A 2002 dating guide has found new popularity on Tiktok using an old fashioned method: Have a catchy title and four pages of good advice.

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• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• The Tragedy of Heterosexuality
• Why men (still) love bitches
• Systematic review on converting online contact into a first date
• A Meta-Analytical Review of the Demand/Withdraw Pattern
• Gender-Related Predictors of Change in Marital Satisfaction and Marital Conflict

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter and Michael discuss "Surrounded by Idiots," a book that dares to ask: Can the mystery of human relationships be unraveled by a workplace personality assessment?

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• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Pioneers, Drivers, Integrators, and Guardians
• Creator of Lie Detector Test Dies; Lecturer and Author Produced Comic Strip
• One of Sweden's biggest scientific bluffs
• Pseudoscience and the Claim of Practical Utility: The Case of Thomas Erikson's Surrounded by Idiots
• Thomas Erikson accepts being called a pop psychology writer
• Four personality types may be neither robust nor exhaustive
• Spuriouser and spuriouser: The use of ipsative personality tests
• Reconsidering the use of personality tests in personnel selection contexts
• Using Personality Tests in Pre-Employment Screening
• Employment Tests and Selection Procedures
• The Cult of Personality Testing
• A history of the early days of personality testing in American industry: an obsession with adjustment
• Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part II: The Refinement of Methods and Standards in Employee Selection
• Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part III: The Resurgence of Personality Testing
• ACLU Files Discrimination Complaint Against CVS
• Target Corporation to Pay $2.8 Million to Resolve EEOC Discrimination Finding
• Personality Tests Are the Astrology of the Office
• The $2 Billion Question of Who You Are at Work

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

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In 1993, a desperate man stumbled into a remote village in the foothills of the Karakoram mountains. After the residents nursed him back to health, he placed his hands on the village elder's shoulders and made a sacred promise. "Somehow," he said, "I am going to get some private jet reimbursements out of this."

Warning: Contains spoilers for the 2016 film "Arrival."

Thanks to Ted Callahan for helping us fact-check this episode!

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• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Three Cups of Deceit
• “60 Minutes” expose
• 3000 Cups of Deceit
• Books vs Bombs? Humanitarian development and the narrative of terror in Northern Pakistan
• Delusional States
• Can't Get There From Here
• Nobel Prize Nominee’s Charity Wins No Award for Accountability
• David Oliver Relin, Adventurous Journalist, Dies at 49
• What Mortenson Got Wrong
• Three Cups of Tea: The Pakistan and Afghan side
• 3 Lessons to Learn From Greg Mortenson
• Mortenson returns to Afghanistan
• The naive republic of aid: Grassroots exceptionalism in humanitarian memoir
• Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data
• If you build it, will they come?
• What Really Works to Improve Learning in Developing Countries?
• The madrassa scapegoat

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

You know that book your friend recommended? The one that rigorously describes the science of trauma, de-stigmatizes abuse and promotes effective treatments? Well here’s the thing: It doesn't actually do that.

Thanks to Emi Nietfield, Keith Cox, Lisa Starr, Richard McNally, Kevin McGuire and everyone else who helped us research and fact-check this episode!

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• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong
• Trauma: A Genealogy
• Remembering Trauma
• Advocates of Research-Supported Treatments for PTSD are Losing
• Tell Me Why It Hurts
• ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ offers uncertain science
• Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside
• PTSD and complex PTSD: a review of reviews
• What Does It Mean When 38% Forget?
• Multiple Identity Enactments and Multiple Personality Disorder: A Sociocognitive Perspective
• The Brain Is Adaptive Not Triune

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter and Michael discuss "Think And Grow Rich," the 1937 classic written by a lifelong fraudster who finds his final mark: You.

Where to find us:

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• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time
• A Lifetime of Riches
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• How a Different America Responded to the Great Depression
• The Psychic Scandal
• How Trump Turned The Power of Positive Thinking Into Delusion

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

In 2013, education reformers tried to help poor students the using the best tool at their disposal: The 16th most popular Ted Talk.

Special thanks to Marcus Credé!

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• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Much Ado About Grit
• What Shall We Do About Grit?
• Grit under attack
• Teaching “Grit”
• The Problem With Grit
• The Limits of “Grit”
• Grit: The power of passion and perseverance
• Is 'Grit' Doomed To Be The New Self-Esteem?
• Measurement Matters
• Using Psychological Science to Help Children Thrive
• Self-Control and Academic Achievement
• Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success
• Should non-cognitive skills be included in school accountability systems?
• Measuring Students’ Non-Cognitive Skills and the Impact of Schooling
• Grit: A Short History of a Useful Concept
• Teaching Kids 'Grit' is All the Rage.
• "Grit" Revisited
• Character Education: A Cautionary Note
• What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?
• The Effects of the EITC on Child Achievement
• Academic Performance And Food Stamps

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter went on Mike's other show, Maintenance Phase, to revisit a biohacking diet book for the boys.

Where to find us:

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• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• The 4-Hour Body
• Does Glycemic Index Matter for Weight Loss? An Examination of the Evidence
• New! Improved! Shape Up Your Life!
• The 4-Hour Body: The Real App You Are Working On Is An App Called Yourself

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Peter and Michael discuss "Bullshit Jobs" by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. The result: two professional podcasters debating which jobs are real and which jobs are fake.

Where to find us:

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• Peter's newsletter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant
• 37% of British workers think their jobs are meaningless
• Average Annual Hours Worked by Persons Engaged for United States
• The times they are not changin’: Days and hours of work in Old and New Worlds, 1870–2000
• ‘Bullshit’ After All? Why People Consider Their Jobs Socially Useless
• Alienation Is Not ‘Bullshit’: An Empirical Critique of Graeber’s Theory of BS Jobs
• Many people feel they work in pointless ‘bullshit’ jobs, research confirms
• The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure
• Study: Leisure Time Declines
• USA Consumption as percent of GDP
• The Significance of Task Significance: Job Performance Effects, Relational Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions
• Task significance and meaningful work: A longitudinal study
• Americans’ job satisfaction in 2024

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod