The James Altucher Show

Today, we have a special guest who needs no introduction if you're a fan of science fiction, the talented writer of Silo - now an Apple+ TV series - Hugh Howey.Hugh Howey has an extraordinary journey that has taken him from working in bookstores to laboring as a roofer and even sailing on private yachts around the world. All the while, he was tirelessly crafting science-fiction novels and delving into various other genres. Just as James experienced with the self-publication of his book Choose Yourself, Hugh discovered the transformative power of self-publishing when he unleashed Wool onto the world. Little did he know that this gripping novel would eventually evolve into a groundbreaking TV series.On today's episode, we dive deep into the realms of writing, self-publishing, and the allure of science fiction. Hugh Howey joins James in a thought-provoking conversation about the fascinating universe of Silo and the intricacies of television production. Together, they explore the themes of optimism versus pessimi

In April 2023, a seismic shift occurred in the world of art and creativity. The prestigious Sony World Photography Awards, renowned for celebrating human talent and vision, awarded a prize to an AI-generated photograph. This groundbreaking moment marked a turning point, showcasing the capabilities of generative AI in producing art that could rival human creations. It left many questioning the boundaries between human and machine creativity.Simultaneously, another event unfolded. A new single, seemingly performed by beloved artists Drake and The Weeknd, took the internet by storm, captivating fans across the globe. However, as the excitement reached its peak, the truth emerged-it was an AI creation, flawlessly imitating the artists' musical styles and voices. This incident exposed the potential for AI to deceive and manipulate, blurring the lines between authenticity and imitation.This era of generative AI has ushered in a new paradigm, where not only are judges and fans being fooled, but malicious actors are

What does it sound like when you change your mind?That's the name of the book Seth Godin was about to publish when James interviewed him. He only printed 5,500 copies. And he's not printing anymore.He doesn't view a book as just pages surrounded by two covers. He makes a 3-dimensional object that's beautiful to look at and read."It's not new," he said on my podcast. "It's the best of the last four years of my work. And it's illustrated with hundreds of photos by Thomas Hawk, who's the most prolific and talented internet photographer."The book weighs 18 pounds. And it's 800 pages long.I asked him about art and marketing... and he told me about life.A) START FROM THE BEGINNING"No business, no project, no novel ever started big," Seth said.It started with fear, uncertainty, excitement, possibility. Tons of "what if's" that lead to real action. And real action halts the what if's. The "what if's" turn to "what is".Seth said, "Instead of saying, 'I need to leap to the middle,' say, 'I'm going to start with people

Exponential Organizations 2.0, by Peter Diamandis & Salim Ismail, is a new book - and a new book format - that offers valuable insights into how companies can achieve exponential growth and impact by leveraging the latest technologies. You can now talk directly with the book that generated $1B for Procter & Gamble using OpenExO's chatbot, AI-X. You can register for free for the Exponential Organizations 2.0 Launch Event on June 6th, 2023 at 8 am PST, which will give you access to this new book as well as the ability to watch a 3-hour webinar discussing specifics of these topics with the book's authors.In today's episode, Peter and Salim discuss the billion-dollar businesses of the next decade, focusing on the 11  attributes of ExOs laid out in the book. Not all ExOs exhibit all 11 attributes, but they all incorporate many of them.The first 10 attributes of an Exponential Organization can be divided into "outward facing" and "internally facing" traits. The first five, encapsulated by the acronym SCALE,

What a treat today's interview is. The legendary actress Sally Struthers and director Allan Piper talk with James about their new horror film eVil Sublet one week after its Best Feature debut win at the Coney Island Film Festival. Our guests discuss the rogue production techniques, filmed on location in Allan & his wife/star Jennifer Leigh Houston's apartment and a storage unit during the height of the pandemic, and the lengths New Yorkers will do to score a deal on an affordable rental. We also hear the backstory of Sally's first decade of television stardom on All in the Family and Gloria & Allan's lengthy background as a director working on presidential campaigns over the last 20 years.This conversation goes all over the place, and you'll love every minute of it.------------What to write and publish a book in 30 days? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/writing to join James' writing intensive!What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help

Why do we use money? How did we get to the point where billions of US dollars can be created by the Federal Reserve with the click of a button for bills that are never printed and have no relation to the finite assets those dollars used to be pegged against? Are cryptocurrencies and the digital blockchain the next evolution of worldwide finance?The answer - according to Omid Malekan - is trust, and on today's episode of Ask Altucher, he and James take this conversation back thousands of years to the beginning of 'commodity money' and walk through its evolution to the present day.Omid has been studying the relationship between trust and money for decades, working as a stockbroker, lead cryptocurrency consultant for Citi Group, professor at Columbia Business School, and author of  several books, including Re-Architecting Trust: the Curse of History and the Crypto Cure for Money, Markets and Platforms as well as The Story of the Blockchain: A Beginner's Guide to the Technology That Nobody Understands.If you ever

Jon Morrow was facing an existential threat to the future of his livelihood's existence. He needed to figure out whether Chat-GPT was truly capable of authoring content that surpassed his team of copywriters at Smartblogger. After hundreds of hours of testing, Jon found his answer and made his choice: embrace the future.Jon has now published a book written completely by AI based on his exhaustive writing prompt discoveries, selling over 2,000 copies per week and a perfect 5-star average rating on Amazon. As Jon says, "You can only write a great prompt for AI if you truly understand the output you want. Because I'm better at writing headlines than 99.9% of writers, I can create a better prompt."Today's compelling episode follows James and Jon as they break down the structure and rationale behind Jon's discoveries. You'll hear James generate headlines and draft outlines in real-time using the specific prompts and methods outlined in Jon's new book to breathtaking results.Want your own copy of Jon's book for a f

In this engaging episode of Ask Altucher, James welcomes a special guest, the renowned podcast host and relationship/networking expert, Jordan Harbinger. Together, they dive deep into a highly sought-after question from one of our dedicated listeners, Steve Blackburn. Steve's query resonates with many of us, as he asks a fundamental question that has the potential to transform our lives: "Since you always mention you're an average of the five people you spend the most time with, how do I develop relationships with more successful people so I surround myself with a better five people?"With his wealth of knowledge and experience, Jordan Harbinger takes the reins and shares his invaluable insights on this matter. Drawing from his expertise in relationships and networking, Jordan provides practical strategies and actionable steps that can be implemented in various aspects of life, whether it's personal relationships, professional networking, or even the dynamic landscape of the media industry.Through their engagi

Dr. Brian Keating - the Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS) in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego - has been working in higher education for 25 years. Still, today he's facing an identity crisis. Brian has become disillusioned with how the university and accreditation system is organized, and he's looking to reinvent how higher education looks, costs, and interacts with students. In recent years, Brian has branched out into the media world, authoring multiple non-academic books and blogs, hosting the Into The Impossible podcast, and cultivating a YouTube following of 115k followers and growing. Today's conversation revolves around Brian and James' ideas for new higher learning frameworks, focused on remote and metaverse learning and the concept of virtual mentors - 3D-rendered avatars of interactive historical figures built using large language models and natural language processing.Enjoy this fascinating

James sits down with renowned author and psychologist Dr. Benjamin Hardy to discuss Dr. Hardy's highly anticipated book, 10x Is Easier than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less, the third book he's co-authored with the accomplished entrepreneur and coach, Dan Sullivan.The conversation began with Altucher delving into the title of the book, intrigued by the idea that achieving ten times more success might be easier than merely doubling one's productivity. Benjamin emphasizes that their book challenges the widely held belief that more effort and hard work are the only paths to success. Instead, Dr. Hardy and Sullivan propose a unique approach that emphasizes simplification, focus, and leveraging one's unique abilities. By narrowing their focus, world-class entrepreneurs can strategically delegate or eliminate non-essential tasks, thereby creating more time and energy for high-impact endeavors.The conversation delved into specific strategies discussed in the book, such as creating a vivid

Today, James sits down with Michael Hearne, one of the visionaries behind the groundbreaking 9-part docuseries, "6 Figure Side Hustles."As the gig economy continues to gain momentum, more and more individuals are seeking opportunities to generate additional income and gain financial independence. In "6 Figure Side Hustles," Michael and his team of gig-economy experts explore the remarkable stories of everyday people who have transformed their lives by leveraging their skills and passions to create thriving side businesses. You can sign-up now for free to view the series, airing on May 23rd, at Hustles.JamesAltucherShow.com. In the interview, James and Michael dive deep into the fascinating world of the booming side-hustle economy. They discuss the ins and outs of building successful side businesses and the strategies employed by individuals featured in Michael's captivating documentary series.But that's not all-James and Michael also explore the evolving landscape of freelancing and its integration with human

James has a brand new video writing course available that teaches you How to Write AND Publish a Book in 30 Days!Back in 2020, James began a series of 30-day book challenges on his Instagram Q&As and Side Hustle Friday episodes (Here and Here) and wrote a breakdown of the basics in a LinkedIn blog post. The feedback and enthusiasm from aspiring writers was larger than he'd expected and the concept never left his mind.Now, James has launched an inclusive writing seminar video course that goes far beyond the existing content and teaches writers step-by-step how to write and publish a book in 30 days! He's even gone so far as to offer to buy, read, and review any book published using this course for listeners who join after listening to this episode, just send James an email at "altucher@gmail.com".Here are the details of what the course covers:You will learn how to write a book in just 30 days from a best-selling author.You will learn my best techniques for coming up with good book ideas that can be complet

In this insightful podcast episode, James interviews Wired editor Kevin Kelly on his latest book, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I Knew Earlier. The conversation delves into various topics such as parenting by example, the genius of being the "only" rather than the "best", and the art of honing the skill of being a friend.The conversation also explores the concept of working on ideas in 5-year segments - Kelly happens to do so against a 'doomsday clock' predicting how much longer he'll live. Bookending the interview, the two discuss Kevin's daily art project focused on creating new work each day with the assistance of conversational user interface AI and what Kevin learned about the technology's strengths and weaknesses throughout the process.Buy Kevin's new book: Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are yo

Today, James sits down with longtime friend and best-selling author Ryan Holiday to discuss his latest book, The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids. Ryan's side of the conversation takes place in his charming bookshop - The Painted Porch in Bastrop, Texas - where he only sells books that he personally enjoys reading. Before diving into the heart of their conversation, James and Ryan spend the first 15 minutes discussing ex-President Jimmy Carter. They explore Carter's relationship with Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, who famously asked Carter, "Why Not the Best?" during a job interview and ended up as the title of Carter's 1975 presidential campaign memoir. The conversation provides a fascinating insight into the character of one of America's most beloved presidents.From there, James and Ryan move onto discussing "The Daily Dad," Ryan's latest book, which offers 366 meditations on parenting and family life. Ryan shares his personal experiences as a father and offers practical adv

Today, James sits down with legendary humorist Dave Barry to explore the absurdity of Florida, his prolific career as a writer, and his creative process.With over 50 fiction and nonfiction books to his name, including his latest release Swamp Story, Dave is a master storyteller and has been entertaining readers with his sharp wit and hilarious observations for decades.James and Dave discuss the ups and downs of the newspaper industry and how Dave has adapted to the changing times. They also touch upon Dave's experience with "Dave's World", a sitcom loosely based on his life as a humor columnist. Dave shares candidly about how the show strayed further and further away from his actual life as the series progressed.Later on. the conversation turns to the increasing role of generative AI in the newspaper business and how it might affect sports writers in particular, such as Dave's wife - a newspaper sports reporter.Strap in for lots of Floriday oddities, discussions about the writing process, and Dave's winding r

On today's 'Ask Altucher', which continues the chain of thought from our previous episode, James details his innovative economic and taxation plan to help all Americans. Proposing a flat 10% federal income tax while instituting a 10% national sales tax (with rebates for the first $20k of purchases annually), his hybrid solution provides an innovative and effective economic plan that increases tax revenue, capitalizes on foreign national tourist spending, and offers progressive tax relief for low-income families.James also delves into topics such as foreign & domestic policy, the national defense budget, the strength of the US dollar's role in the global economy, and how America's dominance in technology and innovation cements the United States' role as a global superpower.Each week, James will be answering user-submitted questions from the web form, Twitter queries, and submissions via NotePd.com------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey

We all know that James is running for President of the United States in 2024 (and you should too!) In today's episode, James  answers questions about the President's role, the distribution of powers at each level throughout the country, and how the US government differs from parliamentary republics and fascist states.Each week, James will be answering user-submitted questions from the web form, Twitter queries, and submissions via NotePd.com------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group,

 In today's episode, James sits down with Dr. Gladys McGarey, a 102-year-old holistic physician and trailblazer in the world of alternative medicine.In this fascinating interview, Dr. McGarey shares her incredible life story, from growing up in northern India to experiencing the Great Depression in Kansas, then becoming a physician, wife, mother, and eventually a divorcee. She shares how she lost her medical practice after her divorce and had to start all over again with her daughter.Dr. McGarey is the co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, and in this interview, she discusses the importance of holistic medicine and how it can improve overall health and well-being. She also shares the six secrets to living a well-lived life as outlined in her latest book, The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age.This one-of-a-kind interview with Dr. Gladys McGarey is a must-listen. Join us for an inspiring conversation with one of the most respected figure

Today, we dive further into the world of self-publishing with a true expert, Chandler Bolt. Chandler is the founder of SelfPublishing.com and a best-selling author who has cracked the code to help self-published authors create and sell 10,000 copies of their books.Chandler shares invaluable insights from his latest book, Published, which is a game-changing guide for aspiring authors who dream of seeing their books soar to new heights. He reveals his proven techniques and strategies that have helped him sell thousands of copies of his own books and helped countless authors succeed in the competitive world of publishing.Chandler discusses the fundamental principles of self-publishing success, including finding the right niche, creating compelling book covers, crafting captivating book descriptions, and mastering effective book marketing techniques. He shares actionable tips and practical advice on how to optimize your book's visibility, reach, and sales potential.But Chandler's expertise doesn't stop at just se

'Ask Altucher' has returned! After a brief 7.5 year hiatus, James has resurrected his beloved Q&A show as a weekly sub-series on The James Altucher Show podcast, and we want YOUR questions. Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher to ask James a question on any topic and your submission could be answered on a future episode!On today's return show, James fields a question deep in his wheelhouse regarding 'what it takes' to be an entrepreneur, the types of businesses he's succeeded (and failed) at in the past, and the motivation behind each one. James also fields a question prompted by his AI Chat Clone from NotePd.com asking his top 3 entrepreneurial book choices.------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the