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Books podcasts were talking about in March 2022
In March 2022, prominent science, history, and literature titles gained traction across multiple podcast discussions. The Huberman Lab podcast featured Andrew Huberman recommending Dr. Anna Lembke's 'Dopamine Nation' as a resource for understanding motivated behaviors and dopamine pathways. Huberman also praised Timothy Ferriss's books 'The 4-Hour Body' and 'The 4-Hour Chef', noting how Ferriss predicted various trends in nutrition and skill learning supported by later scientific data. The Lex Fridman Podcast explored science fiction extensively when guest Ariel Ekblaw shared her favorite authors and books growing up, which included Isaac Asimov's 'The Foundation Trilogy', Neal Stephenson's 'Seveneves', and references to Arthur C. Clarke's '2001: A Space Odyssey' while discussing intelligent space habitats. Later in the month on the Lex Fridman Podcast, host Lex Fridman concluded an episode by sharing a quote from George R.R. Martin's 'A Clash of Kings'. Additionally, The Daily Stoic podcast featured a discussion with journalist Kati Marton, during which the host referenced William Lee Miller's book 'Lincoln's Virtues' to examine how historical figures are perceived over time as political rather than solely moral figures.
Lex Fridman Podcast
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A Clash of Kings
Discussed“And now, let me leave you with some words from George RR Martin from 'A Clash of Kings.' 'A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good.”
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The Foundation Trilogy
Discussed“What were your favorite sci-fi authors when you were growing up? Probably Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy.”
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Seveneves
Discussed“Now, though, my favorite is Neal Stephenson and Seveneves.”
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2001
Discussed“The future of space habitats is one of intelligent structures—maybe not all the way to HAL from the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference that scares people about a habitat having a mind of its own—but certainly, we're building systems now where the habitat has sensing technology that allows it to communicate its basic functions.”
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God Is Not Great
Discussed“So, for example, the idea that you would call a book 'Religion Poisons Everything'—I think he did that deliberately and provocatively so that he could defend a proposition that obviously is indefensible: that it poisons everything.”
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The Talmud of Babylonia
Discussed“Yeah, well, the Torah is the five books of Moses written in Hebrew. Most modern rabbis, non-orthodox or non-literalist rabbis, will tell you that it's a product of human beings, and I believe that they are inspired by God.”
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Why Faith Matters
Discussed“Yeah, you wrote in your book 'Why Faith Matters': 'Walt Whitman wrote that in order for there to be a great book, there must be great readers.' For a book to remain powerful throughout generations, it cannot have a single meaning; scripture, like great poetry, is not reducible to other words.”
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Letters from the Earth
Discussed“One is that every image of what it's like is foolish; like Mark Twain has in 'Letters from the Earth' says, 'We're going to lie on green fields and listen to harp music,' which you wouldn't want to do for five minutes while you're alive, but you think you'll be happy for the rest of eternity doing it after you”
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Hitch-22
Discussed“His autobiography, 'Hitch 22,' is a great read and I just want to say what you discover there. I don't know if I'm giving too much away by telling the story—spoiler alert—what you discover there is that his mother ran away with a minister or a priest, and they died in what seemed like a suicide pact.”
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Herzog
Discussed“I also love Saul Bellow, especially 'Herzog.' But that's a very different kind of thinking—person's novel. I read a lot of mysteries, and a lot of other kinds of fiction and literature.”
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The Sabbath
Discussed“I also really love Heschel's "The Sabbath." I think it's a beautiful book. It's a very short book, just as Frankl's book is.”
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The Blind Watchmaker
Discussed“This relates to the blind watchmaker argument, which questions how something complex, like a watch, could spontaneously emerge. Well, it doesn't; it's a lineage of lesser watches and devices that couple and bootstrap onto one another.”
The Daily Stoic
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Lincoln's Virtues
Discussed“A few years ago, I read a book called Lincoln's Virtues by William Lee Miller, and he said that we forget because we look at Lincoln from 150 years ago, we see him as just a moral figure rather than as a politician.”
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What Made Maddy Run
Discussed“And I think about that a lot, even in terms of my first book, What Made Maddie Run. Even though I think it has a long shelf life, it's not timeless.”
Huberman Lab
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Dopamine Nation
Discussed“There, I'm paraphrasing what Dr. Anna Lembke has said and has written about in her beautiful book, 'Dopamine Nation.' If you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it.”
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The 4-Hour Body
Discussed“Tim Ferris, the great Tim Ferris, deserves recognition for being about ten years ahead of many trends in nutrition and skill learning; many of the things he predicted in his books, 'The Four Hour Body' and 'The Four Hour Chef,' have been supported by scientific data, some of which comes from studies on animal models, and some of which have”
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The 4-hour Chef
Discussed“Tim Ferris, the great Tim Ferris, deserves recognition for being about ten years ahead of many trends in nutrition and skill learning; many of the things he predicted in his books, 'The Four Hour Body' and 'The Four Hour Chef,' have been supported by scientific data, some of which comes from studies on animal models, and some of which have”
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The Salt Fix
Discussed“The resource is a book authored by Dr. James DiNicolantonio, who is a scientist in cardiovascular physiology and a doctor of pharmacy. The title of the book is "The Salt Fix."”
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The Good Gut
Discussed“Sonnenburg co-runs his laboratory with his spouse, Dr. Erica Sonnenburg, and together they've also authored a highly informative book titled "The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health."”
SmartLess
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The Fellowship of the Ring
Discussed“Kate, we've, we've kept you way too late, god bless you, I'm gonna let you go in two seconds, I need to fan out, oh my god, Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite book series, I'm so glad you were in it, you were a staple in my mind forever because of that, and as a kid,”
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The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Discussed“Kate, we've, we've kept you way too late, god bless you, I'm gonna let you go in two seconds, I need to fan out, oh my god, Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite book series, I'm so glad you were in it, you were a staple in my mind forever because of that, and as a kid,”
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The Hustler
Discussed“I would go to Hollywood Billiards every day and shoot pool trying to be like Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler.”
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Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother
Discussed“Um Barry, so you've written this book, 'Barry Sonnenfeld: Call Your Mother.'”
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Showtime
Discussed“So if you're a great player, you have to go there, so we're in this rare— they're going to eventually create other leagues, but anyway, Lakers came from, there's a great book by Jeff Perlman called Showtime, and I'm, as Will just said, I'm a crazy hoops junkie.”
