Out of the Wild

Sebastian Junger [https://substack.com/profile/4194267-sebastian-junger] is the author of The Perfect Storm, War, Tribe, Freedom, and most recently In My Time of Dying: How I came face to face with the idea of an afterlife [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]. We discuss… * Sebastian's literary heroes * Sebastian's literary motivations * The state of Sebastian's "tribal health." * The wealthier the neighborhood, the weaker the community? * How big spaces pull us apart—as discussed in Sebastian's recent essay, "The Great Abandonment [https://sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/the-great-abandonment]." * The virtues of stoicism * American Psychological Association [https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/ce-corner] on traditional masculinity: "The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity—marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression—is, on the whole, harmful." * What's a definition of what manhood is (existentially speaking)? * Sebastian's viral Substack post: Young Men and How the Democrats Lost Them [https://sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/young-men-and-how-the-democrats-lost] * Harvard Professor pushed out for using words like male and female. [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/8/11/biology-lecturer-gender-comments-backlash/] * Fighting words and uplifting voices from Democrats: Talarico on Colbert [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiTJ7Pz_59A] & Jon Ossoff [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=hzQY53_hpWw&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Facornabbey.com%2F] * Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Ezra Klein [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-marie-gluesenkamp-perez.html] * Voting, jury duty, and giving blood: symbolic gestures of national connection * I propose some radical ideas to simulate tribal dynamics in a more populous, peacetime world. * Sebastian's NDE (Near Death Experience) which led him down a scientific journey to understand the un-understandable * I turn on the hot lights and ask Sebastian: are NDE visions a product of biology or a consciousness that's not entirely contained in the brain? * How Sebastian explains death and the afterlife to his children. * Sebatian recommends: Out of the Wild with Ken Ilgunas is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Sebastian Junger [https://open.substack.com/users/4194267-sebastian-junger?utm_source=mentions] is the author of The Perfect Storm [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/], [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]War [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/], [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]Tribe [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/], [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]Freedom [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/], and most recently [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]In My Time of Dying: How I came face to face with the idea of an afterlife [https://www.sebastianjunger.com/]. We discuss… * Sebastian's literary heroes * Sebastian's literary motivations * The state of Sebastian's "tribal health." * The wealthier the neighborhood, the weaker the community? * How big spaces pull us apart—as discussed in Sebastian's recent essay, "The Great Abandonment [https://sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/the-great-abandonment]." Ishmael and Queequeg together in bed, as sketched by Rockwell Kent, 1930 * The virtues of stoicism * American Psychological Association [https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/ce-corner] on traditional masculinity: "The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity—marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression—is, on the whole, harmful." * What's a definition of what manhood is (existentially speaking)? * Sebastian's viral Substack post: Young Men and How the Democrats Lost Them [https://sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/young-men-and-how-the-democrats-lost] * Harvard Professor pushed out for using words like male and female. [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/8/11/biology-lecturer-gender-comments-backlash/] * Fighting words and uplifting voices from Democrats: Talarico on Colbert [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiTJ7Pz_59A] & Jon Ossoff  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=hzQY53_hpWw&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Facornabbey.com%2F] * Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Ezra Klein [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-marie-gluesenkamp-perez.html] Gluesenkamp for president * Voting, jury duty, and giving blood: symbolic gestures of national connection * I propose some radical ideas to simulate tribal dynamics in a more populous, peacetime world. * Sebastian's NDE (Near Death Experience) which led him down a scientific journey to understand the un-understandable * I turn on the hot lights and ask Sebastian: are NDE visions a product of biology or a consciousness that's not entirely contained in the brain? * How Sebastian explains death and the afterlife to his children. *

Jacob Savage [https://open.substack.com/users/276898-jacob-savage?utm_source=mentions] is a former screenwriter, a freelance writer, and a ticket scalper based in Los Angeles. His essay, "The Lost Generation [https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-lost-generation/]," about the systematic discrimination of white millennial men in the industries of academia, media, and publishing, was one of the most talked about essays of 2025.

Roman Dial [https://www.instagram.com/dialroman/?hl=en]is a scientist, adventurer, and author based in Alaska. His scientific work has appeared in journals like Science [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38386760/] and Nature [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05093-2]. He's a pioneer of packrafting [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Packrafting-Introduction-Guide-First-Paperback/dp/0974818836]— using lightweight boats to explore remote rivers and landscapes that were previously unreachable. And he's the author of The Adventurer's Son [https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-adventurers-son-roman-dial?variant=32128674955298], a memoir about the love of exploration, the bond between parent and child, and his two-year search for his son.

Nancy Rommelmann is a journalist and an author of many books [https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-True-Story-Motherhood-Murder-ebook/dp/B073FCH41F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CRGU3DWCNGDT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.v2ODV0ImnVea3kWOvvOXNTKOhyCDm_Ha0cly4-Lp9UFxAi5fSy9wJRTW8r2XdVYMOTqASPXmh7KfF2OjJ42vnOikjo8CtZ1Oor_2mS0BcRYPWN58J8cziQ2S80tVydxTIOp4QunlS5SXDYofrOB5bgpAiN5y-Gq8APGMz7pQ827UBtANJicpLphR3ebwvxzeHuIrY9Lm5zRUdp1wVlwEEIXHHd7hWNAKlIoxlkD9OUA.DSp-GkQtN3bU140PnBQA2zxwtAoYReD4nh3tKynsJ_s&dib_tag=se&keywords=to+the+bridge+nancy+rommelmann&qid=1768070589&sprefix=to+the+bridge%2Caps%2C236&sr=8-1], including her latest, Forty Bucks and a Dream [https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Bucks-Dream-Stories-Angeles/dp/B0DGGC2JMN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=20LPCNJ3NDX3H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vYqDr8-z8FdPbn7zNxVlZxVRtcQqnRGaaIiZxmgSRbQSYlgITdVaZEERPyJhjiUfg70vCQDL5IUx9k5-4-cu3Jg6xYukMHFVRpKl_j5Vd9AO7oxN7yQ8BeERwdsPULn17QyvwlM3iPZC8_LdGpC85g.ztjpuhkTJ56k1K3t9LpeaTKhfQjnlzUj3qdPV3TDwAo&dib_tag=se&keywords=Forty+Bucks+and+a+Dream&qid=1768070694&sprefix=forty+bucks+and+a+dream%2Caps%2C386&sr=8-1]: a collection of nonfiction pieces about her time in Los Angeles. She is also the co-host of one of my favorite podcasts—Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em. We discuss…. * Nancy's favorite books [https://x.com/NancyRomm/status/1768272841386955032?s=20]. * Nobody "snows you" like your kids. * What percent sociopath are you? * If you got a voucher for a free strip-o-gram, would you take it? Would you? * Team Sarah (yes to love life writing) vs Team Nancy (not as much so) A book I recommended to Nancy * I ask why and how "Sarah and Nancy work as a podcasting duo." * Smoke Em Dramas: Sarah and Nancy debating "negging." [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/p/214-the-trouble-with-writing-about]Nancy and Walter Kirn debating [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/p/121-walter-kirn-everybodys-learned]Viktor Orbán. Sarah's botched introduction to Michael Tracey.  [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/p/222-michael-tracey-on-kirk-epstein] * Nancy writing about the Ristretto Roasters saga [https://quillette.com/2019/02/18/the-internet-locusts-descend-on-ristretto-roasters/]. * Where the "Hot for Due Process [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/p/21-the-destruction-of-others]" swag idea was borne. * The art of not falling apart: having something important and unselfish to do? * The first of the Musings of the Night Nurse [https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/p/musings-of-the-night-nurse] series. Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/] and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

Sean Gerrity is the co-founder and former CEO of American Prairie [https://americanprairie.org/]—a giant wildlife refuge in the making in Montana, which I hiked and kayaked this past August. Sean is the host of The Answers Are Out There [https://www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net/] podcast in which he interviews leaders who've taken on bold conservation projects. He's the author of Wild on Purpose: The American Prairie Story and the Art of Thinking Bigger [https://www.torreyhouse.org/wild-on-purpose]. * Some of Sean's favorite things: musician Ry Cooder, Sapiens by Yoval Noah Hariri, Travels with Charley, East of Eden, A Short Walk In the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby, Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, and… * Sean's podcast interview [https://www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net/podcast/episode11] with Violet Sage Walker — a Northern Chumash Tribal Leader — celebrating America's Newest Large-Scale Marine Sanctuary. * Are we in a rewilding renaissance? * How well known is American Prairie? Is it's under-knownness due to the noise of the modern day information flow? * Is today the best of times (lots of exciting conservation opportunities) and the worst of times (the overwhelming negativity funneled into our brains). * 192 out of 196 countries signing up to achieve vision of 30% of the world saved for nature by 2030. [https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/protect-water-and-land/land-and-water-stories/committing-to-30x30/] * The big four things for helping the environment:     * Stabilize global human population * Accelerate transition to green energy * Rewild * Redo how we do agriculture   * Fundraising: is it as unpleasant as it sounds? * The art of risk-taking—analyze the risk so deeply the risk is no longer a risk? * Do our schools need to teach "risk analysis" in their curriculums? * MT. Gov. Greg Gianforte's letter [https://gov.mt.gov/_docs/governor/20250905MontanaLettertoSecretaryBurgum.pdf] to the BLM opposing American Prairie's use of bison. * I pitch a book idea to Sean. * American Prairie's "Wild Sky" program [https://americanprairie.org/project/wild-sky/], which involves paying landowners for photographic evidence of wildlife on their property, plus some wildlife friendly fencing [https://americanprairie.org/project/habitat-connectivity/]. * How there could be 30-40 more American Prairie-like projects, just across the American West. * Chumash National Marine Sanctuary [https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/chumash-heritage/]—4500 square miles of protecting marine habitat. * Klamath River Dam Removal—over 400 miles of river protected. * On how originality is overrated. * Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing: * George Catlin proposing a park way back in the 1830s [https://www.thoughtco.com/proposed-creation-of-national-parks-1773620]. * The Tarras Valley Nature Reserve [https://www.tarrasvalleynaturereserve.org/] project. Here's Sean's podcast interview [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-answers-are-out-there-podcast/id1740043700?i=1000662725494]with them. * Will American Prairie need to evolve into more like a multi-entity committee in the future? * I get Sean's thoughts on de-extinction.

Melanie Kaplan' [https://melaniedgkaplan.com/]s work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and National Parks magazine. She's a former Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. Her new book, Lab Dog [https://melaniedgkaplan.com/book.html], tells the story of Hammy — a beagle rescued from a research lab — and follows Melanie's journey to uncover what really happens to the thousands of dogs used in biomedical and consumer testing in the United States. Subscribe now We discuss… * The first non-humans we fell in love with. * What have we gotten from testing lab animals? Charles Herbert Best (left) und Frederick Grant Banting [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666970621000494#fig0001] (right) with one of their experimental dogs (probably summer 1921). * Trump admin [https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-announces-plan-phase-out-animal-testing-requirement-monoclonal-antibodies-and-other-drugs]. moving us away from animal research? * What products are still being used on lab dogs? (Bug spray) * How to write a book about hard things (animal torture) and make it readable. * What's so special about beagles? * I share my own non-human love stories. * How my parents didn't curate my boyhood media consumption, leading to scenes like this one being forever burned into my memory: Melanie recommends * Should there be a memorial for all the lab animals? * * Ken wonders if Melanie has a long roster of correspondents, thereby possibly rendering their penpalship insignificant. * Who would Melanie be penpals with, living or dead, if she had the choice? * Who is the grand-mommy of book blurbers? * What is the real America (grocery stores vs. newsfeeds)? * Marc Maron's final podcast with Barack Obama [https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1686-barack-obama]. * What's in a "Canadiano?"

Louis Dalton Hall [https://www.louisdhall.com/about] is the author of In Green: Two Horses, Two Strangers, a Journey to an end of the Land [https://www.duckworthbooks.co.uk/book/in-green/?srsltid=AfmBOorqBn7imzzJWHngRkQ3bWeWrjZZ1KGeQ8viCD1wSTFddvKS-B65]. He is also the founder of Big Hoof [https://www.thebighoof.com/], an organization that organizes horseback rides and raises money for charity. We discuss: Subscribe now * The Great Plains Trail [https://www.greatplainstrail.org/gpt-map/]. (Here's my old Backpacker article on the GPT [https://www.backpacker.com/trips/great-plains-trail/].) * What sets Fifers apart from the rest of the Scottish? Dunfermline Abbey, in Fife * Louis's travel writing inspirations: Black Spring by Henry Miller; As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee; Sophy Roberts [https://www.sophyroberts.com/]; Jan Brokken [https://www.janbrokken.nl/biografie/]; Bruce Chatwin. * Is Don Quixote still readable? * What is our relationship with the horse? Masters/parents/friends? * I ask Louis some intrusive questions like: What do you think about the shape your life is taking? Do you have a rich uncle? * The difficulty of writing about a romantic experience. * Guilt as a motivational force. * Louis's next adventure. (Mules and possibly America.)

Paul Robbins [https://nelson.wisc.edu/staff/robbins-paul/] is America's foremost authority on the lawn. He is the author of Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are [https://www.amazon.com/Lawn-People-Grasses-Weeds-Chemicals/dp/159213579X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1O5UO5RK78AJA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hEP1Rz-xQGo4mx8Tp67g-QfOpaPFbWQLW3A0vKGt-0z9diQs9WwTZv2JqR_jYpbhY1Jmd6Tx4iEQo7xOhipnhXPSq2HUGUs-0jC7xFt2t6hcwk7SQA11ZYSNquvzaVB-iwoPAxbA00mqkbcWTeLuGt9uAHXyJG8I6o6pvKR_Bvcc6aWVF4-EnuwJ0yM38qkY7w3zoa1QxElnlW7qAYeRcmMcqA9zx1vLga06-C9bBlw.Dq_94yf_bpF20PIPKGh5l9EC1gKUDufSC5IG5DT6OS0&dib_tag=se&keywords=lawn+people+book&qid=1754425011&sprefix=lawn+people%2Caps%2C406&sr=8-1]. He is the dean of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Subscribe now We discuss: * Is Paul the Cary Elwes of academia? * Julie Guthman's work on pathogens, chemicals, and strawberries [https://www.ucpress.edu/books/wilted/paper]. * What is a "lawn person?" * Is the American lawn care industry taking advantage of us (and taking our money) because of our lawn guilt? * Are suburban American lawns… communal? * Penn Jillette (of "Penn and Teller") and his show "Bullshit!" Here's the episode about the lawn [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502174/]. * Should environmentalists and libertarians unite to regain control over their lawns? * Should "weed" be the next problematic word that becomes outmoded and ostracized (such as "retarded") from the English language? * "A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." — Ralph Waldo Emerson * Are we on the verge of reinventing the American lawn? Or will it be more of the same? * Redddot Phase 1 [https://nsf.elsevierpure.com/en/projects/redddot-phase-1-planning-grant-novel-cellular-technologies-in-eco] * What would it take to build a biobank for all living animals? Pine Marten. Saving animals—easier when they're cute? * Paul's article on biobanks and indigenous data sovereignty. [https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/conservation-science/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1099562/full] * Is the American chestnut tree resurrection… dead? * Paul's co-written essay on John Muir's Tormented Landscape [https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-14-summer-2021/john-muir-tormented-landscape]. * Is our urge to conserve nature tied to North Americans' complicity in removing Native Americans? * I ask Paul, should I think of myself as a "settler?" * I talk about rolling my eyes at land acknowledgements and Paul makes the case for them.

Daniel Oppenheimer [https://www.danieloppenheimer.com/about] is a cultural and political critic, the author of Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century [https://www.danieloppenheimer.com/the-book], and the host of the Eminent Americans Podcast [https://danieloppenheimer.substack.com/]. Subscribe now We discuss… * Dan's terrific NYT Magazine story, "How I Learned That The Problem In My Marriage Was Me [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/magazine/therapy-marriage-couples-counseling.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YU8.5MDi.wd0JluCse1lh&smid=url-share]." * Why some people expose themselves in front of a therapy audience (exhibitionism + desperation + wanting a really good therapist?) * How epiphanies are a dime a dozen * Terry Real's I Don't Want to Talk About It [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/I-Dont-Want-to-Talk-About-It/Terrence-Real/9780684835396] * On raging near golf courses and roundabouts * David Eddings, fantasy writer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eddings] * A Mitt Romney favorite and a good sci-fi book (not so much a good movie): * The gravitational pull of a good series. Dan's latest obsession—Dungeon Crawler Carl. * Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack [https://www.nationalseedproject.org/key-seed-texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack]" * Patriarchy—a term suffering from "concept creep?" * How the Left needs to get comfortable with asserting power again * It's Time to Fight Dirty [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564969/its-time-to-fight-dirty-by-david-faris/]: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics * I have a dream: a left wing made up of normies. But also, get me some of that rhydonium: * The "Are Monkeys Inherently Racist? [https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-39-are-monkeys-inherently-dcc]" episode that made me unfollow the Blocked and Reported podcast. * What needs to be said to a lot of podcasters beating dead horses and triggering our outrage: * Dan talking about the legacy of Rush Limbaugh [https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-rush-hath-wrought] * Dan chatting [https://danieloppenheimer.substack.com/p/our-sincerest-regrets] withBlake Smith.

Adam Weymouth [https://www.adamweymouth.com/] is a British author of Kings of the Yukon [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/295832/kings-of-the-yukon-by-weymouth-adam/9780141983790], about his 2,000-mile voyage down the Yukon River, and, now, Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/448173/lone-wolf-by-weymouth-adam/9781529151947], about his 1,000-mile hike following the path of a wolf. We discuss… Subscribe now * Are we better humans when we're on journeys? * Why have there been so many more deaths (wolves killing humans) in Europe than in North America? * Ken has a bone to pick with Disney: Why would a nature-loving production company depict wolves in such a retrograde way—in 2013? * Are old tales of rabid wolves the reason why Europeans are so anxious about the wolf? * What can farmers do to protect their herd/flock from wolves? * Should wolves be re-introduced to the U.K.? * Can a wolf swim the English Channel? * What is a lone wolf looking for? Some of Adam's favorite travel books: * Adam recommends The Rheingan Sisters:

Sam Graham-Felsen [https://www.samgf.com/] is the historian at the Philip Roth Personal Library in Newark, New Jersey, and he's the author of the acclaimed coming-of-age novel Green [https://www.samgf.com/green-a-novel-1]. We discuss… Subscribe now * Sam's article with New York Times Magazine, "Where Have All My Deep Male Friendships Gone?" [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/magazine/male-friendships.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE8.BfjA.2g5l8VbE6CFZ&smid=url-share] * Sam's favorite boyhood comedy, Weird Al's, UHF. * When did American men stop being physically close? And do we need to go back to this: * Should we take our best friends to our honeymoons? * Was Albert Kinsey's studies of sexuality, which popularized the prevalence of homosexuality, responsible for causing homohysteria [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homohysteria]? * Is Dan Campbell making it okay for guys to display emotion, or is his "high masculinity" the only thing that gives him license to be vulnerable? * Examples of healthy masculinity: * David Goggins on JRE: * Does the manosphere need to adopt friendship, community, and rootedness as its next message of wellness? * Sam and I discuss our mid-life career pivots into typically female-dominated career fields. * Sam explores the question, What makes a man? * Sam recommends:

Bill Deresiewicz is a writer and cultural critic. He's written popular essays such as "Solitude and Leadership [https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/]," and books including Excellent Sheep [https://billderesiewicz.com/books/excellent-sheep/], a critique of elite education; the The Death of the Artist [https://billderesiewicz.com/books/the-death-of-the-artist/], which explores the precarious lives of creative workers; and The End of Solitude [https://billderesiewicz.com/]—a collection of Bill's greatest essays. We discuss… Subscribe now * Is Portland still the Portland of Portlandia? * Is Boston the angriest town in the U.S.? * Bill's essay in Salmagundi about the "Not Left." [https://salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/1242-post-election] * Is Bernie Sanders's movement over or dormant? Are the woke responsible for knee-capping Sanders's movement? * Who's more prudish—the left or the right? * Bill's essay, "Chuck Your Privilege. [https://www.persuasion.community/p/chuck-your-privilege]" * Ken imagines a "Cambrian Explosion" on the left with hypothetical political species such as Neo-Guildists, "ProPats" (Progressive Patriarchs), and Neo-Hedonists (my enlightened sensuality movement). Perhaps I'll do a whole post on these ideas someday… * Is Ezra Klein's Abundanomics Movement… sexy? * Ezra Klein's interview with Democratic rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-marie-gluesenkamp-perez.html] (my patron saint for the Neo-Guildists) * Is 2025 TV "mid?" * Ken's post about when did prestige TV peak [https://kenilgunas.substack.com/p/what-year-did-prestige-tv-peak]? * Bill's essay about incels [https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/unfuckable-hate-nerds-william-deresiewicz]. * Bill's favorite Substack Writers:Blake Smith [https://blakeesmith.substack.com/]Sam Kahn's Republic of Letters [https://substack.com/@therepublicofletters]Justin Smith-Ruiu's The Hinternet [https://www.the-hinternet.com/]Eminent Americans Podcast  [https://danieloppenheimer.substack.com/podcast] Bill's website [https://billderesiewicz.com/] Bill's substack [https://deresiewicz.substack.com/]

Mike Finkel [https://www.michaelfinkel.com/] is the author of True Story [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/358104/true-story-by-finkel-michael/9780099464570], about a killer who stole Mike's identity. His second book The Stranger in the Woods [https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Stranger-in-the-Woods/Michael-Finkel/9781471151989] is about a hermit in Maine who didn't talk to anyone for decades. And The Art Thief [https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Art-Thief/Michael-Finkel/9781471186264], about history's greatest art thief. We talk about: Subscribe now * Why are we, as a culture, so drawn to true crime? * I ask Mike why women are attracted to criminals. He gives an impressive answer. * What's better: soaking in a bath tub or sitting on a toilet to avoid family? * Mike's early influences: I Robot, Ray Bradbury, Arthur Clarke, and The Catcher in the Rye. * Mike's stylistic principles: make it read as if you "dashed it out"; eliminate show-offy words; apply the "bar room test." * Ken tries out some of his psychotherapy skills on Mike. * Mike gives me advice on how to make a connection with criminals. * Is there going to be a The Stranger in the Woods movie? And who should play Christopher Knight? (I make the case for Eric Lange from Escape from Dannemora.) * On how ending a book with an ellipsis is okay. * Ken gives the North Pond Hermit an open invitation to come on the podcast. * What kind of kleptomaniac would you be? Mike: * If Mike was incarcerated, would he ever let someone else write his story? * Ken shares his jail fantasies (not what you think). * Mike expresses admiration for David Grann [https://www.davidgrann.com/books/].

Tim Kreider [https://substack.com/profile/4863114-tim-kreider] is a cartoonist and essayist. If you're not familiar with Tim's work, sign up for his Substack ("The Loaf [https://timkreider.substack.com/]"), and read his two books of essays, "We Learn Nothing [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Learn-Nothing/Tim-Kreider/9781439198711]" & "I Wrote this Book Because I Love You [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/I-Wrote-This-Book-Because-I-Love-You/Tim-Kreider/9781476739014]." Tim's writing is a deadly combination of elegant & original prose, wicked humor, and bare-it-all honesty. He's my favorite writer. We discuss… * With Cormac McCarthy gone, who's the best living writer of the English language? * How a young Tim enjoyed the works of YA / sci-fi writer John Christopher (real name: Christopher Samuel Youd). Books mentioned: The World in Winter and The Death of Grass and the Tripod Trilogy, plus… * Moby Dick is strange. The best standalone chapter: "The Line." * It's possible neither Tim nor I know what "postmodernism" is. Montaigne's "everyman" tower * Is "DEI" the new way of using the "N word?" * One of Tim's first big breaks—commentary on Eyes Wide Shut in Film Quarterly [https://timkreider.com/introducing-sociology/]. * James Salter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Salter], a writer's writer. Hedy Lamarr * Revisiting a few of Tim's essays and characters — Tim's peak-oil obsessed friend and the state of Tim's busyness. * Is writing a "nice thing to do?" * On how Tim is stylishly homeless. * Melville House's FUTURES Series [https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-futures-series]. * Tech utopians: "people who don't like being people." * Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Trilogy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Californias_Trilogy]. * Tim's recommendations:

Dan Flores is a historian and writer who writes about the natural and cultural history of North America. His books—including Coyote America, American Serengeti, and Wild New World, bring to life North America's most iconic species and landscapes, weaving together science, folklore, and history. Dan's work not only illuminates the past but also asks urgent questions about the future of conservation, rewilding, and our relationship with the land. Dan looking very calm during his Joe Rogan Appearances: * Dan mentions proof of human footprints [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586] on North American soil from 23,000 years ago. * Giant beaver looking awfully giant. * Were North American dire wolves dominated by Eurasian gray wolves? * The debate about whether the massive die-off of North American megafauna was caused by climate change or human presence. * Should the Clovis people — for their mammoth genocides — be… cancelled? * Colossal Biosciences [https://colossal.com/]—an organization devoted to bringing back extinct animals, such as the wooly mammoth. * The Wooly Mouse [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jg4n776evo]. * Should we reintroduce animals originating in North America (cheetah, camel, etc.) and reintroduce them in places where there is habitat. * The Thylacine to be de-extinictified and reintroduced in New Zealand. * Will there ever be a huge Great Plains National Park? * Will Trump/Vance sell off any public lands? * American Prairie [https://americanprairie.org/] * Dan's next book's working title: Homestead: Building a Green Life in the Modern American Countryside. * Some of Dan's books: * Dan's recommendation: Lone Wolf by Adam Weymouth: Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/] and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

Sarah [http://fatherkarine.straw.page/], aka Father_Karine, is a very funny writer. On Substack [https://substack.com/@fatherkarine], she writes about her high maintenance dog [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-my-dog-who-if-im?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2], about her young adulthood characterized by all manner of misadventure and disinhibition [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/waitress-shitty-rural-restaurant?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2], and about how she can't be trusted with excellent fruit [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/hedge-fund-cherries-one-finance-douches?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2]. She co-hosts the Brutal Film Girl Experiment Podcas [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2375019]t. Subscribed We talked about her post, "A SECOND manic list of 10 film scenes I believe all men love and why they love them, according to me (a woman who's been drinking) [https://substack.com/@fatherkarine/p-153617234]." Show notes… * Mike Schank's music—not bad! * Tulpas are on Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/Tulpas/]. Tulpas are My Little Ponies [https://mlpforums.com/topic/27625-would-anybody-like-to-explain-this-tulpa-thing/]? * Animated movies that Sarah likes: Perfect Blue & Akira * Best non-CGI battle scene ever: Braveheart or Ran? * The worst best film ever? * We talk Stephen King who's been responsible for movies including: Carrie, The Dead Zone, It, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Stand By Me, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, Cujo, Children of the Corn. Four of those (emboldened) are all-time greats. Where is his lifetime achievement Oscar? * Is "Strangers with Candy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6epnDpt0Qg]" ready for a revival?Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/]and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

Alastair McIntosh [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/] is a human ecologist, theologian, activist, and writer known for his work on the interplay between community, ecology, and spirituality. Alastair is best known for his 2001, but still very timely book, Soil and Soul [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/soilandsoul.htm]—part autobiography, part theology, part history. Subscribed We talk about… * The concepts of psychohistory & cultural psychotherapy, and how our deep past, going back many generations, makes us who we are. * Alastair's travel/philosophy/theology book, Poacher's Pilgrimage [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/poacherspilgrimage/] * How the Scottish Clearances in the 1820s on the Isle of Lewis may be half-responsible for forming Donald Trump into who he is today. For more, read Alastair's compelling article on the subject [https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/11/06/donald-trump-and-the-second-sight/]. * Should Donald Trump pay an extended non-entrepreneurial (and non-golfing?) visit to the Hebrides? * Read Alastair's poem [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2012-O-Donald-Trump.pdf] calling Trump to "come home." * The concept of "indigenousness" and if the term can apply to white folks. * Ken tries out a big word: "ethnomasochism." * Are we all Calvinists without knowing it? Alastair defines Calvinism with "TULIP [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points_of_Calvinism#:~:text=They%20are%20occasionally%20known%20by,and%20perseverance%20of%20the%20saints.]." * The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg * The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber * A free PDF of Alastair's Island Spirituality [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2013-Island-Spirituality-by-Alastair-McIntosh.pdf] Alastair recommends: * Alice Walker's poetry—Horses Make A Landscape Look More Beautiful [https://alicewalkersgarden.com/2010/10/horses-make-a-landscape-look-more-beautiful/] * And Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael (get the volume that condenses the six volumes into one)

Seth Kantner [https://www.sethkantner.com/] is an Alaskan photographer, hunter, fisherman and author. He's written two of my favorite books: Ordinary Wolves [https://milkweed.org/author/seth-kantner], a fictional book about a boy growing up with the ways of his indigenous neighbors; and his latest book, A Thousand Trails Home [https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/a-thousand-trails-home-living-with-caribou], about Alaskan caribou and our relationship with them. Topics include… Upgrade to paid * Ken thinks that couples in arctic cabins should be highly qualified to write marriage advice books. Seth splashes cold water on that idea, saying all they're doing is avoiding conflict. * Knitting, the first videogame? * The drawbacks (face-blindness) of being homeschooled in a sod igloo. * Middle school, is there a point? * Kim Kardashian vs Seth Kantner. In the fight for cultural dominance, sadly Kim wins. * The merits/necessity of slow writing. * How it's good to have a phobia of wasting somebody's time. * Plus, the fascinating topic of race relations in arctic Alaska.

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute and the author of eight books, including Kindly Inquisitors: the New Attacks on Free Thought [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo18140749.html] and my favorite mini memoir, Denial: My 25 Years without a Soul [https://www.amazon.com/Denial-My-Years-Without-Soul-ebook/dp/B07X6KJD3Q/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pHeR-qB7_9jYMjFL5eVYgQ.pRYwNrXb31P7aNdDmnzzfA3IuNTlU3B2UF3E5AH4aZY&dib_tag=se&keywords=Denial%3A+My+25+Years+without+a+Soul&qid=1733348623&sr=8-1]. Jonathan is a friend, the father of the introvert liberation movement [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/302696/], and one of the reasons our country has expanded marriage rights to the LGBTQ community. I brought Jonathan on to talk about the 2024 election, one month later. Subscribed * Why voting makes us stupid  [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/more-professionalism-less-populism-how-voting-makes-us-stupid-and-what-to-do-about-it/] * Walking the Transgender Movement Away from the Extremists [https://www.persuasion.community/p/walking-the-transgender-movement-away-from-the-extremists] * Star Trek and Sociopathy [https://reason.com/2018/11/26/how-star-trek-explains-donald-trump/] * The Happiness Curve [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/happiness-curve-9781472960979/] Jonathan's film recommendation: Network (1976) Ken's recommendation: Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode "The Inner Light [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Light_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)]" Jonathan's list of good Star Trek (1966-69) episodes * Devil in the Dark. Second episode to air, revolutionary in its day; inverts the usual story about monsters and aliens being the bad guys * Balance of Terror. Two commanders struggle to out-psych each other and develop professional respect. (Based on a movie about WWII submarine battle * Amok Time. Ultra-logical Spock has a dark side…as does civiliation (a recurrent theme). Written by Theodore Sturgeon, one of the sci-fi Golden Age greats * The Doomsday Machine. Great performance by William Windom as Commodore Decker as the Enterprise confronts a planet-destroying robot * The Ultimate Computer. Computerized warfare gets out of hand. Imagine this on network TV in 1968! * The Enemy Within. Kirk can't command without his sociopathic side. * The Trouble with Tribbles. The lightest episode, a fan favorite. An alien species takes over the ship…but not the way you think * The City on the Edge of Forever. By critical consensus, probably the greatest episode. Grapples with the contingent and tragic nature of history. Ends on a deeply ambivalent note (and includes TV's first use of a cuss word, "hell"). Written by the sci-fi great Harlan Ellison. Again, amazing to imagine this on prime time in that era. (The guest star is young Joan Collins, no less.) Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/] and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].