Book · 1986 · Fiction
The Hobbit
The Enchanting Prelude to The Lord of the Rings
- episodes
- 14
- podcasts
- 7
- people
- 10
- episodes recommend it
- 0
It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in weight.
What they say about it
- Mentioned alongside Lord of the Rings“The Lord of the Rings”7
The best things said about it
Tolkien in the mid 1930s when he wrote The Hobbit this was a really evil dragon.
Smaug in The Hobbit is an embodiment of greed, and Tolkien is taking that directly from Fafnir in sort of Anglo-Saxon myth.
Adrian Tchaikovsky How I Write · Dec 2025 The research likened to reading Tolkien's The Hobbit every single day. That's nearly 96,000 words.
Jay Shetty On Purpose with Jay Shetty · Dec 2024 Peter's senior yearbook quote which he credited to The Hobbit The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
Frodo and Bilbo in the in The Lord of the Rings in The Hobbit and overcomes evil through self-sacrifice.
I have the Hobbit which I used to listen to but they wouldn't let us listen to it until I was 12 cuz it's scary.
Jason Calacanis This Week in Startups · Mar 2020 Where and when it comes up
How it comes up
10 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a classic fantasy adventure chronicling Bilbo Baggins' unexpected journey and his encounter with the dragon Smaug. A host on Stuff You Should Know cited the novel while examining the Western literary tradition of evil dragons. Yann Martel brought up the book on How I Write to contrast his own boredom with it against the affection an entire generation held for it. Lon Harris noted on This Week in Startups that the book and its sequel represent the core intellectual property held by studios for Middle-earth adaptations, while Henry Oliver and David Perell also referenced the fantasy classic. Adrian Tchaikovsky discussed Smaug on How I Write as a literary embodiment of greed derived from Anglo-Saxon myth. Jordan Peterson referenced the work on his podcast regarding the archetypal journey of returning home transformed, and Jay Shetty cited the volume on On Purpose to illustrate the massive daily volume of information processed by the human brain.
Every mention
Jason Calacanis they received 250 million dollars in cash for the story for the IP let's just let that sink in for a second… 3
Discussed
“they received 250 million dollars in cash for the story for the IP let's just let that sink in for a second that has nothing to do with one paintbrush on one backdrop one actor's salary one makeup kit it's just for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit”
Discussed
“i have to say well actually i've been listening to the lord of the rings with the girls every night uh hobbit lord of the rings the audiobooks and that is like i gotta tell you”
Discussed
“and I would say to her you know I have the Hobbit which I used to listen to but they wouldn't let us listen to it until I was 12 cuz it's scary”
Lon Harris I read it at a I read Lord of the Rings and hobbin at a very pivotal hey I was like 14 or something and I l… 3
Discussed
“They only own The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. So, everything they do has to come out of those two books.”
Discussed
“I read it at a I read Lord of the Rings and hobbin at a very pivotal hey I was like 14 or something and I loved them”
Discussed
“opportunities include exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf Aragorn Gollum Galadriel Ellen Ewan and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R Tolkien and some of those are also in the earlier writing so they can be in the rings of power but they could also be in Hobbit and Lord of the Rings stories”
Adrian Tchaikovsky So, for example, you know, Smaug in The Hobbit is an embodiment of greed, and Tolkien is taking that direct… 1
Discussed
“So, for example, you know, Smaug in The Hobbit is an embodiment of greed, and Tolkien is taking that directly from Fafnir in sort of Anglo-Saxon myth.”
David Perell Listen to this from Tol. Okay. It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest… 1
Discussed
“Listen to this from Tol. Okay. It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in weight.”
Henry Oliver OLIVER: Lord of the Rings plus The Hobbit, right? 1
Discussed
“OLIVER: Lord of the Rings plus The Hobbit, right?”
Jay Shetty I read a study that said we process around 72 gigabytes of information per day. Yeah. Which the research li… 1
Discussed
“I read a study that said we process around 72 gigabytes of information per day. Yeah. Which the research likened to reading Tolkien's The Hobbit every single day. That's nearly 96,000 words.”
Jordan Peterson How do you return home like the Hobbit does at the end of the well the Hobbit and at the end of the Lord of… 1
Discussed
“How do you return home like the Hobbit does at the end of the well the Hobbit and at the end of the Lord of the Rings, right?”
Peter Kreeft and that Harry does undertake a track and a quest like like Frodo and Bilbo in the in The Lord of the Rings… 1
Discussed
“and that Harry does undertake a track and a quest like like Frodo and Bilbo in the in The Lord of the Rings in The Hobbit and overcomes evil through self-sacrifice”
Robert Evans so one particularly baffling segment from the chafkin book involves Peter's senior yearbook quote which he… 1
Discussed
“so one particularly baffling segment from the chafkin book involves Peter's senior yearbook quote which he credited to The Hobbit The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead today and tomorrow are yet to be said now you know that seems like something a nerdy kid would do”
Yann Martel I found them so boring where an entire generation loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. 1
Discussed
“I found them so boring where an entire generation loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker1
Discussed
“I mean you know there are so many stories in literature and movies obviously that have had dragons throughout the years. Certainly Tolkien in the mid 1930s when he wrote The Hobbit this was a really evil dragon.”
Often mentioned with
Other mentions (17: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“So I mean but I guess the first I was definitely drawn towards Edgar Alen Po's work. Uh I have to admit to having written a bunch of paper you know high school papers probably on the same Ed Garland Po story or poem. Uh but also like you know the Hobbit.”
Passing
“and it's very hard to know, it's like with "The Hobbit" or something, what to do with it, and I find myself truly overwhelmed with the multitasking,”
Passing
“I can't I can't like I'm thinking like that scene in The Hobbit of Thor going like I won't bart with one coin like like I can't I can't you know what I'm talking about, right?”
Passing
“Like it literally looks like like The Hobbit when like the different clans come together.”
Passing
“I remember my dad reading Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to me and and my mom as well and that sense of sort of fantasy and and imagination awakened”
Passing
“So So it's in fact J.R. Tolken based the hobbits on people he knew”
Passing
“some people are so compelled by the desire to find out the unknown that they're they're they're never taking advantage of the things they learn and some people are stuck like a Hobbit at home afraid that they're going to miss dinner”
Passing
“and this is the beginning of a incredibly curious mystery curious and curiouser or as as they say in Lord of the Rings way or The Hobbit way leads on the way second breakfast second breakfast potato elies”
Passing
“In The Hobbit, our hero Bilbo Baggins best Gollum in a riddle contest by asking him the unknowable, "What's in my pocket?"”
Passing
“we're very bad at teaching people that we we portray it in our movies always in action adventure stories always a landscape of Good and Evil a mythological Quest the Lord of the Rings The Hobbit the Marvel Universe”
Passing
“then Lord of the Rings The Little Prince and the Hobbit”
Passing
“we talked about the one ring from you know The Hobbit and precious Lord of the Rings right like that is what it felt like”
Passing
“it's thousands of years before the hobbit or the lord of the rings stories”
Passing
“He was not particularly gifted in leadership according to his teachers, but he moved confidently among his peers and articulately extolled the virtues of the novel he was reading at the time, J.R.R. Tolken's The Hobbit.”
Passing
“i know that reference one i at least read the hobbit i was homeschooled”
Passing
“I was like is this from The Hobbit a tiny bit older than The Hobbit in Plato's Republic”
Passing
“or the story of Richard power's recent novel The over Story... I read The Hobbit and I read Lord of the Rings and and I was fascinated with trees obviously”