Best Rationally Writing Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 67 - MTG Colors, Writing Tops & Bottoms (Guest: TK17) 49:06

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16d ago49:06

49:06

Daystar and Alexander hang out with Duncan Sabien (TK17) at LessOnline, and invite him back on the show to chat about his views on the Magic the Gathering Color Wheel this time, as well as some other stuff⁠. Duncan is the writer of Animorphs: The Reckoning, as well as a variety of other great essays on culture, epistemology, and more. Co-hosted by …

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Ep. 176: “I Got a Big Spaceship and I Need a Plot” with Rhiannon Held 1:00:05

16h ago1:00:05

1:00:05

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis are joined by Rhiannon Held! Together they talk about Brainstorming and Writing Groups! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Special Guest: Rhiannon Held (Dungeon Scrawlers) https://twitter.com/RhiannonHeld Starring: Erin M Evans (Empire of Exiles, Brimstone Angel…

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Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson on What Running Can Teach Us 1:03:12

5d ago1:03:12

1:03:12

Nick Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic. But he moonlights as a damn good runner. At 44, he ran a marathon in 2 hours and 29 minutes, making him one of the fastest marathoners his age on the planet. He later set an American age group record in the 50K. He has run in blazing heat with ice tucked into his hat and in frigid cold with Vaseline dabbed …

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Former FBI Agent, Eric O’Neill on Spies, Lies, and the Cyber Wars We’re Already Losing 57:47

7d ago57:47

57:47

A Note from James Oh my gosh—I was scared after this one. In this episode, I learned about what’s really on the dark web… and the even scarier stuff on what’s called the deep web. Eric O’Neill—who, by the way, is the former FBI agent who brought down Robert Hanssen, the biggest double agent in U.S. history—joined me for this conversation. Hanssen w…

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Ep. 175: Gothic Horror with Beth the Bard 56:45

11d ago56:45

56:45

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis are joined by Beth the Bard! Together they talk about what make Gothic Horror so horrific as well as a little bit about game writing! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Special Guest: Beth the Bard (She is the Ancient) https://beththebard.com/ Starring: Erin M E…

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COMMON KNOWLEDGE: Steven Pinker on Awkward Dates, Cancel Culture and the Necessity of Norms 1:01:09

12d ago1:01:09

1:01:09

As promised, today we’re bringing you a full-length interview with Steven Pinker about his new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life. What is common knowledge? For Steve, it is not conventional wisdom. Instead, it’s when everyone knows something and everyone knows …

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I Know that She Knows that I Know that She Knows: Steven Pinker on the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life 1:07:50

13d ago1:07:50

1:07:50

A Note from James I first got really impressed with Steven Pinker when he wrote The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. He basically shows that over the past 10,000 years, every single century has been less violent than the one before it. You might think, “That can’t include the 20th century,” right? We had World War I, World Wa…

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Ep. 174: Taking on Too Much with Brandon Crilly 1:00:32

18d ago1:00:32

1:00:32

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis are joined by Brandon Crilly! Together they talk about taking on WAY too much - something absolutely no one on this show has done at all. Ever. You can’t prove anything. Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Special Guest: Brandon Crilly (Catalyst) https://brandonc…

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A Food Crisis Is Brewing. Are We Ready? 46:03

19d ago46:03

46:03

Caleb is joined by Sam Kass, former senior food policy advisor to President Obama and the chef who cooked dinner for the first family most nights. Now a partner at a venture capital firm investing in food and agriculture tech, Sam has a new book out, The Last Supper: How to Overcome the Coming Food Crisis. The situation, he says, is bleak. Almonds,…

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Obsession, Secrets, and Sleight of Hand: Inside the Hidden World of Modern Magicians with Ian Frisch 1:26:14

20d ago1:26:14

1:26:14

A Note from James I’ve always loved books where a journalist gets so deep into a subculture that they become part of it. Magic Is Dead by Ian Frisch is one of those. He starts out covering a secret society of magicians—“The 52,” named for the cards in a deck—and ends up becoming one of them. It reminded me of other favorites like Word Freak (Scrabb…

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Ep. 173: Monster Behavior with Keith Ammann 1:03:50

25d ago1:03:50

1:03:50

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis are joined by Keith Ammann! Together they talk about how monsters could behave and what narrative you can tell in D&D with combat. Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Special Guest: Keith Ammann (The Monsters Know What They Are Doing, Making Enemies) https://www.…

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The Future Is Going to Be Great 1:33:28

26d ago1:33:28

1:33:28

Dave Blundin has co-founded 23 companies, co-hosts the Moonshots podcast, runs the VC firm Link Ventures, teaches at MIT, and has been building neural networks since the 1980s. His take: “[AI is] under-hyped. It's absolutely going to change the world in the next couple of years more than any change in human history. There's nothing even vaguely com…

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Morgan Housel on The Art of Spending Money and Why Independence Is the Real Luxury 1:06:30

27d ago1:06:30

1:06:30

A Note from James I’m such a fan of this guy. I loved The Psychology of Money — it felt like he was writing directly about me. I’ve made a lot of money, lost it all, made it again, lost it again. Over and over. And Morgan gets it. His new book, The Art of Spending Money, hits even deeper. It’s not just about being rich; it’s about freedom, simplici…

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Confronting Evil with Bill O’Reilly 40:14

28d ago40:14

40:14

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Episode 66 - The Crystal Trilogy (Guest: Max Harms) 43:30

1M ago43:30

43:30

Daystar and Alexander hang out with Max Harms at LessOnline, and invite him to record an episode on his books Crystal Society, Crystal Mentality, and Crystal Eternity. Max works at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and the trilogy is an imagining of what Artificial General Intelligence might be like, written from the perspective of one o…

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Ep. 172: Plot Twists 2: What a Twist! 1:05:07

1M ago1:05:07

1:05:07

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis are joined by Melissa Caruso! Together they talk about a fan favorite topic–Plot Twists! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Special Guest: Melissa Caruso (The Last Hour Between Worlds, The Obsidian Tower) https://melissacaruso.net/ Starring: Erin M Evans (Empire…

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PRIMAL INTELLIGENCE: You’re Smarter Than You Realize 1:05:07

1M ago1:05:07

1:05:07

Angus Fletcher has a PhD in literature from Yale and teaches English at Ohio State. He’s passionate about Shakespeare. He probably owns a tweed jacket. In other words, he’s the last person you’d expect to receive the Army’s fourth-highest civilian honor. But when he’s not parsing King Lear or dissecting Hamlet, Angus is pioneering research into nar…

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Built for Growth with Miesha Tate: James Altucher on Ideas, Obsession, and Fulfillment 1:40:49

1M ago1:40:49

1:40:49

A Note from James Miesha Tate is one of my favorite people in the world. She’s an incredible athlete—the ultimate fighting champion of the planet at one point—but more than that, she’s someone who’s turned struggle, discipline, and excellence into wisdom. I was honored when she asked me to be on her podcast, Built for Growth. We talked about surviv…

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STEVEN PINKER: How Common Knowledge and Rationality Make the World Go Round 1:11:27

1M ago1:11:27

1:11:27

Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker shares five key insights from his brand new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows. He reveals how “common knowledge” — the hidden force of knowing what others know — shapes everything from financial bubbles and political revolutions to why we say “Netflix and chill.” Then we revisit our 2021 conversation w…

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Dark Squares: Danny Rensch on Chess, Cults, and Finding Purpose 2:01:18

1M ago2:01:18

2:01:18

A Note from James This might be the most insane chess story I’ve ever heard—not even really a chess story, but a cult story. It’s wild, intense, and ultimately inspiring. Danny Rensch grew up in a cult in Arizona. At just 10 years old, the cult leader noticed his chess ability, took him away from his parents, and he wouldn’t see his mother again fo…

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Finding Connection in a Divided World with 'Super Communicator' Charles Duhigg 41:04

2M ago41:04

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A Note from James I’m really concerned about the level of discourse in this country. It’s almost a cliché to say that now, but especially after the Charlie Kirk assassination, the division feels overwhelming. I even got invited to speak at the Oxford Union—the most prestigious debate society in the world—but ultimately declined because I didn’t lik…

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Ep. 171: Finding Your Arc 1:06:55

2M ago1:06:55

1:06:55

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis revisit Character Arcs and answer a connected listener question! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Starring: Erin M Evans (Empire of Exiles, Brimstone Angels) https://bsky.app/profile/erinmevans.bsky.social B. Dave Walters (A Darkened Wish, Black Dice Society) …

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AI & THE BRAIN: How Different Are They? 1:22:13

2M ago1:22:13

1:22:13

Today's AI runs on neural networks, a design originally inspired by the human brain. As these systems grow more sophisticated, they're raising a profound question: Even if they don't work exactly like our brains, could something resembling a "mind" eventually emerge from the machines we're building? Guests: Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland Book: The …

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Inside the Cartel: The Longest Undercover FBI Operation with Martin Suarez and Ian Frisch 59:30

2M ago59:30

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A Note from James This is a crazy story. Martin Suarez holds the record for the longest continuous undercover assignment in FBI history. He went undercover as a cartel drug lord—smuggling billions of dollars’ worth of cocaine while posing as “Manny.” At one point, the story even starts with a gun to his head, convinced his cover was blown. The book…

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Ep. 170: Drunken First Draft 1:01:09

2M ago1:01:09

1:01:09

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis answer try something new and revisit an old topic! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Starring: Erin M Evans (Empire of Exiles, Brimstone Angels) https://bsky.app/profile/erinmevans.bsky.social B. Dave Walters (A Darkened Wish, Black Dice Society) https://bsky.a…

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[Bonus] Brian Keating on Humility, Chutzpah, and the Arrow of Time 18:39

2M ago18:39

18:39

Episode Description Right after wrapping up their main conversation, James and Brian hit record again for a bonus session. What came out is an unfiltered talk on humility, arrogance, and the strange mix of traits needed to achieve great things. From the wisdom of the Talmud to the Dunning–Kruger effect, they explore why even Nobel Prize winners wre…

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Best Of: Jonathan Haidt on What Social Media Is Doing to Our Kids 1:23:31

2M ago1:23:31

1:23:31

It’s rare these days for a book to go viral, but that’s exactly what happened with The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. Now in its 75th week on the New York Times’ bestseller list, the book reveals a startling truth: Starting in 2012, teen depression rates suddenly s…

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How to Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner with Prof. Brian Keating 1:13:13

2M ago1:13:13

1:13:13

Episode Description James sits down once again with cosmologist Brian Keating—longtime friend of the show and author of Into the Impossible: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner. In this candid conversation, they challenge each other’s views on focus, curiosity, and the trade-offs of staying in your lane. Brian shares behind-the-scenes lessons from inte…

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From Deep Blue to Bittensor — Why Subnets Are the Next Internet Boom 1:27:49

2M ago1:27:49

1:27:49

A Note from James I’ve been on and off writing. From 2004 to 2021, I wrote one to two books a year, without fail. Since then, nothing. But I’ve been working on an idea: obsession. When I’m not obsessed, I can’t do much—sometimes not even the basics. But when I am obsessed, I can turn that energy into real outcomes: a business, a book, a skill, some…

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ARTHUR C. BROOKS: Success Won’t Make You Happy — Here’s What Will 1:20:28

2M ago1:20:28

1:20:28

Arthur C. Brooks is an unlikely happiness guru. He’s not a psychologist, philosopher, or mystic. He’s an economist and public policy analyst who, for years, ran a prominent think tank. But rubbing shoulders with heads of state and titans of industry made him miserable. Confronted with the sobering realization that for too long he’d privileged work …

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Rick Harrison: The Pawn Business, Hidden Histories, and the Best Model in Banking 31:51

2M ago31:51

31:51

A Note from James The man, the myth, the legend—Rick Harrison. You know him as the star of Pawn Stars, the reality show based on the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. The show has been running for over 21 seasons, and Rick himself has become the godfather of the pawn business. I even joined Rick and Chumlee on their own podcast, Pawn After Dark…

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Ep. 169: Back in the Day 1:14:22

2M ago1:14:22

1:14:22

This week Erin M. Evans, B. Dave Walters, and Treavor Bettis answer questions about Web Comics, TV/Movie Scripts, Making Monsters, and more! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/writingaboutdragons Starring: Erin M Evans (Empire of Exiles, Brimstone Angels) https://bsky.app/profile/erinmevans.bsky.social B. Dave Walters (A Darkened Wish, Black…

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From Zero to World-Class: Tristan de Montebello on the Art of Public Speaking 1:56:00

2M ago1:56:00

1:56:00

A Note from James I’m honored to have today’s guest: Tristan de Montebello, a finalist in the World Championship of Public Speaking. He also co-founded UltraSpeaking (ultraspeaking.com/james), where he teaches techniques to improve communication through games and real-world practice. We even played some of those games during this episode, and they …

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THE FUTURE OF WRITING: A Conversation with Ethan Mollick and Steven Johnson 54:58

2M ago54:58

54:58

What if, thanks to AI, you can now research and write a book two, three, or even four times faster? For authors and AI pioneers Steven Johnson (Editorial Director, NotebookLM and Google Labs) and Ethan Mollick (Wharton professor and creator of One Useful Thing), that's the new reality. In this episode, they crack open their personal toolkits to rev…