On Books

In this episode, I'm reading the entire first chapter of The Overstory (2018), the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Powers.  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. Although the story is about Jorgen, as you'll see, it's really about the life of the tree and the many generations of people whose lives it touches. Learn more at www.on-books.com Subscribe on iTunes! And follow On Books: Twitter: @onbooksshow (http://www.twitter.com/onbooksshow) Facebook: /onbooksshow (http://www.facebook.com/onbooksshow) Instagram: @castig (https://www.instagram.com/castig)

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?   Enter Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I love the opening line of the book, “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.” Clarity, being able to think critically, and focus clearly on what's important vs. what's noise — is probably one of the most valuable skills you can have. According to Harari, it may save your life, and it may save humanity,    "If the future of humanity is decided in your absence, because you are too busy feeding and clothing your kids — you and they will not be expect from the consequences. This is very unfair; but who said history was fair?" — Harari    Yuval Noah Harari is best known for his first book Sapiens (2011) which is about humanity's past (check out the On Books Podcast episode on Sapien

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 either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. In this episode Chris brings you hi

Habit - a decision you made at some point. And then stopped making, but continue acting upon. In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg brings us scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter at The New York Times, where he writes for the business section. You can follow him on Twitter @cduhigg. For more on The Power of Habit, and On Books... visit @ www.on-books.com

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. In this short and compact first-aid kit for a broken heart, he walks you through the cause and cure of suffering, with much practical advice for self-care as you work to survive a breakup. The wisdom he presents applies to any kind of emotional suffering.  

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 (Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey) as well as how ForeverLabs works (How do you get started banking your stem cells? Is it safe?). And I'll share my experience having my stems cells banks last week using ForeverLabs.  Learn more about ForeverLabs here: https://foreverlabs.com/ Details of my experience are online at: https://castig.org/how-i-banked-my-stem-cells/  And.....

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. Vote with your dollar is more or less the idea that you, as the consumer, you have the power to change the world by influencing it with your buying decisions. If you use your money to support Patagonia or Whole Foods (they will benefit and survive longer). On the other hand, if you refuse to give money to companies that clash with your values (in my case, let’s say McDonalds and Taco Bell) hopefully over time the power of these companies will diminish. The book Buy the Change You Want to See came on my radar because I saw Jane give a talk about the book, and thought, the mission of this book is exactly the types of books we try to support on the On Books Podcast: People thinking about the future, and passionate about improving the planet. More notes and the transcript are available at www.boo

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 (Blogologues) in this very special 2-person bookclub episode of the On Books podcast. For more information and to see the links please visit: www.on-books.com This episode is sponsored by One Month where you can Learn to Code in 30 days. Learn HTML, JavaScript, Python and more. 

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 Capitalism, the book, the movement and the publishing company.  Corey is the publisher of Conscious Capitalism Press, the founder and CEO of Round Table Companies (RTC), and a speaker, artist, and storyteller. He previously starred in one of the 50 greatest Superbowl commercials of all time (Mountain Dew, Bohemian Rhapsody), has won 15 independent publishing awards, and has been featured on the cover of the Wall Street Journal and in the New York Times, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Wired. Learn more about Corey and t

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 examples. In the end, it turns out that buildings can learn a lot from humans, and that humans can learn a lot from buildings. Subscribe to On Books on iTunes. Learn more @ www.on-books.com

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 Aujla spent over three years reading every career book since the 1970s. In that time he tested his methods on over 400,000 people! What he learned is that this old “resume & wait” game is over. In his book, he has proposed 50 tested ways to land your dream job. In our interview Dev answers the questions: * If resumes don’t work, what works in 2018? * What are your favorite takeaways from the book? * What’s the best cover letter? * How do you land a technical job or a job in a startup? I hope you enjoy my interview with Dev A

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 instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.   In this episode Chris reads and gives highlights from Deep Work. For more info visit www.castig.org

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, shit 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 a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. This week Chris reads and gives highlights from The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. For more info visit www.castig.org 

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 unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my  brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird.'" - Anne Lamott   

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 healthier lives.   Learn more at www.on-books.com

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 murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? In this episode Ta-Nehisi Coates reads from Between the World and me, and Chris offers some context and takeaways from the book hoping to inspire you to read the book for yourself. Learn more at: www.on-books.com

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 currently unknown (or—weirder still—widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we “overrate” democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we’ve reached the end of knowledge? Klosterman visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We’re Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers—George Saunders, David Byrne, Jon

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 takeaways from the book. 

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 Know Has an Expiration Date, as well as his latest book Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension.