Thecuriousmanspodcast

Actress, screenwriter, director, and now novelist Ally Walker joins the podcast to talk about her stunning debut novel, The Light Runner. Known for her roles in Profiler, Sons of Anarchy, and Longmire, Ally brings her gift for storytelling to fiction, crafting a powerful story about resilience, transformation, and the search for meaning.

In this conversation, Ally shares the inspiration behind The Light Runner, how her career in Hollywood shaped her writing process, and why moving from the screen to the page allowed her to explore character and emotion in new ways.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• What sparked Ally's journey from acting and directing to writing novels

• The central themes and inspirations behind The Light Runner

• How her experiences in Hollywood shaped her approach to storytelling

• The differences between screenwriting and novel-writing

• What Ally hopes readers take away from the book

What if the story of human history is really the story of drugs? In this episode, Matt sits down with author Sam Kelly to explore his bold and witty new book, Human History On Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence. From alcohol and coffee to opium and cannabis, Sam takes us on a fascinating (and often hilarious) journey through the intoxicants that have influenced empires, revolutions, and everyday life.

Expect scandalous stories, surprising truths, and a new perspective on how much of our world has been shaped under the influence.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why drugs are central to the story of human civilization

• The most surprising—and absurd—drug stories from history

• How governments and religions have shaped society's relationship with intoxicants

• Parallels between historical drug panics and today's "war on drugs"

• Why humor might be the best way to talk about taboo topics

In this inspiring episode, Matt sits down with fitness, nutrition and wellness expert Isabelle Daikeler to talk about building a healthy life from the inside out. From debunking common health myths to helping people discover their "why," Isabelle shares her holistic approach to lasting change. You'll hear her thoughts on where we all need to start to find our happiness and overcoming the "all or nothing" mindset that derails so many health journeys. Whether you're just starting your wellness path or looking to take it to the next level, Isabelle's insights will help you stay motivated, consistent, and confident in your ability to transform.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The mindset shift that's more important than any diet or workout

• How to find that center that eludes many of us

• Why perfection isn't the goal—and what to aim for instead

I hope you will all give a listen and that this conversation helps you along your path.

In this episode, we speak with, Gustav Peebles (economic anthropologist) and Benjamin Luzatto (artist and public thinker), co-authors of The First and Last Bank: Climate Change, Currency and a New Carbon Commons. Together, they propose a bold new vision of money as a tool for ecological repair—one that treats carbon not as a commodity to be traded, but as a commons to be protected, stored, and distributed fairly.

We explore:

• Why money and climate are more intertwined than we think

• How a "carbon commons" could shift our economic priorities

• What it means to design a bank that's both metaphor and mechanism

• Whether it's time to let go of conventional growth-based systems

• Why this is a call to collective imagination—not just policy change

This episode isn't just about economics. It's about possibility.

What is it about repetition that makes us feel, remember, and connect? In this episode, linguist, jazz musician, and author Samuel Jay Keyser joins us to discuss his fascinating book, Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts.

Keyser explores how repetition operates across music, literature, visual art, and language—not just as a stylistic tool, but as a deep reflection of how we think, feel, and experience the world. Whether it's a repeated melody in a jazz riff, a recurring line in a poem, or a phrase in conversation, repetition shapes the way we communicate, create, and make meaning.

What if leadership wasn't about authority, but about how well you serve others? What if the secret to motivating teams and building cultures was hospitality?

In this episode, we sit down with inspirational speaker, coach, and author Taylor Scott to explore the game-changing ideas in his book, Lead with Hospitality: Be Human. Emotionally Connect. Serve Selflessly. Drawing from his experiences at Walt Disney World, Wynn, Gaylord, and as a leadership consultant, Taylor shares how emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and selfless service are the foundation of truly transformational leadership.

In this thought-provoking episode, entrepreneur and author Jeff Burningham joins us to discuss his new book, The Last Book Written by a Human: Becoming Wise in the Age of AI. In a time when algorithms generate content, answer questions, and shape decisions, Jeff asks a bold and urgent question: What does it mean to be truly human—and truly wise?

We talk about what separates wisdom from intelligence, how AI is reshaping everything from creativity to ethics, and what qualities we must preserve if we want to live meaningfully in a world increasingly run by machines.

In this episode, we're joined by Carla Malden—accomplished screenwriter, memoirist, and novelist—to discuss her latest work, Playback, a gripping psychological noir set against the shadows of modern-day Los Angeles.

Carla, daughter of the legendary Oscar-winning actor Carl Malden, brings a cinematic edge and emotional depth to her storytelling. In Playback, she explores the blurry lines between memory and truth, perception and reality, and how our pasts haunt our present.

Join us as we talk inspiration, family legacy, the writing life, and what happens when the all converge.

Captain James Cook—celebrated explorer, national hero, and tragic figure—set out on his third and final voyage with a mission that would change the world. But what did his journey cost, and who paid the price?

In this episode, acclaimed historian and bestselling author Hampton Sides joins us to discuss The Wide Wide Sea, his sweeping new chronicle of Cook's last expedition. We explore the entanglement of science, empire, and myth, and the cultural collisions that shaped a turning point in global history.

Hampton shares the surprising truths he uncovered about Cook, the Indigenous cultures Cook encountered—and how one of history's most famous explorers became an agent of irreversible change.