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Josh Clark’s book recommendations in 2025

142 books · 84 episodes · Josh Clark’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2025, newest first

What We Lost When We Lost Home Ec

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-30

The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger · discussed · at 22:07

Selects: How Miniature Golf Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-27

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift · discussed · at 15:42

Doggerland: Lost at Sea

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-18

A Story of The Stone Age by H.G. Wells · discussed · at 6:54

Selects: Star Wars Holiday Spectacular

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-13

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor · recommended · at 51:58

SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Monopoly Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-12

The Monopoly Companion by Philip Orbanes · discussed · at 1:33
The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle by Ralph Anspach · discussed · at 51:53

The Brutal History of Prison Labor

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-12-02

Utopia by Thomas More · discussed · at 3:11
12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup · discussed · at 6:42
Beloved by Toni Morrison · recommended · at 27:12
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! by Robert Elliott Burns · discussed · at 30:14

Julia Child, la Grandes Gourmande

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-27

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child · discussed · at 20:14
The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich · discussed · at 23:07

Graffiti: So Cool It’s A Pillar of Hip Hop | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-26

Subway Art by Martha Cooper · recommended · at 25:14

Short Stuff: Victorian Flower Language

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-19

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen · discussed · at 4:22
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen · discussed · at 5:20

Selects: How Personality Tests Work

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-15

Psychological Types by Carl Jung · discussed · at 8:22

Short Stuff: Third Man Syndrome

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-12

South! by Ernest Shackleton · discussed · at 4:48
The Third Man Factor by John Geiger · discussed · at 7:08
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson · discussed · at 8:23

The Mystery of the Death Valley Germans

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-06

The Collected Works of Karl May: v. 1. In the desert. v. 2. The caravan of death. v. 3. The secret brotherhood. v. 4. The evil saint. v. 5. The black Persian by Karl May · discussed · at 6:09

What To Do With All This Nuclear Waste?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-04

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky · recommended · at 37:42

Selects: How Extinction Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-11-01

1493 by Charles C. Mann, Charles Mann · recommended · at 23:37
1491 by Charles C. Mann, Charles Mann · recommended · at 23:37

Short Stuff: The Bell Witch

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-29

The Bell Witch by Pat Fitzhugh · recommended · at 0:44

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Masterpiece

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-28

Dazed by Vanessa Morgan · discussed · at 1:01:07

Selects: How ESP Works (?)

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-18

The Dead Zone by Stephen King · discussed · at 8:27
Futility by Morgan Robertson · discussed · at 19:29

Selects: How Schoolhouse Rock Rocked: Featuring Bob Nastanovich of Pavement

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-11

Good-bye Mr. Chips by James Hilton · discussed · at 34:00

Everyone Deserves A Good Death

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-09

On Life After Death by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross · discussed · at 6:36
On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross · discussed · at 6:36
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker · discussed · at 7:14

Selects: How Mail Order Marriages Work

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-04

Buying a Bride by Marcia A. Zug · discussed · at 8:14

The Mystery of the Sleepy Sickness

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-02

Awakenings by Oliver Sacks · discussed · at 19:20

Why Would Anyone Want to Appease Hitler?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-30

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler · discussed · at 7:19

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-30

The Day the Children Vanished by Hugh Pentecost · discussed · at 14:34
The Chowchilla Kidnapping: Why Me? by Larry Park · discussed · at 18:19

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tylenol Murders, Part II | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-30

Joint public hearing, California Legislature, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare and Assembly Committee on Health in the matter of adulteration of over-the-counter drugs--the Tylenol poisonings by California. Legislature. Senate. Committee on Health and Welfare. · discussed · at 42:15

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: SYSK Live: The DB Cooper Heist | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-30

Pursuit of D.B. Cooper by J. D. Reed · discussed · at 1:01:21

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Strange Unsolved Murder of Ken McElroy | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-29

In broad daylight by Harry N. MacLean · discussed · at 2:11

Selects: How Area 51 Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-27

Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen, Annie Jacobsen · discussed · at 38:21

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Harrowing Story of the North Hollywood Shootout

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-26

The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko · discussed · at 47:03

A Tribute To The Far Side

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-25

The Prehistory of The Far Side by Gary Larson · discussed · at 36:40

You’re So Good At Conversation!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-11

Full Metal Jacket Diary by Matthew Modine · discussed · at 16:05
Infinite jest by David Foster Wallace · discussed · at 46:59

The Man with the Golden Arm

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-09

Biblical by Rob Halford · recommended · at 30:20

America’s Militarized Police

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-04

The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx · discussed · at 46:34

How Dolphins Work!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-09-02

Blackfish by Elvis Alves · recommended · at 40:19
The Cove by Cynthia Richards M D · discussed · at 47:31

What are Blue Zones?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-28

The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner · discussed · at 17:51

Short Stuff: 1561 Celestial Event

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-27

Flying Saucers by Carl Gustav Jung · discussed · at 4:25
The Pirotechnia by Vannoccio Biringucci · discussed · at 7:48

Private Equity: Your Ears Will Bleed

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-21

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand · discussed · at 33:34

Short Stuff: The Lost (?) Continent of Lemuria

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-20

The Geography of Mammals by William Lutley Sclater · discussed · at 0:58
The History of Creation by Ernst Haeckel · discussed · at 3:03
The Secret Doctrine by Helena P. Blavatsky · discussed · at 6:43

The Unsolved Murder of Hall and Mills

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-19

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald · discussed · at 2:08

Selects: Is birth order important?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-08-02

Born to Rebel by Frank J. Sulloway · discussed · at 33:05

Child Prodigies: Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-31

Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin · recommended · at 38:08

Short Stuff: Bliss Point

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-30

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss · discussed · at 1:26

Selects: What exactly is stoicism?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-19

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith · discussed · at 43:05
Courage Under Fire by James B. Stockdale · discussed · at 45:21

Sherlock Holmes: The Man, The Myth

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-08

The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle · discussed · at 1:20
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle · discussed · at 5:42
A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle · discussed · at 6:15
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle · discussed · at 35:13
Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle · discussed · at 35:25

What was the purpose of USAID? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-07

The Ugly American by William J. Lederer · discussed · at 11:56

The Phil Hartman Story

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-07-01

You Might Remember Me by Mike Thomas · recommended · at 1:42
You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman by Unknown · recommended · at 1:42

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Stuntmen (and -women) Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-30

The Full Burn by Kevin Conley · discussed · at 32:06
Fight Choreography by John Kreng · discussed · at 32:08
Stuntman! by Hal Needham · discussed · at 32:12

Shameful History: Project 100,000

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-24

McNamara's Folly by Hamilton Gregory · discussed · at 0:53
Forrest Gump by Winston Groom · discussed · at 14:03
In Retrospect by Robert S. McNamara · discussed · at 35:27

Selects: The Great Nuclear Winter Debate of 1983

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-21

Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway · recommended · at 46:34

Who are the Zizians?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-19

Worm by Jill Bailey · discussed · at 8:42

The Fencing Of The Commons

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-17

Utopia by Thomas More · discussed · at 15:13
An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus · discussed · at 33:42

Pagans, Neo-Pagans, Wiccans – Let’s Sort It Out!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-06-03

The Golden Bough by James George Frazer · discussed · at 25:19

Selects: Yeti: The Asian Bigfoot

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-31

Folk Tales of Sherpa and Yeti by Shiva Dhakal, Yuyutsu Sharma · discussed · at 4:13
My Quest for the Yeti by Reinhold Messner · discussed · at 14:02
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes · discussed · at 35:42

Popcorn: Who doesn't love it?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-22

Popped Culture by Andrew F. Smith · recommended · at 42:43

Faking Your Own Death: We All Do It, But Why?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-20

Playing Dead by Elizabeth Greenwood · recommended · at 7:40

The Cliffs Notes on Cliffs Notes

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-15

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne · discussed · at 1:49
Moby Dick by Herman Melville · discussed · at 36:59

We Got to Sesame Street | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-14

The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone · discussed · at 39:26
Alibaba by Hong Shen · discussed · at 43:50
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Unknown · discussed · at 43:50

Chinese Food: Best Food?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-29

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay · discussed · at 49:06

Give My Regards to the Broadway Episode!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-24

Little Johnny Jones by George M. Cohan · discussed · at 1:11
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot · discussed · at 27:35

Short Stuff: Alternative Libraries

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-23

The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier · discussed · at 1:07

Richard III: Good Guy or Evil Putz?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-22

Richard III by William Shakespeare · discussed · at 0:08
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey · discussed · at 28:53
Richard III by Unknown · discussed · at 29:41

Selects: Adidas v. Puma: A Sibling Rivalry | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-22

The Practice by Barbara Schmidt · discussed · at 39:32

What Makes Disaster Films Great

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-17

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton · discussed · at 22:03
Airport by Arthur Hailey · discussed · at 22:28
Hotel by Arthur Hailey · discussed · at 22:31

Kim Philby: Greatest Liar of All Time?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-15

A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre · recommended · at 2:00
A Spy Among Friends Kim Philby And The Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre · recommended · at 2:00
Kim by Rudyard Kipling · discussed · at 2:29

Behavioral Priming: Buy, Robot Human!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-10

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman · discussed · at 32:18
Summary of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein, better me · discussed · at 33:48
Happiness by P. Richard G. Layard, Richard Layard · discussed · at 33:49

Selects: Agatha Christie: Queen of the Murder Mystery

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-04-05

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 3:44
Crooked House by Agatha Christie · recommended · at 5:32
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 19:47
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, Ken Ludwig · discussed · at 19:47
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 40:10
Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 41:05
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 46:49
Curtain by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 47:42
Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie · discussed · at 47:42

Selects: The Deal With Doulas

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-03-29

The Tender Gift by Dana Raphael · discussed · at 4:40

Selects: Seven - No, Wait, Five - Mysteries of the Art World

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-03-22

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier · discussed · at 16:53
Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith · discussed · at 29:26
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler · discussed · at 39:49

The Chelsea Hotel

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-03-18

Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters · discussed · at 4:06
You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe · discussed · at 11:53

Short Stuff: Fanta - Nazi Favorite?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-26

For God, country and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast · discussed · at 4:46

Who Put Bella In the Wych Elm?

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-25

Witch Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray · discussed · at 13:35
Murder by witchcraft by Donald McCormick · discussed · at 25:05

Harry Belafonte: The Real Deal

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-18

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois · discussed · at 8:26

The History of Refrigeration

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-11

Walden by Henry David Thoreau · discussed · at 17:08

Selects: Robber Barons!

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-08

The Gilded Age by Mark Twain · discussed · at 17:41

The Tragedy of the Commons

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-06

Lifeboat Ethics by Garrett James Hardin · discussed · at 10:02
Governing the Commons by Elinor Ostrom · discussed · at 30:56

The Catacombs of Paris

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-02-04

Gong This Book! The Uncensored History of Television's Wildest Talent Show by Adam Nedeff · recommended · at 45:46

10ish Instances of People Doing Things Out Of Spite

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-30

A Dictionary of Saintly Women by Agnes Baillie Cuninghame Dunbar · discussed · at 1:48

The Gullibility Episode

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-28

Annals of Gullibility by Stephen Greenspan · discussed · at 5:26
Not Born Yesterday by Hugo Mercier · discussed · at 38:15

How Automats Worked | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-28

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg · discussed · at 41:17

Short Stuff: Bourgeoisie

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-15

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx · discussed · at 2:42
Tartuffe and the Bourgeois Gentleman by Molière · discussed · at 7:37

Selects: How Mindfulness Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-11

No Mud, No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh · recommended · at 10:02

The Mysterious Story of Larry Bader

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-09

Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson · discussed · at 34:47

GONG: The Chuck Barris Story

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-07

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind by Chuck Barris · discussed · at 3:22
You and Me Babe by Chuck Barris · discussed · at 17:36
BAD GRASS NEVER DIES by Chuck Barris · discussed · at 39:55

How Saturn Works

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-02

Surya Siddhanta by Bharadwaj Sudhikant · discussed · at 2:52

Selects: The Three Christs of Ypsilanti Experiment | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Stuff You Should Know · 2025-01-01

The three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach · discussed · at 3:35

Other mentions in 2025 (38: passing, ad reads, own books)