Person
Every book Josh Barnett recommended on podcasts
Josh Barnett appears on long-form discussion programs like The Joe Rogan Experience as a professional martial artist, analyst, and avid reader who frequently explores philosophy, political science, sociology, and historical patterns of societal organization. During his podcast appearances, Barnett often recommends dense, specialized texts that analyze the mechanics of power, propaganda, and human behavior. To help listeners understand political elite theory, Barnett recommended James Burnham's The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom as an accessible entry point into the thinking of Italian elite theorists. To explain why organizations naturally trend toward oligarchy, he suggested reading Robert Michels's Political Parties. In examining public perception, media manipulation, and propaganda, Barnett recommended Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion alongside Edward Bernays's Propaganda and Public Relations. Furthermore, Barnett delves into philosophical critiques of modernity and societal decline, recommending Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra and On the Genealogy of Morals to explore concepts like the last man. To complement these Nietzschean themes, he suggested René Guénon's The Crisis of the Modern World. Through these extensive and sophisticated recommendations, Barnett demonstrates a deep engagement with political science and philosophy, offering his audience a reading list focused on understanding the systemic forces that shape civilization, governance, and mass psychology.
Books recommended by Josh Barnett
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No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy is a dark, suspenseful novel that examines violence, fate, and moral decay in the American West through the cat-and-mouse chase between a hunter and a ruthless killer.
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 work by Friedrich Nietzsche that explores themes of the Overman, the evolution of human consciousness, and the rejection of traditional morality.
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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Public opinion
Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann is a foundational 1922 text that examines the formation of public perception, the mechanics of mass propaganda, and the severe limitations of democratic citizenry in an increasingly complex industrial world.
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: Defenders of Freedom
The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom by James Burnham is a political science text that examines the realist theories of power developed by thinkers such as 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 notoriously brutal and visceral 20th-century American novel set along the Texas-Mexico border, often described as a hellish masterpiece reminiscent of Dante's Inferno.
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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Das Capital Volume One
Das Capital Volume One by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical text of economics and political philosophy that critiques the capitalist mode of production and commodity fetishism.
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 is an autobiographical manifesto by Adolf Hitler outlining his political ideology and future plans for Germany.
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, tactical thinking, and martial 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
Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West is a massive historical and philosophical work that posits civilizations operate in cyclical patterns akin to biological organisms, rising and eventually falling.
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 vast system of Soviet forced labor camps through personal testimonies and historical 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 |
| #981 - Josh Barnett | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2017-06-28 | 2 |
Other mentions (2: 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”
“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”