A Note from James:Today, we've got a returning guest, a fan favorite, and someone whose work has consistently left a mark on this podcast-Ryan Holiday. We've talked about many of his books, from "Trust Me, I'm Lying" to his series on stoicism, including "The Obstacle is the Way". His latest work, "Right Thing Right Now: Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds", is part of his Stoic Virtue series and is packed with insightful stories and practical advice on how to live a virtuous life. Ryan alway...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Episode Description:In this special episode of "The James Altucher Show," James shares his unique commentary on surprisingly impactful media that has imparted valuable life and business lessons. Through an in-depth analysis of scenes from iconic movies and insights from legendary figures, James reveals how these media moments have influenced his thinking and strategies. Listeners will discover practical and transcendent lessons that aren't typically found in conventional self-help resources. Whe...
Jun 07, 2024•32 min
A Note from James:Today, we have a very special guest, Steve Forbes, who is arguably the world's leading authority on billionaires. Each year, Forbes magazine publishes the Forbes 400, listing the 400 wealthiest people on the planet. Although I sometimes disagree with the list, Steve always provides fascinating insights into what it takes to become a billionaire. Our conversation covers various intriguing topics about wealth, success, and the unique traits that make these billionaires stand out....
Jun 02, 2024•35 min
A Note from James: Today, we've got Andrew Gold back on the podcast. He's an investigative journalist and the author of "The Psychology of Secrets: My Adventures with Murderers, Cults, and Influencers" This book is riveting-every page dives into the intriguing world of secrets. What are secrets? What are the big secrets we know of? How do you tell someone's secrets? From murderers to cults to influencers, Andrew's insights are fascinating. He also runs the YouTube channel Heretics, which I highl...
May 28, 2024•1 hr 19 min
A Note from James:Today, we have a remarkable guest, John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods. Whole Foods is my go-to place for groceries, whether I'm shopping in-store or ordering via Instacart. John's story is fascinating. He started as a young, hippie-ish guy living in a commune and working in a food co-op. One day, he thought, "Hey, I could do this," and opened his first store, Saferway, humorously named to poke fun at Safeway. Over time, this venture grew into the massive empire we now know...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 11 min
A Note from James:"I've known Anthony Scaramucci for about 15 years. We had breakfast 15 years ago after his first book came out, and I had written a review of it in the Financial Times. At different times, we even thought about working together, about 10 or 15 years ago. He's always been a very interesting guy.Of course, I know him from the hedge fund world, but much later, he got involved in the political world. He became the Communications Director of the White House under Donald Trump for 11...
May 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min
A Note from James:This may be the smartest guy in terms of raw intelligence that I've ever had on the podcast. Sean Carroll is a great physicist and a great writer of physics. He attempts to explain quantum mechanics and the difference between quantum mechanics and classical physics. I make some analogies about how this applies to my personal life and pitch an idea that I think could win the Nobel Prize. If you listen to this podcast, you will know more about quantum mechanics than before.Sean C...
May 16, 2024•58 min
A Note from James:Oh my gosh, I've been wanting to have this guy on my podcast for literally ten years, ever since I started. I am so impressed with him, and he speaks about a subject near and dear to my heart. Salman Khan, Sal Khan, is the creator of Khan Academy, which was really the first big online academy. It focused on teaching math, coding, and other subjects, effectively reaching people who went through years of school without truly mastering these topics. Khan Academy has had a profound...
May 14, 2024•1 hr 20 min
A Note from James:"Get Better at Anything: 12 Maxims for Mastery." I first met Scott Young nearly ten years ago when he completed all the requirements for a four-year MIT degree in computer science in just 12 months. He's an expert at learning things quickly and recently authored the book "Get Better at Anything: 12 Maxims for Mastery."I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him, as I'm always interested in learning and mastering new skills. Scott Young excels in this area, and we discus...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 13 min
A Note from James:"The Year of Living Constitutionally." I mentioned this episode last week during our discussion with AJ Jacobs, but here we delve into his book, "The Year of Living Constitutionally." AJ not only researched and wrote about the Constitution, but he also spent a year living as if it were 1790, adhering to the U.S. Constitution literally. He even carried a musket and applied to be a pirate in Congress, referencing Article One, which grants Congress the power to commission pirates....
May 07, 2024•47 min
A Note from James:?AJ Jacobs, who has an upcoming book, "The Year of Living Constitutionally", he's a fascinating writer. He basically, instead of just doing research on a topic "Oh, I'm going to do research on the Constitution, I'm going to do research on living healthy, I'm going to do research on the Bible," instead of just researching something and writing a book, which I consider to be boring, he has a completely different way of exploring a topic, and it turns out,and not by accident, it t...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 8 min
A Note from James:Learning how to be a good interviewer is crucial in life, not just for reporters or podcasters, but because many life situations resemble interviews. Whether you're applying for a job, hiring someone, or meeting someone new at a party, it's beneficial to gather as much information about them as quickly as possible. Additionally, it's important to leave a good impression if that's your goal. Being a skilled interviewer is therefore essential. I'm grateful for my podcast, which h...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 19 min
A Note from James: I want to congratulate my friend Tim Ferriss on the 10th anniversary of his podcast. It is such an excellent podcast. It's one of the few podcasts I regularly listen to and I highly recommend it if you don't already listen to it. He's been a great guy, and a great friend over the years. We don't always keep in touch, but I always count him among my long-distance friends, and congratulations to him on having the 10th anniversary of his podcast.I remember when he was first consi...
Apr 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min
A Note from James:"The Algebra of Wealth" is a very good book by Scott Galloway and I had a very good conversation with him about how to create wealth, along with all the mistakes he's ever made. He's started nine companies: two were super successful, and several were pretty successful. He's talked about entrepreneurship so much. He's a really smart guy and these lessons are about building wealth. I wish I had known them when I was younger. I wish my kids would know them and I want your kids to ...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 7 min
A Note from James:I particularly want to reverse my aging. I'm not concerned about being able to run a mile or anything like that; I just want to reverse the aging of my brain. I feel there's a definite difference between my brain now and when I was younger. By the way, culturally, we acknowledge that the brain ages. Not only medically, but culturally, you have to adapt to being the wise older person rather than the sharp young person.We had a great conversation with Arthur Brooks about this. He...
Apr 18, 2024•57 min
A Note from James:"In this episode, Tim Collins and I discuss what I believe is a great business idea that could solve the main problems of the world, including student loan debt and possibly even inflation. It's a very interesting concept, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.Additionally, we have a call for participants in this episode. So here we go: the ultimate business idea that solves every problem in the world." Episode Description:In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss a groundb...
Apr 16, 2024•31 min
A Note from James:"Okay, two things. One is Tim Collins tells me all about getting pitched the ultimate AI porn business and how AI is going to change the porn industry. From both a business perspective and an AI perspective, I do think it's interesting how every industry is basically going to change. Because then, when we started with this...Tim, who I've worked with for a long time-like 20 years or so-recently I found out he is a writer of horror novels and he's writing a horror graphic novel,...
Apr 16, 2024•10 min
Episode Description:Today's episode features part one of a 3-part detailed discussion on the emerging trends of inscriptions and ordinals in the Bitcoin blockchain, positioning them as exciting new forms of collectibles with real historical significance and potential for value appreciation. James is joined by financial advisors Timothy Collins and Benjamin Republic (Co-Founder & CEO at SatRepublic), who bring their expertise on the subject matter, explaining the technical aspects, comparisons to...
Apr 12, 2024•59 min
Episode Description:James shares a personal story from his early days as an entrepreneur, focusing on a critical lesson learned during a business pitch involving Tupac Shakur's posthumous album. Initially detailing the misconceptions about entrepreneurship, he narrates his journey from working at HBO while simultaneously running his first company, Reset, which specialized in creating websites, notably in the entertainment sector. A significant opportunity arose with Tupac Shakur's manager and mo...
Apr 10, 2024•34 min
A Note from James:I am thrilled to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my podcast. Occasionally, I'll feature some timeless episodes as if they're brand new, sharing those that have greatly impacted me. One such figure is Nassim Taleb, whom I consider one of the smartest people on the planet.I've learned so much from Nassim, and I'm not sure he realizes or cares just how influential he's been on me. I was extremely grateful when he agreed to appear on my podcast. There's an interesting backstory t...
Apr 06, 2024•1 hr 43 min
A Note from James:I have to say, this next guest has recently become one of my all-time favorite writers, presenting a very different style from what I'm accustomed to. I started reading one of his books, and it turned out to be "Table for Two," which includes some short fiction and a novella titled "Even Hollywood." At the time, I didn't know it was the sequel to his first novel, ""Rules of Civility."He also wrote "A Gentleman in Moscow," one of the best books I've ever read. In fact, by the ti...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 44 min
A Note from James:Oh my gosh, every time, this is the second time I've talked to Gladys McGarey. Last year she was 102 years old, this year she's 103 years old. She wrote a book, The Well Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age, and it's coming out in paperback. And every time I read this book, I've read it twice now, and I talk to her, I almost feel like crying, and I don't really know why. It's almost as if she was born with wisdom, but then kept ev...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 9 min
A Note from James:Ryan Estis is potentially the most successful public speaker worldwide. I've known him for about a decade, thanks to our mutual friend Scott Cohen, who has appeared on this podcast several times and is an outstanding entrepreneur.Over the years, Ryan and I have developed a strong friendship, partly due to our connection with Scott. Ryan is an exceptional public speaker, known for his inspirational talks. He possesses a wealth of knowledge in business, sales, and global affairs,...
Mar 26, 2024•58 min
A Note from James:Yesterday, we talked all about how James Brandolino started a hedge fund, which was a fraud upon the scheme, all the illegal activity, and how he went from civil to criminal. You could go back and listen to that, but also, dive into some of the details here. But most of all, this one starts with James Brandolino going to jail and what happened afterward. Episode Description:Today, we conclude our interview with James Brandolino, a former hedge fund manager who turned himself in...
Mar 21, 2024•55 min
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
