The Daily Stoic - Mel Robbins Reading List (From Ryan Holiday)

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

After recording the podcast, Ryan and Mel Robbins walked next door to The Painted Porch to talk books. Head to Ryan Holiday’s YouTube Channel to watch the video of him giving Mel Robbins book recommendations at The Painted Porch: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHolidayOfficial 📚 Books Ryan gave Mel: Wisdom Takes Work Phospherescence Gift From The Sea From Blood and Ash Dire Bound Magical Midlife MadnessThe Lost Spells Don’t Trust FishI Need A New Butt!The Book With No Pictures The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us:  Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wow, this is a high, 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 is it kind of... 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... 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?

So, yes. Sort of. Like, the worst books are up top because, like, they give you lots of, like, that one's called Free Stuff for Seniors, you know? Like, there's some trash books that are up closer to the top. Well, when I ordered the books from my podcast studio, because I wanted it all beige and white. Yes. That's what they specialize. It's like, all Moriah Carey and Daniel Stil 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 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, they're books you like, or you have been thinking about reading.

I want to read the new one by the guy who did the Fox, the Mall. Oh, yes. I want that book. Oh, I'm a huge barred owl person. You like barn owls? Barred. 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's this, 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, raining. We're in the back roads in Vermont, and I straddled it and went to scoop it up, and 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 to 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 um and his his wing was like this it was so sad and there's a beautiful rescue non-profit i think it's vins in vermont and they came and got him and sadly oh he didn't make it yeah 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 because 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 we read it most nights before bed 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 your book have you read phosphorescence do 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 about fantasy porn? Phantasy? Like romantic? Is that what you like? I'm talking about like quarter-corn of roses. Samantha, are you here? She is the expert on all of those. I love those.

Have you read a gift from the seat? If I am wronged. No. 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 to do Charlie Magazine book, because I love the boy to talk. Oh, I do too.

I actually wanted to get it to send it to my son, which is feeling kind of sad. So this was most recently a restaurant. This? Oh, wow. How long ago is this a restaurant? Well, the building was like 130 years old, but this was a restaurant like 10 years ago.

And so this was like the... And I loved the little table. What do you have down here? down here. What book did you like to read your kids? What do we like? 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 is good. This one's really good. I don't know this book. This is new. Almost 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 a... I know, but I would go right for the butterface joke. Butterface is good. What's the book with no pictures? What do you mean a book with no pictures? You know, BJ Novak from the office? Yeah. Yeah. Really? And it has no pictures? Yes. That's a word that's hard for me to say. 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 is the vibes? I was starting, like just this made me think of my childhood. I was obsessed, obsessed with Shell Silverstone.

Yeah. There's something about this that, yes. But so the idea is, the idea is like, you know, you have to read the book to the kids, right? So it starts as a normal book. Yeah. a book with no pictures might seem like no fun 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 they're seeing the play my only friend in the whole world is a hippo named boo boo but this is a massive this is amazing people love it It's a great book. He's awesome. 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 has a, he doesn't have a crack? Wait, wait, this, that's why he needs a new one. Wait, hold on. Do I open this and it farts? I think you press the, where's the fart? It does fart somehow.

Oh my god. Oh, do you don't pull out the tab? Because I bet there's a tab in here. Well, maybe it's off. See, it's off. There we go. It's great. It's a classic. It's a classic.

I have never, I'm turning that off so I don't blow it all on. You can have it. Yeah, you take that one. You know, now I'm just gonna, now, this is easier than a whoopee cushion. It is, it is. You can be like, David, faxin, stop farting. Okay, so you like, you like, romantic, you said, what do you like in?

I've got a lot, like, I already have a stack of books that I feel guilty that they haven't read, so you can't give me too many. too many. Just this morning, as I do every morning, I was taking the supplements that I take. And if you're not taking any supplements, well, January is a good time to think about doing that. Choosing the right supplements can be confusing because there's so many brands and, you know, it's kind of a low trust category. It's not super regulated. The products are easy to make and the companies don't even have to say everything that's on their label. That's why we are happy to work

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it doesn't hit the shelves. And a space where trust is rare, Momentus is redefining what trust looks like. And right now, Momentus is offering our listeners up to 35. percent off your first order with promo code daily stoic head over to live momentous.com and use promo code daily stilke for up to 35 percent off your first order that's live momentous.com promo code daily stoic like 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 oh my god it is so good okay it is written by a guy that 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 have a Boston market me too too. And it was, and they become like a family for a while in terms of supporting each other and all the stories interacting. And it is one of the most mesmerizingly beautiful books. You've been, you've been, someone asked where this money goes are. Oh, so here she is. I'm like, give me the fairy phone. Oh, you want the good book? Yeah, Cord of Thor and Roses, baby. Although I like the graphic audio.

How's it going? It's good. It's interesting. Have you listened to the graphic audio? Oh my God. Yes. Okay. I love it. but it also creeps me on 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? No, but my entire family is, my husband's listened to it. They, like, it's incredible. He read the first, he's halfway through the second one and then he, I haven't read them.

I've only listened to graphic audio. Uh-huh. I just probably actually, that's, I shouldn't have time to squeeze in like another thousand page book. Well, just listen to your car. That's a great. I think that's a good idea. It's moving in your mind. I moved in your mind. I didn't feel qualified to make any recommendations in this category, but what was the...

Why not? I've already read Fourth Wing. I've already read the whole Port of Thorne and Rosie series. I... Okay. Do you want more plot or more smut? What's your favorite? This one's very smutty, but I really like it.

Okay, 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. Do you have the door one? What door one?

What door one? No. It's not romanticity. 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? You can't carry those in the bookstore. Why not? Do you read just romance? Do you read just romance? You like fantasy. No, I like fantasy.

Yeah. I like fantasy. This is, uh, because I actually want to write a fantasy trilogy. That's the next thing I'm going to take that. That's a good challenge. Yeah, I've never thought about like, I'm always, I'm so impressed by world building. Mm-hmm. And by what must take to just imagine a world that doesn't exist.

I 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 let them with your daughter, right? Yes. Yes. 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 pick 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 fuck you and then I would leave and then we'd be let her let her let her and let you go feel 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 a lot why is there always something yeah and writing this book together How old was she? 26. Okay. She's the one that came up with Let Me. Wow. I first was writing a book that was Let them, Lett and Lut and Lut and Lut, 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. You know, can I 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 20, 28 page spreadsheet. Wow. And... You must have been 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 aims 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

what'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 right 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 and it was incredible it healed our relationship honestly because we were forced to be with each other all day and work through the emotions and judgments that we had with one another yeah 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 and 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 in my office real fast? I do and then we got to sign this yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay This one. Get over here. I think most of these books, most folks in the genre are the gear towards younger audiences. This woman, her like kid went off to college and she's like talks about she's in it, but it's fantasy. She's like, she like,

gets this house and the house has all these magical things it's like really the one of the only series that I've read that is like an adult an adult woman we're going through okay I love this really cute it's so excited I'm gonna hold those so you can go walk me right 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 free of you did that for me I can carry them I can carry them I of course I had to have the fart. Of course. Of course.

Everybody needs the fart book. What else you got? I got the dumb swearing, birds. This one? Posphorescence. I just have a thing with owls, so I don't know that. Is this any... This is really beautiful.

My brother recommended this because the illustrations are so good. Okay. And so you started carrying the story. Yeah. Okay. This is the coolest one. Whoa. Wait, what's happening then?

Wow. Well, hi. How are you doing? How are you? I'm excellent. books. Thank you, Eric. Thank you. This, it's up here? Yeah. This is the second. So did you buy his spelling? Yeah, we got these things and we bought that that third one. Oh, for the podcast? Yeah, wow. Wow. That is not the code right there. That is not the code now. None of this is probably. But yeah,

so this is, that's my next book I'm working on. So this is right, right. All my books are all messed up right now. but this is where it goes. Wow, look, do you have an owl? Oh, yeah, wisdom. Yeah, that's the symbol of, 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. I don't know if we have any owls. Do you get hawks and stuff? I don't think we have any owls.

Let me look in here. So you're mapping out your book. I have to do this to visually. So what are you going to write about? I'm doing a biography of... Fantasy porn writers? Yes, exactly. No, I'm doing biography. So that's the next one. A biography? Yeah, like a big... Like an authorized one? Or... I guess I'm not authorized in that. I'm not like collaborating with a person. Is it a person alive?

The person's dead. Admiral James Stockdale, you know who that is? That's one you're going to give the speech about, right? Yes. Yeah, at the Naval Academy. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, he was, so he spent seven years in a prison camp in North Vietnam. And then, uh, yeah, like if you've read good to great, the Jim Collins book, he's the, the Stockdo paradox that's from him. is 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 is all new. Oh, I noticed that you have Stockdale on all those. So is it, oh. Those are the no cards. So is that so that if you have a thought but you're not in here, you can put it on a stock.

I do all my stuff on no 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, 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 reading? Yeah, I haven't written the fart book yet. That's next. All right, let's go sign music 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 could sign up right now at ryanholiday.net slash reading list.