Episode · The Joe Rogan Experience · 2026-08-25
Joe Rogan & Jesse Michels: books mentioned on The Joe Rogan Experience #2545
#2545 - Jesse Michels
Jesse Michels is the creator and host of "American Alchemy," a YouTube series exploring controversial topics in science and culture through longform interviews.
Jesse Michels recommended Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, and discussed The sacred mushroom and the cross by John Marco Allegro, What Is Real? by Adam Becker, and Life Itself by Francis Crick. Joe Rogan recommended Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Childhood's End
Childhood's End by Arthur C.
Recommended“There's a great book by the great Arthur C. Clark called Childhood's End.He talks about um aliens sort of incepting the world through telepathic children.”
Where to get it
-
The sacred mushroom and the cross
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Marco Allegro is a controversial scholarly study that posits early Christianity originated from ancient fertility cults centered around the sacramental use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Discussed“And then there's the uh John Marco Allegro, the guy who wrote uh the sacred mushroom in the cross, the the guy who was on the Dead Sea Scrolls Commission, who was an ordained minister, but also was agnostic.And after 14 years of deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls, he's like, I think [laughter] this is all about fertility rituals and”
Where to get it
-
What Is Real?
Discussed“There's a great book called What is Real by a guy named Adam Becker about all of this where Einstein was saying the quantum stuff is too spooky as they call it spooky action at a distance.”
Where to get it
-
Life Itself
Life Itself by Francis Crick is a detailed scientific examination exploring the origins of life on Earth and the hypothesis of panspermia, written by one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA.
Discussed“So in 1973 I believe Francis Crick who discovered the double helical structure of DNA uh wrote a paper and then he followed it up with a book in 1981 called life itself and it's all about how DNA in a 100 million years it's too short of a period of time for it to have formed on Earth.”
Where to get it
-
Hell's Angels
Hell's Angels by Hunter S.
Recommended“Did you ever read Hell's Angels?No.It's really great.It's uh one of I think it's Hunter's breakout book and it was before like it was very clear that he was sort of blurring the lines between fiction and reality like with literature like a literary license.”
Where to get it
