You know that book your friend recommended? The one that rigorously describes the science of trauma, de-stigmatizes abuse and promotes effective treatments? Well here’s the thing: It doesn't actually do that.

Thanks to Emi Nietfield, Keith Cox, Lisa Starr, Richard McNally, Kevin McGuire and everyone else who helped us research and fact-check this episode!

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong
• Trauma: A Genealogy
• Remembering Trauma
• Advocates of Research-Supported Treatments for PTSD are Losing
• Tell Me Why It Hurts
• ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ offers uncertain science
• Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside
• PTSD and complex PTSD: a review of reviews
• What Does It Mean When 38% Forget?
• Multiple Identity Enactments and Multiple Personality Disorder: A Sociocognitive Perspective
• The Brain Is Adaptive Not Triune

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter and Michael discuss "Think And Grow Rich," the 1937 classic written by a lifelong fraudster who finds his final mark: You.

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time
• A Lifetime of Riches
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• How a Different America Responded to the Great Depression
• The Psychic Scandal
• How Trump Turned The Power of Positive Thinking Into Delusion

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

In 2013, education reformers tried to help poor students the using the best tool at their disposal: The 16th most popular Ted Talk.

Special thanks to Marcus Credé!

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Much Ado About Grit
• What Shall We Do About Grit?
• Grit under attack
• Teaching “Grit”
• The Problem With Grit
• The Limits of “Grit”
• Grit: The power of passion and perseverance
• Is 'Grit' Doomed To Be The New Self-Esteem?
• Measurement Matters
• Using Psychological Science to Help Children Thrive
• Self-Control and Academic Achievement
• Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success
• Should non-cognitive skills be included in school accountability systems?
• Measuring Students’ Non-Cognitive Skills and the Impact of Schooling
• Grit: A Short History of a Useful Concept
• Teaching Kids 'Grit' is All the Rage.
• "Grit" Revisited
• Character Education: A Cautionary Note
• What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?
• The Effects of the EITC on Child Achievement
• Academic Performance And Food Stamps

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter went on Mike's other show, Maintenance Phase, to revisit a biohacking diet book for the boys.

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• The 4-Hour Body
• Does Glycemic Index Matter for Weight Loss? An Examination of the Evidence
• New! Improved! Shape Up Your Life!
• The 4-Hour Body: The Real App You Are Working On Is An App Called Yourself

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter and Michael discuss "Bullshit Jobs" by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. The result: two professional podcasters debating which jobs are real and which jobs are fake.

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant
• 37% of British workers think their jobs are meaningless
• Average Annual Hours Worked by Persons Engaged for United States
• The times they are not changin’: Days and hours of work in Old and New Worlds, 1870–2000
• ‘Bullshit’ After All? Why People Consider Their Jobs Socially Useless
• Alienation Is Not ‘Bullshit’: An Empirical Critique of Graeber’s Theory of BS Jobs
• Many people feel they work in pointless ‘bullshit’ jobs, research confirms
• The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure
• Study: Leisure Time Declines
• USA Consumption as percent of GDP
• The Significance of Task Significance: Job Performance Effects, Relational Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions
• Task significance and meaningful work: A longitudinal study
• Americans’ job satisfaction in 2024

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

It turns out that the key to wealth is buying the right kind of watch, marrying the right kind of wife and being the right kind of white.

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Uneasy Street
• A Century of Wealth In America
• Family, Education, and Sources of Wealth among the Richest Americans, 1982–2012
• Wealth Elite Moralities
• The insane growth of America’s millionaire class
• The Extraordinary Rise In The Wealth Of Older American Households
• Planning & Progress Study 2025
• Striking Out on Their Own: The Self-Employed in Bankruptcy
• How Many Households Meet The Net Worth Guidelines Of The Millionaire Next Door?
• Paying Tribute to Thomas Stanley and His ‘Millionaire Next Door’
• Pity the Billionaires
• What Rich Women Want
• The deserving or undeserving rich?
• The Evolution of Top Incomes

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

The boys catalog the definitive worst takes of the year, from the pundits who misunderstood our political moment to a guy who wants to have sex with a computer.

To hear the rest of the episode, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

The boys continue their discussion of Walter Isaacson's "Elon Musk." This is the part where Elon loses his mind.

Where to find us:

• Our Patreon
• Our merch!
• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• From self-proclaimed ‘socialist’ to Team Trump and DeSantis: Elon Musk’s curious politics revealed
• The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley’s Prophet of Urban Doom
• Elon Musk biographer admits suggestion SpaceX head blocked Ukraine drone attack was wrong
• Elon Musk's Daughter on Dad's Biography: 'Sad Excuse for a Puff Piece'
• Character Limit
• Twitter fulfilling more government censorship requests under Musk
• Elon Musk booed for nearly 5 minutes straight at Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco
• New CNN Chief Trying to Please GOP Elite
• Research finds more than 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues, including more than 4 million children under five
• What the data says about Social Security
• Trump Administration, DOGE Activities Risk SSA Operations and Security of Personal Data

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod