Episode · Interesting Times · 2026-08-13
Books mentioned on Is Living to 150 Worth It? | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat
Bryan Johnson thinks he can outrun death. After selling his tech company for hundreds of millions of dollars and abandoning his religion, he turned his own body into the ultimate science project, centered on an explicit mission: Don’t die.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Zero
Zero by Charles Seife is a fascinating exploration of the history and profound impact of the number zero across mathematics, physics, art, religion, and philosophy.
Discussed“And then I read this book uh called zero, a dangerous idea. And I learned about the history of zero, how it's disrupted everything in history, physics and math and art and religion and philosophy.”
Where to get it
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.
Discussed“And I there's a line in um CS Lewis's Narnia books to the effect that this is, you know, in the same zone as Dracula and Dorian Gray and and all the others that um you're trying to either offer an alternative to or not, right?”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Gerontocracy in America
“So, just to take an example from this very podcast, uh, a couple weeks ago, I had Sam Mo on, who is a law professor at Yale, who's written a book called Gerontocracy in America.”