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2024 Year in Review
19 Plays2 days ago
The guys reflect on 2024, from the books they read both together and individually, as well as their highlights from the book club this year.
0:23 - The guys briefly recap each book they read this year and why it interested them
11:32 - What was your favorite book we read this year, and why?
19:40 - What takeaways from the books we read this year have you applied to your life?
32:07 - What was the highlight of the year for you in the book club?
42:45 - What's one of your favorite books this year that we didn't read?
Link to The Daily episode on ultraprocessed foods here.
And that’s a wrap for 2024! We’ll return next week in 2025 and discuss Part 2 of Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (pages 75 - 121).
You can buy the book on Amazon by clicking here.
You can also borrow it at your local library. Don’t have a library card, or unsure where your local library is? Search on Google Maps, or find your local library by clicking here.
Follow us on Instagram @booksbrotherspodcast
Email us at connect@booksbrotherspodcast.com
Please subscribe and give us a review! We would really appreciate it.
Happy New Year! Until next week - read, reflect, and connect.
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Transcript
Introduction and 2024 Reflections
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome back to the Books Brothers podcast. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season. And with the new year right around the corner, we hope you have a happy new year. I'm Garrett. I'm Matt.
00:00:21
Speaker
I'm Adam. I'm Fuz. Today we are going to take a pause on our reading and discussion of Endurance by Alfred Lansing. As the year has come to an end we thought it would be appropriate to take some time, pause, reflect on 2024. We read fully five books as a group and are currently on our sixth one and just thought it would be a good idea to rehash some of the the highs, what we took away from it, what are some things we applied or our favorite parts and kind of looking ahead to 2025. So a little bit different of an episode today, but I'm i'm really excited for yeah just recapping a lot. We're guys that work full-time
00:01:14
Speaker
We're raising families and we do this as a
Balancing Life and Podcasting
00:01:17
Speaker
hobby. We do this because we value ah the brother next to us and our friendship in this group. And we hope that this extension of this podcast has hopefully been an encouragement to you this year to read, reflect and connect with others in your life as well.
00:01:32
Speaker
So we'll start it off by first giving a brief recap of the books we read this year. And each book was recommended by a different guy in the group. So I'll give the full rundown of the books we read, if you haven't listened, and then kick it to each guy who recommended that book to give a brief recap.
2024 Book Recaps
00:01:52
Speaker
So the first book we read to kick off 2024 was Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter.
00:01:58
Speaker
We took a little bit of time off, ah recalibrated how we could continue to publish an episode each week and reconvened in the spring and red-blue zones by Dan Butner.
00:02:13
Speaker
We then started the summer by reading Psychology of Money by Morgan Houssell. We started the school year off by reading Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. And we finished the year reading a novel called Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. So, Stenland, you recommended Scarcity Brain to the group. Could you give a brief recap of that book, why we read it and what were you know highlights?
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah. So we, we all, the first book we ever read as a, as a book club and not everyone was a part of the book club at the time, but was the comfort crisis by Michael Easter. And we just all love the style of writing. We love kind of this adventure component to his writing as well as, you know,
00:02:57
Speaker
you know I feel like as a group of men out of 30s, he was speaking to a lot of things that we were passionate about. And so we wanted to read the Scarcity Brain. So this book really talks about how our brains, evolutionary, are are built for scarcity. So whenever we were essentially like hardwired to to want more of something um in kind of the hunter-gatherer gatherer time periods,
00:03:21
Speaker
you know ah times of scarcity were such a thing, but now we're living in an age where you have access to anything and everything at a ah just a click away, basically. And so this book really talked about how we have this brain that's designed for scarcity, but we live in a world that is no longer scarce.
Impactful Books and Personal Changes
00:03:39
Speaker
And so really, he talked about ways that we can combat the scarcity brain ways that we can kind of go against our kind of more primal self and really seek to live life in a more disciplined way as well as a way that we want as we choose to live it as opposed to like letting like kind of our primal self make decisions for us. It's great. Thank you. And then the next book was Blue Zones by Dan Butner, which Rob recommended. Rob, can you recap that book for us?
00:04:10
Speaker
blue zone So it had started because they had just came out with the Netflix documentary on it. And I remember watching it and then kind of talking about it with my in-laws like, Oh, have you seen this? This is kind of cool.
00:04:26
Speaker
And so when it just came around to other books, just knowing that, you know, there's, there are these people that are living or experiencing longevity. And I think we, you know, have talked about,
00:04:42
Speaker
The financial piece or the spiritual piece or the you know professional side of things but what about the health component to and i know we all you know we're fairly healthy or or maintain an active lifestyle but it was cool to. Look back and you know i.
00:05:01
Speaker
I was definitely eating way more vegetables. I was watching my intake. I was snacking less. And I still think that you know I'm more conscious of that now than maybe I was before reading the book, but just learning about what other people are doing, where they are, their lifestyle, and how that's translated to to longevity. And then thinking about that for our own lives was was appealing to me for why I wanted to recommend that book. Thanks, Rob. Next was Psychology of Money, which was my recommendation, which I can't really take credit for because my manager at work at the time recommended that one. Psychology of Money is essentially a compilation of small, you can almost think of news articles, links, a little bit of long form writing that you'd read in the New York Times, a compilation of about 20
00:05:59
Speaker
of those into one book by the same writer who it's not necessarily financial advice. There is one or two chapters at the end where the author gives his personal financial model how he budgets and plans, but ultimately it's more observations about how money changes and impacts and affects our lives in various ways. And it was incredibly insightful. The conversations were really Diverse you know we all had a pretty similar background in one sense where we're all raised.
00:06:34
Speaker
you know, middle-class families in the Midwest. And yet we all have a much different view or varying degrees of views on money, how to use it, how to save, spend it, and how it affects our lives and our families. It's a great read. And it's easy to just kind of pick up and read one little section at a time as you have time. So highly they recommend it.
00:06:59
Speaker
The next one was a very timely book, Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. And Matt brought that one to our attention. Matt, can you explain what that book is? Yeah, for sure. I wanted to read the Anxious Generation because as a parent, I wanted to prepare myself for kids with smartphones and how to deal with that. So the book explores the link between the rise of smartphones in social media and the link that they have for mental health, mental health issues, depression, anxiety, all that stuff, specifically for adolescents.
00:07:47
Speaker
I believe the age range was kids between 11 and 15 years of age. That's when it affects kids the most. And how, yeah, social media can greatly affect, in a negative way, adolescents' brains. It also explores the decline of play-based childhood. It advocates for kids playing outside, not in front of a TV, not with their smartphones, but just being in a community of other people, other kids, and having good influences in their lives. Yeah, I thought it was a great book, very timely, and
00:08:38
Speaker
I've been recommending it to a lot of friends and family who have kids as well. And I say, if you read one book in the next five or 10 years, if you have young kids, this would be the one book that I'd recommend right now. Wow. That's a big recommendation right there, which we will get to. So glad to know we already know a little bit of Matt's answer, but now in all seriousness, thanks, Matt. Um, and then we rounded out the year by pivoting topics from adolescent brain development to.
00:09:09
Speaker
Gates of Fire about the more probably realistic interpretation of the battle of 300. I'm sorry, I'm giving it away. This was Fles' recommendation. Fles, please share with us what Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield was about. Yeah, so Gates of Fire is a historical fiction masterpiece that brings the battle of Thermopylae to life. So the story is told through the eyes of Zionis, who's a Greek squire recounting his journey to the Persian court.
00:09:40
Speaker
Zione's orphaned after his city is sacked eventually finds himself in Sparta, training alongside warriors like Alexandros and Dinokis. Through brutal Spartan discipline and unyielding camaraderie, the men prepare for the ultimate test.
00:09:57
Speaker
defending Greece against Xerxes' Persian army. At Thermopylae, 300 Spartans and their allies face overwhelming odds. Their heroic stand lasts three days with waves of Persian attacks beaten back by Spartan discipline and valor. Despite their inevitable defeat, the Spartan sacrifice inspires Greece to unite, ultimately defeating Persia at Salamis and Plateau.
00:10:20
Speaker
Through Zione's eyes, the novel vividly explores themes of duty, courage, and brotherhood, immortalizing the Spartans of legendary heroism. So I picked the book because I love Spartan and Greek history, and I love the movie 300, and figured it would be a good book. And I have some good lessons for us as men that are trying to grow. And I figured a bunch of dudes going to war together probably probably grow in some way. I figured there'd be some good lesson of lessons in there for us, which there were.
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, Fles, thanks for that recap. it It was a really good book.
Favorite Books and Lifestyle Changes
00:10:54
Speaker
And if you want to read the books, we highly recommend them. But if you also want to join us in our journey of recapping those books, please um scroll back in time on our our feed. If you're listening on Apple podcasts or YouTube or Spotify and you can find all the episodes where we discuss the chapters. And each book has about six episodes per book that you can just follow along as we're as we read them and as you read them. So hope you enjoy. So with that year in review, recapping the books we read, which one was your favorite and why?
00:11:39
Speaker
My favorite was Blue Zones. Oh, okay. My favorite personal read was Blue Zones. I really enjoyed learning about different cultures around the world and seeing their lifestyle, what they do every day and what they eat. And I feel like it had really practical, easy things to take away from that you can implement every day in your life. Yeah.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I thought that was a, that was a fun one. I think one thing that I had shared with you guys that Ruth and I did that I was strongly recommend for date idea is we made a meal one night based on one of the blue zones and it was just kind of a fun kind of bonding thing. You know, cooking dealers is always kind of always fun, but to kind of have a theme like that was really made a little extra special. It's awesome.
00:12:34
Speaker
Flaws, what about you? I would say the Anxious Generation for me because it impacted me personally the most as far as an actionable step goes. Like I had already been, you know, wanting to delete my Instagram for good and it's just a timing thing of that desire to finally let go of it. And then us starting that book that was like, here's all the negatives about it. I was just like, oh, here's the sign from the Lord.
00:13:06
Speaker
ah you can Just let go. So deleted it and never looked back. And it was a big delete because it's like, you know, it took years of trying to grow following and power lifting and fitness and stuff. And just to let go of all the comparisons and all of it, it just feels good to live in the present and live in reality and not in the matrix. So.
00:13:30
Speaker
double yeah let yeah i'm I'm on the same page as Fles there. I think Next Generation was my favorite read that we did this year. um Kind of like with what Matt was sharing earlier, I think as a you know so new parent, a lot of really practical stuff. As a consumer myself, I know I remember one chapter after Reddit, I remember deleting like multiple apps on my phone. So it was like that action. And I think also, you know I've been off of Facebook for couple of years now off Instagram for a couple of years now. I mean, all of us are pretty non-involved on social media, but I think that there's been times where I felt like I'm being like an old curmudgeon and being off of social media. Like I'm like the grumpy man who's like complaining from his porch about what the kids are doing.
00:14:17
Speaker
a and But ideal is that I do think that it did maybe give some Yeah, like Adam was saying, some validation to, you know, these are good things to get out of the matrix, to get out of this faker world.
00:14:34
Speaker
You know, we're like, I think it helps you enjoy your situation more. You know, that encouragement as a parent to really avoid screens with Daphne at a young age, as a husband to, you know, when Ruth and I are bored in the evening, and not just turn the TV on, not just sit on our phones, but try to play a game and try to do something fun, try to plan a trip together or something like that. So I think for me, that was a really fun one that I just, I had troubles putting down. It was just a very quick read. It was enjoyable.
00:15:03
Speaker
And yeah, I really enjoyed that one. What about you, Garrett? That's good. I appreciate all sharing that. One one quick comment there was, ah oddly enough, I've actually started to be more active on LinkedIn. It was a little bit different, but I've started to try to intentionally post things about licensing and and what it's more. The the idea was.
00:15:31
Speaker
kind of helping grow the simple modern awareness with people who I've connected with on LinkedIn who aren't yet partnering with us on licensing deals to kind of get in their feeds and just doing four or five posts and like how nervous I would get before I hit post yeah and like is it I'm just like good grief how do people do this daily for on multiple yeah And I'm like, and I'm, me and I'm truly like making it about or trying to make it about the business. And I don't have LinkedIn on my phone. I only check it on the desktop and I've tried to be like very self-disciplined to only check it at certain times, not throughout the day. And that's definitely helped. But man, I'm, I'm like, gosh, how did, how did, yeah, get out of the matrix. It's, it's a real thing.
00:16:21
Speaker
I liked one of your posts. I saw that. I was like, man, who is that beefcake who looks like he can squat 700, who can squat 700 pounds. I just liked my post.
00:16:35
Speaker
um
00:16:38
Speaker
I had to get, I had meant to sneak that one in there before um about set. Like, I feel like you've mentioned how you squat 700 pounds in like the last three episodes. i never realize I was like, I gotta try to sneak that in there when I asked you to intro Gates of Fire. and i Let's see how many episodes we can go in a row. Yeah. When it's harder, Fles, being frozen or squatting 700 pounds. My favorite book was Gates of Fire. And there's a few reasons why. It was in the last part of the year, right? Like, so Q4.
00:17:19
Speaker
and most of the year I have read personal development books and the the four that we've read in the book club alone are more or less like non-fiction personal development type books and I think my mind was just getting weary of I don't want to say learning but just information consumption and I can't remember the last time I've read a true novel And y'all can make fun, it's fine. But I felt I really enjoyed like the romantic part of it. like It was a true story that captivated me. And I read books to my kids every night. And they love reading. They love listening to the stories. And it just made me realize as an adult, I really love a good story too. And it was just a really well-written story also. So I think a lot of it had to do with the timing, the topic,
00:18:14
Speaker
that it was and then just the writing was really, really good. And it really captivated me on a lot of fronts from war to family to romance. It was it was really good. I really enjoyed that one. You're welcome. I am grateful for you. Yeah, that was awesome.
00:18:35
Speaker
That was my second time reading it, and it was just as good, if not better, the second time than the first time. Such a memorable novel. So good. Characters are great. The imagery just stays in your mind. It's just so good. Very well written. Good job, Steven Pressfield. Well done, sir. You know what I just thought of? This is this is like a big dream, but maybe in like five, 10 years,
00:19:05
Speaker
depending on everyone's situation, a future books brothers retreat is going to like thermopoly. Or going to one of the blue zones or something like that. that they do do a They do a marathon in Antarctica every year. What? Really? No, thank you. Maybe you can run it and we'll support you. From here, over zoom.
00:19:32
Speaker
yeah was ten um That was great. and So you all shared already a little bit about why you enjoyed each book or why you enjoyed your favorite book. Regardless if it was from your favorite book or not of the year, what do you think are a couple takeaways or highlights? I can think of many things, but if you had to pick just like a couple things that rise to the top,
00:20:00
Speaker
What are some things that you've taken and applied in your own life from the books we've read that have made some material difference? The first thing I think of is Blue Zones. And I think that Ruth was already on a bit of a nutrition kind of journey at that point when we were reading that. But she really enjoyed hearing about that book and she enjoyed listening to those episodes and such. And so one thing that we've really sought to do since that time is more simple ingredient meals and such. So more single ingredient stuff and just kind of keeping things as more natural as we can. And yeah to this point, is it, do I feel different because of that? I wouldn't say so, but I'd like to think that it's a helpful thing. So that was one that I feel like,
Personal Impacts and Insights
00:20:49
Speaker
you know, a book really stressed on and that's something that we're definitely still doing at this point.
00:20:53
Speaker
we should probably clarify that last comment for those of you listening who don't know stalin stalin's probably one of the most healthy physically fit people you can meet. So that's probably why he doesn't feel too many differences. I mean, if you are things the average American will notice life, literally life benefits. I mean, I can't lift 700 pounds though. I can't get you there. I'll get you there. There it is. That was fun.
00:21:30
Speaker
who Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm finding it now, but I'm actually gonna send you all one. So I feel like RFK is getting a bad rap. Oh, Ruth is all about him. Ruth like loves it. And I mean, it's been interesting, like learning more about him. Yeah, but one thing I feel like learning more about him I could get on board with is I guess he's not a fan of ultra processed foods and stuff. Yeah. New York Times just did an article about it.
00:21:58
Speaker
Not ah not so much about him, but about ultra processed foods like at a macro level in the US and it made me think of blue zones and scarcity brain and things that we read. So here's something that's you know, it's good. It's a good listen. It's not all that unsurprising, but just wild to listen to it. I can I can just echo a lot of what you were saying, Stalin. One of the other questions I wanna ask later is what's a book you all recommend that we didn't read as a group? One book that I read, it happened to be in parallel around the same time we read Scarcity Brain and Blue Zones was Atomic Habits by James Clear. And I think reading that,
00:22:45
Speaker
plus the scarcity brand, like the things I was learning in those two books, it was kind of a perfect match of recognizing, man, I can make tiny tweaks in my life.
00:22:57
Speaker
and they can stack on top of each other and by the end of the year, i would i haven't I don't know how to test it but this is probably the healthiest I've ever felt in my life. nice but so Like whole holistically from and eatinging so eating more vegetables than I've ever eaten. I always ate some but like incorporating it almost you know daily into almost every single meal or rucking. These are things that I learned about rucking from scarcity brain. And I learned about, yeah maybe I should cut down a little bit on my meat consumption and some other health related things with
00:23:39
Speaker
Blue zones, but then thinking of, I don't have to think of drastic changes. Like I need to find a new diet. I can just make little tweaks here and there. And James Clear talks about if you make a 1% improvement every day,
00:23:54
Speaker
Think of where you're going to be in a year. that Those 1% add up. And I feel like I've experienced that firsthand. So those those are a couple of things. The rucking and then, I don't even want to call it diet modification, just food reprioritization and how I'm consuming. it Go ahead, Matt. I'm anxious to hear what you want to say. I really wouldn't become a Spartan warrior.
00:24:19
Speaker
Anyways, that was a complete joke. Some actual practical things. It's similar to you, Garrett. I've taken a lot from a mix of both scarcity brain and blue zones just with my eating habits.
00:24:35
Speaker
I have started to, for my lunches a couple times a week, just eat black beans and maybe some rice and that's it. oh Dave Ramsey. Yeah. Rice and beans. Blue zones as well. yeah Beans are really good. And I've been eating more almonds throughout my week. Yeah, absolutely. I love rice. Rice is delicious. Matt, don't be stereotyped.
00:25:04
Speaker
My kids love rice too. And I'm very proud of them. Do they love like a quarter, a quarter rice or half, half as much? Yeah, just a quarter for them. Quarter rice.
00:25:19
Speaker
But one of the, I think it was from Icaria and in blue zones when they talk about just walking, uh, throughout your day. I bought a under the desk treadmill.
00:25:34
Speaker
and I've been using it almost every single workday since I bought it in June. ah So I walk at least 30 minutes.
00:25:46
Speaker
every work day, if I don't, it's because either I'm sick or I'm doing some other workout for that day. My steps and mile count have gone up significantly. They've almost tripled since last year. Uh, I feel a little bit healthier just from moving more throughout the day. And yeah, one other thing that stuck out from blue zones is Harahachi poo or 80% full.
00:26:14
Speaker
Uh, I still think about that a lot. I don't necessarily abide by it all the time, but it's a work in progress. 1% increase every day. Right. So, uh, just trying to get healthier as a person by making little habits every day. That's good, man. Have you noticed Matt during the holidays, Thanksgiving, the Christmas parties and stuff?
00:26:42
Speaker
For me, I'm like, oh, I'm, I'm really full. I am like, that's like more unique to me this year because yeah, Hara Hachibu, like today, for example, I just, I wasn't self-disciplined enough. I had a third piece of pizza at work, but throughout the year, I've been like, I'm going to stop at two. I don't need to be full because a pizza is not healthy. And then be like, I didn't pack my lunch, so I got it, you know,
00:27:08
Speaker
Our company provides free meals, so I'm going to eat that, but I don't have to eat till I'm full. And again, I don't do it perfectly, but I've noticed like going to the Christmas parties, it's like, okay, we're at a party. I'm going to enjoy myself. And I'm like, wow, I'm full. I don't feel this way too often anymore. I wonder if you like noticed that at all or experienced that at all. Yeah, I've noticed that for sure. Doesn't mean I still, doesn't mean I don't stop eating.
00:27:39
Speaker
For sure, for sure. But yeah, I don't feel a need to eat as much as I can every time like I used to. Yeah, I think that might be what I was ultimately getting at is yeah, it might feel hard at first like oh I still want to eat that one more piece of pizza, but then you get almost get used to like, I'm content. I don't really feel that full. And then yeah, 80% like your body catches up a little later like, Oh, I had enough to eat. And then you kind of get used to that. It's that it's Kind of like what you said in the, uh, endurance or yeah. And the endurance episode about like, it was so cold, the high was two degrees and you're like, yeah, your, your body would adjust though. And to some extent, yeah, you you adapt to the weather that you live in. So, you know, when we get, when we go to Phoenix, we're like, Oh my gosh, it's hot. And Salem's like, yeah, it's, it's okay. You know, you got, you adapt. Yeah. Well, as I don't think you've gone though.
00:28:35
Speaker
Are we talking about books we've, other books we've read too? Well, we'll get to that. i'm I'm curious if you had any thought or anything you wanted to share on a couple of things you've applied to your life that have made material difference from what we read this year. Just, you know, being as courageous as Leonidas whenever I walk into these health clinics all day. There you go.
00:29:00
Speaker
Hey. You really identify with Leonidas, huh? The 60-year-old Leonidas or the three-year-old Leonidas?
00:29:11
Speaker
You're just a really big Gerard Butler fan of you. Hey, man. He's got some good flicks out there. PS, I love you. You ever seen The Heart is the Ugly Truth? The Ugly Truth is a good one. Well, he'll be in the new live action.
00:29:30
Speaker
Uh, how to train your dragon movies. So keep an eye out blue zones, like was good, but I feel like I'm already really healthy. I'm already like a health nut. Like I have a smoothie I'm drinking right now. It has enough nutrients in it nuts.
00:29:53
Speaker
And since we're not on video, Fles is not just consuming a smoothie. from a cup like normal people. He is drinking it straight from the smoothie machine itself. Like a real man. you but Like Leonidas when he made his shakes. Less dishes. Exactly. right Exactly. Scarcity brain.
00:30:21
Speaker
No, I think, uh, scarcity brain. I did go out when we were reading that one, I did go out on a really, really hard rock. It was like zero degrees out and snowing and icing. And I went out and they were talking about like, uh, gear and stuff. Right. Oh yeah. Yeah. that part And I, uh, packed up a bag and took off, did like a four, four and a half mile hike and.
00:30:48
Speaker
It was freezing out. I had like ice had ice on my eyelashes, literally. that's one a So that book made me feel challenged you know or feel like I should do some sort of challenge. So I had never done anything like that before. Blue Zones, I was someone with a nutrition background. There were some things that I you know had some discrepancies with. But I think overall, that's a good message. you know You had asked a minute ago, are we talking about other books that we didn't read in the book club? So maybe I'll kick it to you to start because yeah, I know a couple of books you didn't resonate as much with, which I personally enjoy. I like that we have contrarian views. Not everyone feels the same way about a certain book. And we have some you know discussion in that regard. Were there any books fliz that you read this year on your own that you wanted to highlight?
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think my one of my favorite personal development books ever that I read this year is called The Road Less Traveled. It's by M. Scott Peck. Have you heard of it? No. No, it's really, really good. He starts off his famous line is life is tough. It's the first line in the book. It's basically I just came up with a short summary here. It's about facing life's challenges with discipline and courage. He says growth comes from doing the hard work, delaying gratification,
00:32:09
Speaker
Being honest, taking responsibility and loving in a way that helps everyone grow. It's also about connecting with something greater than yourself to find purpose. So in short, it's about choosing the harder, more meaningful path in life. I just really highly recommend it. It's a good book. Thanks for sharing. Staelyn, Matt, what about you guys?
00:32:30
Speaker
Yeah, was the I feel like i I couldn't narrow it down to one. So there's a couple that i I really enjoyed this year that I recommend has gone through my good reads of some of my five star reviews this year. And some of the books for me that I really enjoyed were, so I kind of went on the business front, one on the more personal front and then one on the store, like just a good story. I read the book, Listen to Sell earlier this year. I've been doing sales now for a little over a year and it's been an uncomfortable change at times, but this book really talks about kind of how to be a good salesman. You need to be like as genuine as you can. I truly believe in your product, what you're doing.
00:33:06
Speaker
and how you're going about it. And so it was a really impactful book for me and and my workplace.
Humorous Reflections and Broader Recommendations
00:33:11
Speaker
One that I really enjoy, just really cool stories. I read a lot of Westerns this year. When I say Westerns, like ah like historical, so, you know, books about the historic West. And so one of them that I really enjoyed the most was Undaunted Courage. This is by Steven Ambrose, which he's most famously known for writing The Band of Brothers.
00:33:31
Speaker
which they made the TV series. Great, great series. Yeah. So on Dr. Courage, is it's basically a ah telling of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It's just very detailed. Super cool to learn all the dates, the timelines, our interactions I had. Really a cool one if you enjoy.
00:33:50
Speaker
reading about the American West. And then um one just kind of a guilty pleasure read is that I really enjoyed was Three Nights in August. So this is a book about a sports writer followed Tony La Russa for a couple days.
00:34:03
Speaker
back in, I think it was like the 2003 season. So it was a very old book, very dated book, um but huge baseball fan, St. Louis Cardinals are my team, the best team baseball, even if they don't make the playoffs. And just a really great like baseball book, a lot of talk of strategy. He just, this guy shadowed, the writer shadowed Tony La Russa for the year. And then he, after doing so, he wrote a book on just three nights, three baseball games against chicago Chicago Cubs. And it was basically just the retelling of that and all the strategy and just super fun read as a baseball fan. Funny story about Tony La Russa. So our every year my high school baseball team would play our rival team at Bush.
00:34:48
Speaker
Stadium this is back when he was still the manager for the Cardinals and I'll never forget we were in their dugout and we played after the Cardinals played and He comes out on his phone and the dugout and he had his pants down makele talking with the phone Not the ever not the c classiest guy it's also also enjoyed himself a few drinks in his day
00:35:18
Speaker
Great baseball coach though. Oh yeah, one of the best. yeah Until he was 85, then he really struggled. When I was in 85.
00:35:31
Speaker
Oh man, that's wild. Yeah, my cousin-in-law was getting his physical therapy degree and did his internship with the Kansas City Royal Spring Training in Arizona. And it was the spring training after they won the World Series.
00:35:47
Speaker
And he tells me this funny story, speaking of managers where he get hit as a, as one of the PT guys, he has to get there before all the players do. So he's there. Uh, he's like getting in the building and he is like getting from the parking lot into the building. And he starts hearing from long way off, like a car, just bumping to some, to some rap. And it's like blaring loud, just thump, like the base is going, it's Ned Yost.
00:36:19
Speaker
That's awesome. It was probably how old was he at that time? I mean, he had to have been in his 60s, like, you know, just not who you thought was going to get out of the car. And so he just told me that story. Hey, there are people, too. There are people, too. There are people, too. That's good. Now, what about you? It's really hard for me to pick one book. I read... Pick three. I might choose five. What?
00:36:46
Speaker
Oh boy. I read 38 books this year in total. o My Goodreads year in review just came out today. So it was kind of fun looking at that. yeah nice sam most Most books I've ever read in a year, my goal was 20. And I almost doubled it. So pretty proud of that. I might double it by the end of the year. Yeah, there's 13 days left in the year. Yeah. Perfect. Get off the call so you can do it.
00:37:16
Speaker
In this sci-fi fantasy genre, I really loved, it's called Defiant. It's the fourth and final book in the series by Brandon Sernson. It's so good. um The Republic of Thieves was such a fun book. It's a kind of a urban heist slash fantasy book, whereas it's this group of sophisticated thieves that pull off these super elaborate heists. And they're well educated. They rip off their wealthy upper class people by doing these
00:37:59
Speaker
months-long, gear-long schemes and pulling him off. And it's just the characters are great. A lot of fun. And then the other fantasy genre, I just read this trilogy called the Lycanius trilogy. And similar to The Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson style. He's a first-time author for this series, but He's also really into debating theology, specifically predestination and morality, and he weaves that into his story. So it's really cool to have this epic fantasy story. It wraps up really well, but throughout the entire thing, it weaves in doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do.
00:38:50
Speaker
and making choices based on what good morality looks like and there's a lot of gray area and some people think that they are right because of their beliefs and what they believe in but others you know, couldn't believe in something else. So what is exactly the right choice to do in that situation? I don't know, it was just fascinating. And then I guess I'll just do one more. Letters to the Church by Francis Chan was so good. Talks about the problem with American churches today and how to get back to what the Bible actually says about what the church should look like.
00:39:35
Speaker
and how people should act within it, how leaders should act within it. Very good read, pretty short and well-written. Yeah, I could talk about like 10 more books, but I won't bore you guys. Thanks. I love it. No, I love it. That's great. No, that's that's a dumb and dumber quote. Dumb and dumber quote.
00:39:59
Speaker
I'm glad you got that, Matt, because that would have seemed really offensive if you did not. re ah Yes, I love it, too, in all seriousness. and I'll do a throwback. So and I think this was the book that started this whole thing, and I was not a part of the the book club yet, but I caught up when we were reading Scarcity Brain and read Comfort Crisis as well.
Podcast Journey and Personal Growth
00:40:25
Speaker
and I already hit on atomic habits. That was really influential as I look back at my list, but comfort crisis, I think has stuck out because I think it, it's almost like the foundation for some of the other books that I've read. I think where like scarcity brain in order to press into some of the non primal elements you like that will require discomfort or having new habits, developing new habits or
00:40:57
Speaker
instituting Hara Hachibu and not eating until you're full or eating more vegetables when you just want to like add on another steak or whatever. there's There's an element of like embracing discomfort and that's something that and I just what I liked about that book too is he weaved in ah that personal story about how he went like elk hunting in Alaska. the us was cariboo wasn't it airbo That's right. That's right. And I just thought his writing was just incredible. It was like a book where I, you would get, well, I would get mad when the chapter would end. I'm like, no, no, no. Like don't stop the story. Tell me what happened next. And it was just a ah really great way of storytelling. And then also weaving that into the thesis of his book.
00:41:50
Speaker
So that was my favorite if I had to pick one. What was the highlight for you guys? Not necessarily even like reading a book, you know, it could be the retreat, whatever you guys want, but as far as like the group of guys that we have here, I know a couple aren't on the call right now, but what was holistically, what was a highlight for you guys this year? I mean, for one, I would say that one for me personally is just becoming more comfortable with it in general.
00:42:18
Speaker
And it was very causal of the discomfort. I didn't even want to lead any of these for a while. And I haven't felt to that discomfort for a while. And it's been fun to lead some recently. So I think just the growth in that has been good for me personally. And then outside of that, for sure, the retreat and getting through the challenge with all you guys and getting to see everybody was awesome. So yeah, those two for sure. Nice.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Flies I love when you lead, man. You always make us laugh the most. I think it was really fun when ah we were doing Inkster Generation when we had a Brooke and Jamie on. I think it was just added a kind of a different layer, adding a female voice in. um And then really, I mean, we we joked about this a lot, but really having actually two people who know what they're talking about on the topic.
00:43:14
Speaker
ah good So I really enjoyed that. Yeah, I'd have to say the retreat for me. It was just so good to see everyone in person. Glad we could all get our schedules aligned and actually make it happen. But spending that time with y'all was really, really great. I think about it a lot. Besides that, I think just the consistency of meeting. It's been really good. yeah Always good to catch up with you guys.
00:43:44
Speaker
<unk>co It was interesting timing. I was rucking at the office. And I was just going to work just sweating bullet in the office and balls man and one of my coworkers who were in a very similar stage of life. He's like a year or two older than me. His wife just had their third child last year and kind of had a non-traditional route to how he came to simple modern. He was in ministry for a while and.
00:44:19
Speaker
We just relate on a lot of things in our work experience. ah Basically we started talking about this book I just saw on his phone. He was listening to an audio book and the conversation expanded and I had never told him about the podcast and the book club. and He knew about the retreat. He knew about the Grand Canyon and we started talking about it and he asked me a really interesting question. I'll probably butcher how he originally asked it, but he basically was like, hey, what do you get out of doing something like that, like a book club. It was a really interesting question, A, because like it had a very much like, it kind of had a vibe, like, I don't do anything unless there's some productivity output that is associated with something, which I think is just very standard these days in American Western culture.
00:45:13
Speaker
which we talked about, but answering his question on face value, I've thought about that a lot since I've joined this even before we hit record. And I think that's my highlight. It's benefits and some of the joy that I've experienced from this that I never could have anticipated when Stalen first invited me to join. I joined when Stalen invited me, I jumped at it because I was in between moving cities and kind of had a ah tough kind of spot in my life relationally with community, you know, in between cities, in between churches, coming out of the pandemic, et cetera, et cetera. But then it's just really evolved in a way that I couldn't have imagined. And to so to be brief, I think just reconnecting with some of you or basically all of you, right? like
00:46:07
Speaker
Uh, Rob, I probably kept up with the most, but it doesn't even compare to the bi a biweekly touch base like this. And then, you know, doing things like the retreat and then you can, you know, some of the things that have come from the podcast, it's like, I learned how to do something new. I didn't know how to publish the podcast. I learned something new. That's fun. This has been a very good outlet of time. Hobby wise, you know, we've talked about some of that and like the mask and masculinity, like the sexuality mask or just, you know, life is hard and.
00:46:43
Speaker
Screens are everywhere and there's a lot of temptation and ways to really not use your time wisely late at night or any time of the day and knowing that I better read these chapters and Keep up to date, you know with our reading plan and getting on these calls It's been a great use of my free time and a great what I would call a hobby. So there's and then Developing my public speaking skills. I'd never noticed how much I said the word like until I heard myself on record. Like there's there's so many ways I could answer the question from my own speaking ability to...
00:47:21
Speaker
deep connection exactly to deep connections with you guys rekindling those friendships to developing a habit of reading where I made a goal and I'll end it this way. I made a goal the night before I turned 30. I made goals for my 30s that I'd read 30 books in this next decade.
00:47:46
Speaker
And how many do you add i will I'll be at about 26 this year alone. Nice. So i to me, i'm like I'm like three books a year. That's a stretch goal. Just one more to go the rest of the time. That's great, man. You can do that. And I don't have to read again for the next six years. But you know what I'm saying? it's oh I like reading. Reading is fun. I actually have time to read it because I'm not spending my time, you know, on my phone or wasting doing other silly things. And there's just been so many positive things that I never could have imagined joining a ah book club. and Guys, what what I've enjoyed most is the lucrative sponsors, the rich private jets.
00:48:33
Speaker
Becoming famous overnight is is hard, a man but I think we all handled it very, very well. I mean, you know, going from zero to 240 followers, not 240 million.
00:48:52
Speaker
it's a you know I wake up and I put my pants on much more differently knowing that I have a spot in this world. We're all so humble about it too, right? We're the most the most humble about getting famous. I'm totally kidding. I'm totally kidding. Oh, man. That's so funny.
00:49:11
Speaker
now it I think, Garrett, you you were getting on a ah good roll there. I've personally enjoyed just talking with you guys and like dissecting books. I think i think sometimes with when we talk, we you know we we each want to answer the question and some sometimes it's a little less conversational, so i I've enjoyed the times when we're were more.
00:49:37
Speaker
When we're more conversational and I think a lot of good conversations have happened off offline Like through the phone calls where you know guys are calling other guys that maybe like you said Garrett We we might have not have called so I think that's been one of the highlights. I did really enjoy the the Jamie and Brooke and I thought that was really cool to just bring it bring in some experts as well. Obviously the the retreat was definitely a high, something to celebrate for sure. And then yeah Garrett as well. I know that I say I think or obviously a lot. I say that a decent amount at work but it makes you want to be a better speaker when you do something like this too.
00:50:28
Speaker
and i shared at the beginning of all this when we started recording like a year ago that me and reading have been hot and cold. it's Sometimes I'm about it, sometimes I'm not about it. And I think you guys have probably seen that. I think I've been the one that's probably skipped the most books this year, like three books maybe this year. But it's always good to get back in and get reading. And I i do enjoy it. It just takes me a little while to to kind of get hot about it again. but
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah, overall, just a lot of intangibles, like you were saying, Garrett, and I'm sure you guys have probably all said of the podcast, but then, you know, the tangible brotherhood, reminiscent on old times, laugher laughing. Those have been great, great memories for me.
00:51:22
Speaker
And one other thing I was going to say about just enjoying the podcast. I know it's we we've kind of like died down a little bit in terms of like applying pressure on trying to like really grow this thing. And it's just really just us recording. And if it goes anywhere, great. If it doesn't, not a big deal.
Achievements and Encouragement
00:51:41
Speaker
But some of those early on stages of you know, watching views grow or getting some followers. And Garrett, I think you drop in and be like, we gained Saudi Arabia today. And it's like, it's just Garrett's VPN when he's, you know, in Vegas or something. And we're still celebrating it. Like it's, you know, like united Saudi Arabian oil prints. Yeah. We got the Dubai Prince over here listening to the books brothers podcast.
00:52:16
Speaker
But so I enjoyed, I enjoyed some of that as well. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. It guys, it's been a great year. It was our first full calendar year of doing the podcast and we made it all the way through. We're coming up on our 50th episode. And more importantly, as you guys have heard through our conversations,
00:52:39
Speaker
This has been much more than a podcast the book club means a lot to us And yeah, we hope that if you don't have a group like this, but you know people that might be interested in you know, it might take that courageous first step that fuzz talked about and Initiating that because you won't regret doing that and you will only benefit from it So we hope that that's, and we'll leave you with that encouragement as we end 2024. So thank you for joining us for the last time in 24 of this episode of the Books Brothers
00:53:32
Speaker
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