No Stupid Questions

But did you read Francis Fukuyama's book in the 90s trust?

No, I didn't read trust.

But you heard of it, right? Maybe. Because it's like a big deal.

The idea was that it really is the bedrock of any civilization and then like the end of history will be the end of trust.

And I thought about this, did you ever read Boys in the Boat?

You're only free when you realize you belong no place. You belong every place. No place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.

There's this man named Jesse Itzler, and he's written some books about life with a seal.

He talks about every year having a year-defining event.

Terry Pratchett in one of his books said it was just noises one human makes to another to say, I'm alive and so are you.

He's a very famous Stanford professor and he studies animal behavior and animals, of course, include humans.

He's quite prolific called Determined, a science of life without free will.

And by the way, they've all been thought of.

But Sapolsky's argument is that if you write down a piece of paper, every possible argument, you're like, what about quantum mechanics?

And he's written other books, as I mentioned.

it's like I don't have any ideas all day but then when I get in the shower my brain is full of cool stuff I think it's the water or something

could be the water or it could be that the shower is the only place you're not plugged in so you can hear your own thoughts in there

this is called 'thinking' and it's something folks did before google

I was recently reading an amazing book called The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker.

I've given more copies of this book away than any other book.

I read it and I thought it was phenomenal.

I think it's pretty uncomfortable for a lot of people.

You have to decide who is it for.

He, like the psychologist Steven Pinker. Oh, I love him, by the way. He's brilliant. Yeah, I mean, I don't know Steven Pinker at all, but his book Enlightenment Now.

He's like, you know, we all run around like chicken littles and think the sky is falling. And he basically says like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody. We live in the most glorious age of all time. Prosperous, safe.

I'm sure you're familiar with Arthur Brooks' book, From Strength to Strength.

I read it.

So I think this is most easily understood probably in terms of athletics, or at least for me. At some point, most athletes, professional athletes, depending on the sport, but somewhere in your 30s, it's kind of game over.

And he was reading a book called Free Will by Sam Harris, which he gave me.

Claims that Free Will does not exist, that it is a necessary illusion that helps you kind of process your life.

And Sam Harris actually if you listen to any of his podcasts or anything, he says if this is going to be hard for you to think about the idea that Free Will doesn't exist.

He goes through at the beginning of his book, this terrible murder that happened.

I think there's a reason why these arguments are made.

It's jam--that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you

The nurse in question is Australian palliative care provider, Brani Ware, author of the 2012 memoir, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends. I wish I'd let myself be happier. And finally, I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday made more money than your novel Catch 22 has earned in its entire history and Heller responds he said I feel fine because I have something he will never have I have enough

She listened to the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Do you know that book?

As we noted in our recent episode on Temptation, the three-toed sloth is actually the slowest mammal according to the Guinness Book of World Records, PBS and National Geographic.

They say that like humor and laughter are among the most valuable tools we have to strengthen bonds, like we've talked about, diffuse stress and tension, boost resilience and help us perform when the stakes are high.

And they basically dive into four deadly humor myths, they call it.

These authors write, today's employees yearn for more authentic human leaders. Humor is a powerful leadership strategy to humanize oneself, break down barriers and balance authority with approachability.

And they specifically talk about self-deprecating humor and the power of that.

Have you ever read The Elegance of the Hedgehog?

It's a beautiful novel written incredibly well.

And then it has this line, in the moment where I had at last come to life, I was merely pitied.

This is like so great and she feels seen and individuated. Where was the pity?

But she looks up into her teacher's eyes and realizes that what she thought was love or compassion was actually just pity.

The second book we ever read is I think maybe the most perfect book ever written.

It's called Beartown by Friedrich Bachmann.

who is maybe my favorite fiction author.

I've read Beartown, I think three times.

It's about a hockey club in Sweden where it's everything in this small town and goes into issues of parenting, immigration, homosexuality, sexual assault, on and on and on.

And in the way that only Friedrich Bachmann can, paints this amazing picture and helps you understand life in a really different way.

no book has come up more frequently in subsequent discussions, whether we're reading science fiction or poetry or about race relations.

A really boring nonfiction book about passion and perseverance.

Or an amazing book called Grit.

but it comes up more frequently than any other book.

I've read Anxious People three times.