A Note from James:James Bandolino committed serious financial fraud - started a hedge fund which was a Ponzi scheme - went to jail for nine years, and we really dive into the details of his fraud, the psychology of it. What's critical is that not all frauds have the same flavor - all frauds are bad, don't get me wrong. It is morally bad to be fraudulent. There's a reason why he went to jail. He wanted to go to jail. He tried to kill himself. It's amazing the story of how he failed to do that. Bu...
Mar 20, 2024•43 min
A Note from James:Wylie McGraw, a very interesting guy. He was a soldier for many years. He went to Afghanistan. He went to Iraq. He's been in bloody military engagements, and he's also a kind of unique kind of performance coach who tries to be disruptive in a way that many coaches are afraid to be to help his clients.Improve and upscale their lives. And so we talk about both things. First, I want, I always want to know this, and I've spoken about this with Jocko Willink as well, like, are any w...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr 14 min
A Note from James:Dave Asprey was this fat aging tech entrepreneur who realized he was going on a bad path and so he completely changed his life around. He kind of went to the scientific sources and did the research himself and practically started the field of biohacking, of doing experiments on himself with his diet, with the supplements, with the devices he uses. And now it's as if he's 20 years younger than he was 20 years ago.He started Bulletproof Coffee, which I'm sure many of you have hea...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 29 min
A Note from James:Cal Newport has written such great books about how to be more productive, more creative, the titles of the books speak for themselves: 'So Good They Can't Ignore You', 'Deep Work', and this latest one is called 'Slow Productivity'. It's about how you ultimately succeed in getting more productive by going slower and sometimes doing nothing. Cal tells us how and why and we always have an interesting conversation. So here is Cal Newport!Episode Description:This episode explores th...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min
A Note from James:Gosh, I can't believe the story Jackie just told about Jeffrey Epstein and Trump and Clinton and everything, but first: Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling wrote for many years, 15 years for Howard Stern, wrote for Rodney Dangerfield, is an awesome standup comedian. He's just an all-around good guy. I remember the last time Jackie was on the podcast was years ago and, we were talking about what constitutes a "dirty joke".And he sent me these two huge books, like academic books, abou...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 25 min
A Note from James: I'm confused. There are so many national and international issues being debated on constitutional grounds lately. For example, issues at the Texas border and federal versus state powers-like the case of friends versus the state of Colorado. Does a state have the right to decide who appears on the national presidential ballot?Regarding COVID-19, I'm wondering if it was constitutional to close down all the businesses. It might have been the right decision, but does it infringe o...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 5 min
A Note from James:For 20 years, I've been writing about how much I think people should not go to college, and that college is not the only solution for a career. It could be the worst solution because tuition has risen faster than inflation every single year for the past 50 years.And why is that? Because student loans are a big scam and the government backs them, college presidents always know they're getting their money. They keep raising tuition even faster than society is raising the prices o...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 19 min
A Note from James:Civil war... Honestly, I had an Uber driver the other day and he asked me, in the middle of the drive, "Hey, do you have your go bag?" And I'm like, "What's that?" And he said when the civil war starts - "and it's going to start any day, definitely before the 2024 election," he said - "you need to have your go bag. So wherever you are, you can just go right up into the mountains. Put up your tent, get your plasma lights, get your almond butter and seeds and honey. And you bette...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min
A Note from James: ?Sometimes I think I'm a pretty good communicator, but sometimes I'm just awful. It's really important to have good skills at communicating - I've done lots of kind of communicating. I've been a public speaker. I've been in sales. I've been an entrepreneur. I've been a standup comedian and I've been a podcaster, but my biggest communications have been with writing and you really always have to put yourself in the shoes of the other person.Fortunately, I just read an incredible...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Episode Description:The podcast episode of 'My Favorite Things' explores various movies such as 'Lean on Me' and 'Argyle', and TV series like 'pen15' and 'Atlanta'. James also shares two websites, ACX and Text Broker, recommending them as platforms to earn money from home. The discussion transitions to financial freedom and the concept of having a 'number' for comfort in life. Jay and James suggest people consider how to grow their wealth through calculated investments for a more secure future. ...
Feb 17, 2024•46 min
Episode Description: Jeremy Ryan Slate delves into the history of Ancient Rome, dissecting the transition from Republic to Empire, and the events that unfolded during the era. He also discusses the lives and reigns of significant figures like Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and Augustus. Jeremy makes comparisons to modern America, highlighting lessons that can be learnt relating to monetary policy, government structure and wealth distribution. They also explore narratives around power, perceived...
Feb 14, 2024•59 min
In this podcast episode, James Altucher is joined by Jay "The Engineer" Yow to share their favorite things, covering diverse themes including his favorite TV show, Instagram accounts, AI websites, Kung Fu movies, Twitter accounts, books, comedians, and much more. He discusses the details of why these particular favorites have made an impact on him and why he recommends checking them out. Co-host Jay also chimes in with his favorite sitcom and Kung Fu film. Here are the links that you should chec...
Feb 11, 2024•27 min
From James: ?This guest has sold over a hundred million copies of his books. He's a thriller writer, he's a suspense writer, and his latest book, The Ghost Orchid: An Alex Delaware Novel just came out: Jonathan Kellerman. And I have to say this book was riveting from the beginning to the end. You don't have to read any of his prior books to get completely what's happening. It's about a psychologist who also likes to solve crimes and Jonathan himself was a psychologist - he had a whole career in ...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 17 min
From James: Oh, my God, I'm so excited about this, because Amy Morin she doesn't know it, but she's my therapist. Amy doesn't realize it, but whenever she comes on my podcast or I go on her podcast, it's like I'm going into a therapy session.Of course, you know her as the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do, sold millions of copies. She's been on my podcast five or six times or more, and I'm really happy this episode is her interviewing me from her podcast. And it's me having a t...
Feb 01, 2024•59 min
From James: So this is part two of our interview with astrophysicist Brian Keating, but it's completely different from part one. Completely different topics, 100%. What this episode ultimately boiled down to is: When should you give up on something that's important to you? And we also talk about some BS that's been happening in college campuses lately and some things that have been personally hitting both of us. So, here's Brian Keating again. Enjoy!Episode Description:In part two of our intervi...
Jan 30, 2024•41 min
From James: For the past 10 years, I have been dying for this guy to write a book. I think I've told him at least once a year, "Write a book already. You have so much interesting knowledge!" I still remember when he first came to my podcast in 2014, he gave me advice. I still do it to this day. And we talk about "The Coffee Challenge", as he calls it. And then he gave me more advice that I'm sure 10 years from now, I'm still going to be doing. So he just came out with Million Dollar Weekend: Noa...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 36 min
A Note from James: A fascinating guy, Chris Anderson has run the TED Talks for over 20 years, and he's the author of the new book, "Infectious Generosity". We talk all about the benefits of generosity - not only for the entire world but for you, the generous individual - and all of his adventures along the way with TED. Episode Description: In this engrossing conversation, TED curator Chris Anderson speaks about his new book, 'Infectious Generosity', and explains how it reframes generosity as a ...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 2 min
One of the smartest people in history, the author of Losing the Nobel Prize and Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner - and he did almost win the Nobel Prize. Maybe he will one day do it. - Professor Brian Keating, physicist extraordinaire!We've divided this conversation in two because first, I was really curious about black holes, wormholes, and the beginning of the universe. So we talk about that and he answers some of my questions, which I'm sure some of you might have as well, once you hear them. ...
Jan 19, 2024•53 min
"How is it possible to bring order out of memory?"This quote begins Beryl Markham's West with the Night, the memoirs of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West."I should like to begin at the beginning patiently like a weaver at his loom. I should like to say this is the place to start. There can be no other, but there are a hundred places to start."Today, James and Cal Fussman return for another episode of "Hooked on the First Line", where they each bring to the table b...
Jan 16, 2024•57 min
?Jay tricked me... So as you know, Jay Yow is the producer of this podcast. We were talking casually and he asked me about a lot of different things I've been obsessed with ever since I was a little kid and this "Power of Obsession" has driven my entire life for better and for worse.We're just casually talking about it and then I realized he's recording, so we made an episode about The Power of Obsession... You kind of hear in the beginning, I didn't want to do an episode on it. But, then I real...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 5 min
?What a great book! For anyone who's ever been interested, even for a second in the personal development/ inspirational category, this book, Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential by Brian Johnson... You have to visually see this book. It's 451 chapters, a thousand pages. It's almost like a little cube, but it's very fast to read because every chapter is just one or two pages and it's well done.It interweaves all these hundreds of stories and different authors and philosophers into one cohesive s...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr 25 min
?So much happening in crypto last yesterday. There was a flash crash, of Bitcoin when there was rumors that the Bitcoin ETF might not happen. But there's a lot of other news, a lot of other catalysts for big moves in crypto. I brought on my good friend and super crypto expert, Omid Malekan. Omid is a professor of crypto at Columbia business school. He's written two books, The Story of the Blockchain, and his most recent book - which is a great book, I highly recommend it - Re-Architecting Trust,...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Dive into an episode featuring the remarkable Soulaima Gourani, a masterclass in resilience and ambition. From her dramatic escape at 13 to dominating Silicon Valley, Gourani's story is a rollercoaster of triumphs and trials. Discover how a troubled childhood fueled her rise in the corporate world, leading to prestigious roles at IBM and Hewlett Packard, and her bold ventures in the tech startup scene. It's more than an interview; it's a journey through adversity to success, offering priceless i...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 23 min
In this engaging episode of the James Altucher Show, James and "Jay The Engineer" offer a reflective and insightful discussion on the lessons from 2023 and the unpredictable nature of what lies ahead. Tackling topics ranging from the complexities of global politics to the nuances of personal growth, they share thought-provoking perspectives on navigating a world full of uncertainties. This conversation goes beyond a simple year-in-review; it serves as a guide to understanding and embracing the u...
Dec 28, 2023•52 min
James sits down with renowned author and psychotherapist Amy Morin for an enlightening 80-minute conversation that delves deep into the human psyche, relationships, and the essence of mental strength. Amy, celebrated for her bestselling book "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," shares her profound insights into the dynamics of personal growth and the intricate workings of couple relationships. This episode is not just an interview; it's a journey through the complexities of the human min...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr 19 min
In his conversation with Nick Gray, James Altucher explores practical advice for enhancing social interactions, particularly in the context of hosting gatherings. James, who often feels out of place at social events, seeks insights from Nick, an expert in hosting successful small-scale parties. Nick shares his transformation from disliking traditional parties to excelling in organizing intimate, engaging events. He highlights the importance of having a small core group to initiate the event, cre...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min
We're thrilled to welcome Arthur Brooks to the show, a remarkable author whose work has significantly influenced James' recent journey. We dive deep into his inspiring books, "From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life" and "Build the Life You Want," co-authored with the iconic Oprah Winfrey. Our conversation is not just about the pages of these books but the profound impact Arthur's works have had on reshaping the perspectives and lives of...
Dec 19, 2023•41 min
Today we reunite with Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, the acclaimed author known for "Don't Trust Your Gut." Seth introduces his new book "Who Makes the NBA," a trailblazing work written in just 30 days using AI. He shares how AI tools, particularly ChatGPT's code interpreter, inspired him to blend his passion for basketball with data science, creating an innovative approach to sports analytics.Seth dives into the fascinating insights from his book, addressing questions like the key factors for NBA su...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 38 min
When my children or good friends have problems and difficulties in life, you would think I would recommend to them my book Choose Yourself, which describes times when I've had hardships and the ways I used to pick myself out of being broke or sick or depressed.But that is not the book I give people. I usually give them The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, and starting today, I'll be giving them The Miracle Morning Update and Expanded Edition: The Not So Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your L...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 9 min
"If this idea... the idea of overcoming one fear a day scares you, then keep reading."I wrote this line three years ago.I was doing a photo challenge. I asked Chase Jarvis, one of the best photographers in the world and the founder of Creative Live, "What should I do?"I wanted to know how to take a good photo.He asked me what I liked.I said, "Sad people."So he told me to shoot through the lens of "connection." So I went inside. And looked for my inner compass.I went to eat.Then I saw the man. He...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 25 min
