If Books Could Kill
Канал маалыматтары
If Books Could Kill
The airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds
Жаңы эпизоддор
67 эпизод
How To Win Friends And Influence People
Live like Dale Carnegie, neg like Calvin Coolidge.
Where to find us:
Sources:
Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
Thomas Chatterton Williams' "Summer of Our Discontent"
Peter and Michael discuss a book that's light on facts and long on sentences.
Where to find us:
Sources:
Thanks to Mi...
He's Just Not That Into You
How one comedian's offhand advice launched a decent TV episode, a mediocre book and a terrible movie.
Where to find us:
Sources:
Th...
Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink"
Did you know that in the split-second it took you to read the title of this episode, your subconscious already figured out that it was going to be ext...
The Supreme Court Goes Full TERF [TEASER]
This is most of the episode but if you want to hear the last 20 minutes, support us on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
"In Covid's Wake" Part 2: Wrong About The Right
Last episode we met two Princeton political scientists who are bad at virology. Today we learn that they are also bad at political science.
Wher...
"In Covid's Wake" Part 1: Lying About Lockdowns
Two political scientists look back at a deadly pandemic and ask, "could we have done even less?"
Where to find us:
Sources:
Thanks...
Bonus: The Lab Leak Goes Mainstream
By popular demand we are releasing last month's Patreon bonus episode on the main feed! We chart the transformation of the lab leak from an unfounded...
The Let Them Theory
Peter and Michael discuss The Let Them Theory, a self-help guide to seeking bliss through unmitigated complacency.
Where to find us:
Sour...
Josh Hawley's "Manhood" [TEASER]
To hear the rest of the episode, support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
Steve Harvey's "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man"
Are you a single lady struggling to find love with a man? Don't fret! A twice-divorced game show host who thinks conversation is for women is here to...
Of Boys And Men
Who's to blame for the crisis of American masculinity? On the right, politicians tell men that they being oppressed by feminists and must reassert the...
You Are A Badass
Peter and Michael dissect Jen Sincero's "You are a Badass," a book that answers the question: What if "The Secret" was written in the painful, try-har...
What's The Matter With Kansas?
In 2004, historian Thomas Frank proposed a theory about the rightward drift of the white working class. Was he a prescient king whose work presaged th...
Sam Harris's "The End of Faith"
Peter and Michael discuss the book that launched the phenomenon of New Atheism and asked the question: What if we hated Muslims, but in a secular way?...
Who Moved My Cheese?
What should workers do when they get laid off? In 1998 a bleak, asinine bestseller told them to find another whey.
Where to find us:
UNLOCKED: Eric Adams
New York’s favorite criminal is in the news, so here is our episode about his ridiculous life.
To hear all of our bonus episodes, support...
Glenn Kessler Retire B*tch [TEASER]
Is fact-checking a legitimate enterprise? Is America's most famous fact-checker nothing more than a dweeb? Michael and Peter discuss.
To...
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
A memoir about parenting very badly and then getting weirdly defensive when anyone asks you about it.
Where to find us:
Sources:
The Anxious Generation
Is social media to blame for the teen mental health crisis? It's complicated!
Thanks to Emily Weinstein, Amy Orben, Andrew Przybylski, Dean Burn...
Breaking News Re-Release: "Hillbilly Elegy"
To celebrate ("celebrate") Donald Trump choosing JD Vance as his running mate we are re-releasing our "Hillbilly Elegy" episode. Enjoy!
Richard Hanania's "The Origins of Woke"
Peter and Michael discuss "The Origins of Woke," a glimpse into the dark aspirations of the Republican Party and the mind of a very unusual man.
...
The Columbia Protests [TEASER]
Peter and Michael discuss the media coverage of the protests at Columbia — from the crazed, bloodthirsty ravings of right-wing media to the more muted...
"Going Infinite": Michael Lewis Takes On Sam Bankman-Fried
Peter and Michael discuss Michael Lewis’s bestselling book about the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, a young prodigy whose only flaw was that he d...
"The Better Angels of Our Nature" Part 2: Campus Lies, I.Q. Rise & Epstein Ties
2 Better 2 Angels
Support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
Where to find us:
Sources:
T...
Who's Afraid of Naomi Wolf? [TEASER]
We're finally discussing a good book! Naomi Klein's "Doppelgänger" chronicles the long, steady descent of another Naomi — Wolf (buddy oof) — from femi...
Lean In
In 2013, Sheryl Sandberg became an icon for women who wanted to move from middle management at a tech company into upper management at a tech company....
"The Better Angels of Our Nature" Part 1: You're Not Wrong, Pinker. You're Just An *sshole
This week we're tackling Steven Pinker's 900 page dissection of the reasons why violence, torture and war have declined over the last 10,000 years. Wa...
The Art of the Deal
Before Donald Trump became America's most prominent politician and birth certificate inspector, he spent his days making everyone in New York City sli...
The Worst Takes of 2023 [TEASER]
To hear the rest of the episode, support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
The Identity Trap
"There are two kinds of political scientists: The types who deal with noisy data and post on Twitter with a bunch of caveats. And then there are the t...
Pundit Portraits: Kathleen Parker and Chris Cillizza [TEASER]
To hear the rest of the episode, support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
You stare, mouth agape, at the bookstore display. It’s a self-help book, but with curse words in the title?! This must be a revolutionary new framewor...
The 48 Laws of Power
In 1996, a frustrated screenwriter got a fellowship in Italy. Twenty years later, Beyoncé released "Lemonade."
Content warning: This epi...
The "Organized Retail Crime" Panic [TEASER]
Retailers have been sounding the alarm about a shoplifting epidemic driven by organized criminal syndicates. In a shocking twist, it turns out that th...
San Fransicko
This week we're tackling "San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities," a book that dares to ask: What if everything that experts think about homeless...
The 4-Hour Workweek
Have you ever wanted to escape the grind and follow your dreams? This week we're discussing "The 4-Hour Workweek," which reveals that all you need is...
The Clinton E-Mail Scandal [TEASER]
But her e-mails! Michael explains the non-scandal that captivated the mainstream media in 2016 while Peter attempts to sow the podcast with anti-Hilla...
God And Man At Yale
Oops all grievance.
Support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
Where to find us:
Sources:
Thanks...
'On Bullsh*t' and the Pundit Industrial Complex [TEASER]
For this month's bonus episode we dissected Harry Frankfurt's gloriously brief bestseller and applied the concept to our favorite op-ed page.
...