DiscoverIf Books Could Kill
If Books Could Kill
Claim Ownership

If Books Could Kill

Author: Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri

Subscribed: 9,566Played: 150,347
Share

Description

The airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds
22 Episodes
Reverse
The World is Flat

The World is Flat

2023-06-0101:07:413

Much has been said about globalization, but perhaps no one has said it worse than Thomas Friedman.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Why The World Isn't FlatThe World Is Still Not FlatDHL Global Connectedness Index 2022The Fallacies of FlatnessThe Sociopathy of Thomas Friedman: A CompendiumThomas Friedman sums up the Iraq War (YouTube) Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
The Nudgening.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:David Gal's "Behavioral Winter"The i-frame and the s-frame: How focusing on individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astrayWhy Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?Applying Behavioral Insights To Intimate Partner ViolenceWhat Counts as a Nudge?The Power of Nudges, for Good and BadAllowing Patients to Waive the Right to Sue for Medical Malpractice: A Response to Thaler and SunsteinObama’s ObamaBehavioural Insights Applied to Policy - Country Overviews 2016The opioid crisis and nudge theoryOn the Supposed Evidence for Libertarian PaternalismThe effect of charter schools on charter students and public schoolsRe-election Strategy Is Tied to a Shift on SmogIs the White House delaying too many health and safety rules?Down the Regulatory Rabbit HoleWhy regulations are good — againCass Sunstein: The Obama Administration's Ambivalent Regulator Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
In 2021, scrappy young investors from across the world joined forces to buy GameStop stock, aiming to take down greedy hedge funds. What came next was tragedy, injustice, and a conspiratorial internet cult so stupid we had to do an episode about it.To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
In 2008, an economist and a law professor proposed a radical new approach to politics: Telling people not to do bad stuff.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Mike's Maintenance Phase episode on the godfather of the "cafeteria nudge"Nudge: Concept, Effectiveness, and EthicsFrom mechanism to virtue: Evaluating Nudge theoryThe effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domainsWhy the Most Important Idea in Behavioral Decision-Making Is a FallacyBehavioral WinterWhy Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?The Origins of Anti-Litter CampaignsDo Normative Appeals Affect Tax Compliance? Evidence from a Controlled Experiment in MinnesotaOpt-out legislations: the mysterious viability of the falseOpt-out policies capacity to increase organ donors is limitedAssessing Global Organ Donation Policies: Opt-In vs Opt-OutWhat Counts as a Nudge?Preventing Secondary Pregnancy In Adolescents: A Model ProgramThe Effect of Monetary Incentives and Peer Support Groups on Repeat Adolescent Pregnancies A Randomized Trial of the Dollar-a-Day ProgramThe i-frame and the s-frame: How focusing on individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astrayCan behavioural economics make us healthier?On the Supposed Evidence for Libertarian PaternalismThanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
The 5 Love Languages

The 5 Love Languages

2023-04-2054:4620

What’s your love language? Is it gifts? Words of affirmation? Or is it podcasts about books with extremely weird, reactionary gender dynamics?Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Can Gary Chapman Save Your Marriage?The Sixth Love Language Does Not ExistHow ‘The Five Love Languages’ Gets Misinterpreted The 5 Love Languages Don’t Matter as Much as You ThinkThe Creator Of The 5 Love Languages Is A Homophobe And This Is Why We Can't Have Nice ThingsFamed Author Gary Chapman Talks Love, Marriage, Sex Evangelicals IncorporatedThanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
Is it bootstraps? It's bootstraps.To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
Rich Dad Poor Dad

Rich Dad Poor Dad

2023-04-0601:13:5723

In 1997, Robert Kiyosaki revealed the secret to lifelong success: Deliver grifty seminars and hire child slaves.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry‘Rich Dad Poor Dad' Robert Kiyosaki ExposedStupid Investment of the WeekRobert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Education on Real Estate Investing ReviewThe Ticket to Easy Street? The Financial Consequences of Winning the LotteryWhy the Myth of the Miserable Lottery Winner Just Won’t DieWork Centrality and Post-Award Work Behavior of Lottery Winners"The best way to get even with A-grade students was to make them employees of mine"Ohio real estate investor’s warning statement on Robert Kiyosaki and Bill Gatten’s complex PACtrust for real estate investingAcademic Discipline and Personal Finance Instruction in High SchoolThanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
Get in loser, we're going to Oberlin.To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod
Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy

2023-03-2348:0110

In 2016, J.D. Vance informally launched his political career with "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir that blames the relative poverty of Appalachian and Rust Belt populations on their own culture. Despite its reactionary premise, mainstream and liberal press outlets were so enamored by the book that they accidentally made Vance a senator.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Appalachian Reckoning America’s Divided Recovery What Did Hillbilly Elegy Get Wrong? J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America Hillbilly ElitismWelfare Queens and White Trash Consumer Expenditures in 2016 Household Expenditures and Income CFPB Data Point: Payday Lending Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
TRIGGER WARNING: if you're a SNOWFLAKE college professor afraid of how your students are expressing themselves, you might need a SAFE SPACE, because Michael and Peter are discussing "The Coddling of The American Mind," a book about campus culture that's light on facts and heavy on cherry-picked anecdotes.CORRECTION: The Socrates quote mentioned at the end of this episode is apocryphal. We thank the listeners who pointed this out for refusing to coddle our American minds.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:The Miseducation of Free Speech (https://www.virginialawreview.org/articles/miseducation-free-speech/)College and the “Culture War”: Assessing Higher Education’s Influence on Moral Attitudes (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00031224211041094)The Myth of the Campus Coddle Crisis (https://academeblog.org/2018/12/28/the-myth-of-the-campus-coddle-crisis-the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/)What ‘Safe Spaces’ Really Look Like on College Campuses (https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-safe-spaces-really-look-like-on-college-campuses/?bc_nonce=peduocnzcslb08jxmt1dlb&cid=reg_wall_signup)Are College Campuses Really in the Thrall of Leftist Censors? (https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/03/hypersensitive-campus-progressives-judith-shulevitz-is-half-right-but-takes-her-criticisms-too-far.html) Speaking Freely: What Students Think about Expression at American Colleges (https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/student-attitudes-free-speech-survey) ‘Not all cultures are created equal’ says Penn Law professor in op-ed (https://www.thedp.com/article/2017/08/amy-wax-penn-law-cultural-values) How Right Wing Media Has Tried to Stifle Student Speech at Evergreen State College (https://psmag.com/education/the-real-free-speech-story-at-evergreen-college)I'm a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me (https://www.vox.com/2015/6/3/8706323/college-professor-afraid)In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html)Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
The nation's most prestigious newspaper insists on asking a very stupid question. So for this month's bonus episode, we decided to answer it. To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodAs we mentioned at the top of the episode, we're donating this month's support to three of our trans journo-friends! They've been unbelievably patient with Mike as he's navigated the science and politics of this issue over the last year. Here's where to find and support their work:Parker Molloy (readtpa.com) Katelyn Burns (patreon.com/katelynburns)Evan Urquhart  (assignedmedia.org) 
"If your thesis doesn't hold up to obvious criticisms, there's a chance that your thesis sucks." Thanks to Paul Musgrave and Alex Cruikshanks for helping us fact-check this episode!Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseLinks!Huntington’s 1993 articleStatistics on deaths in state-based conflicts The Clash of Civilizations: An Islamicist’s CritiquePaul Musgrave’s Roundtable on  Clash of Civilizations  “The Hispanic Challenge” The “Arab Street”? Public Opinion In The Arab World The Clash of Ignorance Can Civilizations Clash? 
The End of History

The End of History

2023-02-0947:2716

Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History and the Last Man" changed political discourse forever. Peter and Michael peel back his muddled history and fluffy rhetoric, revealing several more layers of muddled history and fluffy rhetoric.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Reflections on the End of History, Five Years Later (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2505433)More Proof That This Really Is the End of History (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/francis-fukuyama-still-end-history/671761/)Francis Fukuyama Postpones the End of History (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/03/francis-fukuyama-postpones-the-end-of-history)Endism: why 1989 was not the 'end of history' (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/endism/)The End of the End of History (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/maximillian-alvarez-end-end-history/)It's Still Not the End of History (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/its-still-not-the-end-of-history-francis-fukuyama/379394/)Bring back ideology: Fukuyama's 'end of history' 25 years on (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/21/bring-back-ideology-fukuyama-end-history-25-years-on)Francis Fukuyama's Shrinking Idea (https://newrepublic.com/article/152668/francis-fukuyama-identity-review-collapse-theory-liberal-democracy)
The Lab Leak [TEASER]

The Lab Leak [TEASER]

2023-01-3114:405

In December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China. In May 2021, America experienced one of the most cursed weeks of punditry we've ever seen. This is a condensed version of the full episode. To hear the rest go to patreon.com/IfBooksPod. See you next week! 
In 1992 a yoga instructor with a distance-learning PhD had the courage to ask: "Are women not getting help around the house because they're using the wrong modal verb?" Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?A critical response to John Gray's Mars and Venus portrayals of men and women The Gender Similarities HypothesisThe Rebuttal from UranusComing home upset: Gender, marital satisfaction and the daily spillover of workday experience into couple interactionsFDA warning letter Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: An Analysis of a Potential MemeWomen, Men and Language Women, Men, and Gender: Ongoing DebatesWomen and Men Talking: Are They World’s Apart?
The Secret

The Secret

2023-01-1242:5814

Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" sold millions of copies based on a simple premise: All of science is fake and the only reason anything ever happens is because people manifest it by communicating with the universe.Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Power Lines Oprah's Ugly Secret The Staggering Bullshit of The SecretDeath by “alternative” medicine: Who’s to blame?  For Some Seeking Rebirth, Sweat Lodge Was End A Little Secret About The Secret Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
The Population Bomb

The Population Bomb

2022-12-1549:2721

How a Stanford lepidopterist convinced the world to fear the breeding habits of the poor. Again. Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Sonia Shah’s “The Next Great Migration” Barbarian Hordes: The overpopulation scapegoat in international development discourseOptimism and OverpopulationThe Population Bomb RevisitedThe Strange History of Birth ControlBirth Control for OthersHow the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic HistoryWhy the Population Bomb is a Rockefeller Baby
Our first premium episode is a deep dive into the blog of the infamously (and  dubiously) "canceled" Bari Weiss. To hear the full episode, subscribe on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodMore free episodes are on their way! 
The Game

The Game

2022-12-0155:4120

Neil Strauss's "The Game" aimed to teach any man how to hook up with beautiful women. All he needed was a little bit of sociopathy, a lot of misogyny and a fanny pack full of props.Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:He's Simply Resistable  Pickup Artists Are Still A Thing. And They Want You To Know They’ve Evolved.Misogynist Incels and Male Supremacism Would the Pickup Artist Stand a Chance in the #MeToo Era?  Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
David Brooks became liberals' famous conservative by telling them what they wanted to hear. But ... why did they want to hear something that was lazy and wrong?Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:A Reasonable ManDavid Brooks: Boo-Boos in ParadiseA Cartoon EliteDavid Brooks’s Conversion StoryDavid Brooks and the Endless Grift of the Conservative CommentariatHow The Bobos Broke AmericaDeath Of A Yuppie Dream: The Rise And Fall Of The Professional-Managerial ClassStuff the Professional-Managerial Class Likes: "Distinction" for an Egalitarian EliteDavid Brooks’s Search for MeaningThe facts vs. David Brooks: Startling inaccuracies raise questions about his latest bookDavid Brooks Is Not Buying Your Excuses, Poor PeopleThanks to Mindseye for our theme song!
loading
Comments (32)

Erin Nelson

Friedman is annoying but this is a stretch for a book that came out TWENTY years ago

Jun 1st
Reply

ID19619055

Docs really do have it cover their butts because of rampant malpractice suits. If malpractice suits were restricted to actual negiligence it would make sense. That’s not the case, though. And no matter what happens in a suit (even if it never makes it to court) it follows a doctor forever. It doesn’t actually improve systemic problems…which are the main issues. And “punishing bad behavior”? Give me a break. Pretty much every doctor ends up sued. All doctors aren’t “behaving badly”. They are simply human. Shame on you. But I guess what can we expect from a lawyer? Don’t talk about what you actually don’t know anything about. ABSOLUTELY DOCS ORDER CYA TESTS CONSTANTLY. The ones ordering the tests make zero dollars on the tests. You two don’t actually understand the medical system, apparently.

May 21st
Reply

Shannon Compton

I feel like the United States and capitalism is super scammy. It's like...oh you wanted food? Oh you wanted healthcare? Oh you wanted an education? THAT WILL COST YOU!! (insert evil laugh here).

May 20th
Reply

Shannon Compton

my husband went bowling while I was in the hospital after having our daughter. he went out to dinner with his family too. if you asked us what we like about each other, it would just be that we are both taking care of the children. 🤷

Apr 21st
Reply (2)

Shannon Compton

I'm supposed to have literacy in something that is way made up

Apr 8th
Reply

Melanie Marie-Jahnke Manning

I think this author came to a point where his ideas weren't working, but he just kept barrelling through.

Feb 27th
Reply

Shahab Moradi

You laughing all the time gets annoying after 10 minutes. it's like we are listening to your laghuters decorated with a bit of personal comments on the book.

Feb 22nd
Reply (2)

Sarah Gilmore

I love a guy that wants to share weed with me lol

Feb 16th
Reply (1)

Angie Livesay

thank you Michael for calling out the utter horseshit that is the Meyers-Briggs test. It's amazing how much gobbledygook is accepted as facts. Whenever my friend group discusses Meyers Briggs and I'm asked which type I am, I'm like... The type that doesn't believe in made up assessments created by novelists?

Feb 9th
Reply

Klaire Kramer

I didn't think I needed any more reason to not get married 🤣

Jan 30th
Reply

Shannon Compton

has anyone called out the sweating out autism? what the hell???

Jan 29th
Reply (1)

Michael Bogin

This has become my favorite podcast. You guys are fantastic. My wife and I laughed together for the entire episode.

Jan 27th
Reply

Claire Cantwell

Not to mention that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was outed as a sexual predator in the late '60s, so I'm not sure why anyone would brag about being under his tutelage.

Jan 26th
Reply

Simone

I have been waiting for this

Jan 26th
Reply

Anna Milner

Michael saying that people who "know the secret" might go up to fat people and try to tell them all about it...literally happened to me, from my boss...

Jan 17th
Reply

Shannon Compton

"just visualize being jacked" 🤣🤣🤣 comedy gold

Jan 12th
Reply

Allison Lea

your boy Paul Ehrlich was on 60 mins

Jan 6th
Reply

Nicholas George

This may be an obvious one but it's not really pop science more like pseudo-religious-science(?) and that's the whole Secret franchise!

Dec 16th
Reply

Tara Taylor

I can't believe the non-word "cropaganda" was not coined in this episode. 🤣

Dec 15th
Reply

Nupur D'souza

love it!

Dec 6th
Reply
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store