Mel Robbins Reading List (From Ryan Holiday)

0:08Hi, how are you guys? So this is the... It's beautiful. So this is how it started. Wow. Oh, so this is where somebody tried to pull the books out? Yeah, he was like, up here, he's like trying to... Oh my gosh. So yeah, but this is, what is it, 2 ,000 books? 2 ,000 books, 4 ,000 screws, 6 gallons of glue, and it weighs 1 ,900 pounds. This is a great cookbook, by the way. Is it really? That's an excellent cookbook. The books get worse as it goes up because you can't read the titles as easily. Did you actually order them in terms of where they would go? Yes. Sort of. The worst books are up top because they give you lots of...

0:52That one's called Free Stuff for Seniors. There's some trash books that are up closer to the top. Well, when I ordered the books for my podcast studio, because I wanted it all beige and white. Yes. That's what they specialize. All Mariah Carey and Daniel still books. I'm like, please don't read this. please don't look at that like don't like when intellectual people come in you can also kind of see like which books were really popular at different so it's like it's kind of humbling and inspiring to think like whatever books were popular at a period at some point they all end up at goodwill and then and then that's that's how they end up in stuff like this it's so true so what we normally do is you kind of just walk through and pick out some books that the person might like or if you their books you like uh that or you have been thinking about reading just i I want to read the new one by the guy who did the Fox the Mall.

1:43Oh, yes. I want that book. Oh, I'm a huge bard owl person. You like barn owls? Bard. Oh. Yes, because I live in Vermont, and they're all over. This is not one, but I'm drawn to this. My husband and I actually hit an owl on our anniversary, and it was a very life-changing experience. We didn't hit the owl. The car in front of us hit an owl on a rainy night on our 27th wedding anniversary. And I jumped out of the car in the pouring rain. And the thing was laid across the ground. And it was raining, raining, raining, raining. We were in the back roads in Vermont. And I straddled it and went to scoop it up.

2:26And it turned its face around and looked me in the eyes. And the pouring rain was coming down. And it was on our 27th wedding anniversary. and luckily a guy in a pickup truck pulled over and was like, don't grab it, the talons. And I was so in the moment with this bird that I didn't even know where I was. So he came over the towel, we scooped him up and I held him in my lap for 45 minutes while we drove home and then put him in a laundry basket and you put a, and his wing was like this. It was so sad. And there's a beautiful rescue nonprofit. I think it's Vins in Vermont and they came and got him and sadly, Oh, he didn't make it.

3:11Yeah. But I feel like there was a, because it was on our 27th wedding anniversary, there was a deeply spiritual thing that was happening around the owl that night. Well, this is slightly lighter, but this is my favorite bird book. Oh, it's called, uh, my kids love it because they like to get their grandparents to read it. Cause it's just got curse words in it. Oh my god Scottish fuckface I have a fourth grade boys sense of humor okay me too so it's like my favorite book it's amazing I love this I love this thank you all right so take that one okay I need your book yeah I'll give you wisdom I need a book have you read a phosphorescence you know Julia Baird she's an Australian writer she's great I love that book oh take that I would love this okay what What about fantasy porn?

4:03Fantasy porn? Like romanticy? Is that what you like? I'm talking about like corn and roses. Yeah, let me see if I'm working. Samantha, are you here? She is the expert on all of those books. I love those books. Have you read a gift from the sea by M. Rowling Bird? No. All right, you only did this. What's that? What the hell is that? Okay. What is that? Okay, sorry. Yes, it's very annoying. It does this all the time. Where's the kids section? Kids section? Oh, it's back here. I don't know if we have the new Charlie magazine book, because I love the Boy the Fox. Oh, I do too. I actually wanted to get it to send it to my son, because he's feeling kind of sad.

4:39So this was most recently a restaurant. This? It's a kitchen. Oh, wow. How long ago is this a restaurant? Well, the building's like 130 years old, but this was a restaurant like 10 years ago. And so this was like the - I love the little table. What do you have down here? What do we got?

5:02I what what book did you like to read your kids what do we like uh well I love the boy the fox the horse and the mole my son is obsessed with Greek history so we read a lot of that we've read Ferdinand Ferdinand uh Ferdinand is good this one's really good I don't know this book this is new that was because my kids are 26 I know there's like there's the ones you you there's the ones of each era right the new ones have you read the book with no pictures did you is that no but I I would go right for the Butterface joke. Butterface is good. What's a book with no pictures? What do you mean a book with no pictures?

5:37You know, BJ Novak from The Office? He wrote a book called The Book With No Pictures. Really? And it has no pictures? Yes. That's a word that's hard for me to say. It's so good. The book with no pictures. It is incredible. So the idea is like - You know what I'm already feeling vibes of? What? Guess. I don't know. How old are you? I'm 38, I think. Oh, shit, I'm a lot older than you. I'm 57. Wow. What are the vibes? I was starting, like, just this made me think of my childhood. I was obsessed, obsessed with Shel Silverson. Yeah. There's something about this that, yes. But so the idea is, the idea is, is like, you know, you have to read the book to the kids, right?

6:22So it starts as a normal book. Yeah. This is a book with no pictures. Might seem like no fun. It seems boring, except they have to read everything the book says no matter what. So it gets crazier and crazier. And you have to say all this ridiculous shit. Yes, I am a monkey. My head is made of blueberry pizza. Right, I eat ants off the rug. So it's just, the kids love it, right? Because they're seeing the play. My only friend in the whole world is a hippo named Boo Boo Butt. This is a massive. This is amazing. People love it. It's a great book. Oh my God. Oh my God. look at all this this is one of my favorites what's this i need a new butt yeah because it has a crack in it wait but wait what what has it he doesn't have a crack no his butt has a crack in it that's why wait hold on do i open this and it farts i think you press the where's the fart it does for it somehow oh my god oh you don't pull out the tab because i bet there's a tab in here maybe it's off see it's off there we go It's great.

7:26It's a classic. It's a classic. I have never, I'm turning that off so I don't blow it all under the plane. Yeah, you can take that one. This is easier than a whoopee cushion. It is. It is. It can be like David faxing, stop farting. Okay, so you like romanticity, you said. What do you like in... I've got a lot of, like, I already have a stack of books that I feel guilty that I haven't read, so You can't give me too many.

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9:14That's BetterHelp.com slash DailyStoicPod.

9:22like the other book that i read that i just loved the emperor of gladness uh ocean bond i've not read that the emperor of gladness it is so good okay it is written by a guy The whole storyline is a guy growing up outside of Hartford. And all these things happen to him. His mom does nails for a living. And it's a story about the beauty and dignity of someone's life who feels like they're on the edges of society. And it centers around this group of people who all meet working at a Boston market. I do a Boston market. Me too. And they become like a family for a while in terms of supporting each other and all the stories interacting.

10:14And it is one of the most mesmerizingly beautiful books. You've been, someone asked where this money was from. Oh, here she is. I'm like, give me the fairy coin. Oh, you want the good book? Yeah, Court of Thorn and Roses, baby. Although I like the graphic audio. How's it going? It's good. Have you listened to the graphic audio? Oh my God, yes. Okay, I love it, but it also creeps me out a little bit how there's like the noises in the background. Oh, I love it. I'm addicted to it. I love it. Have you listened to it more than once? Uh, no, but my entire family's, my husband's listened to it. They like it's incredible.

10:49He read the first, he's halfway through the second one and then he gets it. I haven't read them. I've only listened to graphic audio. Uh-huh. I just probably actually, I shouldn't have time to squeeze in like another thousand page book. Well, just listen in your car. That's a great, I think that's a good idea. It's a movie in your mind. It's a movie in your mind. I didn't feel qualified to make any recommendations in this category, but what would you do? Why not? I've already read Fourth Way. You don't have an animal. I've already read the whole Port of Thorn and Roses series. I... Okay. Do you want more plot or more smut?

11:21What's your favorite? This one's very smutty, but I really like it. Okay, Gordon and Ash. I'll take it. Is it the first? This is the first one. Okay. The prequel series is really good. And then if you like those in those vein, I would also recommend Dyer Bound. Do you have the door one? What door one? What door one? No. What door one? It's not romantic. There's this genre of... I would say it's more of like an art form where there's like romance with sentient objects. What? And it's Ryan's favorite thing. Really? Does it improve your sex life with your husband? but it makes for an interesting conversation okay what is it i don't have them why do you not have them you can't carry those in the bookstore why not um just do you ever do you read just romance you like no i like fantasy yeah i like fantasy this is uh because because i actually want to write a fantasy trilogy that's the next thing i'm gonna think that's a good challenge yeah i've i've never thought about like i i'm always i'm so impressed by world building and by what it must take to just imagine a world that doesn't exist.

12:35I know. And so I just thought it'd be really fun to challenge myself to try to do that. And my daughters and I have been working on a concept, honestly, for 10 years. You wrote them with your daughter, right? Yes. Yes. With every word. We argued over every word. And we are the exact opposite person. She's a walking Excel spreadsheet. and I'm like, you know, if you take mice and put them in a cardboard box and took it over, that is me. And I would say, well, what about this story? She'd be like, that's a dumbest story. Nobody my age cares about that. And we would like, fuck you. And then I would leave and then we'd be like, let her, let her, let her.

13:14And then let me go and fill my relationship. And it was incredible, Ryan, because we, you know how you have people in your life that you love, but there's this mismatch? And you kind of feel like, why can't we just get along why is there always something yeah and writing this book together how old is she 26 okay she's the one that came up with let me wow i first was writing a book there was a lot of the mutton mutton mutton mutton and i finished i'm like this book sucks yeah that's the other piece of it yeah and i said to her would you do some research for me because she was doing marketing research for a cybersecurity firm as a job and she said yes I did you know can I kind of talk I don't want to work for you but I'll do this for some extra cash and I gave her four weeks she came back 36 hours later with a 28 page spreadsheet and it's so proud like first I was good for the book but you must have just been like proud well first as a parent here's what I'll tell you she is so hard on herself and when I saw that my heart sank because for the first time I actually recognized that she is such a brain with horsepower yeah that if it's not aimed at something she ends at herself right and so I felt as a mom that I've gone 25 years with this human being and I actually never understood this but that's beautiful it's beautiful it's beautiful but she said with this 28 page spreadsheet and all these citations they said I want you to do research something's missing don't tell me why people love it tell me what's not working yeah and she came back and said you can't write the book and I said why and she said well when people say let them they love it because you feel superior and you kind of have an edge but then you start to notice your siblings don't call you back you notice that your friends aren't reciprocal you notice your boss is a dick and she said this is making people lonely right because they don't know what to do.

15:14What's the other part? And she's like, there has to be a second part. And I'm like, okay, what is it? She's like, well, let me. So then the second part was born. I'm like, you have to write this with me. And we spent 11 months working together. She lived at home in Vermont. I would not recommend this, by the way. And it healed our relationship, honestly. That's amazing. Because we were forced to be with each other all day and work through the emotions and judgments that we had with one another all day long and create this space of acceptance and love. And for a mom, allowing her her emotions. And by the way, as we were writing the love chapter, her boyfriend of two years, the end of the aisle guy, broke up with her.

16:03And so she rips up that, say, I hate this fucking thing. What am I supposed to do? Let him sleep with people. let him walk out of my life we wrote the entire love section while she was going through the biggest heartbreak of her life and applying the advice and it was unbelievable and it helped me as the mom just let her be sad let her be depressed don't fix this let her have this experience and just be with her without trying to fix it it was it was unbelievable You want to see my office real fast? I do. And then we got to sign this. Yeah, we got to sign this. Yes! Yes! Okay. Get over here. I think most of these books, most books in the genre are geared towards younger audiences.

16:53This woman, her kid went off to college and she talks about, but it's fantasy. She gets this house and the house has all these magical things. Really? Really? It's one of the only series that I've read that is like an adult. An adult woman. Really? Who's going through a midlife crisis. I love this. Thank you. I'm so excited. Do you have me to hold those so you can go walk and write them. I want you to also sign the insides of the fantasy books for me. Like so if I flip them open, like I got a little note for you. Would you do that for me? I can carry them. Really? I, of course, had to have the fart book.

17:30Oh yeah, of course. Of course. Everybody needs the fart book. I got the dumb swearing birds. This one? Fosferescent. I just have a thing with owls. So I don't know that. This is really beautiful. My brother recommended this because the illustrations are so good. Okay. You ready? Yeah. Ryan likes this one. This is the coolest part. Whoa. Wait, what's happening back here? Wow. Well, hi. How are you doing? I'm excellent. Eric ordered all your books. Thank you, Eric. Thank you. This, it's up here? Yeah. This is the second one. So did you buy this helmet? Yeah, we bought these things, and we bought that third one.

18:10Oh, for the podcast? Yeah, we did that. Wow. So much. That is not the code right there. That is not the code. No, none of this is probably. But yeah, so this is, that's my next book that I'm working on, so this is where I write, all my books are all messed up right now, but this is where it goes. Wow. Oh, look, you have it out. Oh yeah, wisdom. Yeah, that's the symbol. An owl is the symbol of wisdom. I have an owl tattoo, don't I? Yeah. Oh wow. That's the four virtues. Wisdom is the most important. The owl, that's my husband. He's the owl? Yeah, my husband. That's just like owls. We have tons of barred owls on our property.

18:53I don't know if we have any owls. We get hawks and stuff. I don't think we have any owls. Let me know. Let me look in here. So you're mapping out your book. I have to do this too, visually. So what are you going to write about? I'm doing a biography of... Fantasy porn writer? Yes, exactly. No, I'm doing a biography. So that's the next one. A biography? Yeah, like a big... Like an authorized one? I guess I'm not authorized and I'm not collaborating with such a thing. So is the person alive? No, the person's dead. Admiral James Stockdale, you know who that is? That's the one who you're going to give the speech about, right?

19:23Yes, yeah. Yeah, at the Naval Academy, yeah. Yes. Yeah, he was, so he spent seven years in a prison camp in North Vietnam. And then, yeah, like if you've read Good to Great, the Jim Collins book, he's the Stockdale Paradox, that's from him. He's this sort of interesting unsung kind of American thing. And so it's a whole different way. Yeah, I'm here. And can I ask a question? Yeah. So. I've never done a book laid out like this. Oh, I noticed that you have Stockdale on all those. So is it? Oh. On the note cards, yeah. those are the note cards. So is that so that if you have a thought but you're not in here, you can put it on a stock bill note card?

19:59I do all my stuff on note cards, like all my books, and then so each book, like for the Virtue series, so I had, and then I would just circle which book. Oh. I'm usually, I, lately I've been working on more than one book at a time, so I, that way I, when I'm writing on note cards, I, I'm researching for more than one project at one time. That's so cool. And which one is the fart book that you're writing? Yeah, I haven't written the fart book Yeah, that's next.

20:27All right, let's go sign-user for it, and then we'll go talk to our people. Okay, awesome. I read a lot. It's sort of my job. You can't write without reading. For almost 15 years now, once a month, I send out an email with my favorite book recommendations for that month. Books that I've been reading, books that I've been going through, books that changed my life, that inspired me, that I can connect to what's happening in the world. and you can sign up right now at ryanholiday.net reading list.