Person
Every book Chuck Bryant recommended on podcasts
Chuck Bryant’s most recommended books
- Generation X by Douglas Coupland
- Uncle John's Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers' Institute
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- Backyard fairies by Phoebe Wahl
- Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson
- Fever House by Keith Rosson
- Guinness Book of World Records by Unknown
- More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
- SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas
- Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin
Chuck Bryant is a podcast host best known for co-hosting the long-running educational program Stuff You Should Know. Across various episodes, Bryant has recommended and discussed a diverse selection of books ranging from fiction and horror to non-fiction and historical works. He mentioned a photography collection titled The Drake Equation sent in by listeners Andrew Phelps and Paul Kranzler, thanking them for the book. When discussing chess-related works for younger readers, he suggested Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin. Bryant also brought up Douglas Coupland and his novel Gen X while joking about how the generation was historically ignored by adults. For horror enthusiasts, Bryant enthusiastically recommended the duology consisting of Fever House and The Devil by Name by Keith Rosson, while also noting that he received a galley for Rosson's upcoming book Coffin Moon and encouraging listeners to check out the pre-sale. In addition, he briefly noted that Alvin Schwartz's More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is an excellent sequel in the horror genre. Finally, during a retrospective episode on Agatha Christie, Bryant and his co-host discussed her first published work, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, praising her skill for crafting classic cozy mysteries.
Books recommended by Chuck Bryant
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Generation X
Generation X by Douglas Coupland is a defining cultural novel that captured the disillusionment of young adults coming of age in the late twentieth century and famously popularized the generational label.
Recommended“Just ask Douglas Copelan. Who's that? He's the guy who wrote Gen X.”
Where to get it
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Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers' Institute is a long-running, highly popular series of trivia and bathroom entertainment compendiums filled with thousands of fascinating short facts and anecdotes.
Discussed“I learned this years ago from the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and I looked into it, and I think it actually may be correct.”
Where to get it
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And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is a masterclass in suspense, following ten strangers lured to a remote island who are systematically murdered one by one.
Recommended“I started reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which I think was her first published work um last night, and it's just great. She just sucks you right in like you she does what's um she creates in a lot of books, not all of them, but she creates what's called a cozy mystery with an S because it's British.”
Where to get it
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Backyard fairies
Backyard Fairies by Phoebe Wahl is a delightful children's book that invites young readers into a magical world of imagination, nature, and hidden woodland creatures.
Recommended“what was that that was the series I think I I think it's backyard fairies okay I might be wrong though you sounded like you knew what it was a second ago well I'm I'm looking yeah yeah backyard fairies by Phoebe wall Wahl it it's wonderful”
Where to get it
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Coffin Moon
Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson is a vampire-themed horror novel that serves as a follow-up to the author's previous work.
Recommended“and his book publisher sent me a galley of his new book out this fall. It's called Coffin Moon.”
Where to get it
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Fever House
Fever House by Keith Rosson is a fast-paced, gritty horror novel that follows the supernatural chaos unleashed by an evil severed head moving through the world.
Recommended“It's a duogy um called Fever House. Okay. And the second book is called The Devil by Name.”
Where to get it
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Guinness Book of World Records
Guinness Book of World Records is an annual reference publication that documents extraordinary human achievements and natural extremes from around the globe.
Recommended“or even better go buy a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records comes out every year”
Where to get it
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More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a famous children's horror anthology by Alvin Schwartz featuring folklore-inspired scary tales and illustrations.
Recommended“Yeah, there's also more scary stories to tell in the dark pretty much equally good. Uh, so maybe we should flip it and start with Little Free Libraries since I mentioned that one first as insp.”
Where to get it
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SCUM Manifesto
SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas is a radical feminist and separatist critique of patriarchal society.
Recommended“author of the scum Manifesto which is definitely worth reading I think I've mentioned before on the show”
Where to get it
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Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin is a compelling biographical book that chronicles the early life and chess prodigy journey of Josh Waitzkin.
Recommended“Searching for Bobby Fisher could be a good one, though, for her.”
Where to get it
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The Devil By Name
The Devil By Name by Keith Rosson is the dark, apocalyptic sequel to Fever House, presenting readers with a world profoundly transformed by supernatural forces.
Recommended“And the second book is called The Devil by Name. great great horror books.”
Where to get it
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The Drake Equation
The Drake Equation is a distinctive photography book created by Paul Kranzler and Andrew Phelps.
Recommended“and they named their book Drake Equation and they sent us a copy. So, hats off to those guys for the the book, for making the book and sending it to us.”
Where to get it
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The Head Trip
The Head Trip by Jeff Warren is an engaging and exploratory non-fiction book that takes readers on a fascinating journey through the various states of consciousness and the human mind.
Recommended“it's got to me uh which I learned about from Jeff Warren's awesome book The Head trip”
Where to get it
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The hurt locker
The Hurt Locker is a tense dramatic film that follows an elite bomb disposal squad operating during the Iraq War, showcasing the psychological toll and intense danger of combat engineering.
Recommended“had you just seen uh The Hurt Locker or something I've never seen The Hurt Locker really yeah you should check it out it's great movie”
Where to get it
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The Wok
The Wok by J.
Recommended“Jay Kenji Lopez all this written quite a few but had one out this year called The Wok recipes and techniques where he just basically sings the Praises of the walk and it's like you can do so many things in a walk and it's not just about making a stir fry”
Where to get it
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A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is an absurdist, darkly comedic masterpiece centered on the eccentric and pompous protagonist Ignatius J.
Discussed“A Confederacy of Dunces. And A Confederacy of Dunces still hasn't been made. I It's a very weird curse.”
Where to get it
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A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet is Arthur Conan Doyle's foundational 1887 detective novel that introduced the legendary fictional character Sherlock Holmes to the reading public.
Discussed“I think when the first one that you just mentioned a study in Scarlet was published in Breitton's um Christmas annual.”
Where to get it
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An Instinct for Dragons
An Instinct for Dragons by David E.
Discussed“Yeah, there's a book called An Instinct for Dragons written by an anthropologist named David E. Jones about dragons and dragons throughout cultures and across cultures.”
Where to get it
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Ancient Dragons of the Sky
Discussed“another paleontologist named Harry Seeley even wrote a book called dragons of the sky in which he said birds were the descendants of these”
Where to get it
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume is a classic young adult novel that captures the inner life, religious confusion, and bodily anxieties of a sixth-grade girl navigating puberty.
Discussed“Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, that I remember the most. Yeah, uh I read both of those.”
Where to get it
- Blubber by Judy Blume
- Cherokee English Dictionary by Feeling
- Cliffs Notes by Michael Shaara
- Do you see what I see? by Helen Borten
- Fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry by William Butler Yeats
- Five Bullets by Elliot Williams
- For Esme - with Love and Squalor by J.D. Salinger
- For Esme-With Love and Squalor, and Other Stories by JD Salinger
- Freckle Juice by Judy Blume
- Future shock by Alvin Toffler
- Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by William Butler Yeats
- Just Kids by Patti Smith
- Kamasutra by Vātsyāyana
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
- Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
- MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville
- On Thermonuclear War by Herman Kahn
- Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
- Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
- Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback
- Richard III by Paul Murray Kendall
- Siebenkäs 3 by Jean Paul
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [12 stories] by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Andy Warhol Diaries by Andy Warhol
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
- The Beanie Baby Phenomenon by Peggy Gallagher
- The book of the cow by Unknown
- The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Chuck Bryant’s latest episodes with books
Chuck Bryant’s book recommendations by year
All 65 books Chuck Bryant recommended or discussed across 45 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.