In this episode, I'm reading the entire first chapter of The Overstory (2018) a novel by Richard Powers. In 2019, The Overstory won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Overstory is a book about man's relationship to nature, as seen through the eyes of trees. In this reading, you'll hear the story of the Jorgen Hoel, who in the mid-1800s moves from Brooklyn to Iowa; starts a family, and happens to plant (what will become) one of the last remaining Chestnut Trees in America.

Personally, I feel burdened by the daily overproduction of knowledge. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach: I consume countless articles and podcasts, but I can never fully digest it all. Can someone please just tell me what to pay attention to? I really loved this book. 5 stars! All the way. I hope you enjoy it too. In this episode, I read from the book, share some highlights and added context to make sure that you love 21 Lessons as much as I do. 

Buddhism has a lot to say about suffering—and there are likely few times we suffer more intensely than when we break up with a romantic partner. It feels like you may never recover sometimes. But Lodro Rinzler has wonderfully good news for those suffering heartbreak: the 2,500-year-old teachings of the Buddha are the ultimate antidote for emotional pain. And you don’t need to be a Buddhist for them to apply to you.

This week on the show I chat with Mark Katakowski and Steven Clausnitzer of ForeverLabs. ForeverLabs is a Y Combinator company that helps people live longer by offering stem cell banking and storage. In this episode, we'll chat talk about the book that inspired Mark and Steven to start the project...

Buy the Change You Want to See is a new book that just came out, by Jane Mosbacher Morris. It's promoting the idea to “Vote with your dollar,” a concept that I love, and to the best of my extent, try to live by everyday. Read the transcript and notes at: www.book-podcast.com

Educated is the memoir about a girl who went from being homeschooled in rural Idaho, to receive her Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Along the way she confronts poverty, ignorance, violence, and a host of other challenges. It's the remarkable, true story of Westover's journey to find an education. Educated was on the top of Bill Gate's Book list of 2018, as well as Barak Obama, Oprah, and the New York Times. And now it's on the top of my list! This week I chat with Allison Goldberg...

Conscious Capitalism is a way of thinking about capitalism and business that better reflects where we are in the human journey, the state of our world today, and the innate potential of business to make a positive impact on the world. Started by Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey and professor Raj Sisodia, "conscious businesses" are galvanized by higher purposes that serve, align, and integrate the interests of all their major stakeholders. In this episode of On Books I discuss Conscious...

I love this book because while the subject of is "buildings," it's really about time. What happens to the objects we create over time? Buildings inevitably change with time, but what makes some get better, while others get worse? To answer that question, Stewart Brand has organized hundreds of photos, and written a poetic narrative linking together decades of lessons learned from I. M. Pei's Media Lab, George Washington's Mount Vernon home, Greenwich Village brownstones, and many more...

50 Ways to Get a Job is a career book with fifty proven exercises you can use to find meaningful work. Last week I met with Dev Aujla to discuss his favorite takeaways from the book. One thing I have concluded after my chat with Dev: Resumes alone don’t work. How do most people apply for a job? Most people make a resume, apply to job boards, and then wait around hoping that someone, somewhere, will call, all the while becoming the most depressing person in history to hang out with.Dev...

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days...

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, s**t is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled...

Bird by Bird is one of my favorite books on writing, and life. In this episode I'll read from the book, and give you some key takeaways. For more info visit www.castig.org  Excerpt:  "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and...

From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue...

In How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-renowned nutrition expert, physician, and founder of NutritionFacts.org, examines the fifteen top causes of premature death in America--heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson's, high blood pressure, and more--and explains how nutritional and lifestyle interventions can sometimes trump prescription pills and other pharmaceutical and surgical approaches to help prevent and reverse these diseases, freeing us to live...

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and...

New York Times bestselling author Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is...

While many books explain the how of bitcoin, The Internet of Money delves into the why of bitcoin. Acclaimed information-security expert and author of Mastering Bitcoin, Andreas M. Antonopoulos examines and contextualizes the significance of bitcoin through a series of essays spanning the exhilarating maturation of this technology.   In this episode Chris brings you his top highlights from The Internet of Money.    Learn more at www.on-books.com

Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.   In this episode of On Books, I'll read the introduction to Ego is the Enemy, as well as share my top 3...

Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing.   Samuel Arbesman is on the show today to help us understand how this evolution of facts unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. In this interview Sam and Chris discuss The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We...

In Zero Waste Home, Bea Johnson shares the story of how she simplified her life by reducing her waste. The book is a how-to guide for reducing as much waste as possible from your life. In this episode of On Books, I interview Bea and discuss about how to reduce waste. 

In Zero Waste Home, Bea Johnson shares the story of how she simplified her life by reducing her waste. The book is a how-to guide for reducing as much waste as possible from your life. In this episode of On Books I share my favorite tips from Bea's book for reducing waste, as well as a reading from the chapter "The 5 Rs: Refuse" - which is the fundamental tenants of the Zero Waste movement.    Next week, Bea will be on the show. So if you have any questions you'd like to ask Bea send them...

Haruki Murakami’s books are a blend of modern culture, and fantasy. Arguably, Murakami is Japan’s most famous author, his writing resonates on a frequency that is distinctly “Murakami.” Over the past 30 years, Murakami has written 13 novels including: Norwegian Wood (1987), Sputnik Sweetheart (1999), Kafka on the Shore (2002), 1Q84 (2009), and his most recent Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki (2013). In this episode I have a special guest! Lee Matos ("Murakami superfan", and philosopher of life) is...

Peter Singer is a well known Australian philosopher and author. In 2005 Time magazine named Singer one of the top 100 most influential people of the year. His latest two books The Life You Can Save (2009), and The Most Good You Can Do (2015) explore how you can be a vehicle for change in the world - right now, and without giving up much. Both of which we’ve covered in previous episodes of On Books! In this episode we discuss: * What does it mean to do “the most good"? * Are startups...

In this episode of On Books, I discuss The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, by Kevin Kelly.  The Inevitable is driven by the idea that the technological trends of the next 30 years can be predicted. Over 336 pages the book breaks down the Top 12 technological forces at work such as: "Becoming, Cognifying, Flowing, Screening, Accessing, Sharing, Filtering, Remixing, Interacting, Tracking, Questioning, and Beginning." The names themselves...