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Books podcasts were talking about in August 2024
August 2024 podcast episodes heavily featured discussions on true crime phenomena, fringe historical theories, science fiction, and cultural retrospectives. Stuff You Should Know revisited the cultural impact of true crime history by discussing Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's famous account 'Helter Skelter' in relation to the pervasive fear surrounding the Manson family murders. Fringe theories and ancient history took center stage on Stuff They Don't Want You To Know, where the hosts analyzed Erich von Däniken's international bestseller 'Chariots of the Gods?' and Richard Grossinger's 'Planet Medicine' alongside a discussion of engraved stones, complemented by Matt discussing classic speculative works like Isaac Asimov's anthology 'Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Age of Science Fiction.' Behind the Bastards contrasted the passionate artistry behind James Gurney's 'Dinotopia' books with Thomas Kinkade's 'Cape Light,' examining the ethos presented in its introduction. Additionally, Timcast IRL touched on political tactics by mentioning Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals,' and The Daily Stoic featured guest Amanda Knox reflecting on the psychological escapism she found while reading J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' during a tumultuous period in her life.
Stuff You Should Know
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Helter Skelter
Discussed“Yeah, like I definitely remember the book Helter Skelter being a huge, huge thing. Um, and I remember a time before like media was so robust when the idea of Charles Manson was just so terrifying to me.”
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Marathon running
Discussed“He actually wrote a book in 1909 called Marathon Running, where he said, ‘Don't get into the habit of drinking and eating in a marathon! Some prominent runners do, but it is not beneficial!’”
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Top ten Arthurian legends
Discussed“And it turned out that book was a Welsh Aran Legend, and another Reddit post contained some Mayan numerals that you had to decode that became a key that you could use to analyze the Arthurian legend with.”
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The Dictionary of Body Language
Discussed“Yeah I think this quote sums it up I'm trying to learn, I'm try, sorry, trying to use body language by reading a body language dictionary is like trying to speak French by reading a French dictionary See, you can list off all the non-verbal cues in the world, but if you try and learn the body language, quote unquote,”
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The Secret History of the Mongols
Discussed“There's a story called The Secret History of the Mongols, and it was written in about 1240, so shortly after Genghis Khan's death! We don't know who the author was, but that's the primary source for most of the biography of Genghis Khan.”
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Etre et le néant
Discussed“to Kierkegaard, and I think he even calls out Kierkegaard in the section of Being and Nothingness.”
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The coal question
Discussed“But there was already back in the 1860s a book by a guy named Stanley Jevons, called 'The Coal Question,' and this guy was already warning about Peak Coal, essentially pointing out like coal is a non-renewable resource, everybody, and we are using it really, really fast. This guy was already ringing the alarm about it, and Rudolf Diesel was”
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Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
Discussed“Uh, if you want to know more about diesel and his engine, then just go read, uh, Douglas Brunt's book on it. And since I mentioned Douglas Brunt for one last time, it's time for listener mail. Uh, I'm going to call this Harvard follow-up with the old Puritans episode.”
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
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Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Age of Science Fiction
Discussed“I'm reading an Isaac Asimov book from 1950 right now. I know this is obvious for fans of science fiction, but I'm always blown away by how close they get it in the 50s, like what modern civilization looks like and what technology of the future actually looks like.”
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Chariots of the Gods?
Discussed“Publishes a paperback that I loved when it came out—the Chariots of the Gods?—question mark, a little bit of hedging there. He publishes this first in 1969; it becomes an international bestseller, and a deluge of similar books hit the market right after.”
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Planet Medicine: Origins, Revised Edition
Discussed“We’ve made this a two-part episode; let’s get into it; what does he say in his book—the message of the engraved stones of Ica? Let’s take these one at a time; the first one is that the stones themselves are way older than you think.”
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Pulcinellopaedia Seraphiniana, Deluxe Edition
Discussed“It kind of reminds me of that hoax book that ultimately wasn't really a hoax at all people just kind of made much to do about it, uh, the Codex Seraphinus!”
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Trance Formation of America
Discussed“She wrote a book called 'The Transformation of America.' Since this is an audio show, I just want to make sure you get the pun there: 'trance' as in hypnotic trance, and 'formation' as in an organization or group.”
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The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Discussed“Crowley also practiced some stuff like this, and the Illuminatus Trilogy, which is a fantastic work, also depicts this.”
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Outbreak!
Discussed“And I've brought with me today an old friend of ours, this book, 'Outbreak: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior,' which is about moral panics and how they spread!”
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Necronomicon
Discussed“Just know this, folks: every time you give us some of those stars in a review, our boss looks at a strange occult, Necronomicon-esque spreadsheet and says, 'We'll give them one more evening.'”
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Revelations of a Spirit Medium
Discussed“There was a book that was originally published anonymously called "Revelations of a Spirit Medium," and it was like when a stage magician breaks the big code.”
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The Silence of the Lambs
Discussed“It reminds me of that weaselly little academic in Silence of the Lambs, you know, the late great Hannibal. The late great who just wants to establish his reputation.”
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Spying on America
Discussed“It is true, though he did end up writing those newspaper articles; he wrote Nazi Spies in America.”
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The FBI
Discussed“There's this historian I've been reading, uh, Jeffery Jones, who wrote a book called "The FBI: A History" and several other articles.”
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Where My Shadow Falls
Discussed“He got a bronze star, wrote another book, and I haven't read this one; it's called "Where My Shadow Falls" in 1949. Um, I told you he's in the shadows, mhm.”
Behind the Bastards
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Thomas Kinkade's Cape Light
Discussed“They believed in Thomas Kinkade, not just in the man or the company, but in the ethos supposedly represented by his art, one in which, to quote Kinkade's introduction to 'Cape Light,' people have the time to savor life, simple pleasures, and lead deep, satisfying lives.”
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Dinotopia
Discussed“Now you can compare this to his old friend whose Dinotopia books were labors of love; whatever else you might say about them, you could tell it was clearly the work of someone who cares deeply about telling a dinosaur story.”
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In Cold Blood
Discussed“In Cold Blood came out when, you know like, yeah, it's definitely, it hearkens to that whole like the rose-tinted glass view that I'm beginning to see Gen Xers start also throwing out there like, oh back when we drank out of the water hose and our parents played the sunset and like, yeah that wasn't great.”
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Mussolini and Fascism
Discussed“In his study, Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America, John Patrick Diggins notes that out of 150 articles that mentioned Mussolini in US newspapers from 1925 to 1932, the majority had either a neutral or a bemused positive tone.”
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Patriots of Treason
Discussed“Now, David wrote a book back in 2012 called Patriots of Treason. And the plot of this book, this is not the book we're covering this week, but you need to hear about it to get to that book.”
Timcast IRL
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Rules for Radicals
Discussed“Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals; that’s like what the— is that like an Antifa origin of a Marxist codebook?”
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The House of Mirth
Discussed“Yeah, I mean, it's part of Edith Wharton's art too, but like nobody wants to actually live in the House of Mirth.”
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We Still Hold These Truths
Discussed“Now the ideas—why to be fair, like Heritage Foundation's put out a book for the last 50 years; almost like this is not anything new.”
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Ishmael
Discussed“Psychic gorilla! Ishmael, we should get here!”
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The Real Anthony Fauci
Discussed“Before anybody started calling him an anti-vaxxer, which I thought he was, I thought he was this nut; this like conspiracy theorist nut until I read his book, I read 'The Real Anthony Fauci.' And I'm like, how much of this is real?”
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The Hunt for Red October
Discussed“Also, love the show and thank you for all you and your people do! Read my dumb zombie book, Arctic Cold, please!”
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Worm loves Worm
Discussed“And then this book right here, Worm Loves Worm, this book is about teaching kids about same-sex marriage.”
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As You Grow
Discussed“Two years ago, Kirk wrote a book entitled As You Grow and he wanted to go to the libraries that were bringing in transgenders to read to kids, and you know what he was told?”
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Das Kapital Karl Marx
Discussed“But they fundamentally believe the way that Marx explained the world: there's oppressors, there are oppressed, and their job, their duty, is to stick up for the oppressed.”
The Daily Stoic
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Stenciled Edges) (Harry Potter, Book 5)
Discussed“But at the same time I read things like I was reading Harry Potter and, you know, the Order of the Phoenix.”
The Megyn Kelly Show
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A Promised Land
Discussed“But don't forget, Barack Obama bragged about eating a dog in his memoir that got the guy elected president. So, I don't know, maybe just smart political strategy.”
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The Other End of the Leash
Discussed“He's in the dog bed with them, he's reading the books: 'Love a goat, I love you guys, I would never eat a dog, was fake news, was fake news, St. Francis with a wolf of Goia, this is one of their favorite books, it really calms him down.'”
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Outlive
Discussed“But there's a reason Peter AA did so well in his book; there's a reason guys like Mark Sisson, who's been calling attention to this, he's been on the show too, have been jumping up and down about this stuff because Americans know.”
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The Power of Positive Thinking
Discussed“We've talked about this before, but he was raised going to the church of Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote 'The Power of Positive Thinking,' and it's a fascinating read.”
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Becoming
Discussed“This multi-millionaire who went to Princeton and Harvard Law School who became first lady of the United States Who thought so much of herself She called her own memoir "Becoming". Get it?”
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Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
Discussed“I think that's another aspect of this that people are aware of, that this isn't The Wizard of Oz; you can't just wave your magic wand and create a different type of housing market.”
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The Signal and the Noise
Discussed“He then took predictions and modeling mainstream with his massive 2012 best-selling book, The Signal and the Noise.”
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On the Edge
Discussed“But we're also going to talk about the importance of risk-taking and the habits of successful risk-takers, which he lays out in his new book out today, On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything.”
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Nuclear War
Discussed“By the way, have you read Annie Jacobson’s book, Nuclear War? You need to or at least have her on.”
The Ezra Klein Show
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Prospecting for Mineralization in Steeply Dipping Beds Covered by Glacial Till, Talus, and Weathered Zones, by F. W. Lee, H. L. Scharon, and C. H. Sandberg
Discussed“and so you know when you think of some of the very culturally important documents here you know you think about CH sandberg's lean in or you think about Amry Slaughter Big Atlantic article from a couple years ago on whether or not women can have it all”
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Career and Family
Discussed“the second book I'd recommend which really gets at both the educational and labor market stuff but actually more from looking at women I think you learn about men is Claudia Golden's book uh career and family which as I said I think golden is just absolutely the best in the business when it comes to looking at gender and”
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The Life of Dad
Discussed“and the third book I got a huge amount out of was a book by Anna mein who's a anthropologist I think May evolutionary Anthropologist at the University of Oxford and her book maybe you'll know it actually as it's called the life of dad the making of a modern father as few years old now”
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Rethinking Sex
Discussed“Christine emba is a staff writer at the Atlantic and the author of rethinking sex a provocation”
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The Reactionary Spirit
Discussed“Zack beum is a senior correspondent at Fox who focuses on politics in the US and abroad he just published a book called The reactionary Spirit how America's most Insidious political tradition swept the world”
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Why Liberalism Failed
Discussed“and actually his first book that came out that was actually kind of a huge deal to the point that Barack Obama even recommended it in his books of the summer the year that it came out was literally called why liberalism failed”
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Justice Gender And F
Discussed“the first one is Justice gender and the family by Susan Muller Oaken which I think is a really classic and sort of underappreciated and popular discourse treatment of liberal feminism”
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Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy
Discussed“and the last one I think sort of speaks to our conversation at the very end which is a book called conservative parties and the birth of democracy by Daniel ziblat where he argues that European countries that had very differentl political arcs in terms of their movement towards democracy being smooth or not in the 19th and early 20th”
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Walk, Ride, Paddle
Discussed“always our final question what are three books you'd recommend to the audience Walk ride paddle is Tim kan's book about when he walked the Appalachian Trail paddled the James River and then did some other bike ride across it's a very yeah it's a very fun book and he's just such a lovely man and he's such a it's”
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Wounded Knee
Discussed“I'm I'm just finishing up a book by Heather Cox Richardson called Wounded Knee and it's about Sue and other tribes in the dtas Senator Brian Shotz thank you very much”
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A Relevant Faith
Discussed“I did years ago and I've been reading it this week”
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Statement of Admiral Eric T. Olson, U.S. Navy Commander United States Special Operations Command Before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Posture of Special Operations Forces, March 24, 2008
Discussed“uh if you don't want to sleep read command and control by Eric sler It's about the nuclear accident at Damascus”
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Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America's Classrooms
Discussed“uh if you don't want to sleep read command and control by Eric sler It's about the nuclear accident at Damascus”
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The Razor's Edge
Discussed“uh razer's Edge I I still go back to to Mom's Razor's Edge”
No Stupid Questions
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Co-Intelligence
Discussed“He has this book called Co-Intelligence, and I was, you know, one of the people to review and endorse it.”
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Klara and the Sun
Discussed“I think, Mike, as we close out this fascinating question from Vivien, I want to ask you whether you have read a book called Clara and the Sun. I have not!”
People I (Mostly) Admire
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A la recherche du temps perdu
Discussed“And it reminds me of—I’m not going to ask if you've read it, but have you at least pretended to read Marcel Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past'?”
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Subtract
Discussed“I give an example: there's this great book by Leidy Klotz; it's called 'Subtract.' It just came out; it's awesome!”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
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A book about birth control
Discussed“As a guy, I really didn't think that I would do a show on or love a book about birth control, but here we are.”
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
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End of Race Politics
Discussed“Coleman has written a new book published in 2024 called 'The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America,' in which he lays out his case for a return to the classic civil rights attitude of the 1950s and early 1960s.”
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The Quest for Cosmic Justice
Discussed“Thomas Sowell has an excellent book titled 'The Quest for Cosmic Justice,' and I recall him mentioning that meritocracy, like capitalism, was coined by its enemies.”
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The Strange Death of Europe
Discussed“Douglas is the author of 'The War on the West,' 'The Strange Death of Europe,' and 'The Madness of Crowds,' among other books.”
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The Madness of Crowds
Discussed“Douglas is the author of 'The War on the West,' 'The Strange Death of Europe,' and 'The Madness of Crowds,' among other books.”
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The Satanic Bible
Discussed“My father wrote in the Satanic Bible that if someone smites you on one cheek, you should smash the other, not turn the other cheek.”
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Satan's silence
Discussed“The book 'Satan's Silence' gives a good account of the widespread Satanic daycare panic back then, which further contributed to my disillusionment.”
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The Sayings of Lao Tzü
Discussed“We're told, we're commanded multiple times, if you read Proverbs, you read what King David wrote—discernment was everything!”
Speaker Prophecy, Revelation, & the Spiritual Battle | John Rich | EP 470 2024-08-08 Listen at 58:28 -
Waking Up
Discussed“I really feel, you know, I read a book last year called Wake Up, and at the start of it, I told the story of several thousand years ago—people existed in tribes, and they all had the same haircuts, the same clothes, or whatever, you know—loincloths they were wearing.”
Pod Save America
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True Gretch
Discussed“Joining us today is the governor of the great state of Michigan and author of a new memoir, True Gretch: Gretchen Whitmer. Welcome back to Pod Save America!”
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Bleak House
Discussed“And uh, have you gotten to Bleak House yet? He's finished Bleak House! Two young children and works his ass off on this show!”
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Shameless
Discussed“Later, our pal Brian Tyler Cohen is here to talk about his brand new book and play a round of Take Appreciators with me and Lovett. But first, remember Donald Trump?”
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The Bestseller Code
Discussed“JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community. Come on!”
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The Truths We Hold
Discussed“It's like, first of all, Kamala Harris—her mother came here from India, her father came here from Jamaica. She has talked about that for her entire career, she has written about it in her book, she has given speeches about it.”
StarTalk Radio
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Black holes and time warps
Discussed“There's a book from the 1990s by Kip Thorne, probably the most famous relativist in the world, but also very gifted for writing and for making things very, very clear!”
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Gravitation
Discussed“Okay, uh, he's co-author of like the most famous relativity book there ever was! It's called Gravitation!”
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Finnegans Wake
Discussed“The word quark comes from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake!”
Freakonomics Radio
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Prayer Has Spoiled Everything
Discussed“In a book called 'Markets, Minds and Money', why America leads the world in university research, Kola charts the development of these institutions.”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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Brother Sam
Discussed“But the guy was doing blow and drinking and partying with rock stars, and his brother wrote about it. Did you ever read his brother's book?”
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Murder Machine
Discussed“Joey Diaz once gave me a book called Murder Machine about Roy DeMeo, a mob-related serial killer.”
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Cujo
Discussed“There's something about his early stuff when he was off the rails—like he said, he doesn't even remember writing Cujo, which is my favorite book of his.”
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The lord of the rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Discussed“High fantasy? What does that mean? Lord of the Rings type stuff? That sounds fun!”
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The hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
Discussed“Look, people love those kinds of fantasy-type books, and I mean, think about The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones; people love it!”
Monday Morning Podcast
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AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States
Discussed“and the only thing I I knew about them was that book that I read I can't remember if I brought this up Thursday I read that book among the thugs where they was an old uh American Journal journalist”
The Tucker Carlson Show
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The Grapes of Wrath
Discussed“It's not going to get you through the Great Depression. Yeah, no, it's not.”
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
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The Dirt
Discussed“And that movie was about the book, The Dirt book. They said it was pretty true to form, a lot of it.”
Huberman Lab
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Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
Discussed“She is also considered one of the foremost experts in the personal development field, having authored many best-selling books, including her upcoming book, 'Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose.'”
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Beyond Anxiety
Discussed“Yeah, I know, and I call it what I—in the book that I just wrote called Beyond Anxiety.”
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Life's Messy, Live Happy
Discussed“Right now I'm working on some bonus chapters of my book. And while I'm a pretty motivated person, I'm excited to share that information with the world, I must say that setting aside time to do these bonus chapters has been challenging because I've got a lot else going on.”
ChooseFI
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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Discussed“But even though we get very mindful about the present year, which is a great, you know, that's a great attribute in the Choose FI community, we don't necessarily, as Stephen C. would say, like begin with an end in mind.”
The Rubin Report
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The God Delusion
Discussed“And then after Dawkins' book, The God Delusion, became a bestseller in 2006, there was kind of a split in the atheist and humanist skeptics movement about how militant you are in your atheism.”
