Kate McKay

How to Think About the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization by Mortimer Adler. I still remember stumbling upon this book in high school at my hometown public library. It’s what introduced me to the idea of the Great Books and set me down a path to study classics in college and […]

Think about a hot loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. There’s a lot going on with that loaf. On one level, it’s a literal food that’s been created through chemical processes. A delicious — your mouth might be watering right now — form of sustenance. But there’s also more to it than that. […]

Does the approach of the holidays fill you with a bit of dread? Do they seem more like a forced march than occasions that are supposed to be joyfully anticipated and whose ostensible purpose is rest, celebration, and a break from the labors and banalities of one’s everyday routine? Maybe there’s something wrong with our […]

It’s not uncommon for former law enforcement officers and intelligence agents to write self-help books where they share how the lessons they learned in their professional careers can apply to people in any walk of life. What is rare is for one of these officers-turned-authors to publicly prove they know what they’re talking about and […]

TheraGun Massage Gun. Well, my journey into the art of middle-aged manliness continues. For the past few months, I’ve noticed that I’ve been slower to recover after my heavy leg days. Quads have been particularly sore. I picked up a TheraGun deep tissue massage gun after reading a study in Michael Easter’s Two Percent newsletter […]

When it comes to weight management and all-around good metabolic health, we most often think about what to eat. But my guest would say that it’s also crucial to think about when to eat, Emily Manoogian is a chronobiologist and clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Today on the show, Emily shares […]

In 18th century America, this book was second in popularity only to the Bible. It was a favorite of many thinkers and leaders throughout history, including Emerson, Napoleon, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and even President Truman. Yet, you probably haven’t read it. It’s Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. If you’re not familiar with Plutarch’s Lives, you’re in for a […]

Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard by Clare Carlisle. If you’ve been following the site long enough, you’ll know that Kierkegaard is one of my favorite philosophers. Based on reading his texts, I deduced that Kierkegaard was an odd duck. Reading Clare Carlisle’s biography of Kierkegaard only cemented that impression. Kierkegaard […]

You know that getting sufficient protein in your diet is essential, as this macronutrient provides the building blocks for muscle, tissue repair, enzyme and hormone production, and overall cell function. Protein supports your overall strength and health, and most people would do well to get at least .8 grams of protein per pound of body […]

This episode starts off a little differently than others — with a short quiz, something called the Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale, which will tell you whether you’re what psychologists call a high sensation-seeker or a low sensation-seeker. Read the following eight statements, and then pick a number from 1 to 5 that corresponds to your level […]

Is It Possible to Record Ghost Voices? What My Experiments With a Boombox and Cat Toys Revealed

“Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love,” Charlie Brown once said. Indeed, being spurned by one’s crush, or, for that matter, by a friend or potential employer, not only ruins the taste of one’s favorite sandwich spread, but causes great psychological distress and even physical pain. Here to walk us […]

Men’s Interest and Lifestyle

When your kid marries, you not only gain another family member, you gain a new role: father-in-law. It’s not a role that gets much celebration or attention. If we culturally mention in-laws at all, it tends to be in terms of unwanted meddling. But a father-in-law can play a positive, supportive role in the life […]

In creating the Jack Reacher character, Lee Child launched a series of books that now boast 100 million copies in print and have been turned into movies and a popular Amazon streaming series. Today on the show, I talk to Lee about what makes Reacher so compelling and much more. We first discuss how Lee […]

Money can’t buy happiness. It sounds good as a bumper sticker platitude. But the truth is, money can buy happiness. At least sometimes. In certain circumstances. If we view it and use it in the right ways. Here to unpack the conditions under which money can buy happiness and facilitate our flourishing is Dr. Daniel […]

Are leaders born or made? Judging by the 50 billion dollar leadership development industry, the answer is definitely the latter. From schools to workplaces, everyone is seen as a potential leader and expected to become one by undergoing leadership training. My guest questions the assumptions underlying this phenomenon, which he calls “the leadership industrial complex,” […]

Speaking Into the Air by John Durham Peters. I’ve got a friend here in Tulsa who’s a professor of media theory at TU. His dad, John Durham Peters, is also a professor of media theory and teaches at Yale. Really nice guy, and he’s written one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. Speaking […]

When people think about living more fully and making better use of their time, they typically think of finding some new organizational system they can structure their lives with. Oliver Burkeman says that what you really need instead are perspective shifts — small, sustainable changes in how you view and approach your day-to-day life. He […]

How to Win Friends and Influence People may have sold tens of millions of copies, but its author, Dale Carnegie, wasn’t born a complete natural at embodying the principles the book espouses. Instead, the warm, low-key charm Carnegie was known for during his life was developed through intentional and consistent effort and practice. One of the […]