The Bill Simmons Podcast
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The Bill Simmons Podcast

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons hosts the most downloaded sports podcast of all time, with a rotating crew of celebrities, athletes, and media staples, as well as mainstays like Cousin Sal, Joe House, and a slew of other friends and family members who always happen to be suspiciously available.

Episodes 125
Books 21
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Needful Things: The Last Castle Rock Story cover

Needful Things

Stephen King

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

He explained the upcoming book titled Rock, describing it as a fictional history of rock music spanning 1967 to 2002.

I have a book that's just called rock. It's a fictional history of rock music. It's fictional, but it starts in 1967 with the premise that the velvet underground's first record is released and immediately becomes 25 times more popular than the Beatles and the stones, and it completely alters all of the culture over the next many years and then ends in 2002 where 9/11 has been blamed on the strokes.

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Among the Thugs cover

Among the Thugs

Bill Buford

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

They said the book introduced them to hooligan soccer fans in the UK and called it an excellent sports book.

like the book, like Among the Thugs

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Stoner: 50th Anniversary Edition cover

Stoner

John Williams

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

He described it as a quiet novel about a man's life from the early 1900s, noting its deliberate style and that it was often recommended to him.

so a couple of weeks ago, um, I read this book. It's a book called stoner. You're familiar with this novel. No, my whole life, people have told me to read this book and I assumed it was because the guy must be stoned all the time. That's not what it is. It's just about the story of this guy. It starts in like, you know, early 1900s and kind of goes through his life and it's a really quiet novel.

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Butcher's Crossing (The Gregg Press Western Fiction Series) cover

Butcher's Crossing (The Gregg Press Western Fiction Series)

John Williams

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

He mentioned reading it after Stoner, noting its similar tone and that it reminded him of the earlier novel.

now I'm reading a book called butcher's crossing by the same author, similar kind of tone in some ways, but the way it reminded me of how you're reading these books, you know, everything about the way that guy's hair sits on his face, the way he walks into a room, all of these things, and it is, it's really deliberate.

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American Tall Tales cover

American Tall Tales

Mary Pope Osborne

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

He said he was reading Tall Tales by Terry Pluto and noted it as a good sports book.

I was completely baffled when this was initially thrown at me. I have a book that's just called tall tales by Terry Pluto. It's a really good sports book.

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Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota cover

Fargo Rock City

Chuck Klosterman

Mentioned 1 week ago

Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading

He recalled having a book titled Farger Rock City among his collection of VHS tapes and other memorabilia.

I remember I had these VHS tapes of different things from the eighties that I just recorded in real time, including three Letterman anniversary shows in a row... I had a whole bunch of stuff, like a whole bunch of games and just things... I had a book called Farger Rock City.

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Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition cover

Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places

Robert Young Pelton

Mentioned 3 weeks ago

A Crazy NBA Month With Zach Lowe, Plus Taylor Sheridan on Building a TV Empire and the Problems With Hollywood

The book was described as a travel guide for war correspondents that mixes cynicism, humor, and thoughtful insight, and the speaker found it fascinating.

there's a book that I had read many years prior to this called the world's most dangerous places. It's written by a guy named Robert Pelton Young. It's essentially a travel guide for war correspondents about every single place where there's a war going on in the world, and it's at times very cynical, at times laughoutloud funny, and at times very thoughtful.

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How to Not Die in Prison: A Survival Guide cover

How to Not Die in Prison

Taylor Sheridan

Mentioned 3 weeks ago

A Crazy NBA Month With Zach Lowe, Plus Taylor Sheridan on Building a TV Empire and the Problems With Hollywood

The new hardcover was announced as Sheridan's latest book, released on June 23, and it was highlighted as being currently available.

The book is called. I did not die in prison. It is out. It's out on hardcover right now, June 23rd.

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Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won cover

Scorecasting

Tobias J. Moskowitz

Mentioned 4 weeks ago

The Giannis Never-Trade and a Mega-Mailbag With Zach Lowe, Plus Wyndham Clark’s Second U.S. Open Title With Joe House

The hosts recalled using the book Scorecasting to analyze homefield advantage, noting that it highlighted referee bias as the biggest factor.

I remembered doing this at the time, I... the book Scorecasting when we were at Atlanta really good.

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Even the Browns: Baseball During World War II (Dover Baseball) cover

Even the Browns

William B. Mead

Mentioned 1 month ago

A Finals Pick, Greatest Knicks Ever, ‘Made’ N.Y.C. Stars, and Big NFL Trades With Max Kellerman

He said he received the book as a bar mitzvah present and that it taught him comparative analysis in a new way.

When I got Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, Volume 2 as a bar mitzvah present, it taught me comparative analysis, really, in a new way.

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Percolation Theory for Flow in Porous Media (Lecture Notes in Physics, 880) cover

Percolation Theory for Flow in Porous Media (Lecture Notes in Physics, 880)

Allen Hunt

Mentioned 1 month ago

Down Goes OKC! Spurs-Knicks is Here! What the Hell Just Happened? And What Does OKC Do Now? | With Zach Lowe

The hosts mentioned the book while discussing how teams can collapse after losing a star player, referencing it as a way to frame the Spurs' and OKC's situations.

the Ewing Theory? I think the Ewing Theory is a concept that explains how a team can fall apart after losing a franchise player, and we were using it to describe the Spurs and OKC dynamics.

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Project Hail Mary: A Novel cover

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir

Mentioned 2 months ago

Harden’s Moment, an NFL Schedule Glut, Owning the Jazz, and a Boston Sports Check-In—With Bryan Curtis, Bill’s Dad, and Ryan Smith

The host asked if the guest had seen Project Hail Mary, and the guest replied he thought it was a movie, noting it was available on Amazon.

Did you see Project Hail Mary?

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Most Recommended

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota Cover

Chuck Klosterman

Fargo Rock City

A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

The host mentioned that he had the book as part of his collection of 1980s VHS tapes and other memorabilia, recalling it in passing without further commentary. No recommendation or critique was offered, making it a brief, casual reference.

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Episode: Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsa...

He recalled having a book titled Farger Rock City among his collection of VHS tapes and other memorabilia.

"

I remember I had these VHS tapes of different things from the eighties that I just recorded in real time, including three Letterman anniversary shows in a row... I had a whole bunch of stuff, like a whole bunch of games and just things... I had a book called Farger Rock City.

Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.