054 - Best Books Of 2018 | Undaunted.Life

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0:31 This is Undaunted Life Man's Podcast. I'm your host Kyle Thompson. Let's get into it.

0:44 All right, guys. Before we get into the content of today's podcast, I want to go and share

0:48 something with you because something kind of interesting happened on Instagram. So this has

0:52 nothing to do with the subject matter for today. So just bear with me for a little bit because I

0:56 thought this was pretty cool. So typically when someone follows us on Instagram, so we're just at

1:01 Undaunted Life on Instagram, you know, I'll send them a message just, you know, thanking them for

1:05 following us and letting them know that we've got devotional out there and we've got this podcast

1:08 and we've got this all these things out there. And typically people don't respond. You know,

1:12 it just is what it is. But I sent this out to a guy and he responded. And I just want to kind of

1:18 go through the interaction a little bit because I thought it was really important. And I think

1:23 it's important for all of us to be looking for people like this in our lives. So I'll start with

1:27 the message after my message, basically letting him know what else we had. So here's the message

1:32 from this guy. Awesome podcast, man. Listen to my first episode Q&A and really enjoyed it.

1:38 I'm not Christian, but genuinely seeking God. So I thought that was interesting feedback from him.

1:42 So I just sent him this message. If you don't mind me asking, why do you think you're seeking God?

1:47 Okay. And this was his response and it's somewhat lengthy, but I thought I was pretty telling. So

1:51 he said, good question. Lots of things. But something just compels me to read and watch discussions

1:56 around religion, the nature of God, what it all means, etc. When I try to ignore it and just keep

2:01 on with life, I always end up picking up another book on faith, because I just feel like something

2:05 is missing. Life feels barren without a spiritual dimension too. While I believe in God, I throw

2:10 questions around in my head a lot. And so just end up sitting on the fence. So I end up being

2:16 spiritual, but not religious, he says this in quotation mark spiritual, but not religious,

2:20 which isn't very satisfactory. Not sure if that makes sense or if I read your question right.

2:25 Sometimes I do wonder, though, if it's just intellectual masturbation, and I'm really just

2:29 seeking novelty and a form of entertainment. But as I say, when I just park the whole thing and try

2:34 to ignore it, I just can't. It's like I want God in my life, but I just, I'm just not sure how to

2:40 confidently do that. Okay. So this was my response to him. I said, you're right, that being spiritual

2:45 without being religious is faulty and not fulfilling. The entirety of humanity comes down to one

2:51 thing. Was Jesus of Nazareth resurrected from the dead? Because if he was, he is worth our worship.

2:57 There is so much evidence to suggest that that's exactly what happened. God is calling you home

3:01 to him. The Holy Spirit is attracting you. Jesus came here to be your savior. And this was his

3:06 response back. That's a very powerful point that really focuses my perspective. I'm planning on

3:11 visiting a local church in my area this weekend. So I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you very

3:17 much for getting in touch. I appreciate you taking the time. And this guy lives in a small town in

3:21 Australia. And gosh, I guess this just shows you the power of social media and an internet

3:28 connection. You know what I mean? I mean, this is a guy who lives in a small town in Australia,

3:32 a country that I visited once. I can't imagine that I visited his city. But here I am in Edmond

3:36 Oklahoma recording this. And that's where I typed the message. And here we are interacting talking

3:41 about God. And I'm doing what I can to assist in bringing him closer to God. The Holy Spirit is

3:47 attracting him. And Jesus is the one that saves him. But I'm just doing my best to be a conduit

3:51 through which he may be able to experience him in an even deeper way. So again, I just wanted to

3:56 share that with you guys because if you get to the point where you feel like you don't have a

4:00 really big voice that no one's really listening to you, nothing that you post or talk about is

4:05 important. Seeing this message was really, really important for me and important for this ministry

4:10 because I want to make sure that no matter what type of content we're putting out there, you never

4:13 know who's paying attention. Even if you're just a dude, a dude with, you know, 100 Facebook friends

4:18 and, you know, 15 LinkedIn connections or something like that, it really doesn't matter. You're having

4:22 an impact on somebody and you literally never know when they're going to reach out to, you know,

4:26 ask you about God or ask you about Jesus or you have no idea what the Holy Spirit has in store for

4:31 that situation. So be able to look out for those. So let's go ahead and get back into or start the

4:35 content that we were going to be talking about today. So today, I've been excited for this podcast

4:39 all year. This was one of our first podcast episodes of last year when we were looking at

4:43 different books. But with this episode, we are going to go through our favorite books of 2018.

4:50 Okay. So if you go back to, I think it was episode two, two or three of this podcast,

4:54 we talked about our favorite books of 2017. And so again, with that episode, we kind of addressed

5:00 the elephant in the room from the very beginning, which is that most men don't read. And if you're

5:04 still listening to this podcast, you know, 54 episodes in or something like that, you know that

5:09 that's not really an acceptable thing for you guys to do that we're not just going to let you off

5:14 the hook. Because at the end of the day, it's one of those things that for you as a man, you're not

5:18 cultivating mental resilience. If you're not reading, it's really as clear as that. So I don't want to

5:23 belabor that point too much because I think you guys get it because, you know, I'll repeat what I

5:26 said last year. You think faster when you read, you retain more information if you practice that,

5:32 which, you know, obviously it does require practice. It's been proven that it helps fight

5:36 Alzheimer's and dementia and other mental disabilities whenever you get into older age. Again, when

5:41 we're talking about mental resilience, that is one of the easiest things that you can do. And I'm not

5:45 saying that reading is easy. You're talking to a guy that reading does not come terribly naturally

5:48 to. I'm not one of those people that was a kid that was just in the corner and wanted to curl up

5:52 of the book and be left alone, right? I was the one that was being active and out there pushing

5:56 and shoving and doing all that kind of stuff. I'm, I'm sure a lot of you that listen to this

5:58 podcast are very similar to that. But the thing about it is, is this is where it comes for you guys

6:03 that don't read. It's just excuses. And seriously, what is your excuse for not reading? Because there's

6:10 not really a great excuse. I know a lot of really, really smart guys that have some margin in their

6:14 lives, and they'll read zero or one or two books a year and one or two is better than nothing. But

6:20 most of the guys that I know that are in my circle of friends, kind of my extended circle of friends

6:24 read zero, which is pathetic. So again, this is another call to action for you guys. Now,

6:29 if you're not reading, it's ridiculous. And hopefully after this podcast, you have some ideas of some

6:34 books that you would want to read. And then we'll just kind of go from there. Okay. So let me just

6:37 go ahead and talk about this year's list. Man, this was a tough year for books. I just got to be

6:44 honest. So I, I met my goal through what that I wanted to do through the ministry and for myself

6:49 to read 25 books. But man, this was a tough year for good books. There were so many books that

6:57 I was really excited about reading this year. And I read a lot of those and most of them were

7:03 disappointing. And there were some books that I was really excited to read that I even talked about

7:07 on last year's episode that I didn't even get to. And we'll talk more about that a little bit later.

7:11 But gosh, around around the six month mark, I mean, maybe around June or July, I was like, man,

7:16 what's going on? Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm picking the wrong books or things just aren't landing.

7:20 Am I stupid? Like, I just didn't know, but I'm just like, okay, I'm convinced the second half of the

7:23 year it's going to get better. I'm going to read better books. And this is going to be awesome.

7:26 And it never really happened. Like, I haven't really done this for that long in terms of reading

7:31 this many books, but I've never had a year this bad for reading books. And so that's not to say

7:36 anything about the list of books that I'm going to talk about in terms of our favorite books of

7:40 2018, because the books are all quality. And I think you should read all of them. But it was just

7:44 really tough. And I hope that 2019 is much, much better. And you'll have something to do with that,

7:48 because hopefully you can suggest some books to me that won't leave me disappointed.

7:52 But one thing that I will go and bring up again, not all of these books were released in 2018.

7:58 So a lot of these into the year, best books of the year, best this of the year, it's all books

8:02 that were released in that year. That's not the way that I do things. Because if if you're like me,

8:07 again, reading 25 to 30 books a year, I'm not reading 100 to 150 books a year. So I tried to

8:13 maximize again, I didn't do a very good job this year, but I try to maximize the amount of good

8:17 content that I'm taking in. And so if I'm not taking in good content, I'm just wasting time.

8:21 And I'm one of those guys that even if I'm a quarter of the way through the book and I know it sucks,

8:25 I have to finish it. It's just, I think I've not finished a book once or twice in my life. So

8:29 again, not all these books were released in 2018. Some of them were released a considerable amount

8:34 of time ago, but they were just books that I took down this year. Some of these are only

8:39 on Daunted Life Booklist. So if you've been on our website, if you just go to undaunted.life/booklist,

8:44 it's 100 books that every modern Christian man should read. So some of these are actually on

8:48 there, which is nice. But the thing about it is, is a lot of people do like a countdown. Like,

8:53 okay, here's my top 10 going from 10 down to one or something like that. That's not how we do that.

8:57 We basically do random categories. So the best books that we read this year, we wanted to look at

9:04 just different categories and why they would be important to you. So these are not in any order,

9:08 but I will tell you that the last two books that I'm going to tell you about are the worst and best

9:13 books subsequently that I read this year. And so that'll be there at the end, but there's really no

9:18 order or flow to the eight that I'm going to be talking about before that. But without further

9:23 due, let's go ahead and get into the top books of 2018. In the first book, we are calling the most

9:29 interesting book that I read this year. And that is the Book of Man readings on the path to manhood.

9:34 And so this is by William J Bennett. And so with most of these books, guys, I'm going to read through

9:38 the description, because a lot of times it's hard to kind of encapsulate what was happening in the

9:44 book. But I feel like most of the authors or the publishers do a really good job of that. And

9:49 typically they do that by providing a description. And so for all these, I'm just going to read

9:52 the description, you know, what you would get on Amazon or Goodreads or something like that. So

9:56 here is the description for the Book of Man. Raising up men has never been easy, but today it seems

10:02 particularly tough. The young and old need heroes to embody the eternal qualities of manhood,

10:07 honor, duty, valor, and integrity. In the Book of Man, William J Bennett points the way offering a

10:13 positive, encouraging, uplifting, realizable idea of manhood, red element of history and human

10:18 nature, and practical for contemporary life. Using profiles, stories, letters, poems, essays,

10:24 historical vignettes, and myths to bring his subject to life, the Book of Man defines what

10:28 a man should be, how he should live, and what he should aspire in several key areas of life,

10:34 war, work, leisure, and more. Whether we take up the sword, the plow, the ball, the gavel,

10:40 our children, or our Bibles says Bennett, we must always do it like the men we were called to be.

10:46 The Book of Man shows us how. So guys, if you're familiar with this book, perhaps it's because

10:50 you've been listening to this podcast for a while, because I did a whole podcast episode on this book.

10:55 And so this was episode seven of this podcast. And so I would go back if you want a more in-depth

11:00 look at this book, because I did take a much deeper dive than what I'm going to do in this podcast.

11:05 But for us, why it was the most interesting book this year is because it was so exhaustive,

11:10 right? Because it said it right there in the description, there are profiles, stories, letters,

11:14 poems, essays, historical vignettes, and myths. And so there's something for everyone in this book.

11:19 It's even calling it a book, it's more of a compendium of knowledge on manhood. I think that's

11:24 very, very important for most people to read. I had a guy message me from another ministry saying,

11:28 you know, he got it as a gift for his boss or a buddy of his or something like that,

11:32 because you really can't read through this entire book and be like, well, I don't give

11:35 anything out of that. I mean, there's, there's literally something for everybody. There's no

11:40 excuses why guys wouldn't like this book. But I am going to read you my favorite quote from this

11:44 book. And so this is from the first section of the book, which is Man in War. John Stuart Mill,

11:50 the British philosopher said war is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and

11:56 degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

12:01 A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his

12:05 own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so

12:12 by the exertions of better men than himself. I mean, that that is one, not just one of my

12:17 favorite quotes from that book. That's probably one of my favorite quotes ever. So again,

12:21 I don't know that I ever would have ran across across that quote if I had not read that. But again,

12:25 the most interesting book that we read this year, the book of man readings on the path to manhood.

12:30 All right, the next book that I want to talk to you about is the most nostalgic book. And this

12:35 was Lord of the Flies. And so if I know a lot of you read this William Golding novel back in like

12:40 ninth or 10th grade or something like that, but maybe you haven't read it in a while. And so the

12:43 thing about it was is I was I was just kind of a clown in school. I mean, I made good grades,

12:47 but I was always just trying to make everyone laugh. I wasn't really concerned about learning.

12:51 And so a lot of the classics that most of y'all read and maybe actually paid attention to,

12:55 I didn't. I would say whenever I was in my teenage years, even in my early teenage years,

12:59 reading was just hard for me. I would fall asleep trying to read and just nothing was that interesting,

13:04 which is funny because all we had to read in school was fiction, right? For the most part.

13:09 So when you were in English class, you were reading fiction. You weren't reading nonfiction.

13:12 And so today I read one or two fiction books a year and the rest is nonfiction. And I like that

13:16 way better. I tend to struggle with reading fiction. So, but this is a great book. And for those of

13:22 you who have never heard of it, let me go and read the description to you here. At the dawn of the

13:25 next world war, a plane crashes on the uncharted island, stranding a group of school boys. At first,

13:31 with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate. This far from civilization,

13:36 they can do anything they want anything. But as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night,

13:42 as terror begins its rain, the hope of adventure seems as far removed from reality as the hope of

13:47 being rescued. And so the thing about why this is so nostalgic is because again, I don't really

13:52 remember too many of the details from the last time I read it. And so I don't know about you guys

13:56 if you have more of an idetic memory or a little bit, just a better memory than I do. But if I read

14:00 stuff a long time ago, especially if it was a narrative that you would see in a novel or even a

14:04 classic, I can kind of remember some of the large, I don't know the best way to cite some of the bigger

14:10 macro issues or themes that were coming from that book. But I miss a lot of the details. And so,

14:16 but going back to this book, this was this was really fun. It was a really fun read. And so it

14:20 had that nostalgia because it kind of took me back to, you know, when I was in Miss Bear's 10th grade

14:24 class at Lawton Eisenhower, back in I don't know what year that would have been 2001 or something

14:29 like that whenever we were actually reading this book. But I will give you my favorite quote from

14:33 the book here. Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart and the fall through

14:39 the air of the true wise friend called Piggy. And so if you haven't read that book, I am not

14:45 going to spoil anything for you. Seriously, if you've not read this book, it doesn't take very long.

14:49 But let's just say things did not work out very well for Piggy. So the most nostalgic book we took

14:53 down in 2018, Lord of the Flies. All right, next book, we're going to talk about the best short

14:59 read of the year, which is take heart Christian courage and the age of unbelief by Matt Chandler.

15:05 So obviously I'm a huge Matt Chandler fan. I talk about that pretty much every episode of this podcast.

15:10 But if you're not familiar with this book, let me go ahead and give you the description here.

15:13 Christendom is dead. And that's a good thing. The Christian culture that has underpinned

15:19 Western society for centuries has been eroded. We're now at the point where to disagree with

15:24 someone on issues such as marriage and sexuality is seen as hateful. Christians are no longer seen

15:29 as honorable, but as bigots. But history testifies that the more people try to destroy Christianity,

15:35 the more it grows. So we are entering an exciting period of time because we're back in the place

15:40 where Christ church can thrive at the margins of society. In this stirring passionate book,

15:45 Matt Chandler shows us we need Christian courage like never before and how to live with compassion

15:49 and conviction able to look around positively and reach out confidently. It encourages us not

15:54 to be thwarted by fear, but to depend on God and have confidence that Christ will build his

15:59 church despite continual marginalization. A must read for any Christian who wants to understand

16:03 how to stand firm and walk forward in an increasingly secular culture. So again, guys,

16:09 this is it's a great book that if you haven't read it before, it's such a short read. That's

16:14 why I really included it in in the way that we're talking about this podcast is because it's so

16:19 easily digestible, even though it's such a large subject matter. And it could be so

16:25 potentially damaging for people in terms of if they don't embrace it and don't look further into

16:30 it. So excuse me again, guys, we did a whole podcast episode way back a few months ago. So

16:35 this would have been pop episode number 14. So if you go back in this podcast episode 14 is still

16:40 available, I did a much, much deeper dive dive there. But the reasons why this is maybe the best

16:45 short read of the year and what it is in our opinion is first of all, because Chandler is a

16:49 gangster and we just love Matt Chandler. Again, he's he's popped up so many times on this podcast,

16:53 because he said such a tremendous impact on us. But the real reason is just because it's a great

16:58 reminder of how our mindset should be. Because I talked to a lot of people that are very, very

17:03 concerned about where society is now and the direction that is heading, but they're not doing

17:09 anything to change it. I mean, they're certainly not doing anything to the prepare themselves.

17:13 And so what I feel like I see a lot of Christians doing or, you know, trending towards is that

17:18 they're just kind of like complaining a lot. Like, Oh, man, 10 years ago, this never would

17:25 have happened. Or could you imagine this happening when you're growing up or blah? And it's, you know,

17:29 some of some of that's okay, I guess you can lament the past a little bit. But I feel like every

17:33 generation lament laments the past just a little bit. And so I don't know that it's necessarily

17:37 helpful. So I feel like this book is much more helpful in that area. So let me go ahead and go

17:41 through my favorite quote from this book. So here's my favorite quote. Yet it's an attribute that

17:46 when we know it, consider it and believe it will give us courage in this age of unbelief.

17:51 It's the understanding that God is a warrior. This attribute of God has almost completely

17:57 vanished today. When did you last hear a sermon on the warrior nature of God? When we think about

18:02 God, we tend to think about Nickelodeon, not HBO, about Disney, not Dunkirk without realizing it.

18:10 We can end up with a Tinker Bell Jesus who has a bag of pixie dust. And all he does is sprinkle

18:14 us with blessings. He never gets upset about anything. You can't do anything wrong. His

18:19 sprinkle dust is there to help you understand that. Yes, you really are amazing. Don't get

18:24 me wrong. You cannot think too much about the or appreciate too deeply the grace, mercy,

18:30 long-suffering patience and kindness of the Triune God. We must never neglect those attributes of

18:35 God. God is not only a warrior, and this is only one way of thinking and speaking about him.

18:40 Of course, he's more than a warrior, but he's not less. Make no mistake, the Bible does paint God

18:48 as a warrior. So guys, if you've been listening to our content or reading our content for any

18:53 link of time, you know that this is right up our alley. So part of the reason for a lot of guys that

18:57 maybe they miss out on who Jesus is is because they hear way too much about the Lamb of God and hear

19:01 nothing, nothing at all about the Lion of Judah. And so again, looking at our God as if he is a

19:07 warrior, which he is in describing him in that way and looking at the Triune God in the appropriate

19:12 light is incredibly important. So this is a great book for you guys. Again, a really, really short

19:16 read. So the best short read of 2018 is take heart Christian courage in the age of unbelief.

19:22 All right, guys, moving on to the next book, we're going to go through what I consider to be the

19:26 most fun book that we looked at in 2018. And that was Slobbernocker, my life in wrestling. And so

19:32 this is by good old JR Jim Ross. And so let me go and read the description to you here in case you

19:37 guys don't know who we're talking about. There are a few people who have been in the wrestling

19:40 business longer than Jim Ross. And those who have made it as long as he has half a century to be

19:45 exact, probably made enemies or burn bridges. But that's just not JR. Slobbernocker is a story of

19:51 how an Oklahoma farm kid with a vivid imagination and seemingly unattainable dreams became the voice

19:57 of wrestling to record TV audiences and millions of fans around the world. Jim opens up about his

20:03 life as an only child on working on a working farm who became obsessed with professional wrestling

20:08 having first saw it at his grandparents television set. Even though the wrestling business was

20:12 notoriously secretive and wary of outsiders, he somehow got a foot in the door to start a historic

20:17 career when where he held almost every job in the business from putting up the ring to calling

20:22 matches from driving his blind drunk boss towards revenge to consoling two naked 600 pound brothers

20:28 in the shower in the shower room after a rough match. With all of those adventures and responsibilities,

20:34 he's also recognized as the man who built and nurtured a once in a generation talent roster that

20:38 took the WWE to new heights, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar and The Rock to

20:44 Name a Few. Readers will finally get the opportunity here that never before told stories about the

20:48 politics, wackiness and personalities of all the biggest stars. But this isn't just a wrestling

20:53 story. It's a story about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams as success did not come

20:58 without significant costs and unforeseen challenges to JR, including multiple bouts of severe facial

21:04 paralysis called bells palsy. Currently the host of the podcast The Ross Report, any fan of wrestling

21:09 from the territory days to today will be enthralled with stories from the road and behind the scenes.

21:14 Slobber knocker is the first time Ross tells his story and he don't want to miss it. So guys,

21:20 we're considering this the most fun read of this year because I think for most of you out there,

21:24 most of you grew up with professional wrestling in some way. I know a lot of guys are around my

21:29 age. So maybe early 30s kind of an older millennial. And so you grew up during kind of the real early

21:35 days of when the WWE and the WCW were kind of doing the Monday night wars and you grew up during the

21:40 attitude era of WWE and kind of the NWO Goldberg era of WCW and those types of things. And I was

21:46 like any kid that I just loved Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior and Big Boss Man and Jake the Snake

21:52 and Superfly Jimmy Snooka and all these people. And you know, I had the, you know, the pillows and I

21:58 went as Bret Hart for Christmas one year and like, not Christmas, Bret Hart for Christmas. I went

22:02 as him for Halloween to be really weird to go as Bret Hart for Christmas. But you get what I'm saying.

22:07 But at the end of the day, it was just a really, really fun thing to do as a kid. And I remember

22:10 thinking it was real when I was a kid and kind of being a little bit heartbroken when it kind of

22:13 came out to be, you know, not real and then, you know, kind of dealing with that. And then

22:17 eventually, like what most people do is you kind of grow out of it. So I remember in college,

22:22 I hadn't watched wrestling in probably a decade, but there was a pay-per-view that was coming to

22:26 what was then the fourth center in Oklahoma City. And I had a buddy that asked me if I wanted to go

22:30 and I was just like, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I want to do. So I got to see Ric Flair

22:34 wrestle. I got to see a cage match, got to see Kurt Angle kind of fighting in the championship,

22:39 the main event and all that kind of stuff. So it was really, really fun. But it's just such a fun

22:43 book if you have any experience with professional wrestling. Because again, this is a guy that did

22:49 everything. You heard it in the description. The guy just did everything that you could possibly

22:53 imagine. And so some of the favorite memoirs that I've ever read my entire life are memoirs

22:58 from these wrestlers. So the Bret Hart memoir is one of my favorite books that I've ever read.

23:02 I have here, I've heard a lot of great things about Chris Jericho's books,

23:05 mankind or Mick Foley. He wrote, he wrote some books and those were really, really fantastic.

23:10 But this is a book that I actually listened to. And so I listened to two books via Audible

23:15 this year. And this was one of them. And it was actually a treat because Jim Ross, that famous,

23:19 famous voice was reading the entirety of the book. And so hearing him read his own story,

23:24 it was fairly unique. And I was very impressed with with how he was able to do that. And so again,

23:28 with all these, I'm kind of pulling out my favorite quote. But to be honest with you,

23:31 I can't just do one quote from this book. So I'm not just going to give you a favorite quote.

23:35 Because the thing is, is there wasn't a whole lot of quotable material in this book.

23:39 There was just a ton of great stories. I mean, some of his stories with what he did with Ric Flair

23:45 and kind of, you know, everything you've heard about the legend of Ric Flair,

23:48 it's true and some. And so it's really, gosh, it's just such a fun book again. And we put it in that

23:53 category for a reason. But again, if you have anything to do with wrestling, or if you liked

23:57 wrestling while you're growing up, even if you like wrestling now, I think it'd be a nice,

24:01 nice way for you to take that in. And again, reading is the thing that I would suggest you

24:05 most to do. But if you do want to treat, go and buy it on Audible and listen to it. It really is

24:10 pretty solid. So again, the most fun book of the year is slobber knocker my life in wrestling. All

24:15 right, guys, the next book we're going to do is the most informative book of the year. And that is

24:20 bigger, leaner, stronger, the simple science of building the ultimate male body by Michael Matthews.

24:25 So let me go and give you the description here. If you want to build muscle, lose fat and look

24:30 great as quickly as possible without steroids, good genetics, or wasting ridiculous amounts of

24:34 time in the gym and money on supplements, regardless of your age, then you want to read this book.

24:39 Building muscle and burning fat isn't as complicated as the fitness industry wants you to believe.

24:44 This book is the shortcut. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars per month on the worthless

24:48 supplements that steroid fueled bodybuilders swear by. You don't need to constantly change

24:53 up your weight lifting exercises to build muscle mass muscle building is much simpler than that.

24:58 You don't need to spend a couple of hours every day doing tons of weight training sets, super sets,

25:03 drop sets, etc. In fact, this is a great way to get nowhere. You don't need to grind out hours of

25:08 boring cardio to shed ugly belly fat and get a six pack. You don't have to do any cardio, actually.

25:14 You don't need to obsess over clean eating and avoid unhealthy foods to get ripped. Flexible

25:19 dieting is the real secret of effective bodybuilding nutrition. Those are just a few of the harmful

25:24 lies and myths that keep guys from ever achieving the lean, muscular, strong, and healthy bodies

25:29 they truly desire. And in this book, you're going to learn something most guys will never know.

25:34 The exact methods of diet and training that make putting on 10 to 15 pounds of quality lean mass

25:39 a breeze and only takes a few few months. Here are just a few of the things you're going to discover

25:44 in this book. The seven biggest muscle building myths and mistakes that keep guys small, weak,

25:49 and frustrated. How to build muscle, lose fat and get healthy eating foods you love and never

25:54 feeling starved, deprived, or like you're on a diet. An all in one training system that delivers

25:59 maximum results for your efforts, helping you build a big full chest, a wide taper back,

26:04 thick, powerful legs and bulging arms, spending no more than three to six hours in the gym every

26:09 week doing workouts to energize you, not wipe you out. A no BS guide to supplements that will teach

26:14 you what works and what doesn't and save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year.

26:18 How to master the inner game of fitness and develop the self discipline and willpower to take it takes

26:24 to build the body of your dreams and actually enjoy the process. The three simple laws of muscle

26:28 growth that when applied literally force your body to grow bigger and stronger. How to get shredded

26:33 while still indulging in the cheap foods that you love every week like pasta pizza and ice cream

26:38 and a whole lot more. So guys, I know that sounded like I was like reading an infomercial. But again,

26:43 if you think back a little bit on this podcast episode 30, we did a whole podcast episode on this

26:49 book. This book is literally one of the most informative books I've ever read on any subject.

26:54 So obviously, that's why you put it as the most informative book of this year. And the thing about

26:59 this book is again, I don't have a favorite quote that I can pull out because this is more of a

27:02 reference book. So again, you kind of guys, I hope you kind of know the difference between that.

27:06 This is not really a book that you just read through like it's a novel. He can't really just

27:12 pull out quotes. There's just too much tangible information that you can use. So again, this is

27:16 more of a reference book. This is a book that I actually go back to several several times.

27:20 And so every six or seven weeks when I kind of change up what I'm doing and I take an active

27:24 rest week, I'll revisit some of the things in the book as I'm kind of planning out my next six

27:28 weeks of lifts and stuff like that. So it's a really important book in that way. But again,

27:33 go back to episode 30 of this podcast. I took a very, very deep dive into this book because again,

27:38 fitness and health and all the things they're in, it's one of those areas that you can just,

27:42 you can study for hours or days and even get your PhD and something and still not even know Jack

27:47 crap about it. Or the stuff that you know is just flat out wrong. And so this book really takes

27:52 the, the side of research and making sure that there is not just anecdotal evidence, but actual

27:57 scientific and nutrition based evidence for why these things are working. So again,

28:02 go back to episode 30. If you want a deeper dive, again, the most informative book of this year,

28:06 bigger, leaner, stronger, the simple science of building the ultimate male body.

28:11 All right, guys, the next book that we're going to talk about is the most entertaining book that

28:14 we took down this year. And that is Shudag, a memoir by the creator of Nike. So here's the description.

28:19 In this instant and tenacious bestseller, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight offers a

28:25 rare and revealing look at the notoriously media shy man behind the swoosh, illuminating his company's

28:31 early days as an intrepid startup. And it's evolution into one of the most, the world's most

28:35 iconic game changing and profitable brands. Bill Gates named Shudag, one of his favorite books of

28:40 2016, and called it an amazing tale of a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business

28:46 success really looks like. It's a messy, perilous and chaotic journey riddled with mistakes, endless

28:51 struggles and sacrifice. Phil Knight opens up in few in ways few CEOs are willing to do. Fresh

28:57 out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and launched a company with one

29:02 simple mission, import high quality low cost running shoes from Japan, selling the shoes from the

29:07 trunk of his car in 1963, Knight grossed $8,000 that first year. Today, Nike's annual sales topped

29:14 $30 billion. In this age of startups, Knight's Nike is the gold standard and its swoosh is one

29:20 of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world. But Knight, the man behind

29:25 the swoosh has always been a mystery. In Shudag, he tells his story at last. At 24, Knight decides

29:31 that rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own new dynamic

29:36 different. He details the many risks he's encountered, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors

29:42 and hostile bankers, as well as as many thrilling triumphs. Above all, he recalls the relationship

29:48 that formed and that the heart and soul of Nike with his former track coach,

29:51 their irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of

29:56 misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh craze brothers. Together, harnessing the

30:02 electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the transformative power of sports,

30:06 they created a brand and a culture that changed everything. So why this was the most entertaining

30:12 book that I took in this year? This was actually another one of those books that we're looking at.

30:16 It was one of three books. Actually, I think I misspoke earlier when I said I'd had two audiobooks.

30:20 This is one that I actually listened to when my wife and I were on a camping trip in Colorado.

30:24 So we actually listened to this together because at the time we consider ourselves a Nike family

30:28 and had always been kind of interested in the mystery man, Phil Knight, and the thing that he

30:32 had had done. And so this was a very compelling book for us. Phil Knight read the introduction

30:37 introduction to the book, but I don't think he read. No, he didn't read the rest of it. He just

30:40 read the introduction. So it wasn't as compelling as as if he had read it, but you know, it was

30:44 pleasing enough. But it was so entertaining because everyone knows Nike. Again, it is one of those

30:50 few brands that is recognized around the world. I mean, think about the logos that are recognizable

30:54 to any culture, Coca Cola, Apple, gosh, Nike, that may be a data. So those are the those are the

31:02 brands that we're looking at across the world where it's like anybody anywhere in the world knows

31:06 what that is. They know what the swoosh means. And so hearing about some of the ways that

31:10 these things unfolded, because we look at it now and it's like, okay, the guy's a billionaire

31:14 multiple times over. He's been relatively free from any type of chaos or criticism. I mean,

31:22 Nike's had their fair share of criticism in a lot of ways and a lot of that is fair,

31:25 especially here lately with their handling of the Colin Kaepernick situation.

31:28 But the thing it was the reason why I was most entertaining is because you don't really get

31:32 to see this deep of a dive. And you don't really see a lot of CEOs and memoir self-deprecating.

31:37 That's something that I've noticed that they were always the guy in the know. That's what it

31:41 seems like. Like they were always in a world where things could have gone a whole lot better.

31:47 But if people had only known from the beginning, how good that they were and how much, how smart

31:52 they were, but this is a guy that's just like, dude, I had no freaking idea. Like I had no clue

31:56 whatsoever what was going on. And so I really didn't enjoy that. But I will say this, the most

32:01 disappointing thing about this book was the number one thing that I was looking forward to

32:06 reading it for. And that was I wanted to hear the story about Michael Jordan. I wanted to hear

32:12 everything that went into Michael Jordan being courted by Nike and how this really put Nike on

32:18 the map. And it was kind of this big deal. The majority of the book kind of focused on how Nike

32:23 became this really famous track shoot, right? You know, starting in Oregon, which obviously has

32:27 a very story track program and background and things like that. But I want to hear it about MJ.

32:33 I wanted to hear about the greatest athlete ever to play any sport ever. That's what I wanted to

32:38 hear about. And there was nothing. I can't even remember if he was mentioned. And if he did,

32:42 he was just mentioned as an aside. So when I got to the end of the book, I was like, you have got

32:47 to be kidding me. And I think I went and looked online and tried to figure it out. I think there

32:50 was, you know, some disputes at that time about, you know, how he how he got there. And you know,

32:56 the guy that helped get him there is not with Nike anymore. It was just it was nonsense. So

32:59 as entertaining of a book as this was, that was my big disappointment. So moving on from my

33:03 disappointment, I will give you my favorite quote from this book. I thought back on my running

33:08 career at Oregon. I competed with and against men far better, faster, more physically gifted.

33:14 Many were future Olympians. And yet I trained myself to forget this unhappy fact. People

33:18 reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing. And that it always brings out the best

33:23 in people. But that's only true of people who can forget the competition. The art of competing I

33:29 learned from track was the art of forgetting. And now a reminder myself of that fact. You must

33:35 forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You. So I thought that was

33:41 a compelling quote there from a guy who was a competitive runner who obviously has led all these

33:47 different competitive athletes all over the place. I thought it was a very apropos quote. So that,

33:52 again, is the most entertaining book we took down this year, which is shoe dog, a memoir by the

33:56 creator of Nike. All right, guys, the next book we're going to talk about is the most impactful

34:01 book that we looked at this year. And that was Gosnell, the untold story of America's most prolific

34:06 serial killer. So let's go to the description here. He is America's most prolific serial killer.

34:11 And yet Kermit Gosnell was no obvious criminal. The abortion doctor was a pillar of his community,

34:17 an advocate for women's reproductive health, and a respected member of Philadelphia's professional

34:21 elite. His women's medical society clinic looked like admirable community outreach by a brave doctor

34:27 committed to upholding women's rights. Meanwhile, inside the filthy building, Gosnell was casually

34:32 murdering born alive infants, butchering women, and making a horrific collection of severed baby's

34:38 feet. His accomplices in crime were a staff of dropouts, drug addicts, and unlicensed medical

34:44 professionals posing as doctors. But even more important to his decades long crime spree were

34:49 his enablers in the outside world. From the state bureaucrats who had copious evidence that Gosnell

34:54 was breaking the law, but did nothing to the politicians whose fervent support of abortion rights

35:00 kept health inspectors away. The pro-choice political, bureaucratic, and media establishment

35:06 smiled on Gosnell and gave him carte blanche to kill. Even law enforcement seemed not to care.

35:11 Philadelphia police homicide unit received a complaint about Gosnell years before he was caught,

35:17 giving it a cursory look and ignore the evidence. Two women and hundreds of babies died after they

35:22 closed the case. Luckily, Detective Jim Wood and a cart narcotics detective opened a drug case

35:28 against Gosnell. What he found when he served his warrant left even the most grizzled members of

35:32 police of the police force stunned. Now, Anne McElaney and Phylum McAller, the veteran

35:38 investigative journalist and filmmakers behind Frack Nation, dig into Gosnell's crimes. A record

35:44 breaking crowdfunding campaign financed their Gosnell movie starring young Superman Dean Kane,

35:48 but in the research for the film, McAlaney and McAller uncovered fascinating and previously

35:53 unreported revelations that couldn't be included in the film. Gosnell, the untold story of America's

35:58 most prolific serial killer contains the full results of their investigation. So again, guys,

36:03 this was here recently episode 44 of this podcast. I did an entire episode on the book,

36:08 but I also looked at the movie because again, I had some friends that got me passes to one of

36:12 the pre screenings here in Oklahoma City. And so again, horrifying book, horrifying movie,

36:18 not a graphic movie, but horrifying nonetheless. But it's a story that needs to be told. And that's

36:23 why this is the most impactful book, because most people just ignore this. You know, I've talked to

36:28 people even here recently that are a little bit more on the pro choice side of things.

36:32 Until I started asking them questions like, Hey, do you know what happens when an abortion goes on?

36:38 They're like, well, no, I was like, well, what do you think happens? And they have no idea.

36:42 They don't know that babies are being ripped to pieces after the point where they can feel pain,

36:47 that they're being partially born, but their heads are left in the vaginal canal. And a doctor

36:53 supposed to doctor shoves a pair of scissors into the base of the kids skull sucks out the brains

36:57 so that the the skull deflates. And then they pull the rest of the baby out, right? They don't

37:01 really talk about that again, go back to episode six of this podcast, where I talk about abortion

37:05 in its entirety. But this book is so impactful in the movie therein that is going to be coming to

37:10 DVD here soon. Because it tells a story that otherwise people would have they would even be

37:15 thinking twice about it. Because God's nail performed thousands and thousands of murders

37:19 under the guise of the law and under the protection of the law. And it was called women's rights. And

37:26 this is okay. And a woman should have the right to choose, even if she's just choosing for the mere

37:30 sake of convenience, because she doesn't have enough money to have a kid or because now's

37:34 not a good time, or I don't know who the father is, or you know, whatever the thing might be,

37:38 there's not an actual like even decent reason why they would take the life. It's just because they

37:41 don't want to raise the child, right? So again, it's an incredibly impactful book,

37:46 because it gives you a deep dive look into just one abortion doctor. And again, this guy's case

37:52 might sound extreme. And to a certain degree, it is he was basically inducing birth. These women

37:57 are giving live birth to babies that were, you know, they were babies before before they passed

38:02 the vaginal canal. And they're certainly babies after they passed the vaginal canal. And he was

38:05 snipping their necks. So these would be babies that would be crying, moving, and he would snip their

38:09 necks while they were alive. So he was murdering these babies. Now he was convicted, I think, on seven

38:14 counts of that. But there's no telling how many hundreds, if not thousands of times he had done

38:17 that. But again, you have to ask yourself, would we be freaking out if this had taken place inside

38:22 the vaginal canal or in the womb? Would we have made a big deal about this? Why do we consider one

38:28 murder and not the other? So here's my favorite quote here. And it's disturbing, but I don't care.

38:33 You need you need to hear this kind of stuff. And I'm not going to sanitize it for you. So favorite

38:37 quote from the book, baby boy A was born and murdered on the same day July 12 2008. He was so

38:44 large, even in a clinic where late abortions were not unusual, that two clinic employees snapped

38:49 pictures of him on their cell phones. The frozen remains of baby boy B were found the night of

38:54 February of the February 2010 raid. The grand jury included a photograph in its final report.

39:00 It shows a long gash at the base of the baby's neck. Linda Williams slit the neck of baby

39:05 sea after Gosnell delivered the baby alive. Williams testified the baby moved and breathed

39:10 for 20 minutes before it was killed. Baby D was delivered into a toilet and was attempting to swim.

39:16 It was struggling to live. Adrian Martin picked it up from the toilet bowl and severed its spinal

39:21 cord. Baby E was the baby that cried. The one Sherry West said sounded like it a little alien.

39:26 Two of Gosnell's assistants heard it. Gosnell went into the procedure room alone and the crying

39:32 stopped. When he emerged, the baby was dead. He put the body in the trash. Isn't that nice? He

39:39 put the body in the trash. After baby F jerked its leg to its chest, Gosnell cut its neck with

39:44 scissors, baby G breathe, Gosnell Gosnell snipped its neck. The two cases of infanticide involved

39:51 two babies discovered frozen in containers during the February 2010 raid. The first, a 28 week old

39:58 boy had a surgical incision at the base of the neck. The medical examiner found that the baby

40:02 had been viable. The second was a 26 week old girl. The medical examiner and examiner also

40:08 determined to be viable. Her remains had been frozen in a distilled water jug. So again,

40:14 those were the babies and there was one woman that he was convicted of murdering. But those

40:18 are the babies that he had murdered. And again, we go back to that same question that we just

40:22 talked about earlier. Why is this such a big deal in a society where we live? After decades and

40:29 decades of Roe v Wade, why in the world is this a big deal? Perhaps because these are human lives

40:34 and they're worth our protection. Okay, most impactful book that we took down this year,

40:38 Gosnell, the untold story of America's most prolific serial killer.

40:42 All right, guys, next book, we're going to look at the most relevant book that we took down this

40:45 year. And that's way of the wolf. Straight line selling master the art of persuasion,

40:50 influence and success by Jordan Belfort. So let me give you the description here.

40:54 Jordan Belfort, immortalized by Leonardo Caprio in the hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street,

40:59 reveals the step by step sales and persuasion system proven to turn anyone into a sales closing

41:04 money earning rock star. For the first time ever, Jordan Belfort opens his playbook and gives readers

41:08 access to his exclusive step by step system, the same system he used to create massive wealth for

41:14 himself, his clients and his sales teams. Until now, this revolutionary program was only available

41:19 through Jordan's $1997 online training. Now, in the way of the wolf, Belfort is ready to unleash

41:25 the power of persuasion to a whole new generation of readers, revealing how anyone can bounce back

41:29 from devastating setbacks, master the art of persuasion, and build wealth. Every technique,

41:34 every strategy, and every tip has been tested and proven to work in real life situations.

41:39 Britain is an own and imitable voice. Way of the wolf cracks the code on how to persuade anyone

41:44 to do anything. And coaches, readers, regardless of age, education or skill level to be a master

41:49 salesperson, negotiator, closer entrepreneur, or speaker. Okay, so I know that's going to sound

41:54 and probably did sound a little bit more self-help-y than what we normally talk about here on this

41:59 podcast. Again, that was kind of written by a salesperson or marketing person. But here's the real

42:03 deal. Jordan Belfort is kind of a gross guy who's done some really gross things and has not always

42:08 been a stand up guy. He's kind of a sleaze ball, whatever the thing he might be. But if anything,

42:13 this dude can sell. And so why this is incredibly relevant is because I know a lot of you guys in

42:18 this book work direct or sorry, a lot of you guys listening to this podcast, listen to different

42:24 things that try to tell you how to be better at sales. A lot of you guys are in sales or maybe

42:27 you're ancillary helping different sales ventures, maybe you're a business owner or something like

42:32 that. But most of the stuff that's out there about selling is absolute garbage. And that you're

42:36 talking to somebody who has taken in a lot of content when it comes to direct sales and reaching

42:41 out to people directly, anything that has to do with that type of thing. But this is incredibly

42:45 relevant because this system has worked. This guy is incredible at sales. And so this is one of

42:50 those super proven guys that had an extreme personal life. But on his professional side of things,

42:56 you just can't deny the things that he was able to do. And to think he did most of it over the phone.

43:01 I mean, for any of you guys that have done any type of selling, selling in person is hard enough,

43:05 even if you have a product that people want. But when you're doing it over the phone and people

43:09 don't know you're calling and they don't necessarily want what you're selling, it's almost impossible.

43:13 So really, really fantastic book. There's a lot of incredible nuanced things about body language,

43:20 also how you set up a meeting, how you traverse a meeting, how to effectively use a script,

43:24 you know, to where you don't sound like you're losing using a script. And so again, for a lot

43:28 of you guys out there that are in business of any kind, this is an incredibly practical book.

43:32 That's why it's so relevant. And I'm going to give you my favorite quote from the book. But

43:35 the favorite quote here is just basically him reciting his five core elements of his straight

43:40 line system. So I'll just give them to you here the five core elements of the straight line system.

43:44 One, the prospect must love your product. Number two, the prospect must trust and connect with you.

43:51 Number three, the prospect must trust and connect with your company. Number four,

43:55 lower the action threshold. Number five, raise the pain threshold. And so for again, you guys that

44:00 are in sales, a lot of that stuff landed with you because this is something that you've thought

44:04 about or had to deal with when on a sales call or something like that. So again, I'm not a self

44:09 help type guy. Again, go back to last year's least favorite book that we took down. I just

44:14 don't do self help. I just think it's mainly hogwash and nonsense. But this was one that was

44:19 incredibly practical. There were certain parts of the book that you could kind of skim over because

44:23 he was just kind of belaboring a point. But that's not necessarily something that you'll want to do

44:27 whenever he gets into the actual structures of how he does his thing. So again, the most relevant

44:32 book, the way of the wolf straight line selling master the art of persuasion, influence and success.

44:38 So we're down to our last two books guys. And like I said, at the beginning, we're going to look

44:41 at the best book of the year, but also the most disappointing book of the year. So the most

44:45 disappointing book that was read this year that we read this year was when violence is the answer,

44:51 learning how to do what it takes when your life is at stake by Tim Larkin. Okay. So let me just give

44:57 you the quote from from this book that I thought. When I read this, I was like, yes, this is the

45:06 book I've been waiting for. Like, Oh man, there's people that have kind of hinted at it, but this

45:10 is the one, this is the one here. So let me read this quote to you. In a civilized society, violence

45:15 is rarely the answer. But when it is, it's the only answer. The sound of breaking glass down

45:21 stairs in the middle of the night, the words move and you die, the hands on your child or the knife

45:27 on your throat. In this essential new book, self protection expert and former military intelligence

45:32 officer Tim Larkin changes the way we think about violence in order to save our lives.

45:36 By deconstructing our assumptions about violence, its morality, its functions in modern society,

45:41 how it actually works, Larkin unlocks the shackles of our own taboos and arms us with what we need

45:47 to know to prevent, prepare for and survive the uni unthinkable event of life or death violence.

45:52 Through a series of harrowing true life stories, Larkin demonstrates that violence is a tool equally

45:57 effective in the hands of the bad guy or the good guy, that the person who acts first, fastest,

46:03 and with full force of their body is the one who survives, and that each and every one of us is

46:08 capable of being that person when our lives are at stake. In indispensable resource, when violence

46:13 is the answer, we'll remain with you long after you finish listening and as the bedrock of your

46:18 self protection skills and knowledge. So I was like, yes, man, I was so excited. Like I talked

46:25 about this at the end of last year's podcast. I think I did like the top 10 books that I was

46:30 looking forward most to reading the next year. And this was one of them. And I had to be honest

46:34 with you, I had started reading another book and I like stopped reading that one so I could start

46:38 reading this one. It was the first book that I took in this year. And I was so let down. Like

46:45 mega let down. And the reason was is because even though there's quotes like that in there,

46:51 that I certainly agree with, I certainly agree with the sheepdog lifestyle and preparing yourself

46:56 to be effectively violent, if need be, you know, being an advocate of martial arts jiu-jitsu of

47:02 concealed carry and knowing how to use multiple weapon systems and, you know, being aware, being left

47:07 to bang, whatever the thing was. This book was mainly bullshido. And I think some of you out there

47:13 know exactly what I mean. So most of the things that he said were were just kind of nonsense.

47:19 It was almost a little bit bait and switchy. It was like this guy couldn't think of enough things

47:26 to fill up a multiple hundreds page book that he just started kind of making up stuff.

47:32 Or saying things that weren't practical and wouldn't actually work. And again, he set himself up as

47:37 an authority because of his background, but it just didn't seem to ring true. And the thing

47:43 guys is I would love to be able to point to one section of the book where it's like, all right,

47:46 this is where I went off the rails. This is where he's definitely wrong. But to be honest with you,

47:50 there just wasn't an opportunity for that. It just there were too many examples. And so

47:56 under no circumstances whatsoever, would I suggest that any of you read this book?

48:01 And I know just in telling you that some of you are like, well, I think I'm going to read it now,

48:05 you know, I get how it works with most guys. But again, this is the big thing for you guys that

48:10 this is an important concept. But this wasn't the book to do that. This wasn't the book to help you

48:15 understand what to do. If you're going to read any book in this space, read on combat and then

48:19 just move on with your day, right? I think we talked about that one last week, or not last week in

48:24 the last podcast from last year, because that's such an incredible book. And that's a book that is

48:28 actually timeless. This is for the most part garbage. And so again, please do not read this book.

48:33 It's just absolute, absolute hot trash. Do not read it. So here we go, guys, we've made all the

48:38 way to the end. We've talked about nine previous books, eight of which are awesome. One of which

48:42 is terrible. But we're getting down to the favorite book of 2018. And this is not going to be a surprise

48:48 to most of you. But here's our favorite book of 2018, 12 rules for life and antidote to chaos by

48:54 Jordan B. Peterson. Here's the description. What does everyone in the modern world need to know?

48:59 Renowned psychologist, Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions

49:04 uniquely combines the hard one truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting

49:09 edge scientific research, humorous, surprising, and informative. Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding

49:15 boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily,

49:19 and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street. What does the nervous system

49:24 of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight with our shoulders back

49:28 and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful

49:33 attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful,

49:39 arrogant and vengeful? Dr. Peterson's journey broadly discussing discipline, freedom,

49:44 adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world's wisdom into 12 practical and profound

49:50 rules for life. 12 rules for life shatters the modern common places of science, faith,

49:55 and human nature, while transforming the ennobling and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.

50:01 So again, guys, whole podcast episode done on this book, it was episode number 17 of this podcast.

50:07 So go back there if you want a little bit more of a deep dive. But I actually took this book in

50:12 twice this year. So I read it the first time. And then there was a group of guys, my jujitsu

50:17 guys who get together on Sunday nights at the forge in Edmond, Oklahoma. We did this one. And so

50:22 the second time I actually listened to it. So as is as is normal, whenever the author actually reads

50:27 the book, Jordan Peterson read this book and it was a treat, it was actually fantastic to hear

50:31 him read the book, you actually hear him get very emotional at different times while he was recording

50:37 the, you know, some of the sections of the book, just and you can just tell it's because of how

50:41 much the material meant to meant to him. So for a lot of people, it's really important for us to

50:47 know and to realize why a book like this would be so unbelievably important. And it's because,

50:53 for the most part, we just ignore things that are this important, like the things that we're

50:58 looking at in this book. And again, I know a lot of you guys, maybe not a lot of you guys,

51:02 but I know some of you guys out there that listen to this podcast, you're not huge fans of Jordan

51:06 Peterson. Some of you don't like his theology, some of you don't even think he should talk on theology.

51:11 You don't think the fact that, you know, he talked about the Bible was a good thing because he's not

51:14 exactly someone who considers himself a theist. Like, I get, I get the thing, but this is one of

51:19 those books that is a book that you could literally read every single year and get something different

51:23 out of it. I mean, just listening to a group of about, you know, a dozen to 15 guys talk about this

51:28 book over, I mean, it took us about three months as a group to kind of go through it. There's such

51:33 dense material that the stuff that you got from it is so it's just completely new to the other

51:40 guy. They're like, wait, you got that? Like, man, I didn't get that at all. And so just an

51:45 incredible, incredible book. And for those of you who don't know the rules, some of these won't make

51:48 sense just on their face. But let me go and read the 12 rules for you. So rule one, stand up straight

51:52 with your shoulders back. Rule two, treat yourself like you would someone you are responsible for

51:57 helping. Rule three, make friends with people who want the best for you. Rule four, compare yourself

52:03 to who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today. Rule five, do not let your children

52:09 do anything that makes you dislike them. Rule six, set your house in perfect order before you

52:15 criticize the world. Rule seven, pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. Rule number

52:21 eight, tell the truth, or at least don't lie. Rule number nine, assume that the person you are

52:27 listening to might know something you don't rule 10, be precise in your speech. Rule 11,

52:33 do not bother children when they are skateboarding and rule 12, pet a cat when you encounter one in

52:38 the street. So again, amazing, amazing book. I know that he is currently under contract to write

52:43 the follow up book to this. I think whenever he originally did this, he made a list of, I don't know,

52:48 50 or 100 rules or something like that for life. And he narrowed that down to 12 to write this book.

52:54 But he does have and will probably within the next two years finish a follow up to this,

52:58 which I'm sure will be an immediate bestseller just like this one was this ended up being one

53:02 of the best selling books of the entire year, which two years ago, if I told you some of

53:06 skewer Canadian professor was going to be at the top of the charts with, you know, basically a

53:10 psychoanalytical look at a self-helpy type of subject matter, you would probably thought I was

53:16 crazy. But I'm going to go and go into my favorite quote and there's so much quotable in this. So

53:20 it was really, really tough for me to find the one. But I think this is the one that's most

53:23 appropriate for you guys. So this is from rule number 11, which again, was do not bother children

53:28 when they are skateboarding. Men have to toughen up men demand it and women want it,

53:34 even though they may not approve of a harsh and contemptuous attitude that is part and parcel

53:38 of the socially demanding process that fosters and then enforces that toughness. Some women don't

53:44 like losing their baby boys, so they keep them forever. Some women don't like men and would

53:49 rather have a submissive mate, even if he is useless. This also provides them with plenty to feel

53:55 sorry for themselves about as well. The pleasures of such self-pity should not be underestimated.

54:00 Men toughen up by pushing themselves and by pushing each other. So again, guys,

54:05 our favorite book of 2018, and it was our favorite by a mile, 12 rules for life and antidote to chaos.

54:13 So guys, whenever we were looking at 2018, if y'all remember, back in 2017, I gave you what

54:20 the next 10 books that I wanted to read. And so the thing was that I didn't get to a lot of

54:24 those books. And again, I didn't have a very good reading year this year when it came to the

54:28 content that I thought was awesome. But what I wanted to do for you here is let's just say,

54:32 by some stretch of the imagination, none of those previous 10 books that we talked about,

54:36 or the nine that I'm actually suggesting that you read, actually seemed interesting to you.

54:40 But let's just assume that none of those things just really hit the spot for you and made you

54:46 want to move off your butt, get on Amazon and buy or go to the bookstore and get it or get it on,

54:50 you know, iBooks or whatever. I'm going to basically give you, I think it's a few dozen in totality

54:55 books that we're looking at reading, maybe in the next year, over the next several years.

55:00 But these are books that are timeless. And so the first few were actually on last year's list,

55:05 so you'll recognize some of them. But these are a lot of books that we're interested in reading

55:10 and interested in looking at further. And so I'm not going to get into a long description of each.

55:15 I'm just going to say them. And of course, I'll provide the links to them later. So you can look

55:19 at the descriptions for yourselves. So here we go. The first is the Gulag Archipelago by Alexander

55:24 Solzhenitsyn. So again, if you listen to Jordan Peterson, he can't like talk for two minutes without

55:29 mentioning the Gulag Archipelago. And so I actually just bought that recently. So I will be taking

55:33 that down early next year. Another one is Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. I'm actually in the

55:39 middle of reading that right now. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. That was

55:43 on last year's list. Endurance Shackleton's incredible voyage. Good grief. Shackleton's

55:49 incredible voyage. Boom. Nailed it by Alfred Lansing. The next one is five proofs of the existence of

55:54 God by Edward Fesser. So this is a book that I'm really disappointed is not in in an iBook format.

55:59 So this is one that I'll probably have to purchase an actual hard copy. The next one is Professor

56:04 in the cage. Why men fight and why we like to watch by Jonathan Gostrel. The next is the

56:09 dichotomy of leadership, balancing the challenges of extreme ownership to lead and win. That's by

56:15 one of our favorites, Jocko Willink and Lafe Bavan. This is the follow up to extreme ownership.

56:19 Next book, God in the transgender debate by Andrew T Walker. Very excited about that one.

56:24 The next one slave. The hidden truth about your identity in Christ by John MacArthur. That'll

56:29 actually be my first foray into John MacArthur materials. It's kind of one of those things where

56:33 when you have an author that's written so many books, you're like, okay, where do you start?

56:36 So where I'm starting is the book that costs $3.99. So that's why I'm going to be reading that one.

56:41 Next book can't hurt me. Master your mind and defy the odds by David Goggins. So if you're a

56:46 Joe Rogan experience podcast listener, Dave Goggins has been on there a couple of different times,

56:50 former Navy SEAL, extreme marathoner, ultra marathoner thing, anyway, just all around crazy person.

56:57 The next one is the Gagging of God by D.A. Carson. After that, the Frances Chan collection, Crazy Love,

57:03 Forgotten God, Erasing Hail and Racing Hail. And multiply, you like that little Southern 20,

57:08 you got there on Hail, Erasing Hail. But the big one I'm going to read from that is Crazy Love,

57:13 just because everybody on the planet that claims to be a Christian has read Crazy Love by Frances

57:17 Chan. But I actually bought this book with actually four of those books in there. So I'll be reading

57:22 those. The next is The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein. The next is Liberty and Tyranny,

57:28 a conservative manifesto by Mark Levin. The next is The Red Circle, My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper

57:34 Corps and How I Train America's Deadliest Marksman by Brandon Webb. I'm very excited about that book,

57:40 and the main reason is because some of my favorite books and some of just the most entertaining books

57:44 for me to read are modern military memoirs. For whatever reason, it's harder for me to get into

57:49 Vietnam memoirs or stories from Korea or World War II or World War I, any of that kind of stuff,

57:55 Revolutionary War, even Civil War. But I'm really, really interested in the things that have

58:00 gone on in Iraq and Afghanistan. For whatever reason, I feel a deeper connection to that. So

58:03 I'll be taking that one down. The next is Never Split the Difference, Negotiating As If Your Life

58:08 Dependent on It by Chris Voss. The next is Discrimination and Disparities by Thomas Sol. So if you don't

58:13 know Thomas Sol is he's one of the foremost financial analysts type individuals. He's just an amazing

58:21 mind when it comes to finance and the economy. But also, he does a lot of database information.

58:30 This guy's been famous for a very, very long time, but sometimes his his content is not seen

58:34 as terribly accessible. So that'll be my first foray into Thomas Sol. The next book is Ordinary

58:39 Men, Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R Browning.

58:45 The next is A Tale of Three Kings, A Study in Brokenness by Gene Edwards. The next is Boys Adrift.

58:51 The five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men

58:57 by Leonard Sack. So for all you dads of sons out there, that's probably gonna be a good one for you.

59:01 The next On Guard, Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision by William Lane Craig.

59:06 The next is Darwin's Doubt, The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

59:11 by Stephen C. Meyer. The next The Diversity, Delusion, How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the

59:17 University and Underminer Culture by Heather McDonald. The next is Iron John, A Book About Men

59:23 by Robert Bly. The next is Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Life Changing Truth for a Skeptical

59:28 World by Josh McDowell. The next is Genesis and the Big Bang, The Discovery of Harmony

59:33 Between Modern Science and the Bible by Gerald Schroeder. The next is The Arm, Inside the Billion

59:39 Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passon. So obviously for you

59:44 baseball guys out there, that'll be a good one for you. Next, Understanding Gender Dysphoria,

59:48 Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture by Mark A. Yarhouse. The next is Martin Luther,

59:54 the man who rediscovered God and changed the world by Aaron Metaxas. He also wrote the devotional

1:00:00 on Oh Shoot, Bonhoeffer. I literally almost forgot it, but he wrote that really long biography of

1:00:06 Bonhoeffer. So I'm excited for that one. The next one is Empire of the Summer Moon, Quanna Parker

1:00:11 and the Rise of the Enfall of the Comanches, The Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

1:00:15 by S.C. Gwen. The Church in Babylon, Heating the Call to be Light in the Darkness by Erwin W. Litzer

1:00:22 and Ed Stetzer. The next, Unbelievable, Why After 10 Years of Talking with Atheist, I'm Still a

1:00:29 Christian by Justin Briarley. So Justin Briarley has the Unbelievable Podcast, which we'll be talking

1:00:34 more about in our podcast episode next week. So next one, Seven Days That Divide the World,

1:00:39 The Beginning According to Genesis and Science by John Linux. The next is Jesus Among Secular

1:00:45 Gods, The Countercultural Claims of Christ by Ravi Zacharias. The next, The Coddling of the American

1:00:51 Mind, How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lucanoff.

1:00:56 The next, and one of the ones I may be most excited about, but I'm a little disappointed

1:01:00 because of how expensive it is, but it's Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,

1:01:05 A Response to Evangelical Feminism by John Piper. So guys, I know I started the podcast

1:01:11 whenever we were talking about the books, talking about how you don't read and how that's really,

1:01:16 really stupid and how you really should read. But I've given you 10 books from this year,

1:01:21 and also I don't even know how many that was. Two, three dozen there at the end on a myriad

1:01:26 of different subjects. And just because I love you so much, I gave you links to everything.

1:01:30 So you can go click on Amazon, see if you like them, look at the reviews, all those different

1:01:35 things. There are no excuses for you not to read the most books you've ever read in a year.

1:01:41 In 2019, no excuses whatsoever. I'm throwing the gauntlet down, make it happen. So guys,

1:01:47 I want to know from you what your favorite books were that you read in 2018 and what is on your

1:01:51 list for 2019. So if you would do me a solid hit me with an email at info@undaunted.life,

1:01:58 info@undaunted.life, or you can just respond to me on Twitter or Instagram or something like

1:02:02 that. Because again, those are a lot of books that we're excited about. But I know Ben Shapiro

1:02:06 has got a book coming out next year that has to do with kind of Judeo Christian ethics and morality

1:02:10 and those types of things. So there's going to be a lot more books that are going to be added to

1:02:13 that. But we just want to make sure that all that's there for you. Okay. All right, guys,

1:02:17 before we let you out of here, we're going to do a quick resilience boost. As you know, by now,

1:02:20 we are a men's ministry and our mission is cultivating mainly resilience. And specifically,

1:02:24 we do that by providing content like this podcast that for just spiritual, mental and physical

1:02:28 toughness. So today was just a big mental resilience day. And so again, we're going to give you

1:02:33 links to all of the books, the best books from this year, and the books we're most excited about

1:02:37 for next year. So the challenge to you is to make your book list for next year. If you're an e-reader,

1:02:42 go ahead and get on and buy some books. If you're an Amazon person, you like to fill the pages in

1:02:46 your hands, go ahead and order some go to your local bookstore, whatever you want to do,

1:02:50 get those books and get ready, right? Don't wait for the motivation to strike you. When

1:02:54 the first book comes in, read a chapter of that book that night and just see where it goes. But

1:02:58 we've given you the tools to do it. Now it's time for you to take advantage. All right, guys,

1:03:01 thank you so much for listening to the podcast. We really enjoy that you've listened to this.

1:03:04 Please subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud or Google Play and refer your friends to listen and share

1:03:09 this on social media. Guys, if we deserve a five star review, that is how this podcast is going to

1:03:13 continue to get out there to guys like the guy that sent me a message from Australia. So please

1:03:18 leave us a five star review if we deserve one and make sure you leave us a few sentences letting

1:03:22 us know what you like about the podcast. All right, I'm currently booking speaking engagements for

1:03:25 the entirety of 2019. So hit me with an email at info@undonta.life if you'd like me to come speak to your

1:03:31 team, to your event, to your men's group, to your Sunday school, whatever, again, info@undonta.life.

1:03:36 Our website is www.undonta.life. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter @undonta.life or

1:03:42 facebook.com backslash undaunted life. Check out our free devotionals on the U version Bible app.

1:03:47 Just search undaunted life under plans. And as always, we want to thank the band August Burns

1:03:51 Red for allowing us to use their entire music library for our content. The intro out to our

1:03:56 track on this podcast is our song King of Sorrow, which is off their latest record entitled Phantom

1:04:00 Anthem. The links to this are in the description. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep

1:04:05 cultivating manly resilience, keep forging spiritual, mental and physical toughness. Keep seeking the

1:04:12 Lion of Judah.