Person
Every book Ian Crossland recommended on podcasts
Ian Crossland appeared on the podcast Timcast IRL to discuss and recommend several books and comics across multiple episodes. When talking about Chinese history and culture in the context of discussions surrounding totalitarianism, he recommended that listeners read Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Guanzhong Luo. He also highlighted Pyotr Wrangel's Always With Honor, describing it as the absolute best book available on the subject of civil war and revolution. For fans of martial arts, leadership strategy, and historical combat figures, Crossland recommended The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, noting its valuable insights into sword fighting and strategy despite a common mistranslation in the title. In addition to historical and strategic texts, Crossland expressed a strong appreciation for comic books, repeatedly praising Jim Starlin's The Infinity Gauntlet as one of the greatest comic book storylines ever written, specifically pointing to the original issues from the 1990s. Beyond these recommendations, he occasionally referenced childhood reading material and films, such as Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are and the tank combat film Fury, to illustrate personal anecdotes and thematic points during conversations.
Books recommended by Ian Crossland
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Rules for Radicals
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky is a notable political manual outlining strategies and tactics for community organizing and effecting social change.
Discussed“So, I'm real concerned is because in in the rules for radicals, when you read about a radical attempt at a communist takeover, you want to get your enemy to to do the mistake.”
Where to get it
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The infinity gauntlet
The Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin is a classic Marvel comic book miniseries that details the cosmic struggle against Thanos as he attempts to reshape reality using the power of the Infinity Stones.
Recommended“This is The Infinity Gauntlet episode number one or issue number one this is one of the greatest Comics ever written”
Where to get it
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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins is an exposé detailing how covert economic strategies, loans, and international financial institutions are used by powerful nations and corporate elites to manipulate and exploit developing countries.
Discussed“this is basically the confessions of the economic Hitman are you familiar with that book uh no actually I'm not”
Where to get it
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Ishmael
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is a philosophical novel that uses a telepathic gorilla to explore human civilization, environmental impact, and the societal divide between givers and takers.
Discussed“that sounds a lot like ishmail that book that Alex Jones quotes about the gorilla who psychic gorilla is like I'm a gorilla”
Where to get it
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The Art of War
The Art of War by Sun Tzu is an ancient military treatise on strategy, tactical awareness, and understanding adversaries that continues to guide modern readers in various fields.
Discussed“I'm playing the the global play the the art of war. I really take the art of war seriously.”
Where to get it
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Always with Honor
Always with Honor is a historical memoir by Pyotr Wrangel detailing military campaigns and the Russian Civil War from the perspective of an anti-communist general.
Recommended“go read Always With Honor by pyoto Rangel the best book on this subject whatsoever”
Where to get it
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Bibliography [of Works By] John Money, Ph. D. and Members the Psychohormonal Research Unit, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Dept. of Pediatrics, The John Hopkins University School of Medicine
Bibliography [of Works By] John Money, Ph.
Recommended“Ian you have so much more to unfold with Kinsey and look into John money they're Heroes to them and out sex ed is uh and our sex that is based off of it yeah John money's crazy yeah you're gonna love that yeah for real I worked with a guy named John money in La it's so funny really”
Where to get it
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Carnival of Fury
Carnival of Fury by William Ivy Hair is a historical account exploring social tensions and violence in early twentieth-century New Orleans.
Recommended“God knows you ever see the movie Fury. That's for everyone out there watching and you're into tanks go watch Fury. The craziest tank movie. Yeah, it's a really good movie. Dude, those you'll get a better idea of what you're talking about.”
Where to get it
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Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Guanzhong Luo and Kuan-chung Lo is a monumental historical novel written in the fourteenth century detailing the turbulent political struggles and wars of the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China.
Recommended“I read um the the Romance of the Three Kingdoms have you guys ever read this book it's it's worth the read”
Where to get it
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The Book of Five Rings
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi is a classic treatise on strategy, tactics, and philosophy written by a legendary seventeenth-century Japanese swordsman.
Recommended“The issue is there's a there's a book called The Book of five rings by um Miyamoto Musashi yes one of my favorite books excellent book on sword fighting by the greatest sword swordsman in Japan real person it's actually mistranslated it's supposed to be the book of five Scrolls”
Where to get it
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1984
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 presents a chilling vision of a totalitarian society characterized by perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and the systematic manipulation of historical truth and language.
Discussed“if you read 1984 the whole book is all your your country is at war overseas with an unknown unnamed opponent”
Where to get it
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A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'Engle's beloved children's science fantasy classic, A Wrinkle in Time, follows young Meg Murry as she journeys across space and time using a tesseract to rescue her scientist father from a malevolent cosmic entity.
Discussed“did you ever read a wrinkle in time I love that book it's my favorite the youngest 20 something the youngest brother goes and interfaces with the brain and then becomes part of the brain and it's like man he's just is the brain now it's completely taken over him”
Where to get it
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Altered Carbon
Altered Carbon is a science fiction novel by Richard Morgan that explores a futuristic world where human consciousness can be digitized and transferred between different physical bodies, or sleeves.
Discussed“Altered Carbon. Was that the name of the show? Yeah. Where you can download your brain into like a chip in your neck and then take it out and upload it to a different body.”
Where to get it
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An Analysis of the Kinsey Reports on Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male and Female. Edited by D.P. Geddes. [Essays by Various Authors.].
Discussed“I just learned about this Kinsey guy this uh learned about a little while ago this sex doctor from the 1930s 40s 50s and Hugh Hefner was his student yeah and they were overtly attempting to sexualize college kids like they would go to college campus we are going to sexualize society So I guess we're still seeing this yeah”
Where to get it
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Attack on Titan
Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan is a sweeping dark fantasy manga and anime series chronicling humanity's desperate fight for survival inside walled cities against gigantic humanoid creatures known as Titans.
Discussed“Haven't you guys seen Attack on Titan? No. We're We're We're We're basically Attack on Titan. Really?”
Where to get it
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Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey
Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood is a late 19th-century children's fantasy novel about a young aristocrat named Baron Trump navigating strange subterranean worlds.
Discussed“it's called Aaron Trump's marvelous underground Journey”
Where to get it
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Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead by Foy Scalf is an academic exploration of ancient Egyptian funerary texts and religious beliefs surrounding the afterlife, the underworld, and the journey of the soul.
Discussed“but then in ancient Egypt they talked about the underworld under the pyramids where Souls would go I think it's am Amoth or something in the the book of uh gosh the is it the Book of the Dead yeah they talk about it”
Where to get it
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Capital
Capital by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical and economic critique of capitalism, analyzing how commodities, labor, and capital interact within industrial economies.
Discussed“I was reading a book by Marx and he explains Capital”
Where to get it
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Covid-19: The Great Reset
Covid-19: The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret is a socio-political book exploring global restructuring in the wake of the pandemic.
Discussed“I'm starting to read uh the covid-19 the great reset Cloud Schwab book and thinking about how they really want to establish a world order out of what they believe is cast”
Where to get it
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Dianetics
Dianetics by L.
Discussed“And he was like do you know anything about scientology and I was like just what I've seen from the TV... so I actually bought dinetics”
Where to get it
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Fallout
Fallout by Ellen Hopkins explores complex young adult themes, though the title was also frequently used by podcast guests to reference the popular post-apocalyptic video game franchise.
Discussed“We were talking about Fallout the other day. The one thing I'll criticize the Fallout franchise on is what is meant to be this profound statement”
Where to get it
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Gender Queer
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is an autobiographical graphic novel that details the author's journey of gender identity and self-discovery.
Discussed“these are these are books that are rated this one right here genderqueers gender queer I don't know if you guys have seen we've had that in my testimony two days ago in the senate in Harrisburg 18 and up on Amazon but these books are in grade school libraries”
Where to get it
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Gorilla Mindset
Gorilla Mindset by Mike Cernovich is a self-help book focused on controlling thoughts and emotions to help readers live life on their own terms.
Discussed“mike you mentioned guerrilla mindset i just wanted to show this book this is your book and you wrote this in 2015.”
Where to get it
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the opening fantasy novel in J.K.
Discussed“like you know with all due respect to JK Rowling um it's the most overt Story Ever Told”
Where to get it
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Occupy
Discussed“the general Union which you're not going to read about in the Occupy books because they will lie and claim it never happened were regular people sleeping intense living in the park”
Where to get it
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On the Origin of Species
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is a foundational scientific text that outlines the theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
Discussed“Thus Spoke zarathusion is the book um but the idea was that you know Darwin had had put out his his uh Origin of Species and and people were understanding learning about Evolution”
Where to get it
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Pearl Jam - Ten
Discussed“I was therapeutically screaming Pearl Jam 10 the other night doing a release”
Where to get it
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Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a gripping science fiction novel that chronicles a lone astronaut's desperate mission to save humanity from an extinction-level threat.
Discussed“Well, is that the new Project Hail Mary movie where they try to rope him in, he says no. So, then they just like inject him with a serum and knock him.”
Where to get it
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Rage
Rage by Bob Woodward is an investigative non-fiction book that examines the Trump administration's handling of crises, race relations, and foreign diplomacy through extensive interviews and secret recordings.
Critiqued“oh can i point out this guy's book is called rage”
Where to get it
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Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a critically acclaimed epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg that depicts the brutal realities of the D-Day invasion and a subsequent dangerous mission to retrieve a paratrooper.
Discussed“Saving Private Ryan”
Where to get it
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Scoop
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is a classic 1938 satirical novel that lampoons the chaotic world of journalism and foreign correspondence.
Discussed“that's like that uh evelynwa novel scoop where all the journalists get sent to the war zone and you know the main character gets there and there's no war”
Where to get it
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Simulacra and Simulation
Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard is a philosophical treatise exploring the relationship between reality, symbols, and society in an increasingly mediated world.
Discussed“Oh uh so Jean Bodriard is was a French philosopher who wrote simulation and simmeracrim which is the book that uh they the wowskis read before the matrix before they did that.”
Where to get it
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The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto is a political pamphlet by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that outlines class struggle and the core tenets of communism.
Discussed“You think at the very least they went and inserted like a gardening manual in the communist manifesto like chapter 2. Like just sandwich in there. How to make food, a guide for communists.”
Where to get it
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The Creature from Jekyll Island
The Creature from Jekyll Island by G.
Discussed“in factاعات the the when you argue against the the Federal Reserve and and when you're talking about the you know the creature from Jackal Island and stuff the the argument you're essentially making is keep the government out of the banking industry because that's the first thing the government does to get into the economy”
Where to get it
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The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is a masterwork of high fantasy that launches the epic saga of Middle-earth and the quest to destroy the One Ring.
Discussed“you need only watch the fellowship of the ring and it's the scene in which bilbo baggins sees frodo buttoning up his shirt and the ring's there and he says let me hold it one last time”
Where to get it
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The fourth turning
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe presents a generational theory that views history through recurring cycles and seasons.
Discussed“as i point to the book you have in front of you the fourth turning yeah and we we talked about this with i think it was ben stewart right yes the the fourth turning”
Where to get it
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The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a monumental historical exposé documenting the brutal realities of the Soviet forced labor camp system through personal testimony and archival research.
Discussed“what's happening with crime and with property is exactly what suan niton wrote about”
Where to get it
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The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" imagines a totalitarian society where individual liberties are stripped away and women's bodies are heavily controlled.
Discussed“what's that handmaid's tale”
Where to get it
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The History of Civilization from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution
The History of Civilization from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution by François Guizot is a classic historical work tracing the political, social, and cultural evolution of Western society across centuries.
Discussed“Like when I'm looking at if this was a video game, which it's not obviously like a game of civilization, and you've got this one country that's this radical theocracy that's like hellbent on attacking, you know, like of course you have to you have to remove them from the the playing board if you want to win the game.”
Where to get it
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The Mars Project
Discussed“it's called Mars project reference a person named Elon that would bring humans to Mars pretty nuts”
Where to get it
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The Practice of System and Network Administration
Although the dialogue in the podcasts actually centered on the satirical 1976 film Network rather than Thomas A.
Discussed“Like that kind of like a fullon news what's that what's that movie from the 80s where he's like network. Yeah network or I'm mad as hell. I'm not going to take it anymore. One of the greatest movies ever.”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational text in classical economics that explores the nature and causes of national wealth through the division of labor, productivity, and free markets.
Discussed“and then later an Rand we understood that capitalism was the way reality needs to work because all the incentives run in the right direction”
Where to get it
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Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is a classic self-help guide focused on wealth creation, personal achievement, and the psychological principles of success.
Discussed“yeah dude i just know for humans because i read it in thinking grow rich and i think i've felt it a couple times it's it's flow state”
Where to get it
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Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a foundational philosophical masterpiece by Friedrich Nietzsche that introduces iconic concepts such as the Ubermensch, the eternal recurrence, and the death of God.
Discussed“Thus Spoke zarathusion is the book um but the idea was that you know Darwin had had put out his his uh Origin of Species”
Where to get it
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Wag the Dog
Wag the Dog by Larry Beinhart is a political satire novel about a fabricated war orchestrated to cover up a presidential sex scandal.
Discussed“or in Wag the Dog while they're like oh we're gonna have a war with Albania for to to cover up that the president slept with the Firefly girl”
Where to get it
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What Technology Wants
What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly is a compelling examination of the evolution of technology and its relationship with humanity.
Discussed“is you actually mentioned something that's in the book what technology wants and it's how how Evolution happens in spurts and and fits and stuff like that”
Where to get it
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Where the wild things are
Maurice Sendak's Where the wild things are is a beloved children's picture book that follows a young boy named Max on an imaginative journey to a land of fantastical creatures before returning safely to his bedroom.
Discussed“Like my brother's name is Max and we used to get this book read to us called Where the Wild Things Are.”
Where to get it
Books Ian Crossland wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (33: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I think liberals just in a second plug themselves in more so so they can be Harry Potter, but I think there are a lot of moderate to conservative types that won't go into the Matrix permanently the way we we think you know, many liberals would.”
“I don't know the extent of this power. I saw X-Men and I really liked that storm chick and now I can do that.”
“Silence of the Lambs over here with gay dudes telling me how hot I was. And uh my girlfriend at the time thought I was cute.”
“A girl played a guy in in uh 12th Night that I did.”
“And then we just show the book this is why you guus deserve less.”
“I'm going to quote a really old movie, Demolition Man with like Wesley Wesley Snipes and Stallone.”
“Yeah, he's talking about minority report. Precognition. Yeah, minority report.”
“Well, the future is the ring and not the not the horror film”
“It was Voyager that I was born to, not Deep Space Deep Space Nine, so.”
“What we do is we black the commies and then we put their admissions of their loyalty to Trump out like like Winston from 1984 except it's just their AI representation, right?”
“Rocky five in their brain or Rocky four in their brain for like hours and hours until they're until they're”
“G Gordon Levit. I'm thinking of of G Edward Griffin who wrote the creature from Jackal Island. What's up G ever?”
“I don't know how these people break out of it; that's why I'm so excited about the RFK Jr. thing though, because that is a sledgehammer to the 1984 TV screen of Big Brother.”
“pretty much since the soft coup of the Federal Reserve and these Jackal hide jackal jackal Island dudes you know JP Morgan and friends that it's like accept it”
“I'm sure I wouldn't be surprised if the same guys that built the Federal Reserve that tried to overthrow FDR in 1933 with the business plot that that made the Bankers Trust in 1903 like these Bankers JP Morgan Rockefeller Paul warberg”
“then the women are going to be playing 50 Shades of Gray”
“I was thinking about this recently this's a classic reference what do you mean you don't get it like bardus it's a Harry Potter man”
“I'll probably ask you what's the name of the book The January 6th book you did January 6th how Democrats used the capital protest to launch a war on terror against the political right”
“that's still from Game of Thrones yeah that that way it sounds cool”
“and if you haven't got a copy of my book yet writing in the dark it's really not it's very weird it was just like you wrote it in the dark literally in my car when I was homeless in New York at a very dark period of my life so there's metaphor there you know if you haven't ever”
“pick up my book writing in the dark if you don't have a copy yet you can get on Amazon and other places where books are sold”
“salts and eatsin talked about people being charged for arbitrary Evil under article 58 always for anti-soviet agitation man that's that's the guy who did the Goulet archipelago”
“I think you know the mistake that Jared Kushner made when he said that he was you know going to live forever be the last to die is that if there's one thing you want to avoid when you're hated by Millennial leftists is Harry Potter references and you know Voldemort was like only I can live forever”
“and then I think the sequel was called a wind in the door or something like that yeah wind at the door they made us they made a movie and then nobody wanted to see it yeah I I showed it to my nieces but I couldn't get into it it had Oprah in it”
“there's a word for a woman who sleeps with a man who's married uh I I don't know if I'm allowed to say that”
“he's got sapiens all of those people could be engineers and scientists and researchers and writers and singers and artists”
“aren't there 81 federal newspapers”
“also this is a book that i wrote i talked about it last night it's called writing in the dark it was like a kind of a diary when i was co-founding minds”
“also i got a book that i i wrote about i don't know 10 years ago or so now when we were starting minds uh i was one of the co-founders and i used to live i was living on the street for a while and i documented it and man it is a wild ride through my mind so”
“that's like the plot of 1984 part of it”
“he's notorious for having read the art of war i believe it was a big part of his move uh growing up in his business”
“because jack tweeted he he tweeted the the anatomy of the state by rothbard”
“i'm not sure the solution to the mass spreading of disinformation is but some solutions certainly seem more 1984 than others and then he made a joke all my political opinions are formed by feeding tweets into an algorithm which rates them on a scale of 1776 to 1984.”