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Books podcasts were talking about in December 2020
December 2020 literary discussions on podcasts frequently centered on history, cooking, and mental health resources. On the Lex Fridman Podcast, Michael Malice recommended Deborah E. Lipstadt's Beyond Belief to understand press reactions to the rise of Nazi Germany, as well as Anne Applebaum's Red Famine to examine Stalin's actions. Diana Walsh Pasulka also appeared on the same show to highlight Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals as a text that profoundly influenced her. Practical and creative guides emerged in other spaces, such as the Monday Morning Podcast, where Bill Burr read a listener email that drew culinary inspiration from the Superiority Burger cookbook and the Zahav cookbook. On The Dr. John Delony Show, Dr. John Delony recommended Irvin D. Yalom's The Gift of Therapy for individuals entering the mental health field, alongside young adult fantasy series including Andrew Peterson's The Wingfeather Saga and Colin Meloy's Wildwood trilogy, showcasing a broad spectrum of educational and narrative recommendations.
Lex Fridman Podcast
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Beyond belief
Recommended“there's a book called beyond belief by deborah lipstadt she talks about the rise of nazi germany as seen through the press”
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Red Famine
Recommended“and anne applebaum i think the book is called red famine came out fairly recently and she brings the receipts and she's a you know this is something i really hate with the binary thinkers”
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The Critique of Practical Reason
Discussed“so emmanuel kant is one of the he was uh basically in the 1750s he wrote critiques of reason and things like that”
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On the Essence of Language and the Question of Art
Discussed“so another um philosopher that philosophers actually don't like at all but religious studies people do is martin heidegger so martin heidegger has some great essays one is called what is a work of art”
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The Book of Genesis
Discussed“He uses a religious reference even he says you could think of the matrix of the movie as a new as the new um book of genesis for our new world”
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The Genealogy of Morals
Discussed“foucault this um other philosopher french philosopher actually takes up this idea and creates his own framework called genealogy from it so the genealogy of morals”
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Mutants & Mystics
Discussed“uh there's a great one he's written called mutants and mystics where he talks about the comic strips”
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On the Genealogy of Morals
Recommended“and the nietzsche's gay science is one of them”
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The Life of the Mind
Recommended“she has another book called the life of the mind which is gigantic and i don't think anybody will read it but frankly it's one of the best books i've ever read and i've read it many times and basically the life of the mind and the life of the mind she asks a very simple question”
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Authors of the Impossible
Recommended“but he's um his i think his best book or the one that impacted me the most is called authors of the impossible”
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The Gay Science
Recommended“and you did ask me to talk about some of the books that made the largest impact on me and the nietzsche's gay science is one of them it's one of the best books ever”
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Mutants and Mystics
Recommended“uh there's a great one he's written called mutants and mystics where he talks about the comic strips uh the um gosh why can't i remember the name of the person he just died stan lee he talks about the history of the comics by stan lee and they're all paranormal they all start off super paranormal and it's fascinating”
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Calculating God
Recommended“You really need to be calculating god by sawyer It's a you'll read it in a night It's a very easy read But it's assuming you're that kind of reader But it's a it's a good story And it's kind of about this but not in a way that it appears And i uh really enjoyed the thought experiment um”
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Roadside Picnic
Discussed“roadside picnic”
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Monday Starts on Saturday
Discussed“uh hard to be a god uh uh beetle in an ant hill uh monday starts on saturday like it's it's not just science fiction it's also like has very interesting you know interpersonal and societal questions and some of the language is just completely hilarious that's the one that's right oh interesting monday starts on saturday so i need”
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Beetle in the anthill
Discussed“beetle in an ant hill”
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Monday Begins on Saturday
Discussed“monday starts on saturday”
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The Last Question
Discussed“actually um actually titled appropriately titled the last question short story”
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Hard to Be a God
Recommended“uh hard to be a god uh uh beetle in an ant hill uh monday starts on saturday like it's it's not just science fiction it's also like has very interesting you know interpersonal and societal questions and some of the language is just completely hilarious that's the one that's right oh interesting monday starts on saturday so i need”
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Full Collected Works, T. 10. 2
Recommended“uh hard to be a god uh uh beetle in an ant hill uh monday starts on saturday like it's it's not just science fiction it's also like has very interesting you know interpersonal and societal questions and some of the language is just completely hilarious that's the one that's right oh interesting monday starts on saturday so i need”
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The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience
Discussed“there were some jungian psychologists back in the 60s masters in houston that wrote a really good book the varieties of psychedelic experience kind of which is a play on varieties of religious experience”
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Reinforcement Learning
Discussed“i mean that's really surprising to me when i first read that and then enriched rich sutton's book on the matter”
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The Alignment Problem
Discussed“currently i'm i'm reading uh the alignment problem actually by brian christian so i don't know if you've seen this out there yet”
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Stuart's Fancy Drinks and How to Mix Them
Discussed“I think I think stewart's book did a remarkably good job like a just a celebratory good job at describing ai technology and sort of how it works”
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Exhalation
Recommended“So one sci-fi book to recommend is exhalations by ted chang a bunch of short stories”
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Self-reliance
Recommended“i would say like probably the thing i read is in one of emerson's essays that i read at a you know point in my life where i needed that type of thing and i read self-reliance and you know he's got a ton of good essays but i thought self-reliance was probably the most impactful to me”
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Recommended“there's also a book called uh jonathan livingston seagull by richard uh richard bach i think and um it's kind of along the same lines”
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Lunar Park
Recommended“uh the book which i was lucky enough to read before the movie ever even came out which is just a a pleasure of mine was a american psycho just from a writing standpoint”
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The Communist Manifesto
Recommended“the communist manifesto is truly frightening if you read it in in like modern context it's worth reading”
The Rich Roll Podcast
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Let America Be America Again
Discussed“America, the Langston Hughes poem, "America".”
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Keto Diet Cookbook
Discussed“And I even talked to Dr. Josh Axe who wrote the "Keto" book.”
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Spartan Up!
Recommended“If you're digging on Joe, pick up his book, "Spartan up" "Spartan Fit" "The Spartan Way".”
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Spartan fit!
Recommended“If you're digging on Joe, pick up his book, "Spartan up" "Spartan Fit" "The Spartan Way".”
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The spartan way
Recommended“If you're digging on Joe, pick up his book, "Spartan up" "Spartan Fit" "The Spartan Way".”
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Eastern Body, Western Mind
Discussed“I like "Eastern Body Western Mind," if you've read that book.”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
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The Triumph of Doubt
Discussed“in triumph of doubt you said that every exposure to a carcinogen increases cancer risk by some small amount”
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Good Profit
Discussed“i like the passion in the book good profit which i know is not the same book as we're talking about now but the concepts do stretch into this this new work as well”
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Maslow on Management
Recommended“but but the the one that's been most helpful it was called you psychian management and so what does that mean it it was a thought experiment he did and he he reviewed factories and how companies were managing seeing what worked i mean and and what he came up with from a psychologist is is so similar to what”
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Permission Marketing
Discussed“but like when i wrote permission marketing people said i was delusional and they said that uh email marketing wasn't a thing”
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The Practice
Discussed“and in the case of the practice i think i might be able to thread the needle here between that's really useful”
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Kind of Blue
Discussed“certainly one of the three best-selling jazz albums of all time is kinda blue from miles davis”
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Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Discussed“so she released a record called don juan's reckless daughter intentionally designed to make most of her fans walk away”
Monday Morning Podcast
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Superiority Burger cookbook
Recommended“these recipes were inspired by two of my favorite all-time cookbooks superiority burger cookbook and z zahav z-a-h-a-v cookbook both have tons of great salads that are super easy to make at home as well of tons of vegetable sides that are actually good”
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Simple Made Zahav Cookbook
Recommended“these recipes were inspired by two of my favorite all-time cookbooks superiority burger cookbook and z zahav z-a-h-a-v cookbook both have tons of great salads that are super easy to make at home as well of tons of vegetable sides that are actually good”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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The Color of Money
Discussed“the color of money was the sequel okay it was i didn't realize that yeah they were both written by i think walter tevis is the guy who wrote it um but i've read the books too they're pretty similar um the the character in the second movie is different like there's a lot of things in this in the”
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Mikey and the Dragons
Recommended“but he did a book that didn't get a lot uh it's been kind of quiet with the mikey and the dragon book okay yeah and mikey slays the dragon I think I don't want to just code it He'll punch me in the face but i uh i read it and i'm not i'm not kidding you as a”
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Illness as Metaphor
Recommended“another book you have to read now is illness is metaphor”
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The Compound Effect
Recommended“uh of course think and grow rich compound effect”
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The Passion Test
Recommended“the passion test”
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The Master Key System
Recommended“the master key system”
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Chariots of the Gods?
Discussed“Peter tal had a party at his house and he brought over the guy who wrote Chariots of the Gods”
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The End of Everything
Discussed“so i'm reading this book right now called the end of everything by a friend of mine katie mack wrote it it's about the end of the universe and it's really cool”
The Dr. John Delony Show
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The Gift of Therapy
Recommended“erving yalum the gift of therapy which is an open letter to young therapist is good for people entering into mental health space people who help other people”
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Wingfeather Tales
Recommended“the wing feather saga by andrew peterson it's remarkable”
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Wildwood
Recommended“the wildwood trilogy by colin malloy so good”
People I (Mostly) Admire
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She Said
Recommended“I think that for anybody who has daughters, you should make them read 'She Said,' which is Watergate for girls; it's the New York Times reporters writing about breaking the Harvey Weinstein story and the reluctance of women to come forward.”
The Book Review
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Our Mutual Friend
Discussed“what's your what's your favorite Dickens Ina it's probably our mutual friend”
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The Erratics
Discussed“I did review two Canadian Memoirs at bite of the Apple by Lenny Goodings which is a memoir starting up a um sort of feminist press verago in England and the erratics by Vicki Lao RV which is you know a really strange ingenious Memoir of of living with a really impossible mother”
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All My Puny Sorrows
Discussed“but whose book I really love is a book called all my puny Sorrows which is a sort of autobiographical novel about her sister and herself”
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The Diviners
Discussed“but then this year I read as podcast listeners will know a book called the G of God by Margaret Lawrence who is a who's a Canadian writer of of an earlier generation and it became one of my favorite books”
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The mezzanine
Discussed“I have very distinct memories of reading Nicholson Baker's the mezzanine in my 20s and being utterly fascinated by it I loved being able to get lost in the minutia of the world”
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slouching towards bethlehem
Discussed“the other book that I that was so formative for me was slouching toward Bethlehem by Joan didan I actually read one Joan didan essay in high school in this very nerdy writing camp that I went did one summer and that was on keeping notebook”
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An Inventory of Losses
Discussed“one of the book reviews I edited this month was Judith shalansky an inventory of losses which is kind of a catalog of various artifacts and animals and places that no longer exist and I had kind of a hard time figuring out what to label it”
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I Capture the Castle
Recommended“I'm going to say I capture the castle by Jodie Smith which is this amazing 1948 British Coming of Age novel about a 17-year-old girl in 1934 who's growing up in a dilapidated castle with her sister her stepmother and her father”
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Anne of Green Gables
Recommended“I also have a series that I return to again and again which might not fall into people's traditional Classics list but I go back to Ann of green gaes again and again I just love the an books and also a lesser known series by LM Montgomery who wrote an of green Galls called Emily of New Moon”
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Emily of New Moon
Recommended“and also a lesser known series by LM Montgomery who wrote an of green Galls called Emily of New Moon which some people turn to yoga when they need soothing I turn to an and Emily”
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How to Pronounce Knife
Recommended“that said I am looking forward to reading this book of I think it's linked short stories called how to pronounce KN have you guys read it it's by suam tamanga it just won the Giller prize which is of Canada's most prestigious literary award”
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Varieties of Disturbance
Recommended“Lydia Davis also did this for me my my introduction to her began with her Story collection varieties of disturbance but these days you're much better off just getting her collected stories and leaving it on your bedside table”
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Tiny beautiful things
Recommended“one book is a book that I recommend literally all the time always it's always in my rotation and that is Tiny Beautiful Things by Sher Str this is a pure purely emotional 20s recommendation”
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Tenth of December
Recommended“the other book that I wanted to recommend was the 10th of December by George Saunders I was given this book as a gift by my brother right when it came out and George Saunders writing is so it's so unique”
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Friday black
Recommended“can I recommend an individual short story as well yes which is so from Friday Black by naname AJ BR the opening story in that collection is a story the finlin 5”
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A Saint from Texas
Recommended“but a couple of titles that I read this year Edmund whites a saint from Texas has a nice bittersweet ending to it”
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The Abstainer
Recommended“Ian Maguire's the abstainer has a classic dark almost biblical ending”
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South to Freedom
Discussed“and then we have Alice bum Gartner's beautiful South to Freedom runaway slaves to Mexico which traces the Journey of Escape slaves to Mexico”
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I Came As a Shadow
Discussed“Thompson died about two months ago and now his Memoir has come out that he's written with a ghost writer and it's quite good”
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The Shadow Drawing
Discussed“it's called The Shadow drawing by an art historian named Franchesca fani and look like there's nothing in this book that comes as a grand Revelation”
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Sometimes You Have to Lie
Discussed“I'm reading a book by Leslie Brody called sometimes you have to lie The Life and Times of Louise fitzu Renegade author of Harriet the Spy”
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Harriet the Spy
Discussed“The Life and Times of Louise fitzu Renegade author of Harriet the Spy”
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Naked
Critiqued“there's one thing from the book naked in there but only one because to me it is so overwritten you know and it's just somebody who's really trying too hard”
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The Best of Me
Discussed“and what I enjoy so much in in this collection the best of me are the Encounters in the airplane”
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Our story begins
Recommended“I don't know Tobias wolf he put out a big collection of his stories Our Story begins and I absolutely love him”
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The End of Eddy
Recommended“and the book I read with my eyes was by Edward Louie and it was the end of Eddie which is interesting”
StarTalk Radio
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The Light Ages
Discussed“but this year you released a book either the the light ages clever title i see what you did there yeah clever title the surprising story of medieval science so i love it i love it”
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Experimental researches in electricity
Discussed“including the efforts of um was partly based on what um benjamin franklin our boy was able to write he has a book called experimental researchers into electricity”
The Shawn Ryan Show
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The Man in the Arena
Discussed“moving on you just wrote a book it's not out yet I think you said it's still under review but riew it should be releasing soon man the man in the arena from fighting Isis to fighting for your own freedom and uh I can't wait to read it”
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
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Michael K. Lindell, [u.] Marjorie R. Greene: Evacuation planning in emergency management
Discussed“cause like i'm i'm i've read michael lindell's book You've read his book um he wrote the he's the my pillow guy Right and he has a moment where he finally gets the fluffing right in the pillow and he just ca i mean he loses He's just it's a great moment right Did you have that moment where you're”
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The One Minute Manager
Discussed“then i read a couple of books on one minute manager and leadership and the one manager and i learned that”
Behind the Bastards
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Betrayal of the American Right, The
Discussed“In his book, The Betrayal of the American Right. Yeah, it really does. In his in his book, The Betrayal of the American Right, Marray Rothbard Work wrote”
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The Politician
Discussed“Bob Welch and his inner circle, the guys who got to read The Politician, were the kind of rich and powerful men who saw any refusal of the people of the world to bow to their whims as communism.”
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The Dan Smoot Report on Restoring the Republic
Discussed“and to expand the reach of conservative periodicals such as American Opinion, The Dan Smoot Report, and William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review.”
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National review
Discussed“and to expand the reach of conservative periodicals such as American Opinion, The Dan Smoot Report, and William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review.”
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The Road to Salesmanship
Discussed“So, like all men who get rich through a mixture of blind luck and family ties, Robert Welch decided to write a book. The Road to Salesmanship was about exactly the book you'd guess [laughter] that it was. Uh, I found a copy of it on Amazon today for $3.99.”
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May God Forgive Us
Discussed“1952 was also the year that Welch published his first political book, May God Forgive Us, which is solid title. Give it to the man, you know. Yeah, [laughter] that's that's sinners. Sinners in the hands of an angry god was already taken at that point, I believe.”
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
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Indistractable
Discussed“Did you know near ielts he wrote a book called indistractible i know yeah i'm not familiar with i've read it You're probably familiar with the book yeah i know the name”
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Calm Parents, Happy Kids
Discussed“and i read a book called um calm calm parents happy happy kids and it's that thing”
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
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Becoming Supernatural
Recommended“You're familiar with Dr. Joe Dispenza? Yes. Um He's been on the podcast, too. Oh, amazing. Amazing. Um Becoming Supernatural.”
Timcast IRL
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Bitter Harvest
Discussed“luke have you read ian smith's memoir bitter harvest it's about the fall of rhodesia and the creation of zimbabwe”
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The 1619 Project
Discussed“random house children book children's books announced plans to publish four 16 19 projects books for young readers one young adult et cetera et cetera So yes”
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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition
Discussed“so if you look at john perkins and the economic hit man and the revelations that came out of that book it's henry kissinger all over it”
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Rising Sun
Recommended“in regards to the china situation i suggest people read rising sun by michael crichton it is eerily similar to how modern day china is treated by our country”
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Stealth War
Recommended“stealth war by robert spalding and the creature from jekyll island uh jacqueline edward griffin”
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Mañana forever?
Discussed“one of the dangers that is in jorge casanada's book that talks about manana forever is that we will become more like mexico during this period”
Conversations with Tyler
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Undaunted
Discussed“i'm sure you know the chris whipple book about cia directors and he says about you and i quote”
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The Student Abroad
Discussed“i'm sure you know the chris whipple book about cia directors and he says about you and i quote”
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A revision of the Treaty
Discussed“i think a few years after 1922 i believe after the treaty even signed keynes did a sort of follow-up analysis called a revision of the treaty which was basically 80 000 words”
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Indian currency and finance
Discussed“he wrote a book his first book is called i think indian currency in finance it's from 1912 or 1913.”
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A treatise on money
Discussed“gaines works for i think seven years on treatise on money it's two volumes at the end what he comes up with is a tabular standard which i'm fine with by the way”
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Essays in biography
Discussed“what do you think is his best biographical portrait in essays and biography which is one of my favorite books i might add”
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Nova
Recommended“nova tell us why oh my god i love that book i just read it for a book club”
The Daily Stoic
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How to raise the perfect dog
Discussed“but the way that he teaches like we've been reading uh his book uh how to raise the perfect dog that's like what shawn and isa are our reading list”
No Stupid Questions
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Connected
Discussed“he's the co-author of a book called connected the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives”
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Connected the surprising prower of our social network and how they shape our lives
Discussed“he's the co-author of a book called connected the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives”
Modern Wisdom
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Nose Dive
Recommended“harold's nosedive a field guide to the word smells will be in the show notes below”
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Beyond Possible (Young Readers' Edition)
Recommended“perfect beyond possible will be linked in the show notes below as well go and check it out it's a really fantastic read”
This Week in Startups
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The Startup Community Way
Discussed“in your book um the startup community way which you just published you it starts off in uh in vegas in fact”
The Realignment
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The wise men: Six friends and the world they made
Discussed“He was smart enough to understand this is the guy I have to talk to, and not only did he talk to him during the day, but Walter Isaacson described in The Wise Men how at the end of every day, Truman would make his staff get in the car and drive over to Vandenberg’s townhouse and brief him on”
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Up All Night
Recommended“Lisa, this has been such an incredible episode; I want to make sure that people know about the book 'Up All Night.' They can find it on Amazon.”
