain I remember you know running to the store to to get fear and love in Las Vegas ser realized life-changing 1
Recommended
“I remember you know running to the store to to get fear and love in Las Vegas ser realized life-changing”
Dan Houser - Plus there's the caricature of the drug world of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That's an interesting on… 1
Recommended
“- 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.”
David Abbott I mean, Hunter S. Thompson was hunting and pecking when he was writing like 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. 1
Recommended
“I mean, Hunter S. Thompson was hunting and pecking when he was writing like 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.”
Guy Fieri I read Fear and Loathing Las Vegas. I don't read a lot, but I read that book probably five times. It's a gr… 1
Recommended
“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”
Nat Eliason It needs to have that um Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas feel to it. That was the main inspiration is I sent… 1
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.”
Jordan Peterson For example, I remember when I was 13 or 14, so that would have been se mid70s, um I was reading Fear and L… 3
Discussed
“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.”
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.”
Discussed
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is quite the piece of work and he what he wrote one on the Hell's Angels and one about the campaign”
Josh Clark Fear and Loathing of course and what other one did I read Rum Diaries or maybe it was fear and Loa on the c… 2
Discussed
“it seems to be based on a misinterpretation of what a dream Chrome does and where you get it based on um Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because Hunter Thompson has basically a throwaway intimation that the adrenochrome that he does and goes on a crazy trip over um can only be gotten from the adrenal gland of a”
Discussed
“Fear and Loathing of course and what other one did I read Rum Diaries or maybe it was fear and Loa on the campaign Trail”
Lex Fridman and you mentioned fear and loathing in las vegas by hunter s thompson 2
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”
Andrew Callaghan Gonzo journalism, if you look at the official definition, was pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson and it includ… 1
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”
Brendan Schaub Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Hunter Thompson's on checking into the hotel and the lizards are [ __ ]… 1
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.”
David Perell So if you have Hunter S. Thompson, right? He writes Fear and Loathing. This is like Hunter S. Thompson's ta… 1
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.”
David Rutherford I mean, I I remember reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It was like I was just like, Oh my, this is it. 1
Discussed
“I mean, I I remember reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It was like I was just like, Oh my, this is it.”
Hamilton Morris Hunter S Thompson wrote about Charles inis in fear and lothing in Las Vegas talking and it's kind of a in a… 1
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”
Jann Wenner I mean that was you know what what your magazine had covered and what he had covered with fear and loathing… 1
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”
Matt Taibbi well he so hundreds of this great thing he he he wrote about it it was it was kind of a spoof of campaign c… 1
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”
Ralph Barbosa I was reading that book you got out there. I never The War of Art. No, no, no, no. Um Oh, the Hunter Thomps… 1
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”
Sturgill Simpson and then that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas think to where that started out 1
Discussed
“and then that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas think to where that started out”
Tim Ferriss i was interested to see fear and loathing in las vegas by hunter s thompson on your on your list of suggest… 1
Discussed
“i was interested to see fear and loathing in las vegas by hunter s thompson on your on your list of suggested books”
Timothy Denevi and then a friend had an audiobook of fear and loathing and so i just remember the first time hearing that… 1
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”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker1
Discussed
“I read Fear and Loathing, of course, and what other one did I read?”

Often mentioned with

Other mentions (6: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“Hunter S. Thompson, the writer. He's the one that they did that Johnny Depp movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Okay. Okay. It's based on one of his books.”
Passing
“If you've ever read the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or watched the movie, it's where Hunter Thompson starts hallucinating.”
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”
Passing
“The police turned on left-wing protesters with unspeakable violence and the city burned. The whole ugly event is, among other things, a big part of what inspired Hunter Thompson to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He was there at the time.”

Portraits from Wikimedia Commons: Joe Rogan, The White House / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain); Ryan Holiday, Luiz Berengue / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0); Andrew Callaghan, Neal Brennan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0); Jordan Peterson, Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); Lex Fridman, lexfridman / Wikimedia Commons (CC0); Brendan Schaub, Incredibleprogress / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).