Person
Every book Kevin Kelly recommended on podcasts
Across 7 podcasts. Every show Kevin Kelly appears on, in one place — not just one.
Kevin Kelly’s most recommended books
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- A Writer's Time, a Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision Through Revision, 1st, First Edition by Kenneth Atchity
- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport
- The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink
- Europe Through the Back Door by Rick Steves
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- South-East Asia on a Shoestring by Tony Wheeler
- To Sell Is Human by Daniel H. Pink
Kevin Kelly appeared on podcasts such as The Tim Ferriss Show, How I Write, and The Rich Roll Podcast to discuss writing, creative processes, and career development. Kelly recommended Daniel H. Pink's graphic novel The Adventures of Johnny Bunko as career counsel advice aimed at teaching young people how to become indispensable. He also recommended Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You, stating that it changed his mind about the new-age California dogma of following one's bliss. For fiction, Kelly named Gregory David Roberts's Shantaram as his favorite book. In addition, he recommended Kenneth Atchity's A Writer's Time to discuss the infinite nature of creative work and time management. Kelly also mentioned Henry David Thoreau's Walden while talking about minimalist living and building a shelter, referred to his own book Excellent Advice for Living while sharing guidance on life and fame, and cited Daniel H. Pink's To Sell Is Human to illustrate his changing perspective on sales and marketing.
Books recommended by Kevin Kelly
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Excellent Advice for Living
Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly is a popular book of concise maxims, rules of thumb, and wisdom covering careers, relationships, parenting, finances, and personal innovation.
Discussed“So so I've concluded this is not in my advice book but this is a piece of advice I have now...”
Where to get it
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Walden
Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a classic transcendentalist masterwork detailing the author's experiences living in a cabin near Concord, Massachusetts, while reflecting on nature, solitude, and self-reliance.
Discussed“and I think trying that out you know building your house on the pond like the row mhm a hero of mine in high school is not just a simple exercise”
Where to get it
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Out Of Control
Out Of Control by Kevin Kelly is a visionary book exploring the convergence of technology, biology, and social systems, famously arguing that human-made machines and natural biological organisms share the same underlying dynamic principles.
Discussed“Out Of Control was based from a conference that was initiated by a conference I went to at Los Alamos, and Santa Fe was hosting one of the first conferences.”
Where to get it
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A Writer's Time, a Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision Through Revision, 1st, First Edition
A Writer's Time, a Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision Through Revision by Kenneth Atchity is a practical manual designed to help writers navigate every stage of the writing and revision process.
Recommended“And, um, there's a great book called The Writer's Time. Stuart Brand turned me on to it when he was writing his first book.”
Where to get it
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Shantaram
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a sweeping, voluminous novel that follows an Australian fugitive's intense adventures, redemption, and deep personal transformations in the slums and underworld of Bombay.
Recommended“do you have a favorite fiction book yes oh fantastic this i usually don't get one answer this is great yeah shanton ah shantam it might take me a way to explain this”
Where to get it
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So Good They Can't Ignore You
So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport is a career guide arguing that developing rare and valuable skills is far more important for finding fulfilling work than simply following one's passion.
Recommended“well there is a book that I'm recommending by C Newport is called so good that can't ignore you this changed my mind because I kind of bought into the kind of new age California dogma of follow your bliss”
Where to get it
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The Adventures of Johnny Bunko
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H.
Recommended“there is a short graphic novel by Daniel pink called junco uhhuh and it's career counsel advice it's aimed at young people it's graphic novel it's a cartoon basically and it's aim at young people is trying to teach them how to become indispensable”
Where to get it
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Europe Through the Back Door
Discussed“there was this um guy named Rick Steves who was self-publishing a book about Europe Europe the back door”
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“and you know, like if you look at the weird things of suits with JK Rowling and Harry Potter and Muggles and stuff, there were tons”
Where to get it
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Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman's groundbreaking poetry collection Leaves of Grass celebrates nature, the human body, and the democratic spirit through a revolutionary free-verse style.
Discussed“and I happened to read Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and and it just blew my gasket”
Where to get it
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South-East Asia on a Shoestring
Discussed“and there was um Tony and Maureen wheeler who had a little stapled book called Lonely Planet shoestring guy to the southeast Asia and I was importing them my little catalog”
Where to get it
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To Sell Is Human
To Sell Is Human by Daniel H.
Discussed“I think Dan Pink wrote a book, um, to sell is to human. And, and I really kind of have, have come, have arrived there to”
Where to get it
Books Kevin Kelly wrote
- Excellent Advice for Living
- What Technology Wants
- Vanishing Asia : Three Volume Set
- Out Of Control
- The Inevitable
- Cool Tools in the Kitchen
- New rules for the new economy
Appearances
Other mentions (12: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I want to put in a plug for my very first book out of control which was about that entanglement”
“yes so this is a one of the many resources that I recommend in my book Cool Tools MH and Cool Tools is a big catalog of possibilities”
“So I wrote a book called Out of Control that was published in 94. It was written late 80s and early 90s. And I had a whole chapter”
“So one of my books, The New Rules for the New Economy, which has been very overlooked. You have a great article about that.”
“I just did this book of advice and that was one of the the main topics was that active listening which is an important I would say caveat that is an active listening rather than just a passive listening”
“I have a friend who well his name is Hugh Howie he's now uh this week last week his new story was put on to Amazon Prime The Silo stories”
“I wrote a book called The Inevitable so I am obviously biased in that general direction”
“and so that kind of advice I'm very reluctant to give and I must never answer because I don't feel I know that person well enough I can give them a platitude like my book is filled with saying here's my piece of advice for a young person who is studying out”
“where's the best place to see Vanishing Asia now um so my book kind of Records the places in the world that”
“I wrote a book called The Inevitable”
“I wrote a book called what technology wants which was primarily trying to ask this question of what are the general directions in the evolution of technology”
“So, he's my hero, and he just had a recent book, a biography written about him by John Markoff, The New York Times' tech writer, and Markoff's theory is — and so anyway, Stewart has been sort of at the center or at the leading edge of almost, first the beatniks, and then the hippies, and then the digital thing”