Person
Every book Neal Brennan recommended on podcasts
Neal Brennan is an American comedian and podcaster. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show from 2003 to 2006 with Dave Chappelle and for his Netflix stand-up comedy special 3 Mics in 2017. Throughout his multiple appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience, Brennan has discussed a variety of books that touch upon media, psychology, and social commentary. He brought up Neil Postman's 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, noting that he intended to add it to his reading list for its discourse on the age of show business. Brennan also mentioned Bessel van der Kolk's book The Body Keeps the Score during a discussion about somatic trauma release and how physical trauma is stored within the body. Additionally, he referenced Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows to examine the negative impacts of social media on human attention and thinking patterns. Discussing broader cultural artifacts, Brennan mentioned J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye to illustrate how individuals can misinterpret art, and he referenced Bill Carter's book The Late Shift while sharing stories about television host David Letterman.
Books recommended by Neal Brennan
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is a seminal media ecology critique arguing that television and modern visual media degrade public discourse by reducing serious thought to mere entertainment.
Discussed“what's his name again neil postman i'm putting that in my book list um amusing ourselves today yes discourse uh in the age of show business from 1985”
Where to get it
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The Body Keeps the Score
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is an influential exploration of how trauma physically impacts the brain and body, offering pathways to healing through modern science and therapy.
Discussed“it's like this guy peter levine wrote a book called the body keeps the score which is like the body stores trauma and then if you do traumatic release it'll like shake it out”
Where to get it
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The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye by J.
Discussed“and uh uh the salinger book the catching the ride because that's responsible for killing lenin shooting reagan”
Where to get it
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The Late Shift
The Late Shift by Bill Carter is a compelling journalistic book that chronicles the intense backstage drama and corporate warfare behind late-night television talk shows.
Discussed“I heard that too I heard that from my friend who's his assistant yeah he that's one of the reasons why he was the best yeah it's just the way it is yeah he would yeah there's a there was a story in that in that late night book The Late Shift that I think think it was in that”
Where to get it
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The Shallows
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr is an influential examination of how internet technology, web browsing, and social media alter human cognition, diminish deep reading capacity, and encourage superficial thinking.
Discussed“there's a book called the shallows about what social media does to us”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Rogan Experience #1823 - Neal Brennan | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2024-06-27 | 2 |
| #2135 - Neal Brennan | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2024-04-12 | 1 |
| #1298 - Neal Brennan | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2019-05-15 | 1 |
| #665 - Neal Brennan | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2015-06-25 | 1 |
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Howard zinn's history of America”
“no other than making a new one they did make it it came out it just wasn't that popular”
“I'm gonna go with Sun Also Rises and Moby Dick”
“I'm gonna go with Sun Also Rises and Moby Dick”
“and it's like men want it's the Scarface thing first get though the money then you get the power then you get the women”