Person
Every book Dan Carlin recommended on podcasts
Dan Carlin appears as a guest on the Lex Fridman Podcast, bringing his deep historical expertise and analytical perspective to discussions about conflict, human nature, and geopolitics. Throughout the episode, Carlin reflects on several significant historical texts and memoirs that have influenced his lifelong interest in history. He discusses Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, analyzing it as a political tract used to understand the motivations of historical figures, and mentions James Jones's novel From Here to Eternity to illustrate the psychological evolution of soldiers in frontline combat. Carlin also references The Secret History of the Mongols to highlight the rare perspectives available from early historical records. Reflecting on his childhood, Carlin recalls reading William L. Shirer's massive account The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich at the tender age of six, an experience that famously shocked his mother. Finally, Carlin engages with modern geopolitical forecasting by discussing George Friedman's The Next Hundred Years, noting his fundamental disagreements with the author's predictions. Carlin's conversational reading references underscore his deeply rooted fascination with the psychological and structural realities of warfare and human history.
Books recommended by Dan Carlin
-
From Here to Eternity
Discussed“james jones who wrote uh uh books like from here to eternity fictional accounts of the second world war”
Where to get it
-
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is an autobiographical manifesto by Adolf Hitler outlining his political ideology and future plans for Germany.
Discussed“if you believe hitler's writings for example mein kampf which you know is written by a guy who's a political figure who wants to get so i mean it's about as as believable as any other political tract would be”
Where to get it
-
The Next 100 Years
The Next 100 Years by George Friedman is a geopolitical forecasting book that attempts to predict global conflicts, technological shifts, and the rise and fall of superpowers over the course of the twenty-first century.
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”
Where to get it
-
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L.
Discussed“okay i've uh i've recently almost done with the rise in the fall of the third reich it's one of the historical descriptions of hitler's rise to power nazis rise to power”
Where to get it
-
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”
Where to get it
Books Dan Carlin wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| #136 – Dan Carlin: Hardcore History | Lex Fridman Podcast | 2020-11-03 | 8 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“so i have a book that i wrote right and uh and in a book you have a hard deadline right so harpercollins had a hard deadline on that book so when i released it i was mad because i would have worked on it a lot longer which is my style right get it right but we had a”