Episode · Modern Wisdom · 2026-07-02
Books mentioned on Black Holes, Denny’s Fist Fights & Japanese Handjob Culture - Rabbit Hole #4 - #1118
In the fourth installment of this new experimental format, we explore: - South Korea's government-funded looksmaxxing initiative. - Why everything you learned in school was probably false.
Tim Urban recommended A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, and discussed The Five Ages of the Universe by Fred C. Adams and others, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and Dune by Frank Herbert. George Mack recommended Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman and Mate by Tucker Max and others, and discussed Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus by John Gray and others. Tim Ferriss recommended Awareness by Anthony De Mello, Genghis Khan by John Bankston, The Making of the Modern World by Christopher Condon, and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, and discussed Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Five Ages of the Universe
The Five Ages of the Universe by Fred C.
Discussed“the dark era and that goes on that goes on for even longer. So the five the five stages of the un five ages of the universe sorry book from 1996 goes through this they had to come up with their own numbering convention”
Where to get it
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Four Thousand Weeks
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a time management book that reframes productivity around the fundamental finitude of human existence.
Recommended“And there's also a really, this is like the Brit roll call here, but I think Oliver Burkeman is also one of your countrymen, wrote a great book called 4,000 weeks, which is tremendous. And one of the chapters is called cosmic insignificance therapy.”
Where to get it
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The Anxious Generation
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt is a prominent non-fiction book that explores the profound psychological impacts of smartphones and social media on youth mental health.
Discussed“You mentioned Anxious Generation. Happiness right last name.”
Where to get it
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The Happiness Hypothesis
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt is a popular psychology book that explores ancient wisdom through the lens of modern scientific research.
Discussed“You mentioned Anxious Generation. Happiness right last name. Yeah. H A I D T and Happiness Hypothesis is one of my favorite books of all time.”
Where to get it
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Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus
Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus is a bestselling relationship guide by John Gray that explores psychological and communication differences between men and women.
Discussed“Have you ever heard of a book called Women Love and Relationships? No. No. Cuz nobody [ __ ] did. Right. So this book released I think it was in the 80s or the '90s. sold nothing. So he came along, changed the title and just jazzed it up a little bit to Men are from Mars, Women are from”
Where to get it
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Mate
Mate by Tucker Max and Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychology-inspired dating and self-improvement guide designed to help men understand modern dating markets and relationship dynamics.
Recommended“So mine my my kind of go-to for this is a little bit niche, but it's Mate by Tucker Max and Jeffrey Miller. to become the man women want the evolutionary psychology inspired dating book for men.”
Where to get it
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Awareness
Awareness by Anthony De Mello is a profound guide to personal growth, spiritual awakening, and self-observation, encouraging readers to break free from conditioned thinking and societal expectations.
Recommended“awareness, Anthony Dlo. Anthony Dlo. Yeah. And it's got, you know, the subtitle is the perils and opportunities of reality. That's the better subtitle.”
Where to get it
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Don't Shoot the Dog
Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor is a widely acclaimed guide to behavioral training and positive reinforcement that originally drew from the author's expertise as an aquatic mammal trainer.
Discussed“there's an amazing book called Don't Shoot the Dog, which has a terrible title. Maybe this is a good example of a book that failed, Don't Shoot the Dog, but it's written by this woman Karen Prior”
Where to get it
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Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by John Bankston explores the historical impact of the Mongol Empire on global infrastructure, postal systems, and religious freedom.
Recommended“there is a book I won't recommended to be by one of the I mean a name everybody would know there's a book called Genghaskhan in the making of the modern world it is remar from like modern postal systems to infrastructure to rel religious freedom”
Where to get it
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The Making of the Modern World
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford is a historical examination of how the Mongol Empire shaped global trade, communication, religious tolerance, and modern infrastructure.
Recommended“there is a book I won't recommended to be by one of the I mean a name everybody would know there's a book called Genghaskhan in the making of the modern world it is remar from like modern postal systems to infrastructure to rel religious freedom”
Where to get it
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The Order of Time
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli is an accessible and poetic exploration of modern physics that investigates the elusive nature of time.
Discussed“Something with time by by Carla Relli. The order of things. The order of time.”
Where to get it
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A Fraction of the Whole
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz is an expansive, darkly comedic Australian novel that follows the eccentric and philosophical members of the pestilent Dean family across continents and bizarre life adventures.
Recommended“So, I read it and it was so good. It was called A Fraction of the Hole by Steve Toltz. He's this Australian author. takes place in Australia and it is so funny and it's such an adventure and it's this just fantastic fiction book.”
Where to get it
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The Three-Body Problem
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu is a sweeping science fiction novel exploring humanity's first contact with an alien civilization against the backdrop of China's cultural revolution.
Discussed“And then um and then I um, more recently obviously I read the whole Three Body Problem trilogy which is by the way an example of one of those times when I couldn't do that either.”
Where to get it
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Dune
Dune by Frank Herbert is a sweeping science fiction epic set on the desert planet Arrakis, chronicling the rise of a young messiah named Paul Atreides amidst intergalactic political betrayal and the extraction of a valuable resource known as spice.
Discussed“I've heard Dune I've never read Dune but I've heard that Dune goes real. So my problem is I just stuck with the first one. I read the first Dune. It was good.”
Where to get it
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Seveneves
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is an epic science fiction novel that begins with the cataclysmic destruction of the moon and follows humanity's desperate efforts to preserve civilization in space.
Recommended“Well, I mean, Seven Eves by Neil Stevenson, the moon explodes. In the first line, the first line of the book, the moon explodes. I love that.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“This is David Epste's new book, Inside the Box. really good.”
“a little bit like Game of Thron. They didn't name Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice, which is the actual title. They're like, "Game of thrones, the first book. That's going to be the title of the whole thing”
“um find out about Oblavv who I spoke last time my 400page Russian novel where a man spends the first 50 pages worrying about how he's gonna get out of bed.”