In this episode, the hosts explore René Girard's mimetic theory through Friar Elias Carr's 2024 book "I Came to Cast Fire: An Introduction to René Girard." The conversation examines how human desires aren't entirely our own but are shaped by imitating others, creating cycles of rivalry and conflict that have defined human societies throughout histo…

In this mind-bending episode, Andrew and JD explore René Girard's revolutionary mimetic theory through Luke Burgis's accessible book "Wanting." Discover why your deepest desires might not actually be your own! We dive into: Why we mimic the desires of our "models" (from celebrities to rivals) How mimetic rivalries escalate into violence and conflic…

In this episode of Books Brothers, JD and Andrew break down Stephen Covey's seminal work "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." Published in over 50 languages and named the most influential business book of the 20th century, Covey's framework distills centuries of self-improvement literature into actionable habits for personal growth. The broth…

Join the Dennison Brothers as they dive into "A General Theory of Love," a fascinating scientific exploration of what makes us connect on a deeper level. What exactly is love from a neurological perspective? Three psychiatrists from UCSF propose that it's "limbic resonance" - the way our emotional brains synchronize with others. In this episode, we…

In this epic deep-dive episode, brothers JD and Andrew Dennison tackle Robert Sapolsky's masterwork "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst." We explore how our brains, hormones, genes, and environment shape human behavior from seconds to millions of years before an action occurs. From the neuroscience of decision-making to the evoluti…

Many smart people out there say AI is an existential risk. AI Armageddon is certainly is a top-5 concern of enough people that we feel it warrants a deeper understanding. And in Superintelligence, Bostrom is the perfect robot-impersonating-author to teach us AI 101 while simultaneously capturing AI’s full scale and magnitude. He talked to everybody…

Selfish Gene answers a deep and fundamental question: How does evolution work? We start our story in the Primordial Soup served hot at the Big Bang’s favorite diner, the single-cell-stew that brewed in Earth’s original oceans (after millions of years cooled the atmosphere obviously). The effect those little replicating cells, containing the world’s…

The Righteous Mind answers a deep and fundamental question: why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t Democrats and Republicans understand each other better? Haidt answers these better than anyone (ever) by breaking down the social psychology and brain science of why our species is so apt to join groups, take sides and fight. The Righteous Mind co…

Sapiens is a 416-page story of humankind from 6M years ago to today. Harari wraps it all up: our psychology, technology, religion, economy, politics… Nobody puts things quite the way Yuval does - he’s got some weird/deep thoughts and spits some fire trash talk at basically everything. We guarantee this book will make you stop and think about who we…