All Summaries for The Art of Manliness

In order to thrive in a world that’s constantly in flux, you have to learn to overcome your fear of the unknown and adapt yourself to whatever circumstance you find yourself in. Zombies and Minecraft can teach how to do both.Today on the show, I talk to Max Brooks, son of famed filmmaker Mel Brooks, who is the author of books that include World War Z and a series of Minecraft novels for kids. Max and I discuss how he’s used his fiction to explore learning to be resilient in the face of change and how his work writing about the zombie apocalypse led to a gig at the Modern War Institute at West Point. Along the way, Max offers insights on overcoming your fear of the unknown and how Minecraft can help your kids learn how to thrive in a world where becoming a creative problem solver is the name of the game.Resources Related to the PodcastSelect books by MaxBrooks:The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living DeadWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie WarMinecraft: The IslandMinecraft: The MountainMinecraft: The VillageAoM Article: Survival Lessons from World War ZAoM Podcast #902: How to Survive Any Worst Case ScenarioAoM Article: 5 Tools for Thriving in UncertaintyAoM Article: The Best Books to Read in Uncertain Times“In a Far Country” by Jack LondonConnect With Max BrooksMax‘s website

Over the last decade, cannabis use has been legalized in more states. At the same time, the idea that marijuana is a safe drug has steadily increased.But is this an accurate perception?Recent research by my guest, Dr. Ryan Sultan, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, casts some doubt on a universally affirmative answer to that question, and he says we need to be having a more objective, balanced, and nuanced conversation around cannabis than we currently are. We have exactly that kind of conversation today on the show. We dig into the fact that young adulta are the group most vulnerable to the potentially negative effects of cannabis and how marijuana use in adolescence is linked to both mental illness and cognitive deficits. Dr. Sultan unpacks how cannabis impacts the developing brain and may lead to schizophrenia, especially in males. We also talk about whether if you used marijuana as a young adult and then stopped, your brain can still recover, and a cannabis-related health concern for all ages that doesn’t concern the brain. We end our show with Dr. Sultan’s take on what the safe use of cannabis looks like for adults.Resources Related to the PodcastDr. Sultan’s study: “Nondisordered Cannabis Use Among US Adolescents”Recent study on the association between cannabis use and schizophreniaConnect With Dr. Ryan SultanThe Sultan Lab at Columbia UniversityDr. Sultan's practice: Integrative Psych  

If you want insight on how to make love last, you might ask friends, family, a therapist, or a pastor for advice. You probably wouldn't think to turn to a divorce lawyer. But my guest, James Sexton, who does that very job in New York City, says there may be few people who have a better perspective on how to hold a marriage together, than the guy who's got a front row seat to how they fall apart.James is the author of If You're in My Office, It's Already Too Late: A Divorce Lawyer's Guide to Staying Together, and today on the show he shares what he's learned from overseeing over a thousand divorces that you can use to reverse engineer a relationship that lasts. We discuss the five types of infidelity James sees in his practice and the approach to marriage that will prevent affairs. We then get into common sources of conflict in a marriage, including sex, finances, and kids, and how to address these issues so you never end up in James', or any other divorce lawyer's, office.Resources Related to the PodcastAoMPodcast #550: How to Strengthen Your Marriage Against DivorceAoM Article: Why the Secret of a Happy, Successful Marriage Is Treating It Like a Bank AccountAoM Podcast #850: The Infidelity FormulaAoM Article: A Resolution for Romance — The 52 Love Notes ChallengeAoM Article: How and Why to Hold a Weekly Marriage MeetingC.S. Lewis quote on the "dance" in relationships from That Hideous StrengthConnect With James SextonJames on IGJames' firm

There are tons of podcasts, blog posts, and books about how to get more focused. Focus is seen as the key to greater productivity and success.While focus is important, my guest says there are also amazing powers to be found in something that gets a lot less attention: the unfocused mind.Dr. Srini Pillay is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, a brain-imaging researcher, and the author of Tinker Dabble Doodle Try: Unlock the Power of the Unfocused Mind. Today on the show, Srini explains the downsides of excessive focus, the importance of tapping into the unfocused mind, especially in the age of A.I., and the benefits of doing so, including how mind wandering can help you be more productive and creative, allow you to see greater possibilities for your life, and offer important insights that will get you unstuck from problems. He shares strategies to incorporate unfocused time into your lifestyle, including how to make daydreaming more beneficial and why you should let yourself doodle without guilt. Srini also makes a case for multitasking in the sense of switching back and forth between different tasks.Connect With Srini PillaySrini's websiteNeuro Business Group websiteSrini on LinkedInSrini on XSrini on IGSrini's articles on Harvard Health

Note: This is a rebroadcast.In the quiet moments of our lives, we can all sense that our hearts long for something, though we often don't know what that something is. We seek an answer in our phones, and while they can provide some sense of extension and fulfillment — a feeling of magic — the use of technology also comes with significant costs in individual development and interpersonal connection that we typically don't fully understand and consider.My guest today will unpack what it is we really yearn for, how technology, when misused, can direct us away from the path to fulfilling those yearnings, and how we can find true human flourishing in a world in which so much works against it. His name is Andy Crouch and he's the author of The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World. Today on the show we talk about the tradeoffs you make when you seek magic without mastery, and how we can understand our desires better once we understand ourselves as heart, soul, mind, and strength complexes who want to be loved and known. We discuss the difference between interactions that are personal versus personalized, as well as the difference between devices and instruments, and how to use your phone as the latter instead of the former. We end our conversation with why Andy thinks we need to redesign the architecture of our relational lives and create something he calls "households."Resources Related to the PodcastFaust by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWendell BerryAoM article on Plato's idea of the tripartite nature of the soulAoM Podcast #723: Men Without ChestsAoM Article: The Tool Works on Both EndsAoM Article: Communities vs. Networks — To Which Do You Belong?Connect With Andy CrouchAndy's WebsitePraxis Labs