Monthly round-up · All months
Books podcasts were talking about in June 2020
During June 2020, several podcasters highlighted works covering philosophy, creativity, optimism, and true crime. On My First Million, Noah Kagan mentioned The Art of Happiness by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso the XIV Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler to explain his philosophical approach to wanting to do things rather than needing to do them. Modern Wisdom featured Chris Williamson recommending Christopher Berry-Dee's book Dead Men Talking at the end of the episode. On The Tim Ferriss Show, Naval Ravikant recommended books by Matt Ridley, including Genome, praising the author as a scientist, optimist, and forward thinker. Meanwhile, Lex Fridman dedicated a substantial portion of the Lex Fridman Podcast to recommending several books by Steven Pressfield on the topics of creativity and resistance. Fridman highlighted Turning Pro, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, Tides of War, Do the Work!, and The Warrior Ethos, praising Tides of War as an exceptional historical novel. Across these various programs, the discussions centered heavily on personal drive, historical fiction, and deep explorations of human behavior, showcasing how hosts and guests utilized literature to anchor discussions on motivation and psychological inquiry during the month.
Behind the Bastards
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Police Administration
Discussed“and he wrote a book called Police Administration in 1943. And this was sort of a reaction to how most cops in big cities were drunken gangsters.”
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Thirty Years a Detective
Discussed“So later in life, Alan Pinkerton hit upon the brilliant idea of writing semifictionalized accounts of the most famous detective cases in Pinkerton history. And these books became some of the very first true crime stories in the history of literature.”
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Slave Patrols
Discussed“now historian Sally Hayden's book, Slave Patrols, is probably the most comprehensive history yet written about these the organizations, whatever you want to call them.”
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12 Year's A Slave as Written By Solomon Northup
Discussed“Solomon Northrup, author of the memoir 12 Years a Slave, gave one account of what it was like to watch patrollers with dogs hunt down an enslaved black person.”
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The Wonga Coup
Discussed“As another mercenary who was approached to the job told the author of the book The Wongaku, quote, You can see why this is tempting.”
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Double Paradox
Discussed“So, I found another book called Double Paradox by Andrew Wedman that explains that Macius largely wound up in power due to his ability to charm Spanish colonial officers.”
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Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill
Critiqued“In 1998, he wrote a book titled Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill. to cash in on the Coline Massacre.”
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On Combat
Discussed“on killing and on combat are are the two big books by Lieutenant Colonel Gman.”
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Assassination Generation
Discussed“His latest book, Assassination Generation, insists that violent video games are turning the nation's youth into mass murderers.”
My First Million
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The art of happiness
Recommended“one of my favorite books around the words that you use is the dali lama's art of happiness”
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Market-based Management
Discussed“And then there's another book called It's It's It's either called One of them's called Good Profit, and then the other one's called Market-Based Management. It It describes the Koch brothers' management philosophy, and it's incredibly interesting.”
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You and Your Research
Recommended“it's by this guy Richard Hamming and it's called you and your research she'd go read it's a speech he gives”
EconTalk
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The Long Fix
Discussed“her book is the long fix which is our topic for today”
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The Death and Life of the Great American School System
Discussed“she was here at April of 2010 talking about her book the death and life of the great American school system”
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Slaying Goliath
Discussed“her latest book and the subject of today's conversation is slaying Goliath”
Modern Wisdom
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Talking with Serial Killers
Discussed“You were you had a good example of that the first character in your new talking with serial killers book dead man talking John Robinson”
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The Green Mile
Discussed“remember the film the Stephen King the Green Mile”
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Dead men talking
Recommended“Christopher it's been awesome level talking with serial killers dead men talking death rows worst killers in their own words will be linked in the show notes below”
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Swann's Way
Discussed“And I think there's this there's a really beautiful It's a two-sentence quote uh from Proust from Swann's Way that gets into, I think, the nuance of why desiring, you know, uh our defaults can be dangerous.”
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The Path of Least Resistance
Discussed“Robert Fritz talks about this really beautifully in his book called The Path of Least Resistance.”
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A Little Book on the Human Shadow
Discussed“So, uh Robert Bly offers a really practical example of this in his book um A Little Book of the Human Shadow.”
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Traffic Secrets
Discussed“i'm reading two books currently traffic secrets and atomic habits what a set what a setup”
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Mindfulness
Recommended“minds to her book mindfulness and counterclockwise will blow your mind well they'll give you a few ready to put put in the show notes”
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Chimpanzee Politics
Discussed“France - Wow you know he's my fellow Dutch man he's a primatologist and he's been studying chimpanzees and bonobos now for decades and in the 80s I believe he wrote a book called chimpanzee politics in which he described sort of all the politics of zoo in the Netherlands and he compared it to US Congress”
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Men Against Fire
Discussed“his name was SLA marshal he read a book about this men against fire and he discovered that the majority of the soldiers didn't shoot”
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blindsight
Discussed“this blindsight that i have in my hands is one of the coolest things that I've read in absolutely ages”
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Always Day One
Discussed“so I had a Alex Kantrowitz son who's a tech reporter for BuzzFeed and he's got this new book out called always day one”
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Daodejing
Discussed“this is why you know if you read the daodejing as a book of leadership almost it just says that thing again and again the best leader is the one that nobody even knows is leading”
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Tao te Ching
Discussed“and you know the first verse of the Tao Te Ching is that the knowledge that is knowable is not the eternal knowledge and the Dao that is speakable is not the eternal Dao”
Pod Save America
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The artbook of John Bolton. Ediz. inglese e italiana
Discussed“I mean John Bolton in his books as Trump gets the PDB once maybe twice a week he doesn't read any intelligence reports”
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The Room Where It Happened
Discussed“over the weekend trump lost a legal battle to prevent the publication of his former national security advisors book the room where it happened though the judge also noted that bolton is not immune from criminal and civil liability for publishing classified information it's what we call a win-win”
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The Color of Law
Recommended“like read the color of law by Richard Roth seem to really understand how much the government segregated Americans you know read the warmth of other Suns go ahead and read white fragility read the new Jim Crow read how to be an aunt racist”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
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Everything all at once
Discussed“it's devoted to you devoted significant real estate to that in the book uh yeah”
The Book Review
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The World
Discussed“Richard hos will join us to talk about his book the world”
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A world in disarray
Discussed“and your previous book though was called A World in disarray which does not sound very optimistic”
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Tokyo Ueno station
Discussed“the books you reviewed for us were Tokyo uneno Station by U mui translated by Morgan Giles”
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The Fallen
Discussed“the Fallen by Carlos Manuel Alvarez translated by Frank win”
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Minor Detail
Discussed“minor detail by Adriana Shi translated by Elizabeth jacet”
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The Summer Book
Discussed“so I'm reading a book called The Summer book by Tov Jansen who I think most people know better as a children's book author”
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The Stone Angel
Discussed“this is a book called The Stone Angel by Margaret Lawrence who's a writer who I've talked about on the podcast before”
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Discussed“so the first book I read was K to Camilo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tain and that does not feature a human but a toy rabbit”
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The American
Discussed“which brings me to the other book I read which was Henry James's the American”
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The Chiffon Trenches
Discussed“former creative director Andre Leon joins us to talk about his Memoir the chiffon trenches”
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A Burning
Discussed“mea magar joins us now to talk about her new novel a debut it's called a burning Mega”
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Spirit Run
Discussed“my only book that came out during the pandemic was Noe Alvarez's Spirit Run and it launched in March just as things were changing”
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To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life
Discussed“I reviewed two books by the amazing French writer erve giber who died I think in the in the early in the early 90s and I reviewed his two books to the friend who did not save my life and written invisible Inc”
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Written in Invisible Ink
Discussed“I reviewed two books by the amazing French writer erve giber who died I think in the in the early in the early 90s and I reviewed his two books to the friend who did not save my life and written invisible Inc”
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Oscar Wilde
Discussed“I was living in London in the time and I had only recently read Richard elman's biography of wild”
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The plays of Oscar Wilde
Discussed“I said do you have anything by Oscar wild and she said oh yes we've got the plays of Oscar wild”
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Lady Windermere's Fan
Discussed“and I read the the four great comedies you know woman of no importance and Lady wind's fan”
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Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
Discussed“and then I got the complete works and I I read such of those as I could understand”
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The trials of Oscar Wilde
Discussed“I saw a book called The Trials of Oscar wild I said oh take that”
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Brideshead Revisited
Discussed“and EVN War the prsh novelist a male eelin he wrote Brides head Revisited and Decline and fall”
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Decline and Fall
Discussed“he wrote Brides head Revisited and Decline and fall and many extraordinary satirical novels”
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The Greek myths
Discussed“apart from Robert Graves who was hugely influential who wrote a magnificent two volume edition of the Greek myths”
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Mythos
Discussed“I was sent your new book Heroes and my 15-year-old daughter was already a super fan of Mythos the first book”
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Heroes
Discussed“That was an excerpt from the audio edition of Steven Fry's Heroes”
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Days of Distraction
Discussed“it's called days of distraction by Alexander Chang it came out a couple months ago”
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Homie
Discussed“yes Homie by denz Smith”
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Passing
Discussed“it brought me back to the the classic Nell Larson book called passing which has has been recently reissued”
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No-no boy
Discussed“no no boy by John okata oh I've been wanting to read that”
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Mystery and manners
Discussed“I'm reading flanner o Conor's only essay collection it's called mystery and manners and it is subtitled occasional Pros”
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A bell for Adano
Discussed“she's talking about the John hery novel AEL for Adano which some people were protesting was too mature”
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Mormon country
Discussed“he wrote a really fascinating book in the' 40s called Mormon country about Utah and the settlement of Utah and the conflicts between Mormon and non-mormon populations and and Native Americans there”
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Crossing to Safety
Discussed“Wallace star feels like in many people's minds like a tiar below that people know of Wallace stegner they know the title usually angle of repose and cring to safety both books that sold very well as in addition to being critical successes”
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The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Discussed“so in Big Rock Candy Mountain Bo and Elsa Mason are the main couple and it's about their Decades of marriage they're very much based on stegner's own parents”
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All the little live things
Discussed“the other book that I think is really interesting which is kind of a mixed bag but an interesting window into stegner's sensibility is a book he wrote from the 60s called All the Little Live things and it's a kind of grumpy old man book about the 60s and hippies and kids”
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Free to Be You
Discussed“the founders of these programs and and will Loop in free to be you and me which was a book and a a program into that”
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Me and White Supremacy
Discussed“me and white supremacy was also not on the hard cover nonfiction list and is on there this week which helps readers understand their participation in white supremacy”
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My Vanishing Country
Discussed“my Vanishing country which is a memoir by barari Stellar about the black working class”
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So you want to talk about race
Discussed“so you want to talk about race is also one that's on the combined list which has sections for white people who want to understand the way race functions in America”
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Just Mercy
Discussed“Jess Mercy which is Memoir by Brian Stevenson who a who founded the Equal justice initiative that's number six”
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The Great Influenza
Discussed“yeah i mean the the great influenza is still on the list it's number two on the paperback non-fiction list”
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Remembering laughter
Recommended“she said TR stegner's remembering laughter his first book recapitulation and a shooting star all are great”
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Recapitulation
Recommended“she said TR stegner's remembering laughter his first book recapitulation and a shooting star all are great”
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A shooting star
Recommended“she said TR stegner's remembering laughter his first book recapitulation and a shooting star all are great”
The Rich Roll Podcast
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Meatonomics
Discussed“it's got david simon and he wrote a book called meat anomic s-- that basically looks at the subsidy structure in the animal agriculture industry”
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Can "White" People Be Saved?
Recommended“he has a book called the Christian imagination he has a controversial lecture his controversial if you just look at the title it's called can white people be saved”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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Meat Is for Pussies
Discussed“and I'll show you some [ __ ] that John Joseph sent me my buddy John Joseph from the cro-mags he's um this is a shows that people who have different points of view could be good friends cuz he's a good friend of mine he wrote a book called meat is for [ __ ]”
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I, Fatty
Recommended“did you read the book i fatty that Jerry Stahl wrote no it's fantastic yeah it's kind of almost like a fake memoir written it from his point of view it's brilliant”
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Permanent Midnight
Recommended“I was a scholar wrote permanent midnight you know oh okay yeah that's a great book”
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Code
Discussed“i'm reading this one called uh bartnik gave it to me the uh called the code and it breaks down for anybody ever never understood why there was fighting which i never quite understood either”
Timcast IRL
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Rules for Radicals
Discussed“because look man these people the people organizing this stuff believe it or not are well-read not the average person there they understand like rules for radicals”
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Dragonlance Legends
Recommended“I would highly recommend the legends trilogy and the Raceland chronicles from Dragon Lance”
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Pandora's Star
Recommended“James please check out the Commonwealth Series by Peter F Hamilton best sci-fi series I've ever read Pandora's star is the first book”
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Noah Webster's First Edition of an American Dictionary of the English Language
Recommended“I'd like to take this moment to endorse the original 1824 Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English language the definitions are way better especially for writers”
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Kötülük Kariyeri - Cormoran Strike 3; Bir Cormoran Strike Romani
Recommended“she wrote books about a veteran who was who had a leg amputated and she wrote from the perspective of a military man of a white military man who was you know disabled from his service and she was talking about his name is cormoran strike and I loved her books because she's talking about being trans abled and she”
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Dragonlance Chronicles
Recommended“the first book series that I fell in love with was the Dragon Lance Chronicles it's a three book series it is like the entrance into a wonderful world of sci-fi awesome it's an incredible journey with a group of people that are all drastically different and don't even always get along it's it's cool it's a really good book”
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Aesop's Fables
Discussed“Aesop's fable the frogs who desired a king when you desire to change your condition make sure that you can really improve it”
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Red Dead Redemption 2
Discussed“playing playing red dead redemption 2 pops in my head because it feels it is literally the wild west you know you're riding around you could you could shoot some random person that's walking down the road and just walk off and run off”
The Tim Ferriss Show
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Mort
Discussed“then Albert straightened up and said damned if I know probably they get answers and serves him right terry pratchett in Mort”
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Genome
Recommended“everything by Matt Ridley matt is a scientist optimist and forward thinker genome the Red Queen the origins of virtue the rational optimist they're all great”
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Servant Leadership
Discussed“is that the book sir I just pulled it up here servant-leadership subtitle a journey of nature and the subtitle is a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness which yet has has been a classic”
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Life style of greatness
Discussed“is that the book sir I just pulled it up here servant-leadership subtitle a journey of nature and the subtitle is a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness which yet has has been a classic”
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What They Still Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School
Recommended“I read a book many years ago by Mark McCormick called things they don't teach that hardly Business School man it's always been one of my my favorite”
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Tell Me Who You Are
Recommended“I would ask all all of our listeners to divide this book and it's called tell me who you are it should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to understand why we are in the situation we are today not from the pandemic but in all the other areas of inequity in our social system”
Lex Fridman Podcast
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The Prometheus Project
Discussed“then of course that's another book from back then which was by fine bomb Gerald fbom who was a who was a physicist at at at Princeton and that was the Prometheus project”
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The phenomenon of science
Discussed“and of course Valentin churchin uh a Russian writer who who I and a great Russian physicist who I got to know when we both lived in New York in the late 90s and early Arts I mean he he had a book in the late 60s in in Russia which was the phenomenon of science”
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Turning Pro
Recommended“and others of his books on this topic including turning pro do the work”
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Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
Recommended“nobody wants to read your shit and the Warrior Ethos”
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Tides of War
Recommended“also his books gets a fire about the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae the Lionsgate tides of war and others are some of the best historical fiction novels ever written”
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Do the Work!
Recommended“and others of his books on this topic including turning pro do the work”
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The Warrior Ethos
Recommended“nobody wants to read your shit and the Warrior Ethos”
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The lion's gate
Recommended“also his books gets a fire about the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae the Lionsgate tides of war and others are some of the best historical fiction novels ever written”
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
Discussed“If you read the attract address It's a very beautiful book but capacity one salt on 75 pages it's very non typical for philosophy because it doesn't have arguments in it and it doesn't have references in it”
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Philosophical Investigations
Discussed“the thing that Wittgenstein couldn't solve and he looked at this in his book at the end of his life philosophical investigations was the notion of images”
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The World of Ice & Fire
Discussed“so if you look at the book by say george RR martin with the characters have plausible psychology”
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Fire & Blood
Discussed“so if you look at the book by say george RR martin with the characters have plausible psychology”
The Rubin Report
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Reflections on the revolution in France
Discussed“Reflections On The Revolution in France," he said, "The age of chivalry is gone. "that of sophisters, economists, and calculators "has succeeded, and the glory of Europe "is extinguished forever.”
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Grace Canceled
Discussed“Well, listen, if only two people that were perhaps talking right now had just released books that in many ways deal with all of these issues, wouldn't that maybe have perhaps, possibly helped?”
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How to Have Impossible Conversations
Discussed“Yeah, there's a guy that I know that wrote a book, I have it right over here. It's called "How to Have Impossible Conversations."”
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
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The art of John Bolton
Discussed“Can we talk by the way could we just talk about this Bolton book I mean what the [ __ ] I mean he he did ask you jimping to help him win the election and he bartered buy soybeans to help me win the election I mean this is insane I think I think we need to we need”
This Week in Startups
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The Darwin Economy
Recommended“Robert H Frank at Cornell who wrote who's written various books for example the Darwin economy and the economic naturalist I think is one of his as well”
Conversations with Tyler
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Dirty Harry
Discussed“if we look at San Francisco I was watching the movie Dirty Harry a week ago said in 1971 in San Francisco City was much cleaner in terms of problems on the street”
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Very Important People
Recommended“today I am chatting with Ashley Mears who is professor of sociology at Boston University and this year she is publishing one of my very favorite books of the year it is called very important people status and beauty in the global party circuit”
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Pricing beauty
Recommended“I'm also a big fan of her earlier book called pricing beauty the making of a fashion model”
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Zoolander
Recommended“the movie Zoolander overrated or underrated underrated and we should all still watch Zoolander this is a fantastic treatise on like gender and the impossibilities of male Beauty”
Monday Morning Podcast
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Prayers for Bobby
Recommended“anyway my advice is this show your mom the movie prayers for Bobby and she will turn right around”
ChooseFI
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The End of Jobs
Recommended“and the second one is a book called the end of jobs by Taylor Pearson and it basically talks about how we're going through what I would call a de-industrial revolution”
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Baby Bargains
Discussed“we did buy the first one we bought what's a Graco we did get our first one knew it was a great because I see exact one yeah it was Greco snug ride was one we we bought this I remember I I actually Googled it right now because my oldest daughter is almost 12 so it's been a while”
