Josh Johnson’s Compendium

I'm joined by author Buddy Levy, who's written books such as Conquistador, River of Darkness, Realm of Ice and Sky, and others. We dive into Cortez & Montezuma, the 40-foot owl at the Bohemian Grove, Mike Leach, and his favorite writing advice.

Check out Buddy Levy's books

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This show will be the first in a series broken out into a different podcast feed. I'm calling it American Footnote. American Footnote is a natural extension of the reading and history work already happening here. You start by reading about the people who lived through a certain moment. Eventually, you start reading about the ideas that created that moment. Before long, you find yourself using both to understand the present better.

 

Here's the first episode, The Propositions:

So much of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence will be about Trump and Trumpism. Discourse will seethe with it, probably noting how poorly the 47th president reflected on the meaning of the Declaration for the men who signed it, and what it means for us today.

While Josh might not be qualified to give his two cents, he tries anyway. To him, this is a romantic moment that offers a chance to return to the spiritual bedrock elements of the American Founding: the propositions.

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Chris is here to convince you of two things: Larry McMurtry wrote a lot of great books besides Lonesome Dove, and the 5-star rating phenomenon is a mess.

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Denis Johnson has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Train Dreams blew me away, then I read Angels with you all, and I finished Jesus’ Son about a week ago. I’m nearly done with Tree of Smoke as I post this, too. I knew I wanted to do an episode on Denis Johnson’s career, so there was only one guy to call: Ted Geltner.

His biography of Denis Johnson is Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures (published last year).

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Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky from BookRiot join me to talk about books, the different avenues a reading journey can take, their favorite "bridge books", and what they can't wait to read next!

Check out Zero to Well Read

 

Timestamps:

1:04 - Can you become well read?

6:15 - How to assess books

17:04 - What is literary fiction?

23:09 - Side quests?

26:14 - What was the book that made you a reader?

31:30 - "Bridge Books"

34:17 - Reading as a muscle

36:04 - Tips for reading better

48:05 - "Finding" great authors

51:04 - The common books that get people into reading

55:01 - Cheat codes for finding new books that you're excited to read

1:00:00 - The books that Rebecca & Jeff want to read, but haven't