Person
Every book Josh Barnett recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Josh Barnett appears on, in one place — not just one.
Joshua Lawrence Barnett is an American former mixed martial artist, submission wrestler, professional wrestler, and color commentator. Barnett previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the youngest-ever UFC Heavyweight Champion. Barnett was the final Openweight King Of Pancrase, a finalist in both the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix and the 2012 Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship Grand Prix. He has also competed in Affliction, World Victory Road, DREAM and Impact FC. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Barnett recommended a wide-ranging list of philosophical and political texts concerning human behavior, propaganda, and elite theory. To understand societal decline and philosophical concepts of the modern era, he recommended Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra alongside René Guénon's The Crisis of the Modern World. For insights into public perception, media manipulation, and political organization, Barnett suggested Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion, Edward Bernays's Propaganda and Public Relations, Robert Michels's Political Parties, and James Burnham's The Machiavellians.
Books recommended by Josh Barnett
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No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy is a gripping modern Western thriller following a hunter who stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and a relentless, calculating killer named Anton Chigurh.
Recommended“and this is which also is part of the reason why i like no country for old men so much which i felt was a great great great movie even better book”
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.
Recommended“you want to understand this go read the spoken serathustra”
Where to get it
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Being and Time
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger is a monumental and notoriously dense work of twentieth-century philosophy that investigates the fundamental nature of human existence, or Dasein, through the lens of time and mortality.
Recommended“and I'm also a big fan of Heidegger so like being towards death knowing that this is inescapable”
Where to get it
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On the Genealogy of Morals
On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche is a foundational philosophical text that investigates the historical evolution of moral concepts, specifically contrasting master and slave morality.
Recommended“and part of what genon and nietzsche and you know nietzsche's concept is the last man and this is you know you want to understand this go read the spoken serathustra uh with get on start with crisis of the modern world with uh spengler probably man and technics is the is the easiest one to get with if you”
Where to get it
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Political Parties
Political Parties by Robert Michels is a classic sociological study examining the internal power structures of organizations and political parties.
Recommended“go read political parties by robert mckells”
Where to get it
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Propaganda
Propaganda by Edward L.
Recommended“go read edward bernays's propaganda”
Where to get it
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Public opinion
Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann is a foundational political science text published in 1922 that examines how media, stereotypes, and psychological biases shape the thoughts and actions of the citizenry in a modern industrial democracy.
Recommended“you know read walter littman's uh public opinion”
Where to get it
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The Crisis of the Modern World
The Crisis of the Modern World by René Guénon is a foundational text of Traditionalist philosophy that critiques modern materialism and the spiritual decay of contemporary civilization.
Recommended“get on start with crisis of the modern world”
Where to get it
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The Machiavellians
The Machiavellians by James Burnham is a classic political science text that examines the realities of power, elite theory, and the mechanics of governance through the lens of thinkers like Machiavelli, Mosca, Sorel, Michels, and Pareto.
Recommended“read james burnham's machiavellians it is the easiest way to get familiarized with the cons with the thinkings of the what's called the italian elite theorists”
Where to get it
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The Outfit
The Outfit by Richard Stark is a classic hardboiled crime fiction novel featuring the relentless professional thief Parker, known for its gritty realism and taut pacing.
Recommended“derived from a book by called the outfit by ah what is his name uh i forget but darwin cook the comics illustrator he did donald westlake wrote so darwin cooked is does an amazing comic book send up of darwin cook's novels And they are fucking incredible”
Where to get it
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Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is a harrowing and visceral historical novel that depicts the extreme violence and bleak reality of the American West through the harrowing journey of a runaway teenager known as the kid.
Discussed“and i think the one of the best explanations i ever got from this and another person very impactful on my life and outlook and thinking about things cormac mccarthy and so in blood meridian there's this fantastic speech about war given by the judge which there's a ton of fantastic speeches on things given by the judge all that”
Where to get it
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Brave New World
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a chilling dystopian masterpiece that envisions a technologically advanced future society sustained by pharmacological distraction, engineered conformity, and the systematic eradication of deep human emotion and critical thought.
Discussed“and then it was also a major element within Aldous Huxley's brave new world which and that was based on that”
Where to get it
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Das Capital Volume One
Das Capital Volume One by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical text examining the critique of political economy, the mechanics of capitalism, and the dynamics of labor and surplus value.
Discussed“until one day you know I look over and I'm like huh Das Kapital”
Where to get it
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Das Kapital
Das Kapital by Karl Marx is a monumental three-volume economic and social analysis of capitalism, the commodification of labor, and the alienating effects of industrial modernization.
Discussed“you know she's from she might to Berkeley so it wasn't something that I ever saw especially to begin with it didn't seem like that was what I was in store for until one day you know I look over and I'm like huh Das Kapital Well yeah I think we reading Marx is interesting and I think it's worthwhile”
Where to get it
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Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E.
Discussed“you brought up frankel and i'm like yeah frankel's dope answers for meaning uh maslow's great and and i talked to you about how i started to think like man do the ability for human beings to to to live and or potentially flourish in the worst environments you can think of is pretty incredible in and of itself and”
Where to get it
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Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and Stephen R.
Discussed“for example i've been recently reading mineconf you know what that's the thing even there's something in there's probably things in mineconf that are not the surface level Read if you get all hung up on on all probably all his crap about uh you know his anger anger at jews and this and that all this crap It's like”
Where to get it
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Storm of Steel
Discussed“you know reading a storm of seal by Ernst humor and you're reading this guy's take on being in World War one”
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.
Discussed“cuz I got into the book of five rings again”
Where to get it
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The Decline of the West
The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler, Arthur Helps, and Charles Francis Atkinson is a monumental historical and philosophical work that argues civilizations go through a predictable cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and ultimate decay.
Discussed“and oswald spengler in the decline of the west volume we wrote two whole giant books on this”
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“I mean when he talks about whatever he's talking about word you know he's talking about Gulag Archipelago or anything he's talking about it from a place of profound understanding”
Where to get it
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The Hagakure
The Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo and D.
Discussed“to be perfectly honest i mean reading the hagakure going back to philosophy books This was really impactful on me as a younger adult Because here's a book written in the 19th century about someone who lived through the 19th and 18th century at times as a samurai now a monk And his objections to society at the time the”
Where to get it
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Wrestling Tough
Wrestling Tough by Mike Chapman is a notable sports book detailing the intense mental discipline, psychology, and physical demands required of elite wrestlers.
Discussed“there's a book called wrestling tough yeah this is a really good book there's i've encountered in my life a few especially in wrestling people who really tried to find a way to use anger to get really angry at their opponent”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Rogan Experience #1797 - Josh Barnett | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2024-06-27 | 9 |
| #165 – Josh Barnett: Philosophy of Violence, Power, and the Martial Arts | Lex Fridman Podcast | 2021-03-01 | 8 |
| #1503 - Josh Barnett | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2020-07-07 | 6 |
| JRE MMA Show #34 with Josh Barnett | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2018-07-09 | 1 |
| #981 - Josh Barnett | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2017-06-28 | 2 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's like well you could always pick a book and read out about read about it clearly it's called the torah”