Podcast Advent Day 12: if books could kill

Day 12 and I am sharing an absolute favourite which feels pretty vulnerable, but here we are with if books could kill. I'm such a big fan of this one that I pay for their patreon. For context, I pay for three podcasts patreons, and two of them are Michael Hobbes podcasts.

The tldr is it's a favourite because of the hosts, the content and the style. Michael Hobbes is back to the advent presenting with Peter Shamshiri, and they critique what they describe as airport books (often self-help books and incidentally a genre of books I loathe). They do it in a way that challenges the author's claims through research and VERY sarcastic humour - you have been warned.

In today's episode on Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, which is a series of essays that speak about, well, rules he's figured out to understand how different examples of society's outliers come to be. One piece that is well known outside of the book is his thesis on the 10,000 hour rule, something Peter learns he never intended to be an actual rule.

Michael and Peter take any of the books they present to each other and demonstrate how the premise of its claims are, at best floored, and at worst, falsified. By analysing sources while also digging a little deeper into how the book came to be, they set the context for how much of the book we can take in good faith or otherwise.

The reason why I truly appreciate the content and goal of this podcast is because it's a manifestation of a feeling I've had for a long time but not been able to put him to words. Broadly speaking, and I say this only because I haven't read them all, self-help books are a scam. When I used to work in a bookshop during University, in the down times, I was often drawn to the titles of these books and bought a couple to take home and read, but I had the same experience each time. I would read them and feel as though they didn't really have much substance to offer. They seemed to repeat the same loose or circular arguments, and/or seem too simplistic and boring. 

I will say, this podcast has highlighted many things that I likely wouldn't have spotted if I read any number of these books and has made me hesitant to get excited about any kind of book that could be deemed in this category. It has also very recently reviewed a book that I read and liked and I knew at some point sooner or later this was going to happen. I haven't listened to that episode yet, but I am excited too. I think it will be a good exercise in humility.

All that to say, if you see one listed that you've read and enjoyed, I still think there's value in listening.