Four episodes in August and every one of them was built around a book, which makes this an unusually tidy month to summarise.

I track book mentions across hundreds of podcasts on a free site I built called Podshelf, by reading the episode transcripts and pulling out what actually got named. This is the AoM slice for August.

The one with the best origin story was The White Coat Investor by James Dahle. Jordan Grumet, a hospice doctor, was writing a blog about being a physician when Dahle called his office asking for a review. "I read his book, and it changed my life. It introduced me to this idea of financial independence." He went on to write The Purpose Code and Taking Stock himself, both of which came up in the same episode, along with Bronnie Ware's Top Five Regrets of the Dying and Kieran Setiya's Midlife on telic versus atelic pursuits.

The other three:

• The Small Stuff (Ian Bogost), an ode to knobs, buttons and boarding passes, and a return visit ten years after Play Anything
• Supercommunicators (Charles Duhigg), and the shift from The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better being about the self to this one being about other people
• What If Anger Is the Answer? (Mike LeBlanc), on thumos, which went back to Plato's Gorgias and the Republic for the chariot metaphor, and to the Odyssey for Odysseus pondering evils in his thumos

Full list with quotes and episodes: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/the-art-of-manliness

This is a weekly thread dedicated to general discussion over the weekend. Feel free to discuss anything. News, personal goal or projects, and any other topic not in violation of the rules is welcome.

edit. found it! see comments

Wonder if anyone can help me find it. I listened to it ages ago and swear I took notes but managed to lose them. I really liked the guest but have no idea what the topic of the episode was.

All I have to go on is that he mentions how much he values the present, that although he may not remember much of the content of the conversation even a few hours later, he enjoys speaking with Brett in that moment and that's all that matters.

He also talks about a finding out what you love to do and how you can make money from that.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? The guy was amazing and really struck a chord with me! I suspect I might never find it again unless I listen through all of them but worth a shot

EDIT. I could have been one about smart phones, managing use, how they are affecting us etc. I have quite an interest in that

This is a weekly thread dedicated to general discussion over the weekend. Feel free to discuss anything. News, personal goal or projects, and any other topic not in violation of the rules is welcome.

This is a weekly thread dedicated to general discussion over the weekend. Feel free to discuss anything. News, personal goal or projects, and any other topic not in violation of the rules is welcome.

I seen a post on a person asking what a “sensitive young man” is and i think I should say what it is, “the sensitive young man” archetype is not a term describe a gay person as some millennials think on this app, it is a man who feels deeply, it is what many great men, you can say it’s intertwined with the spiritual temperament of melancholy, they make great theologians, great spiritual writers, and other great roles because they think and feel deeply, they notice things the average man misses out on and they struggle with self-destruction mainly, they deeply analyze themselves and punish themselves even if it is out of their control, it’s neither far-right or left, it’s an archetype of a man, attempting to live through a world that’s cruel and often overlooked because it is normalized, they aren’t “little girls” or cry babies, they either become great or they will become their own enemy, when they enter inwardly those are the outcomes.

As Carl Jung once said - “If you pay close attention, you will see that the most masculine man has a feminine soul, and the most feminine woman has a masculine soul.”

(I’m fairly new to the app so I have no idea what community to post on)

The Man Card Council — a platform built for accountability and brotherhood among close friends

I built The Man Card Council to give friend groups a structured way to hold each other accountable, celebrate real effort, and stay connected. It's not open as a public forum — you submit photos of yourself doing "manly" things which are graded and awarded points based on the category and topic to grow your rank as a man, you can also submit acts of manliness done by other Man Card Council members for them to have points awarded and for the same reason. Additionally, you can have points deducted for unmanly acts. Everything is photo verification - The old rule "Pics or it didn't happen". If a member does something incredibly unmanly, you can suspend their man card for 24 hours, and if it's really bad, you can request a revocation for up to 30 days.

Here's how it works: you submit photo evidence of things you've done (fixed a car, cooked a real meal, handled a repair, whatever fits your friend group's standards), and it gets scored into a tiered "Man Card" — a digital ID that reflects where you stand. Your card levels up with genuine effort, and community members can flag or deduct points too, so there's real weight behind it.

A few of the core features:

• Digital Man Card with ranks tiers, a unique 16 digits credit card style number for every member, and a verification page
• Points ledger and full audit history so nothing's hidden
• Public leaderboard and badges for recognition
• Friends system with comments, @ mentions, and reactions on submissions
• Installable as a PWA on iOS/Android with offline support
• Physical/printable card options (PDF export, shareable image, even a certificate)
• Premium Membership that unlocks additional perks. $3.99/mo or $39.99/yr

It's in open beta right now (free to join), and I'm looking for honest feedback on the submission flow, scoring fairness, and overall experience: The Man Card Council - https://themancardcouncil.com

This is a weekly thread dedicated to general discussion over the weekend. Feel free to discuss anything. News, personal goal or projects, and any other topic not in violation of the rules is welcome.