Monthly round-up · All months
Books podcasts were talking about in November 2020
In November 2020, podcast discussions turned toward technology advice, notable biographies, and year-end literary favorites. On the Dwarkesh Podcast, Robert Martin recommended beginner programming texts such as Barry A. Burd's Java For Dummies when offering career guidance to aspiring developers. Biography and current affairs also drew praise, with Ryan Holiday using his Daily Stoic platform to highlight a book about George Marshall written by Rich Roll's father. Marshall Kosloff hosted Scott Galloway on The Realignment to discuss Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity, emphasizing his appreciation for the work. On The Diary Of A CEO, Steven Bartlett expressed enthusiasm for Krissy Cela's Do This for You after learning about its underlying philosophy. Year-end book reviews on The Book Review led critics and hosts to share their top picks, including David Kim highlighting Marilynne Robinson's Jack, Liz Egan discussing Akwaeke Emezi's The Death of Vivek Oji, and Emily Eakin recommending Fernanda Melchor's Hurricane Season. Additionally, Jon Favreau recommended Daniel C. Dennett's From Bacteria to Bach and Back on Pod Save America as a compelling exploration of evolution and consciousness.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
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Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (3 books)
Discussed“Um and then, you know, if there's source material, I'll definitely go read it. Like, for Shadowhunters, I read The Mortal Instruments series just because so much of it is told from Clary's perspective.”
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The Wim Hof Method
Recommended“but today we're going to talk about how you can find it all in this book the wim hof method”
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Think Like a Rocket Scientist
Recommended“today as i said we're here to speak about his new book which is think like a rocket scientist”
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A Gentleman in Moscow
Discussed“i ended up buying a gentleman in moscow”
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That Book in the Attic
Discussed“and then when i became a monk i studied and taught that book for three years full time”
Dwarkesh Podcast
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Java For Dummies
Recommended“there's a whole bunch of books out there tons and tons and tons of very good books that you can start out with simple books like you know the joy of java or you know java for for dummies in 10 days”
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Good Work If You Can Get It
Discussed“the kind of motivating example that caused me to write that post was reading jason excuse me jason brennan's book good work if you can get it which is about kind of a rig data driven approach to analyzing how careers work in academia and the picture he paints is stark”
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The Transfer of Cognitive Skill
Discussed“and so like one of the books that i read that was sort of a major source of the research on transfer was i think was called transfer of cognitive skill and i'm blanking on the author's name right now but it's mentioned in my i think it's haskell maybe it is mentioned mentioned in ultra learning and so that's”
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The Invention of Science
Recommended“and you know another book i recommend is david wooten's um i think it's called the invention of science uh i might be it might be the history invention of science i think”
The Book Review
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War: How Conflict Shaped Us
Discussed“the fifth book on the non-fiction side and the 10th book among our 10 best of 2020 is war how conflict shaped Us by Margaret McMillan Dave Kim over to you”
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Jack
Recommended“my pick is Jack by Marilyn Robinson which was a bit of a polarizing book but one I I loved a lot”
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The Death of Vivek Oji
Recommended“my pick is the death of Vivic AI by aqu am”
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Hurricane Season
Recommended“my pick is Hurricane season by firanda meltor this is the first novel to appear in English by meltor who is a young Mexican writer”
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Apollo's Arrow
Discussed“his new book is called Apollo's Arrow the profound and enduring impact of Corona virus on the way we live”
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Interior Chinatown
Discussed“the only controversial thing was that Charles Yu who won for his novel interior of Chinatown he won the fiction award”
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The Dead Are Arising
Discussed“Tamara Payne won for the Malcolm X biography that she researched and wrote with her father Les pay and it's called the dead or arising”
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DMZ Colony
Discussed“The Poetry award went to dumy for her collection DMZ colony and she gave a lovely speech”
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King and the Dragonflies
Discussed“and the award for young people's literature went to Case and Calendar's king and the dragonflies”
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The Element of Lavishness
Discussed“well I haven't finished it but I'm about halfway through a book called the element of lavish isness that's the collected letters of Sylvia Townsen Warner and William Maxwell”
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American utopia
Discussed“he is of course the musician the filmmaker visual artist and here primarily is an author of a new book American Utopia”
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Stay Up Late
Discussed“you worked with myrack cman back in 1987 on a picture book called stay up late”
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The Walker
Discussed“I reviewed a book called The Walker by Matthew Bowmont and it's it's a history of of writers walking and sort of links between movement and creativity”
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Wanderlust
Discussed“Rebecca solet's book Wanderlust is also um a book that I used to really really enjoy”
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How to Make a Slave and Other Essays
Discussed“so this week I reviewed a book the title is how to make a slave”
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Street shadows
Discussed“Biden I had previously actually read Walker's first Memoir Street shadows and you know that's a book”
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A Traitor to His Species
Discussed“historian Ernest freeberg will join us to talk about his latest book a traitor to his species”
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The Age of Edison
Discussed“it's easy to see why your last book the age of Edison looked at at the effects of electricity on society”
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You Matter
Discussed“Christian Robinson joins us now from Sacramento he is a picturebook illustrator and author whose latest book is called you matter which he wrote and Illustrated”
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Last Stop on Market Street
Discussed“he's also Illustrated books by authors such as Julie fogliano Matt De laena with whom he won a Newberry medal for the book Last Stop on Market Street”
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Harlem's little blackbird
Discussed“so I actually first encountered your work with your first book which was written by Renee Watson the book was called Harlem's little Blackbird the story of Florence Mills”
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Another
Discussed“so let's talk about another that was the first book that you wrote and Illustrated correct”
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Conditional Citizens
Discussed“There have been books by immigrants like Leila Lamy I was thinking about her book she just published a book conditional citizen”
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Dear America
Discussed“the only other one I can think of is Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas”
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Schroder
Discussed“it's the first book that I've ever read by AMD Gage who I think is best known for a previous novel called Schroeder”
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Leo
Recommended“Christian Robinson is the author and illustrator of you matter and another and the illustrator of many many pictures books including some of my favorites Leo a ghost story last stop on Market Street and Harlem's little Blackbird among many others”
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The Undocumented Americans
Recommended“I'm reading a really interesting book the book is undocumented Americans by Carla corneo via venio”
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Leo Africanus
Recommended“I don't tend to read a lot of historical fiction but I am reading Leo africanis by Amin Maloof who's a Lebanese writer who writes mostly in French and I think this is the first book of his to be published in English”
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Sea Wife
Recommended“um one was recommended by our colleague Elizabeth Egan and it's a novel by AMD Gage called sewi”
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Passing for human
Recommended“and it's a book I've been meaning to read for a long time because I'm a huge fan of the author lyanna Fink and that book is called passing for human”
Modern Wisdom
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50 Marathons 50 Days
Discussed“And I read Dean Karnazes' book, 50 Marathons in 50 States in 50 Days, in I think it was May or June time.”
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Soldier
Discussed“okay so the book the book's called soldier and that's an acronym for a bunch of bunch of things that go underneath it the first one being self and you call discipline the first effective habit”
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Everything Is Spiritual
Discussed“i know that in your book everything is spiritual you talk about kind of subverting those expectations”
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A Critique of the Moral Defense of Vegetarianism
Recommended“your friend should probably read this book written by andrew smith out of drexel university it's called a critique of the moral defense of vegetarianism”
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A Practical Way to Get Rich . . . and Die Trying
Recommended“so a practical way to get rich and die trining a memoir about risking it all will be linked in the show notes below”
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What Technology Wants
Recommended“and you know kevin kelly's book what technology wants is a must read it will change the way you see so many of these issues”
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Destroying the World to Save It
Discussed“robert j lifton a psycho historian who i'm fond of in a book called destroying the world to save it he's like wow we may be the first form of life to be responsible for our own extinction”
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Becoming Human
Discussed“there's a book by a famous guy he's a primatologist michael tomasello at the max planck institute in germany it's called becoming human”
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The Power Elite
Discussed“a guy named c wright mills in a book called the power elite written in the 1950s he made the same point”
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escape from evil
Discussed“so that's point number one i point number two in a book called escape from evil which is after the denial of death uh becker says here's the other problem”
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Heartbreak House
Discussed“and a heartbreak house one of my favorite plays he says uh when the angel of death sounds his trumpet the pretenses of civilization are blown from men's heads into the mud”
Freakonomics Radio
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Subprime Attention Crisis
Discussed“Huang recently published a book called subprime attention crisis advertising in the time bomb at the heart of the Internet”
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Conscious Capitalism
Discussed“Some years back he wrote a book called conscious capitalism which argues that prophets and purpose should be fully compatible”
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Conscious Leadership
Discussed“mackie's follow-up book published this fall is called conscious leadership”
The Daily Stoic
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Voicing Change
Discussed“but rich has a new book out called voicing change and it's sort of a best of greatest hits coffee table book built around the podcast”
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Finding Ultra
Discussed“rituals first book finding ultra is a long time favorite of mine as well took a bunch of notes on it”
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George Marshall
Recommended“his father as it happens is also an amazing writer he wrote a brilliant book about george marshall which i've recommended on the reading list newsletter so check that out as well”
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The Four Fists
Discussed“there's an f scott fitzgerald story called the four fists and it's about this sort of very principled guy but at some point he's one of the sort of pivotal moments in the story”
The Realignment
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Post Corona
Recommended“Before we get into your book, Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity, which I really enjoyed, by the way, I want to mention that this was one of the books I read before the show—something that doesn't happen always, but it's a real testament to your work.”
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The Culture of Narcissism
Discussed“The political denomination or orientation is liberal, the psychological type as Lash talks about, it is narcissist.”
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The Revolt of the Elites
Discussed“i kind of was one of those people like i got ross pilled um ross put out that and then i was like oh and then you know if someone was like you gotta read christopher so i read revolt and i remember being like how did he write this in the 1990s”
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The Decadent Society
Discussed“Yeah, Ross, the last time we had you on, it was to discuss your book. It was, I mean, obviously the Deccan Society, it's an incredible book.”
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Aeneis
Discussed“Yeah, I think that's one that I absolutely is important, and this kind of brings us to our final section here, which is that one of the most important books I think for Marshall and I was Michael Lind's 'New Class War,' which we've talked a lot about here on the podcast, and he makes a point you know, in”
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Zero to One
Discussed“I've been inspired by Peter Thiel's vision that we have too much innovation in the world of bits but not enough in the world of atoms, in 'rust out' that refers to this age of decadence. It seems that one of the reasons many boomers and others struggle to think critically about today’s politics is that we haven't lived in”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
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Do This for You
Recommended“what do this for you is all about it sounds amazing i'm gonna read it”
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The Mystery method
Discussed“from your perspective i read this book a long time ago called the mystery method um by one of the world's number one pickup artist”
Pod Save America
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From Bacteria to Bach and Back
Recommended“one uh from bacteria to bakken back by daniel dennett about evolution ai and consciousness and bringing them all together”
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Isaiah
Discussed“one of my favorite passages is the one in which jesus is quoting isaiah or reading from the book of isaiah when he says that the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor”
The Rubin Report
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Don't Burn This Book
Recommended“And of course I've been so inspired in your book don't burn this world.”
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Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know
Recommended“Joining me today is the Editor of HUMANPROGRESS.ORG and the co-author of the new book, "10 Global Trends, Every Smart Person Should Know" and many others that you will find interesting.”
Lex Fridman Podcast
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Boris Pasternak
Discussed“but the but you know like Dr shivago like or The English Patient oh my goodness like why”
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The English Patient
Discussed“like Dr shivago like -- or The English Patient”
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Doctor Zhivago
Discussed“like Dr shivago like -- or The English Patient”
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Biology As Ideology
Recommended“it's called biology as ideology and it is all about I wouldn't call it one of the best books of all time but I I love the book because it really does point out you know that SC science as it's currently practiced”
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Naming the Mind
Recommended“There's a book by um if you're interested in Psychology or the mind at all there's a wonderful book A little it's a it's a fairly fairly small book called naming the Mind by Kurt danziger who's a historian of psychology Everybody in my lab reads both of these books”
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The Beak of the Finch
Recommended“but I would say the if I were to pick one book that I think is a really good example of good science writing it would be the beak of the finch which is one of it won a a pullit Sur prise a number of years ago and I'm not I'm the I'm not remembering the author's name I'm”
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The Evolution of Beauty
Recommended“actually there's also the evolution of beauty which is yeah which is also a great book”
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Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Recommended“my favorite -- uh love stories are major pedigree Last Stand by Helen Simonson -- it's a -- it's a love story about people who you wouldn't expect to fall in love”
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The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Recommended“Another book like that is um the um the storyed life of AJ FY um which is also a love story but in this case it's a love story between um a little girl and her adopted dad and the dad”
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At Large and At Small
Recommended“and after reading a a a small set of essays by an fatan -- called at large and at small which I just loved these little essays what's what's the topic of that those essays”
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The Triple Helix
Recommended“the triple helix -- by -- Richard lanon -- it's a little book published -- in 2000 which is -- um I think a really good introduction to complexity”
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Free solo
Discussed“and I if people want to challenge me on this I I like to point to that movie free solo which was wild because you know it's incredible movie but I think a lot of its popularity can be explained by a puzzle”
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Anthem
Discussed“she writes a small novelet called Anthem”
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We the Living
Recommended“she writes her first novel is a novel called We The Living which is the most autobiographical of all her novels”
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Ominous Parallels
Recommended“and basically suggesting how it might rise another that's the ominous parallel so the parallel he draws is to the United States and he says those same intellectual forces AR rising in the United States and this is this was published I think in published in 81 ' 82 was published in ' 82 so it's published a long time”
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Ayn Rand Novel Collection
Recommended“Start with fad”
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Capitalism
Recommended“uh she articulated them not so I would say not in conventional philosophical form so she didn't write philosophical essays using the Philosopher's language it's why partially why I think philos phers have never taken us seriously they're actually accessible to us we can actually read them and she integrates the philosophy in what I think amazing ways with psychology”
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Philosophy
Recommended“uh she articulated them not so I would say not in conventional philosophical form so she didn't write philosophical essays using the Philosopher's language it's why partially why I think philos phers have never taken us seriously they're actually accessible to us we can actually read them and she integrates the philosophy in what I think amazing ways with psychology”
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Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Recommended“and she has a whole book she has a book called uh introduction to objectivist epistemology which I encourage any scientist mathematician anybody interested in science to read because it is a tur of force on on on in a sense this the the the what it means to hold Concepts and what it means to discover new discoveries and”
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The Virtue of Selfishness
Recommended“uh i particularly recommend books like uh uh the virtue of selfishness capitalism the unknown ideal uh and and uh philosophy who needs it”
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Philosophy, Who Needs It / Ayn Rand
Recommended“uh i particularly recommend books like uh uh the virtue of selfishness capitalism the unknown ideal uh and and uh philosophy who needs it”
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From Here to Eternity
Discussed“james jones who wrote uh uh books like from here to eternity fictional accounts of the second world war”
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The Secret History of the Mongols
Discussed“unless we don't have the mongol point of view per se i mean there's something called the secret history of the mongols and there's things written down by mongolian overlords through people like persian and chinese scribes later we don't have their point of view”
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The Next 100 Years
Discussed“i read a book a while back i want to say george friedman the stratfor guy wrote it was something called the next hundred years i think it was called and i remember thinking um i didn't agree with any of it”
Monday Morning Podcast
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Eat to live
Discussed“i've just been reading that book uh um eat for life”
The Tim Ferriss Show
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Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
Discussed“In 2017, Dan followed up with Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book.”
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Buddhism without Beliefs
Discussed“he's written a book called buddhism without beliefs and he describes buddhism not as something to believe in but as something to do”
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Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart
Recommended“the book i started reading was going to pieces without falling apart and it was my total it's a great title it's a great and it's a great book i highly recommend it”
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Real Happiness
Recommended“real happiness by sharon salzberg”
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Where Men Win Glory
Recommended“Where Where Men Win Glory is is an incredible book.”
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Lit
Discussed“lev grossman said in his review of lit carr seems to have been born with the inability to write a dishonest or boring sentence”
Timcast IRL
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The Seduction of Hillary Rodham
Discussed“david brock his book was called the seduction of hillary rodham and it's all about how she got turned”
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In His Steps
Discussed“what would jesus do is written by an explicit christian socialist in the 1870s it was from a book called in his steps”
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Last Exit to Brooklyn
Discussed“so there's a great book called by hubert selby called last exit to brooklyn it was heavily censored”
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Billion Dollar Whale
Recommended“Confused about all the china malaysia uae and one mdb talk You should read the book billion dollar whale about joe”
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The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
Recommended“There's a great book called uh the tragedy of great power politics It'll explain you how the world works”
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Art of the Deal
Discussed“I said look you know about 2 000 years ago there was this chinese general who wrote a book called the article and one of the things some somebody wrote a business book late years later called the art of the deal which is yeah and and but in in the art of war sun tzu says when you're an”
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The Harbinger
Recommended“Tim i hope you still use your nj post office address sent you three books and you really need to read through okay harbinger oracle and harbinger two sweet Even lauren would be interested in those books Hope they got to you”
Behind the Bastards
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The Devil's Teeth
Discussed“Robinson and Dorman loaded their boat with eggs and headed back to San Francisco coming up against a nasty storm and dumping half their cargo into the ocean just to stay upright. Nonetheless, they sold the remaining eggs for a dollar a dozen and pocketed $3,000.”
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Sketch of the Mosquito Shore
Discussed“And evidence of this comes from the propaganda booklet he wrote to entice colonists to immigrate. It was titled Pouyet, Sketch of the Mosquito Shore, including the territory of Pouyet, descriptive of the country with some information as to its productions. Now, he credited the writing of the book to Thomas Strangeways, a man who did not exist, but was”
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The Land That Never Was
Discussed“So, I'm going to quote next from David Sinclair's The Land That Never Was, which is a biography of Gregor McGregor.”
EconTalk
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The Fabric of Civilization
Discussed“So, when you think about something like the classic patchwork quilt that we have been the Americas, it is a post-industrial revolution artifact.”
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The Future and Its Enemies
Discussed“I think I think somebody wrote a book called Enemies of the Future. The future and its enemies. Thank you.”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
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Rigged
Recommended“david shimer thank you so much it's really interesting the book is called rigged we'll link to it in the show notes”
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The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Recommended“confessions of an economic hitman the new confessions of an economic hitman we'll link it in the show notes”
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Touching the Jaguar
Recommended“we'll link to your other book uh touching the touch okay we'll link to your other book touching the jaguar”
The Rich Roll Podcast
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American Wolf
Recommended“There’s a book called American Wolf which is absolutely fantastic that really handicaps that and it follows some amazing charismatic wolves.”
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Thrive Fitness
Discussed“and i remember your book and brendan fraser's book friday frasier yeah yeah yeah yeah brenda brazier five and those two books”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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Fossil Men
Discussed“so this is a this is a long journey for you to have written this book and being to be involved in this project”
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Snatch
Discussed“well that was famously a scene in the movie snatch right you remember that movie”
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Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It
Discussed“i think there's his writer jeff jeff dyer he wrote this book yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it jeff dyer he was a humorist”
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Journal of a trapper
Recommended“read russell osborne's journal of a trapper what year was that from he was in the late 30s early 40s”
No Stupid Questions
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The Checklist Manifesto
Discussed“I read Atul gawande's checklist Manifesto great book right”
Conversations with Tyler
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Haiti noir
Discussed“and i edited these two books haiti noir and hiding which we can't”
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Bug Jargal
Discussed“there's victor hugo's bug jargle right which is about the haitian revolution”
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In All My Dreams
Recommended“there's a a wonderful novel by a great haitian writer lenny in all my dreams which was recently translated by kayemma glover”
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
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How Innovation Works
Recommended“matt ridley's new book how innovation works goes through this over a very very long period of time it's it's fantastic and he talks about”
