Book · 2014 · Fiction
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been mentioned in 12 episodes across 8 podcasts (0 episodes recommend it and 12 episodes discuss it), through . Most frequently brought up by Anthony Bourdain (1 episode), Baland Jalal (1 episode) and Ben Bowlin (1 episode) on The Joe Rogan Experience (3 episodes), Conversations with Tyler (2 episodes) and The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (2 episodes).
#229 of 17,131 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- episodes
- 12
- podcasts
- 8
- people
- 13
- episodes recommend it
- 0
Like there there's also an in insistence in in hero mythology that you go to the Heart of Darkness.
Questions about Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Who has discussed Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad on podcasts?
No speaker in our archive has explicitly recommended Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; Anthony Bourdain (1 episode), Baland Jalal (1 episode), Ben Bowlin (1 episode), Ben Shapiro (1 episode) and James Stout (1 episode) have discussed it across 8 podcasts (13 people in all).
Which podcasts mention Heart of Darkness the most?
The Joe Rogan Experience (3 episodes), Conversations with Tyler (2 episodes), The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (2 episodes), Behind the Bastards (1 episode) and Stuff They Don't Want You To Know (1 episode), among 8 podcasts in all.
Is Heart of Darkness recommended, or only discussed?
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was recommended in 0 episodes and discussed without a recommendation in 12 episodes, as of 2026-11-04.
What do people say about Heart of Darkness?
Baland Jalal on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (2025-03-27): "Like there there's also an in insistence in in hero mythology that you go to the Heart of Darkness."
When was Heart of Darkness last mentioned on a podcast?
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was last discussed on Conversations with Tyler by Richard Hanania on 2026-11-04.
What they say about it
- Read in school“read Heart of Darkness in high school”2
- Reference to Apocalypse Now“movie, Apocalypse Now, that's about a journey”2
The best things said about it
There’s more of that in the Heart of Darkness, which is about a guy who just goes crazy and becomes worse than the worst savage.
In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is setting himself up as a god or godlike being. It’s what happens when you have a religious vacuum, and it’s maybe also Conrad telling us what he thinks of religion, that it’s domination.
Tyler Cowen Conversations with Tyler · Nov 2026 You look at the works in their entirety, Heart of Darkness, a super clear example, but Lord Jim, basically all the others, he goes somewhere, someone is somewhere. It’s in different places, and it’s the seeing of them that reveals what they’re like.
Tyler Cowen Conversations with Tyler · Nov 2026 It's also like this Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, like you're up river, dude.
Rich Roll The Rich Roll Podcast · Jun 2026 Even though we're all forced to read Heart of Darkness in high school you're not allowed to mention Joseph Conrad anymore.
Ben Shapiro The Megyn Kelly Show · Feb 2023 I started the Heart of Darkness, I had read it years ago and i started it you know a few months ago and really liked the writing and wanted to go on.
Where and when it comes up
13 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a classic novella detailing a perilous journey up the Congo River and the moral collapse of the colonial agent Kurtz. Richard Hanania spoke about the book on Conversations with Tyler, comparing its depiction of human nature and descent into savagery with Conrad’s other work, and discussing how the author's actual journey down the Congo River fascinated him. Tyler Cowen also discussed the novel on the same program, interpreting Kurtz's godlike self-positioning as a commentary on religious domination within a religious vacuum, and cited the book alongside Conrad's other writings to illustrate his view that geography and travel reveal human character. Rich Roll invoked the novel on The Rich Roll Podcast to describe the raw, rule-breaking reality of traveling up the Amazon River into one of the last wild corners of the earth. On The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan noted that Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now was based on Conrad's 1899 book. Additionally, James Stout mentioned on Behind the Bastards that media coverage of the Darién Gap often relies on a heart of darkness framing to portray the region as an uncivilized place.
Every mention
Anthony Bourdain I want to do the whole Joseph Conrad you know Heart of Darkness thing I'm obsessed with going up the Congo… 1
“I want to do the whole Joseph Conrad you know Heart of Darkness thing I'm obsessed with going up the Congo River”
Baland Jalal Like there there's also an in insistence in in hero mythology that you go to the Heart of Darkness 1
“Like there there's also an in insistence in in hero mythology that you go to the Heart of Darkness”
Ben Bowlin the Heart of Darkness reference was brought up literally like was specifically brought up and they you know… 1
“the Heart of Darkness reference was brought up literally like was specifically brought up and they you know they would use the phrase uh they would use phrases like he's living like a white God out out there in the wild was that book out that was a that was a yeah okay Heart of Darkness came out in 1899”
Ben Shapiro and you're also not allowed to use Joseph Conrad because even though we're all forced to read Heart of Dark… 1
“and you're also not allowed to use Joseph Conrad because even though we're all forced to read Heart of Darkness in high school you're not allowed to mention Joseph Conrad anymore”
James Stout When people talk about the Darian Gap in media, they kind of use this heart of darkness construction, obvio… 1
“When people talk about the Darian Gap in media, they kind of use this heart of darkness construction, obviously it's Joseph Conrad novel, but like this idea that like it's where the wild things are.”
Joe Rogan do you ever see a this Hollywood, but Apocalypse Now? Sure. with is it Francis Ford Copela and he's got lik… 1
“do you ever see a this Hollywood, but Apocalypse Now? Sure. with is it Francis Ford Copela and he's got like Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando and Dennis Hopper and Robert Duval and all those cool cats and dope movie but it's written on this premise of a of a book that was written in like 1899 by Joseph Conrad”
John Vervaeke You know, I did a course on Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, Notes from Underground, Death in Venice, and The… 1
“You know, I did a course on Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, Notes from Underground, Death in Venice, and The Plague—all one course. Oh yeah, that's fun.”
Jordan Peterson And there's a movie, Apocalypse Now, that's about a journey to the heart of darkness, and that's what the b… 1
“And there's a movie, Apocalypse Now, that's about a journey to the heart of darkness, and that's what the book is about, Conrad Joseph Conrad's book.”
Lydia Davis for example we mentioned conrad i started the heart of darkness i had read it years ago and i started it yo… 1
“for example we mentioned conrad i started the heart of darkness i had read it years ago and i started it you know a few months ago and really liked the writing and wanted to go on”
Rich Roll Um, but it's also like this Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, like you're up river, dude. You know, like, a… 1
“Um, but it's also like this Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, like you're up river, dude. You know, like, and there are like whatever rules you think there are, like that is out the window.”
“This is like you said, this is this is Heart of Darkness. This is one of the last corners of the earth where it really is that wild, where there's tribes out there that, you know, haven't seen the outside world”
Richard Hanania There’s more of that in the Heart of Darkness, which is about a guy who just goes crazy and becomes worse t… 1
“There’s more of that in the Heart of Darkness, which is about a guy who just goes crazy and becomes worse than the worst savage.”
“One thing I did was into the Heart of Darkness, I was fascinated by the way he portrays Congo River and also the Jasanoff biography because Conrad went down there.”
Siddharth Kara in college we all read Heart of Darkness Conrad and that's the first Belgian horror 1
“in college we all read Heart of Darkness Conrad and that's the first Belgian horror”
Tyler Cowen In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is setting himself up as a god or godlike being. It’s what happens when you hav… 1
“In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is setting himself up as a god or godlike being. It’s what happens when you have a religious vacuum, and it’s maybe also Conrad telling us what he thinks of religion, that it’s domination.”
“You look at the works in their entirety, Heart of Darkness, a super clear example, but Lord Jim, basically all the others, he goes somewhere, someone is somewhere. It’s in different places, and it’s the seeing of them that reveals what they’re like.”
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's exploration into the heart of darkness, right? What's the theme? Confront what terrifies you voluntarily.”
“uh the one that they made Apocalypse Now based off of oh Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness”
“but it makes me feel a little bit like a you know you said it first like of a jean bra like Aegina you know like that warm wallet you know like that wild canal you know like Joseph Conrad wrote about you know that wild canal out there that RIT whatever it was that dark river whatever he was”