Monthly round-up · All months
Books podcasts were talking about in November 2018
November 2018 featured discussions on programming guides, computer history, behavioral genetics, and classic science fiction anthologies across multiple podcasts. On the Lex Fridman Podcast, Jeff Atwood named Steve McConnell's Code Complete as his number one programming recommendation and praised David Kushner's Masters of Doom for its compelling narrative of the tech industry's past. The Joe Rogan Experience hosted comedian Jeff Ross, who recommended Joan Rivers's memoir Enter Talking to young performers for its window into early stand-up and acting experiences. Later on the same show, William von Hippel brought up Robert Plomin's Blueprint to explore the complexities of behavioral genetics. The Book Review highlighted John Williams discussing Geoff Dyer's The Missing of the Somme around the Armistice anniversary, while Pamela Paul shared her reading of the reissued anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two, featuring classic novellas chosen by genre writers. Additionally, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von included a listener recommendation of Jay Stringer's Unwanted, a book addressing sexual brokenness. These conversations demonstrated a shared curiosity about technical mastery, historical reflection, creative origins, and human behavior.
Lex Fridman Podcast
-
Code Complete
Recommended“It's from a book by Steve McConnell code complete which is where my favorite programming but still probably my number one programming book for anyone to read”
-
Doom Guy
Recommended“but one of the things john carmack one of the best points he makes in the book masters of doom which is a fantastic book”
-
Masters of Doom
Recommended“one of the best points he makes in the book masters of doom which is a fantastic book anybody listening this who hasn't read it please read it's such a great book”
-
Conway's Game of Life
Discussed“actually someone pointed out to me that there was this thing called Conway's Game of Life you're probably familiar with it”
-
The Second World War
Discussed“Let me give you this example. One of the greatest books is Churchill's book about the history of the Second World War. He starts in his book describing that in the old times when a war is over, the great kings, they gather together--and most of them are relatives--and they discuss what should be done to create peace and they”
-
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
Discussed“So let me just step back a little bit first to talk about, you mentioned which I read last night the parts of the 1960 paper by Eugene Wigner, Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.”
Behind the Bastards
-
A Hundred Little Hitlers
Discussed“But anyone who's curious can get the book uh 100 Little Hitlers. Oh, that's a good title.”
-
Hungry Ghosts
Discussed“So uh as you will remember from part one, one of my sources for these episodes was the wonderful book Hungry Ghosts written by Jasper Becker.”
-
Creating Miracles
Discussed“One popular propaganda book from this period was called they are creating miracles. It told it told stories about children in an elementary school who had quote developed 10 more new crops on its experimental plot.”
-
The Lysenko Affair
Discussed“I'm going to quote from a book called The Lenko Affair here. He had never troubled himself to be precise and he insisted that precise data were not essential. Shrillly he called attention to biological theory to the progressive biological theory”
-
Stalinist Genetics
Discussed“So I'm going to read a quote from the book Stalinist genetics that takes the attitude that Lenko was buddy buddy with Stalin and convinced him to sort of back his science”
-
Hitler's American Friends
Discussed“Quote, from Hitler's American friends. Coughlin argued that the war was a clash of competing capitalist interests, not a fight to save Europe from the barbarism of Nazi domination.”
-
The Color of Fascism
Discussed“Gerald Horn, who wrote a book about Dennis called The Color of Fascism, doesn't know if Dennis's wife even knew he wasn't white. His daughter was never told.”
-
Is Capitalism Doomed?
Discussed“In 1932, in the depth of the depression, he wrote his first book, Is Capitalism Doomed? Lawrence worried that it was and that the void left by its absence would be filled by something tremendously destructive like communism.”
-
The Coming American Fascism
Discussed“Lawrence Dennis published his second book, The Coming American Fascism. His basic argument was that fascism was preferable to communism, and the depression had proved that capitalism could not possibly continue.”
-
Ham On Rye
Discussed“Now, I bet you're all wondering just what the [ __ ] went on in America's Nazi summer camps? Good news, Charles Bukowski went to one as a kid and wrote extensively about the experience. He became a member of the Bund in 1938 at age 18 and remained one until the outbreak of war in 1941. Later in life,”
-
Swastika Nation
Discussed“In the book Swastika Nation, Arnie Bernstein writes, "The unprecedented event was really intended to be the German American Bund's apotheosis, proof positive to America and the world as well as Berlin that the American Nazis were here to stay."”
The Joe Rogan Experience
-
Enter Talking
Recommended“read enter talking by Joan Rivers about our early days and stand up in acting”
-
Republic, Lost
Discussed“He wrote a book called Republic lost. And he's got a couple TED talks about that”
-
The Big Oyster
Discussed“there's a good book that was published a few years ago the big oyster I think Marco Lansky he wrote a book about history of the oyster yeah the New York in the history of the oyster”
-
Catching Fire
Discussed“Now you write about this book Catching Fire Richard Wrangham argued that what enabled that so if you look at the gut of a gorilla or a chimpanzee in their brain they got a lot of gut for a little bit of brain because it takes a lot of digestion to keep a little bit of brain going we have”
-
Blueprint
Recommended“so I don't know if you saw this book that Plomin just wrote called blueprint Robert Plomin he's a behavioural geneticist I haven't seen that oh it's a lovely book just came out”
-
The Spell of the Sensuous
Recommended“an example of this is a great book called the spell of the sensuous by david abrams who actually was a magician originally who went out and lived amongst his people”
-
Racing to the Finish
Recommended“you really do any book it's called racing to the finish it's out now go get it folks thanks”
-
Exit to Eden
Discussed“her pen name wrote a book in 1985 called exit Eden That was one of the sadomasochistic that was turned into a movie”
Monday Morning Podcast
-
Gaslight
Discussed“I heard you and Nia talking about gaslighting I thought you might find it interesting that the origin of that word comes from a 1944 movie called Gaslight”
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
-
Black Privilege
Discussed“I know like like Charlemagne the guy has his book cause distinct more black people dealing with mid to issues I'm saying and he's as a person he sent from president pan a therapist a hundred dollars hour to talk to him about problems”
-
Unwanted
Recommended“Um I sent a book recommendation I really wanted to be able to offer it's this book I'm reading that's called unwanted by Jay stringer and it's a book about sexual brokenness”
-
The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill in Sixteen Lessons (Illustrated) :: From the Author of Books like : Think and Grow Rich, Outwitting the Devil
Recommended“I mean there's I like Napoleon Hill you know he wrote three thinking good thinking but he has the also the laws I figured the I figured the rules of success so he talks about positive mental attitude”
-
Winning Gold
Recommended“I talked to uh there's coach Lee Kemp he has a book It's called I think winning gold”
-
Coaching Wrestling Successfully
Recommended“Anything you can read on Dan Gable that's another guy who's”
-
Manual of Assaying Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper
Recommended“there's coach Lee Kemp he has a book hmm it's called I think winning gold”
-
Out of the Shadows
Discussed“I'm just listening into a book right now this by doctor thinking guy's name is Michael gardener it's called out of the shadows and it's um it's all about a sexual addiction in that in those sorts of behaviors”
Freakonomics Radio
-
Sugar
Discussed“She teaches history at Trinity College University of Toronto. She's the author of Sugar, A Bittersweet History. She says the debate over what sugar is, a food, a drug, or something in between, is not new.”
The Book Review
-
Vietnam
Discussed“historian Max Hastings will talk to us about his new book Vietnam”
-
I am dynamite!
Discussed“suo will be here to discuss her new biography I am dynamite”
-
Miss Julie and Creditors
Discussed“strinberg wrote his world famous play Miss Julie in response to n's idea of the Uber menion the will to power”
-
Will to Power
Discussed“the year after he died she put out a book called the will to power”
-
Ulyses
Discussed“I am still making my way through ulyses”
-
Warlight
Discussed“and it was very easy then to break to read Michael and's latest novel warlight which I read in preparation to interview him last weekend at the Miami book fair”
-
Transcription
Discussed“and it reminded me of not in style but in certain ways of transcription by Kate Atkinson”
-
The new American Judaism
Discussed“the new American Judaism how Jews practice their Religion Today by Jack ver Heimer”
-
Dear zealots
Discussed“Amos Oz's dear zealots letters from a divided land”
-
The chosen wars
Discussed“Steve wiseman's The Chosen Wars how Judaism became an American religion”
-
The Jewish American Paradox
Discussed“and finally the Jewish American Paradox embracing choice in a changing World by Robert manukan”
-
The new Negro
Discussed“and that was the new negro which was published by Oxford University press which I think had two finalists”
-
Call Me Joe (The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson)
Discussed“the first one in the collection is called call me Joe by P Anderson”
-
Who Goes There?
Discussed“but then I was sort of swiftly brought back to Earth with the next story that I read which is called who goes there by John Campbell”
-
The missing of the Somme
Recommended“it's Dyer's book called The Missing of the sum which I think was published something I I thought it was more recent than this”
-
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame -- Volume Two
Recommended“well I've been reading this Anthology that was published in 1973 but has been subsequently reissued called the science fiction Hall of Fame volume 2A the greatest science fiction novelas of all time chosen by the members of the science fiction writers of America SF Hall of which is kind of a mouthful”
-
Frederick Douglass
Discussed“David blight will be here to discuss Frederick Douglas prophet of freedom”
-
Reagan
Discussed“Bob Spitz will join us to talk about his new book Reagan and American journey”
-
The Columbian Orator
Discussed“it's very important it was a reader that he sees in the hands of his white buddies and friends on the streets of Baltimore when he's about 11 and that book is called the Colombian orator”
-
That printer of Udell's
Discussed“you know he he read a book when he was 11 years old called that printer of udells that his mother had given to him”
-
Dutch
Discussed“so we're talking about Dutch the book that came out in 1999”
-
Night of Camp David
Discussed“and so i wonder if night of Camp David which is the title of this novel if I hadn't mentioned the title yet i wonder if that might fill the Gap a little bit because it's historical”
-
Fatal discord
Discussed“a new book called fatal Discord by Michael massing which is a 975 page book about Martin Luther and arasmus”
-
Heavy
Recommended“but the book that I am really deep into right now that i that i will talk about this week is a Coming of Age Memoir by KS Layman called heavy”
-
An elderly lady is up to no good
Recommended“it's called an elderly lady is up to no good by the Swedish by the Swedish writer Helen turst”
-
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Recommended“but the book I finished is called the Temple of the golden Pavilion it was published I think originally in 1959”
-
The Hazel Wood
Recommended“an agent actually had talked up at a recent lunch in Julie barer was talking about Melissa Albert's the Hazelwood which is a ya novel that came out earlier this year and she was so enthusiastic that I immediately took a copy out from the library”
-
Welcome home
Critiqued“and also a non-fiction book called Welcome Home which is an uncompleted Memoir that she wrote and also the book contains some letters and that second book Welcome Home the Memoir and the letters is pretty minor stuff”
-
American Dialogue
Discussed“joining us now from amoris Massachusetts Joseph Ellis the Pulitzer prizewinning National book award-winning historian author of many books from founding Brothers to American Sphinx one of my favorites and his latest book is called American Di the founders and US”
-
Evening in paradise
Discussed“and also the book contains some letters and that second book Welcome Home the Memoir and the letters is pretty minor stuff the Memoir is uncompleted and the letters are are interesting biographically but not not incredibly special”
-
Reeling
Discussed“because you have Dwight in front of you a very nice well-worn math Market paperback copy of a book by Pauline kale reeling”
-
The Rachel Papers
Discussed“I think the the first book that I I loved was the Rachel papers which is just so misogynous and awful and yet so much fun”
-
A manual for cleaning women
Recommended“and she had a collection come out for and Drew published it in 2015 called a manual for cleaning women and that book just sort of you know took my head off when I read it”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
-
Dark Alliance
Discussed“and my Laurie was contacted by this reporter named Gary Webb he wrote a book called Dark Alliance - that then I'm one of the featured characters”
-
The Book of Days
Discussed“it is a long book We can't possibly go over everything”
Pod Save America
-
The Way to Win
Critiqued“you know we have referred to in my before this book that was written in 2006 called the way to win which in most cases is a pile of hot steaming establishment garbage that should not be read in part because it was a treaty from a 2008 election that didn't include the words Barack Obama”
Modern Wisdom
-
The elephant in the brain
Discussed“Robin Hansen is the author of the elephant in the brain”
-
Beauty
Discussed“I recently did a podcast with Sabina Hassan Felda who is author of a book which talks about how beauty is leading physics astray in eating and I found it absolutely amazing”
ChooseFI
-
ONE SIMPLE IDEA
Recommended“So I talked to Stephen key who wrote um what's his book it's like one simple idea it's like the Bible on product licensing”
a16z Podcast
-
Human + Machine
Discussed“In fact, we opened the first chapter of our book talking about cobots at the Mercedes E-Class factory in Sindelfingen, Germany, where they actually de-automated the production-scale, large-scale robots”
