Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2025-04-26
Books mentioned on Ross Douthat on Trump, Mysticism and Psychedelics | The Ezra Klein Show
Ezra Klein discussed Believe by Ross Douthat and Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer. Ross Douthat recommended Modern Trial Advocacy by Steven Lubet, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Stephen M. Barr, After by Bruce Greyson, and Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel, and discussed Living with a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Believe
Believe by Ross Douthat is an exploration of why religious faith remains logical and vital in the modern era.
Discussed“He's the author of Believe, Why Everyone Should Be Religious, a book I enjoyed very much, even though quite a bit of it I had some questions about.”
Where to get it
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Living with a Wild God
Living with a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich is a reflective memoir that chronicles a well-known secular atheist's unexpected encounters with profound and mysterious religious experiences.
Discussed“someone like you know Barbara Aaron Reich who's famous I had her on for this book right famous left liberal writer wrote a whole book called and a famous atheist yes famous atheist called living with a wild god right”
Where to get it
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Inventing the Renaissance
Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer is a historical exploration of how early modern scholars, poets, and printers consciously constructed the myth of the Renaissance as a distinct rebirth of classical learning separate from the medieval era.
Discussed“I've been reading about the Renaissance recently. Ada Palmer's great book on inventing the Renaissance.”
Where to get it
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Modern Trial Advocacy
Modern Trial Advocacy by Steven Lubet is a comprehensive instructional manual on courtroom litigation techniques used by lawyers and law students.
Recommended“Uh the first one is a book called from about 20 years ago by a physicist named Steven Bar called ancient physics and modern faith. Uh that is I think despite being a little bit dated is still really the best overall survey of sort of where arguments in modern physics that relate to religion stand and how a reasonable”
Where to get it
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Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Stephen M.
Recommended“The first one is a book called from about 20 years ago by a physicist named Steven Bar called ancient physics and modern faith.”
Where to get it
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After
After by Bruce Greyson is a scientific exploration of near-death experiences written by a psychiatrist and neuroscientist from the University of Virginia who spent decades researching the phenomenon.
Recommended“one recommendation would be a book called after by Bruce Grayson who's a I think psychiatrist or neur neuroscientist from the University of Virginia who just has a good overview”
Where to get it
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Mind and Cosmos
Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel is a concise philosophical work by a prominent non-religious thinker that challenges the fundamental limits, assumptions, and problems of a strictly materialist framework on the world.
Recommended“Um but a book by called Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel who's a famous philosopher not religious but arguing for the fundamental limits and problems with a materialist framework on the world and it is a very short book which is why I don't hesitate to recommend it.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“So I you know I wrote a lot about the concept of decadence, right? this idea that you know the west the developed world was sort of stuck in these kind of cycles and needed to break out somehow but the reality is you often can't break out of decadence without you know a big big mess so maybe Trump”
“Shurmer in the end works out, you know, he he he wants to have a theory of the multiverse where in some different timeline much like in the movie Interstellar his wife's great uncle is capable of accessing our timeline.”
“I've been reading about the Renaissance recently. Um Ada Palmer's great book on inventing the Renaissance.”