Person
Every book David Whyte recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- David Whyte has recommended or discussed 9 books on podcasts, as of July 23, 2025.
- David Whyte has talked about books on 2 podcasts, as of July 23, 2025.
- Those books came up in 2 episodes, as of July 23, 2025.
- The 3 books David Whyte has mentioned in the most episodes, not counting David Whyte's own, as of July 23, 2025: Consolations, Wild Geese and Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes.
- The latest episode with a book mention from David Whyte aired on July 23, 2025.
Updated
Across 2 podcasts. Every show David Whyte appears on, in one place — not just one.
David Whyte’s most recommended books
- Consolations by Whyte, David
- Wild Geese by Ayla Ellenbogen
- Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes by Thom Gunn
- Songs of Innocence by William Blake
- Songs of innocence and of experience by William Blake
- The Blue Cliff Record by Unknown
- The prelude by William Wordsworth
David Whyte is an Irish poet, author, and speaker best known for blending poetry, philosophy, and organizational consulting. During podcast discussions, Whyte explored the power of language, vulnerability, and the human experience through various literary works and his own writing. He praised Mary Oliver’s accessible poetry, specifically quoting a line from her famous poem "Wild Geese" to illustrate her simple yet engaging style. Whyte also discussed William Wordsworth's long autobiographical poem The Prelude and explored William Blake's poetry collection Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience regarding the relationship between innocence and experience. He introduced his own collection of essays, Consolations, detailing the creative impetus behind the short essay "Regret," and read and discussed his poem "Everything Is Waiting for You" to highlight how the world meets an attentive person. Furthermore, Whyte recalled discovering a joint volume by Ted Hughes and Thom Gunn in his youth, noting how it demonstrated that poets could maintain their childhood vision into adulthood.
Books recommended by David Whyte
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Consolations
Consolations by David Whyte is a collection of essays exploring human experiences, emotions, and the conversational nature of reality.
Discussed“it was a revolutionary moment in my life actually I just and led to the consolations essays and led to the writing of the first one with the title regret”
Where to get it
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Everything Is Waiting for You
Discussed“everything is waiting for you it's a very ancient human sense that things are actually just about to come and find you and they're going to find someone deep inside you that you don't fully know yourself echoed in the Zen tradition again and again”
Where to get it
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Wild Geese
Wild Geese is a celebrated poem by Mary Oliver, featured alongside the broader works of Ayla Ellenbogen, known for its deep exploration of nature, self-acceptance, and emotional release.
Recommended“she's so engaging she's so simple she's so clear you do not have to be good you do not have to walk for 100 miles through the desert repenting you only you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves that is the line wild geese”
Where to get it
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Fire in the Earth
Discussed“and the note went straight through me and and at exactly the same time I heard the redwinged Blackbird outside which here in the Northwest the Pacific Northwest is the sound of spring and the world just both collapsed and came together at the same time”
Where to get it
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Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes
Discussed“and so I had to reach up and I got hold of one of the portrait books and they right in the Tipsy Topsy tween of my two fingers and pulled it off”
Where to get it
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Songs of Innocence
Discussed“So, William Blake, who you quoted, he had he had songs of of innocence and songs of experience, but he didn't see innocence as a commodity that was replaced by experience.”
Where to get it
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Songs of innocence and of experience
Discussed“So, William Blake, who you quoted, he had he had songs of of innocence and songs of experience, but he didn't see innocence as a commodity that was replaced by experience.”
Where to get it
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The Blue Cliff Record
Discussed“we have the Blue Cliff record with hundreds of numbered coens all commented on by various then Masters through the centuries but actually they're everywhere”
Where to get it
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The prelude
The Prelude by William Wordsworth is a monumental, book-length autobiographical poem that chronicles the spiritual and intellectual development of the renowned romantic poet.
Discussed“So he has this beautiful line at the beginning of this passage and the prelude is 300 pages of Blackber.”
Where to get it
Books David Whyte wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Create Beautiful Writing — David Whyte | How I Write | 2025-07-23 | 3 |
| #781: David Whyte, Poet — Spacious Ease, Irish Koans, Writing in Delirium, and Revelations from a Yak Manger | The Tim Ferriss Show | 2024-12-05 | 12 |
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“to to William Blake innocence was not a commodity that was going to be replaced by experience innocence was your ability to be found by the world in ever greater and greater ways”
“and his prize possession was this very thick book of Illustrated Blake Engravings oh nice yeah it must have cost a fortune actually for him because they were very poor”
“and in the letter she said in those last few weeks he was experiencing everything he'd read in Blake he was conversing with his angels and so I wrote this poem tanagar”