The Daily Stoic - The First Person to Say NO to Ryan Holiday’s Book Recommendations

Episode Date: October 12, 2025

After recording their episode for The Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan took Pete Holmes on the usual post-interview tour of The Painted Porch. Let’s just say Pete had some thoughts about a few of Ryan’s book picks...Here is the FULL list of books Ryan recommended to Pete: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/collections/pete-holmes🎥 Prefer video? You can watch this on Ryan’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHolidayOfficial/videos📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.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.

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that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend. We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy and most importantly that you're able to apply it to your actual life. Thank you for listening. bookstore outside Austin, Texas. And not too long ago, the comedian Pete Holmes was in town to do a gig, and he stopped by. We talked books, and these are the books that he left with. What are you reading when you say this? Well, I'm Rupert and let them on a book.

You don't have that. You should. I don't know why we know. It was one of those times where you just see the title, and you're like, I think I get it. And then it turns out you... I mean, I think that's very much doses. And I'm just like, why are you trying to change or control something that's not yours? Totally.

Which is, like, basically what all of life is about the most of us, most of the time. Yeah. I've been doing it. Yeah, of course. Just let them. Just let it. Well, I thought the funny, like, the premise of that book, the story, she's like, you know, my friends are on vacation and they didn't like me. I'm going to let that.

It's like, yeah. I mean, like, the absurdity of the things that we won't let people do is, like, just, like, it's, it's important. It is. It is. Yeah, it's embarrassing what we try to prevent other people from doing. What do you mean? Other people are having fun with having me. That's not allowed.

Totally. It's not. Have you read this? This book's funny. This guy's a... Where's your boss? This is the parenting section? This is parenting, but this is, it's a book about having kids from a philosopher.

And it's like, the funny story, which is... The funny story, which it sounds like one of those ones that a comedian would tell, but you know, isn't exactly true. But his son is like, I need a philosopher. I need a philosopher. And he's like, screaming for his dad. His dad brushes in. He's like, I've trained for this moment. And his kid wanted one of those flossing sticks that's the, like, and it's like, it's like, you mean, it's like, you mean, it's like, you know, it's like, you had to know that he didn't mean a philosopher. Yes, but I do love it.

That's in this book? Yeah. It's funny, I'll give a lot of commentary on. I don't like this cover design. Why not? so much that I won't buy it. Well, you're not allowed to buy them, but this is a... Oh, really?

But what do you hate about the cover? Well, these are Calvin and Hobbs' rip-offs, which happens so much on it. I don't like the joke. Is this title about us? I think so. That immediately makes me not trust this author. Okay. No offense, Scott.

But I'm like, you made me read this, and I felt nothing. Well, also, I'm just realizing I'm on the cover. Are you? Yeah. But I like it. No, no, no, no. I mean, I do like the book. I'm sure the book you read. The concept of the books are the only books that we like.

But I interviewed this guy when this book came out, and I must have said this. But I didn't know I was on the cover. You blurb it. So that's funny. How many books have you blurbed that you haven't read? Me, it's 20. So the best thing is just to have a policy of not blurbing books. Ooh, that's good.

Just say like, sorry, I don't, I don't blur books. Have you read this? This is good. This is up your alley. Yeah. Oh, the parents doubt itching. It's just sort of like, it's loosely based in their thing. Yeah.

You're going to uncover, do you want to hear a bias I have? I'm like, everything is not as good as just reading the doubt itching. Well, of course. Of course. But you can do that and then also read this. Yeah, that's true. I also, what? Oh, I need my phone because most of my books are audiobooks.

I do have some. You only do audiobooks? Well, I drive a lot. Right. Oh, yeah, the Ohio Drive. The Ohio Drive. So I ripped through a lot of books that way. Let's see how many books I can give you that you immediately put that and are not interested in.

I wouldn't read that. It's impressive. I wouldn't even pretend to read that. But I'm, you know. That's amazing. It's sort of like picking a bottle. Have you read Good Inside? Yeah.

Do you like Dr. Becky? I love Dr. Becky. Okay. All right. Dr. Becky is amazing. Yeah. But I would get that on audio. For me to want to read a book, a book, it would have to not, like, I would read good inside to learn something.

Yeah. And I'm like, I might as well just, as opposed to like an experienced book. Sure. Have you read Outdoor Kids in an Inside World? No. That's good. That might be up your alley. I don't know why, but I immediately, I'm not.

Is this a cover reaction? I don't like the title. What? You would disagree with the idea of having an outdoor kid? I don't like it. Okay. You know what, I read this. That's good.

It's a good book. Tribe is very good. Did you recommend Tribe to me? Maybe. His book about dying is very good. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, this one.

Yes, very good. He's just, he's hanging out with his wife one day. He doesn't feel well. He'd, like, just an artery burst inside his body. And he bled almost out entirely just for no reason, just could have done. died has a near-death experience in the hospital like what kind like a flow it floating out the real time and so the book is an exploration of one how quickly that you can die but also how how the interesting that's a point that other people made but how similar the the near-death experiences are for people

that they all often describe very similar things and so it's more mystical than you would expect from someone like sebastian young it's very good um okay i would be into that all right take that one Let's see if I can get, if I, how hard do I have to work to get? I also like the sides. Yes. This is not an ego trip. This is a guy that goes. No, no, your books.

Your books are nice. You want to be able to finish it on a flight or a type of drive? This is smaller than yours. Yes, that's like, it's like a hundred pages. I also, I do love Malky Glad. Yes. Yes. But I don't want to just grab an author.

Well, what, what, now I'm not to work hard. I think you might be. You ever had to do when plippin' bath? Usually they just sugar me. We don't know how much. I don't know about memoir. But you don't like memoirs? I think you would like a gift from the sea.

It seems very of your style. This is sort of riff on stillness and quiet and... Okay, it's an older woman, that makes me more interested. Yes, the book's from the 50s, 60s. I like this paper. Yes, it's a beautiful little book. I think you would like that one.

It's not telling me anything about it. Well, just read it. I see how this is done. I don't know I would have to work with it. What books do you read to your daughter? Where's your kid's stuff? Hey, Mike. Now we're in the, oh, you know what?

What? It's very similar to a book she loves, but it's not. What book is it? There's these fake anthologies about dragons and unicorns. Yes, and unicorns. This one's Dragonology. It's not that one, though. It's, I guess it's not a category of war.

Yeah, like, this one, they have, like, little, like, pockets in them and stuff, like, treasures and things. These bunch are pop, like. So, yeah, like, my kids love these. No, no, no, no, this is, that's a little too much, I think, for my daughter, a lot of words. Maybe for me is what I mean. Oh, when I open a kid's book and there's, like, a paragraph on the page, I go, nope. You know what I'm writing? There should be one sentence.

No, what is it about? Okay, this is a kid's book. I think I told me. That is amazing. Okay, I tried to ban in Texas. I need a new butt. Yeah, because it has a crack in it. It's amazing.

It's fantastic. I should ask that kid. Yeah, no, this is right up. My daughter, Daly. It's, it's... What is this? Why is there a fake? Oh, does it make sounds?

I don't know. This is like a... Oh, it's made sounds. Does it? I don't know. I told you about my kid's book. It's called Spells to Cast on Your Parents. Oh, yes.

Yeah. Because you were the one that was like, you had encourage things to say about it. You're just doing it, right? Or did you sell it? I sold it and I'm doing it. Oh, no, no, like, when I did kids' books, I was like, you know what?

I'm just going to, I don't need a book deal on a deadline to write 800 words. Let me just sketch it out. Yeah. And then figure out what I want it to be, and then I'll figure out what the best path to do. I did I end up self-poshing these two just because they wanted it to be longer or something.

I see. So I was like, you know what, I don't, I'll just do it myself. Yeah, I think it's the art of the kid's book. Because I read kids' books every single day. Yeah, of course. Is underappreciated? Yeah, well, most of them they're there. Absolute dog shit.

Maybe we talked about this dog. I love the ones that are like, and I'm not just like anti-work person, but they're like just trying to shoehorn. a horribly dark, historic event into a kid's book that, like, they don't need to read about. We have those. Yeah.

It's absolutely. We don't need this. No. Like, it's rough. Yeah. What are we doing? Oh, my daughter loves. New Jersey.

Specific iteration of the end of turtles. But she's, I think she's level one on this. Yeah, we have these, but like, for her... Have you seen the Minecraft movie? No. It's a crate? Amazing. What?

Yeah. No way. We're going to watch, I mean, my oldest is eight, but, like, we're going to watch Nachra. It's great. Napoleon Dynamite's great. We just watched Napoleon Dynamite. It's that, but with the IP of Minecraft.

I mean, like, they wear a lot of the same clothes. Like, it's ridiculous. Is it the same director? Yes, it's the director. Oh, okay. And then obviously it's Jack Black and you get anything funny. And so it's actually, like, yeah, amazing. I would say no one laughed harder in the theater.

They didn't have a family. And, like, it was almost like in there. Like, it was amazing. I thought it was incredible. Oh, that's so cool. I'm happy to hear that. No, that's very good. Oh, I lived...

You're probably not into Minecraft yet. I have family. No, I also thought that was like a... You're really not supposed to let them play mine. That's Roblox. Roadblocks. Roblox. Minecraft is like very low, low-key.

These guys, I think about these guys. I know, Adam. How'd they do that? Dragons of Tacos? Yeah, but like, what's the difference between a bad idea and a good idea? Yeah. I think that's... I also have issues with Grumpy Monkey.

I'm not very grumpy monkey. I'm not mad at it, but the lead's name is Jim Pansy, which is great. Yes. But then every other animal isn't... They don't even try to make it... Oh, they don't continue that? Yeah. Oh.

Come on. I can't think of any, but I have while I was reading it to Lila. I was like, his name should be this. And she's six, and she's like, yeah, don't set up a gimmick. Yeah, yeah, of course. But other than that, I like this. Have you actually done Curious George? No.

B.J. Novak was like, no, no, you've got to get the actual full curious George. It's, like, amazing. Really? Yeah, and I'll give this one. It actually is incredible. But look, I love this sentence. Because with the hook on the string and the string on the stick and the cake in the box in his hand, George went back to the lake.

That's great. I just like, like, I... That's great. No, this one, this is all the actual... There's one where he goes to space. It's actually... That is excellent. See this.

I love this. Thank you. So you're only willing to accept children's books, apparently. You won't... We don't, you know, we don't have... We just read where the sidewalk is. We've read it many times. Do you recommend this one or this one? I...

You don't know? Not as you chill selfish. I mean, I don't like dislike them or anything, but... Are you guys into Bluey? We love Bluey. Something's got to go back. My carina doesn't have space. Oh, I can, we can mail them to you.

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Hi, what pleasure to me. Yeah, the kids picked up some books on your child, but I don't know on my kids. I don't know if it's those books. Oh, those might be fine my children to tell you. Okay, let's do that. I would love to meet them too. Yeah, I don't know what I mean. Okay.

It's one of those situations where I was like, here's my phone. Fun. How's it going? Well, what a great story. I'm doing really well. Thank you. Yeah, I love it. Books by the foot.

Do you tell you about books by the foot? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get really distracted in podcast studio because I am cataloging the titles. I found myself reading the titles. It was in the, and then I'm like, I'm following the conversation, but I'm like a little distracted And there's an Elron Hubbard right by Ryan's eyes. Right by his eyes. You know this?

Yes. There's two in there. Yeah. But there's one like, is it to say like... It's actually, this is like a sneaky sign hall. Just so you know, any second. It's your gateway. I sort of felt that coming.

Yeah, there's... Well, and then there's like a lot of books that feel like it's calling me out, like driven to distraction, like your brain on ADHD or whatever. And I'm just like, I don't need to be attacked while I'm... I saw the ab diet. Yeah, yeah, a lot of apps. There's like a dad-baud diet, yeah. Do Hard Things stood out, and Ryan's books.

I kept seeing Ryan's book. I'm glad that that. That's not good. I should be paying attention to what I'm saying. I didn't even if I find my friends, so they'd love. Oh, here's the Robin Inceptions. No, any time. That's what we do.

Oh, and we have two eight. Oh, wow. Friends or? Fun. Fun. No, no. Make a cycle, a sequel to this. Outlive. And then what? And then. Peter. When you've won and you're 93 in doing squats.

Well, who cares? I actually really like Peter. I do too. I do think it's funny that, like, that Brian Johnson guy, the other one who's like obsessed with living forever, the one that looks like a vampire. I don't know. It's like the people who are obsessed with living forever don't seem to be living lives worth prolonging that much.

It's funny. It's true Marcus Iurelius joke. Yes. You're afraid of dying and not being able to do this? And he's jumping on a box. There's, Seneca has a similar joke where he's talking about this criminal who's set to be executed and the emperor walks by one of the more cruel emperors. And he's like, he's like, please don't kill me, don't kill me. And the emperor goes, oh, you're really alive, are you?

Wow. And how many people's lives are some version of basically already dead. Already dead. Yeah. Well, that's kind of the joke I'm making there, or I'm trying to make. What's that? Because I keep living so you can keep checking your O2 levels or whatever. Like, I do, though, believe that he enjoys that. Hey, guys.

But to your point, with this book, your death happens now. Yes. That's the disturbing thing. Yes. Whether you're 99 or 29. Yeah. It's happening in the present. Well, Seneca's other point is that.

He says, like, it's wrong to think of death as something in the future. He says, the time that passes belongs to death. The time, what? That passes belongs to death. So we wrongly think of death as this conclusive event, as opposed to death being every second that's passed. So, like, a 90-year-old, you die at 90. You've died 90 years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know what I mean? 90 years, you trailed like a star. Yes, and that because you can't go backwards, that time is dead. And so thinking about the passage of time As this kind of living death Is supposed to create a sense of urgency And that's useful

What I'm saying is less useful It's like when you die It'll be the only thing is happening Yes, that also true That's why we like movies Because movies depersonalize it And you see someone dying Yeah

And we think we'll see ourselves dying Yes But you won't It'll be subjective like the Sopranos Which is the most unsatisfying ending To a show ever Are these your boys? Yes, yes

Hey dudes You guys got all your Easter clothes on That's a fancy up pretty Do you want to? They picked out books for your... Ooh, let's see what if they'll... This one? His daughter's name is Lila.

They picked out some books for your daughter. One. One? What's that dragon book we're listening to in the car? Oh, Dragon Girls. Yes. It's too good. The show's threat.

What's this one? It's the other one of that. Okay. Those are for you, or do you probably? The Bakery Dragon. That one's good, actually. My daughter loves dragons. Oh, we actually have this one.

Do you? Do you have 100 dragons named broccoli? That was the other one that they were trying to do. I think we have the bakery dragon. I know I've read it. But you have 100 dragons named Brockton? We don't have that one right now, but that's the other one that they really want to make sure.

Oh, this is Jones picked this one? Oh, thanks. I'm going to take this one, too, because I don't, I think we read it in a store. And didn't, but... You can't do that. Everyone can't. This is not a library. This is a library.

If she likes dragons and she doesn't have a hundred dragons named broccoli, they also wanted to give her that one, but we don't have it to the break. Oh, okay. Thank you. It's a good one. Appreciate it. The book I'm making as a dragon. Really?

Got to have a dragon. Of course. Has a small black dragon named Jesse. is there a pun in the name or no his name is jess or I should say you said Jim Chimpanzee or whatever no but I don't establish

games and not follow through it but I would say that it fiercely follows the rule of if you set something up and continue with it yes there's not look grumpy monkey wish you all the success in the world

in fact you're doing just fine without me wishing you success and I think the artist's fabulous The plot holes. I just... You know, I guarantee if I met that author, I would be like, did you try? And they would say, yes, and we couldn't think of one for the gorilla. You know what you mean?

Uh-huh. But there are ones for like giraffe or... So some of it has it and some... Just one has it and one of the others do. That is annoying. I don't like that. Yeah, I don't like that. Yeah, I don't like that.

All right, let's do this. I read a lot. It's sort of my job. You can't write without reading. For almost 15 years now. 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, but I can connect to what's happening in the world. And you could sign up

right now at Ryanholiday.net slash reading list.