99pages

99pages turned 4 years old this year, and we're in our 3rd design iteration of what this show looks like...and now it's time for iteration number 4.

Here's a Quick Look at what I'm thinking. Thanks for being on the journey with me!

Near Death Experiences are among the most fascinating topics to explore. Rarely do we discuss what might be beyond our terrestrial consciousness. But after experiencing his own NDE, Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, War, Tribe, Freedom) took his craft to the topic. A self-described rationalist, he takes a journalists art form to connect the pragmatic with the transcendent. This has quickly grown to become one of the most impactful books in my life, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

ALSO-Sebastian's life was saved with 10 units of blood donated by strangers. It's free, painless, and a wonderful way to support your community. Donate blood, and send an email to [email protected] letting us know, and we'll find someone to match your donation 1:1. Thanks and enjoy the episode!

Introducing a 3-part series on GLP-1 inhibitors. The most important topic that we aren't talking enough about.

2x Trillion dollar companies have already emerged from the use of these drugs’ shift into weightloss—Eli Lily and Novo Nordisk. These pharmaceutical giants have enormous potential not only to continue growing at a rate that rivals the largest technology companies in the world, but can displace billions of top line revenue from the makers of processed foods. 

As you may remember from my two episodes with Dr. Michael Greger, author of “How Not To Die”, I have a deep passion for plant based & whole food eating. Nothing angers me like the processing of wholesome ingredients…this distancing of real food from the day to day lives of everyday people. 

And of course, when we talk about money, we have to talk about medicaid, medicare, the National Health Service, and the costs to the taxpayer for all of these medications. 

But as Warren Buffet says, “price is what you pay, value is what you get”. If these GLP-1 drugs can reduce our caloric intake by up to 2/3…does it matter if we’re still just eating 2/3 less of mcDonalds, and not making meaningful changes in our diet? 

To discuss this and other issues, I”ve invited a good friend, Fred Ginnebaugh. Fred has led a 20 year career spanning engineering, sales, marketing, and investing roles across the medical device industry. He has most recently expanded into strategy and corporate development for some up and coming medical brands and I just knew he’d have the best point of view on how these drugs are changing the economic landscape underneath our society. 

To help me take on the psychological, emotional, and even spiritual echoes among this GLP-1 class of drugs, I’ve invited one of the most dynamic people I know onto the Show. Rimi Chakraborty was once a very successful working professional in the consulting space, she served high flying clients, had an MIT MBA, but one day realized that all that stress was just not serving her. Rather than close in on herself, she decided to set an example for her and her community. She moved out to the Azores in Portugal and founded Minuvida, a business that helps her clients elevate their consciousness through travel. She hosts groups and families on this beautiful island, and helps them reconnect through food and culture. Rimi is also the author of "Beyond Resilience to Rootsilience", a wonderful read on transcending externally imposed versions of success to find life's true meaning. I find her to be an incredibly grounding force, but also a great friend. We’re going to discuss the emotional and lifestyle roots that have led us to this GLP-1 breaking point. I hope you enjoy the conversation. 

If you haven’t listened to the intro to this series yet, I suggest you pause, listen to thot 15min primer, and then come back. That primer explains the broad importance of these drugs and sets the stage for the series. We’re dividing this story into three parts…One on the Mind, One on The Body, and a third on The Money. 

Today, we’re talking about the body. So I’ve brought on a good friend and classmate Dr. Daryn McClure to chat about what these drugs due for patients. Daryn is a family physician for Banner Health in Arizona. He’s practiced for over 20 years and has seen it all. In addition to his expertise in family medicine and health, he’s also a father himself, and a business mind in his own right making him the perfect person to discuss these drugs with. 

Today we are discussing the book “Who Makes The NBA—Data driven answers to Basketball’s biggest questions”.  Well, really every junior high kid’s biggest questions—what does it take to get into the NBA? The book uses incredible amounts of team and player data with sophisticated AI tools to answer these consuming questions—what are the chances of playing in the NBA if I’m short? Why do some countries produce so many more NBA players than others? Do my chances improve if my father was in the NBA? How important are coaches? 

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Michael Norton. He’s the author of The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions. This book explains this widespread, but little understood, phenomena of rituals in everyday life. He offers practical ways to use rituals to enhance performance, foster preparedness, ease challenging situations, and enrich our lives. Michael Norton is a professor at the Harvard Business School where he’s been able to put many of these theories into practice with his community. 

You know, I think about the rituals in my daily life with my family…my toddlers help me make my morning coffee, or we always do a gratitude at dinner. They help bind us together. IT was fun to talk with Dr. Norton about how these rituals are just so pervasive in our lives, and quite meaningful.

If you enjoy today’s episode please consider rating us on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Those help us out a ton. An consider subscribing to our email list at 99pages.club. We send out emails on our latest episodes, and some book recommendations to keep your Non-fiction reading list fresh. Thanks and enjoy the show. 

Today, I’m talking with Sudeep Krishna and Purav Gandhi, authors of “Lead From The Front: Tales of the Indian Military”. India might be the country of my birth, but I’ll be the first to say that I don’t know the place that well. But what I can tell you is that it’s a complex country with state and national struggles rooted in caste, religion, and poverty. It also is a nuclear power with  decades of conflict against neighboring countries. I always thought my service in the American military would make it harder to relate to my Indian roots, but the opposite is actually true. My time in Afghanistan has made it easier to understand the country and the tremendous opportunity that the next generation of Indians has ahead of them. The book “Lead From the Front” showcases incredible acts of modern day heroism from another nation’s military in conflicts with their borders. It was a powerful read. 

Today we’re speaking Eric Orton about the book Born To Run by Chris McDougall. Eric is actually featured in the book in a major way. He’s a world renowned endurance athlete and coach who was with Chris through much of his journey discovering minimalist running, and the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico: the tribe which inspired the thesis of the book: that human beings are born distance runners. And that the modern shoe industry has made our most valuable work tool—our feet—weaker and less capable. The direction of choice for the future of athletics is not more features and tools around our feet. But less. Eric recently co-authored the Sequel—Born to Run 2—with Chris McDougall, it’s a coaching guide to help athletes incorporate the lessons learned from Born to Run. He’s also the author of the Cool Impossible, an incredible book for athletic ambition.