Episode · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2024-12-05
Books mentioned on #781: David Whyte, Poet — Spacious Ease, Irish Koans, Writing in Delirium, and Revelations from a Yak Manger
David Whyte (davidwhyte.com) is the author of twelve books of poetry and five books of prose, including his latest, Consolations II, which further explores what David calls “the conversational nature of reality.
David Whyte recommended Wild Geese by Ayla Ellenbogen and others, and discussed Consolations, Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes by Thom Gunn and others, The Blue Cliff Record, and Fire in the Earth by David Whyte. Tim Ferriss discussed Everything Is Waiting for You by David Whyte.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Consolations
Consolations by David Whyte is a collection of essays exploring human experiences, emotions, and the conversational nature of reality.
Discussed“it was a revolutionary moment in my life actually I just and led to the consolations essays and led to the writing of the first one with the title regret”
Where to get it
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Everything Is Waiting for You
Discussed“I think particularly after putting one of your poems in my newsletter five Friday everything is waiting for you yes it put words to a sentiment that I had had difficulty verbalizing”
Where to get it
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Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes
Discussed“and so I had to reach up and I got hold of one of the portrait books and they right in the Tipsy Topsy tween of my two fingers and pulled it off”
Where to get it
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The Blue Cliff Record
Discussed“we have the Blue Cliff record with hundreds of numbered coens all commented on by various then Masters through the centuries but actually they're everywhere”
Where to get it
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Fire in the Earth
Discussed“and the note went straight through me and and at exactly the same time I heard the redwinged Blackbird outside which here in the Northwest the Pacific Northwest is the sound of spring and the world just both collapsed and came together at the same time”
Where to get it
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Wild Geese
Wild Geese is a celebrated poem by Mary Oliver, featured alongside the broader works of Ayla Ellenbogen, known for its deep exploration of nature, self-acceptance, and emotional release.
Recommended“she's so engaging she's so simple she's so clear you do not have to be good you do not have to walk for 100 miles through the desert repenting you only you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves that is the line wild geese”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“to to William Blake innocence was not a commodity that was going to be replaced by experience innocence was your ability to be found by the world in ever greater and greater ways”
“and his prize possession was this very thick book of Illustrated Blake Engravings oh nice yeah it must have cost a fortune actually for him because they were very poor”
“and in the letter she said in those last few weeks he was experiencing everything he'd read in Blake he was conversing with his angels and so I wrote this poem tanagar”