Welcome to the curated archive of all books mentioned by Chris and his guests.
These selections reflect the intellectual and philosophical depth that defines the Modern Wisdom podcast.
Welcome to the curated archive of all books mentioned by Chris and his guests.
These selections reflect the intellectual and philosophical depth that defines the Modern Wisdom podcast.
Dr Mike Israetel is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Lehman College and the Co-Founder of Renaissance Periodization. How do you boost motivation and actually follow through on the things you know you should do, but don’t feel like doing? The answer isn’t more stimulants, thankfully, it’s something far more grounded in neuroscience and behaviour. Today, Dr Mike Israetel breaks down the science of willpower in a way that works for the average person and can even help make your daily life much more productive. ...
Dr Michael Eisenberg is a professor of Urology at Stanford, a urologic surgeon, and a leading expert in male fertility and reproductive medicine. It’s no secret that global population decline is accelerating, but what’s driving it? Male fertility might be a major piece of the puzzle. So why are so many men struggling with infertility and low testosterone, and what can be done to reverse it? Expect to learn why global sperm counts have declined by over 50% in the last 40 years, what the biggest determining factors that influence a man’s sperm quality is, what men should do if they want to improve their sperm quality, what the relationship between age and fertility is for men and when fertility starts to drop off, if there is a relationship between sperm quality and there a relationship between alcohol, marijuana, smoking & vaping, what men can do to improve their testosterone, and much more… ...
Dr. Rick Hanson is a psychologist, speaker, and an author. How often do you find yourself stuck replaying a situation you wish you could just forget? No matter how much you want to move on, your mind keeps circling back. So what are the practical strategies to break free from rumination, quiet the mental noise, and finally reclaim control of your thoughts? Expect to learn how you can develop more self-compassion, why its so hard for people to let go of obsessive thinking and why we tend to ruminate a lot, how to move on from a breakup, insult, slight or a regret, how to “let go” of of emotionally charged memories, Dr Hanson’s favourite techniques to interrupt repetitive thought spirals, how people can consciously reframe the narrative after rejection, and much more… ...
Jeffrey Katzenberg is a media mogul, film producer, and co-founder of DreamWorks. Hari Ravichandran is a serial entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Aura. From bringing joy to millions of childhoods through beloved Disney films to now addressing the digital challenges facing today’s youth, Jeffrey Katzenberg has partnered with Hari Ravichandran to lead a new revolution focused on safeguarding the mental health and online safety of the next generation. At the heart of it all is this vital question: how do we keep children safe online? ...
Dr. Scott Eilers is a clinical psychologist, mental health coach, and an author. Depression gets thrown around a lot these days. Feeling off for a day or two, and suddenly it’s labeled as depression. But what does real depression actually feel like? And more importantly, how do you claw your way out when it feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel? Expect to learn what the difference between feeling sad and actually being depressed is, if mental illnesses has biomarkers and what’s happening neurologically, why so many people feel emotionally flat even when their lives look objectively good, what the warning signs are for someone is becoming emotionally disconnected, the most important things to stop doing to fix depression, what most people misunderstand about depression, and much more… ...
Rick Beato is a multi-instrumentalist musician, YouTuber, and a music producer. Music and the industry around it have changed dramatically over the past few decades. With the rise of AI, the dominance of streaming platforms like Spotify, and the fading relevance of traditional Popstars, the old model of making and producing music is on its last breath. So what comes next? And who or what will shape the future of music? ...
Simon Sinek is a speaker, founder, and an author. We live in an age of uncertainty, where finding purpose in your life feels harder than ever. So, how do you find a purpose that moves you and trust that it’s worth pursuing? How can you be sure your purpose serves both yourself and the world? In a world starved for meaning, finding yours might be the most important thing you ever do. ...
John Lisle is a historian and an author. The government’s history of secret experiments feels stranger than fiction. Covert projects, UFOs, mind reading, even studies of the occult. But no operation is more infamous than MKUltra. What really happened inside the CIA’s most notorious mind control experiment, and how much of its legacy still shapes our world today? Expect to learn where the CIA got their interest in mind control from, what the origins of MKUltra were and how it got it’s name, the double lives of the head scientists behind the project, how LSD and other drugs we’re used in secret mind control experiments by the government and if any of their findings had any objective value, the most unethical experiments MKUltra did and what ended up leading to it’s downfall and much more… ...
Lyman Stone is a demographer, researcher, and a writer. It’s no surprise that birth rates are plummeting; raising kids feels harder than ever. Life is expensive, the future feels uncertain, and chaos is everywhere. So how do we reverse course? What would actually convince people to have more children and pull us back from a looming population crisis? Expect to learn why fertility rates are falling off a cliff, why many young adults are struggling to have and even afford children in this economy, where mating preferences for fertility comes from, how women get their standards for men and who they base it off of, if men are suppose to be the breadwinners of a family this day in age, the real satisfaction rates of men and women in the workforce, why humans have such a hard time with big changes, and much more… ...
Mark Manson is a writer, entrepreneur, and a New York Times best-selling author. Mark is one of my favorite thinkers. His blog, books, and X account are packed with timeless lessons I come back to again and again. Today, we get to go through some of his best lessons on life, love, and everything that makes us human. Expect to learn how to actually stand up for yourself, what the real process of personal growth looks like, what it takes to actually cultivate confidence, why it’s impossible for someone who destroys your mental health to be the love of your life, why feeling like you have no idea what you’re doing is the price of entry to achieving your dreams, why you should learn to trust people more, and much more… ...