Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Daniel has written many books, the most recent being How Soon is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation. He's spent time with indigenous tribes, done extensive inner work with psychedelics (including an iboga experience in Africa), and engaged in serious thinking about where our species is headed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Doctor Adi Jaffe is a UCLA trained addiction expert. But before he got involved in addiction research, he was a drug dealer and meth addict. For over eight years, his own drug use was out-of-control. After being arrested for the 4th time, and going to rehab twice, Adi managed to get his act together and steer his life back on course. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Love, drugs, travel, money, sex ... the usual. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are spreading the message that finding the good life may require dumping all the unnecessary crap we tend to accumulate and living foot-loose and fancy-free. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Why not to have kids, misuse of non-monogamy, why not check out of society, the end of friendships, on herpes, abandonment issues, the challenges of life with a beauty queen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan Cleek (@cleekndestroy) has been on all sides of mountain biking, as a champion racer, journalist, and award-winning filmmaker. We talk about danger, thrills, and what drives someone to try to jump over a canyon on a bicycle. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Jenny spent a year and change working for a construction company during the day and moonlighting in a dungeon at night, where she learned a lot about men, sex, power dynamics, and herself. Her book about the experience is called The Scarlet Letters: My Secret Year of Men in an L.A. Dungeon. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Moshe is a stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is the author of the 2012 memoir Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Ron looked around at his neighborhood and saw a need for nutritious food, community, and knowledge. So he started planting seeds. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

What constitutes success? Can a straight woman love a gay man? Is anyone living the American Dream? And a bonus story about watching a Buñuel film on LSD. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Hunter Maats is an author, podcast host, and international man of intrigue. He's been around the block a few times, and has given it a lot of thought. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Neil and I are joined by Marg, who helped raise Neil from a young age. We talk about music, books, what it was like to come to the US in 1968, and whether it was obvious that Neil was going to be a successful writer. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Hanging with Simon Rex is like being in a room full of people--all of them hyper-creative and funny as hell. He's an actor, comic, rapper, former model and VJ on MTV, has a massive following on social media, and makes a hell of a blueberry/kale smoothie. His Instagram feed is the most reliable source of hilarity I've come across in years. His show on Comedy Central, Typical Rick, is currently in production for its second season. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Go see Jake if you get the chance. He's a class act, except for when he's hanging out with me. Then he has no class at all. But that's my fault. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. He is the author of The Believing Brain, Why People Believe Weird Things, Why Darwin Matters, and others. His latest book is The Moral Arc, now out in paperback. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

The anti-Valentine's Day episode. What is love? Should we have kids? What about a three-way marriage? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Allan has enjoyed a long career as a standup comic and actor. You may have seen him in Mad Men, The Man in the High Castle, Hail Caesar!, and anywhere top notch comics are found. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

In which I rant about the usual: Carrie Fisher, Karl Marx, Matt Le Blanc, micro-aggressions, love, sex, passion, and despair. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Robert Clarke is one of the world's foremost cannabis experts and author, most recently, of Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany (together with Mark D. Merlin). We met by chance in Hanoi in 2003 and have been friends ever since. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Patrick and Bryan are brothers who rode bicycles across the US, from Massachusetts to LA. Their trip is documented at livehigh.org. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Kelly is a postdoc at Stanford. She's using fMRI to investigate whether cognitive processes may help predict relapse after addiction treatment. But we talk about everything from free will to hallucinogens to how the brain generates the feeling of having a mind. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Elena is a graduate student at UBC in Vancouver. She spent four months researching sex workers in India, and is now focussed on the therapeutic potential of hallucinogens. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

A.J. walked away from a corner office on Wall Street because he realized that his life was inauthentic. Since then, he's been on a roll. He founded Misfit—one of the most enigmatic, admirable hunter-gatherer enterprises around. His life is full of travel, love, passion, and positive energy. Plus, he's brilliant, good-looking, and dances like a Cuban. F*ck that guy. Music: "Distinto," by Orishas; "Lekela Muadi," by Tshala Muana. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Suedfeld is a Holocaust survivor whose research is focused on how people experience extreme, unusual, challenging, and traumatic events and environments -- including arctic explorers, astronauts, and prisoners. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

A bit of a critical look at Adam Curtis's film, Hypernormalisation, and a few totally unqualified responses to listener's emails. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

World-famous Jake and I sit in his kitchen, talking about the importance of dicks and complaining about leaf blowers. And other stuff, too. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Neil Strauss is the author of 8 bestselling books and was music critic for Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, and the New York Times. We're chilling on his sofa. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Emails, most of the "should I stay or should I go" variety. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia and author of Trying Not to Try: The Power of Spontaneity, Slingerland has a uniquely informed perspective on the biggest questions we all face. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

I met Georgina on a plane. Long before the seatbelt sign had gone off, I knew I was going to enjoy chatting with her all the way to LA. Getting to know this smart, funny, candid, and quirky woman, the hours flew by. She agreed she'd appear on my podcast a few weeks down the road--once she'd finished shooting a film. I doubted she'd get around to it, but true to her word, she found some time for this wide-ranging conversation about fame, beauty, Hollywood, Australia, and what it's like to make a living pretending to be someone else. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Wade Davis is an extraordinary guy. He's wandered into nearly every corner of this planet, published a slew of fantastic books (several of which have become films), studied hallucinogenic plants in the Amazon, explored voodoo rituals in Haiti, and tells the best shit-knife story you'll ever hear. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

The tenth episode of Ranting Out My A$$. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Brian is one of the top dogs at Tinder. He invited me to headquarters in Hollywood, where we had this candid chat about technology, business, dating, and the future of all of them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

This very special episode features Wim Hof (the Iceman) and Dr. Stanley Krippner discussing extraordinary human capacities. Co-hosted by Sam Lawrence and co-released on his podcast: Grow Big Always. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Darcia Narvaez teaches in the Psychology department at the University of Notre Dame. She's an expert in how human beings raise children in various cultures around the world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Academy award nominee, playwright, banjo player, dancer, rabble-rouser, and kick-ass pasta saucer, Josh Fox is a freakin force of nature. Join us as we talk about the state of the world, how Josh became Josh, and how to run a great 4-day party. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Deia makes documentary films. She has worked with troubled kids in the remote wilderness and walked from Ecuador to the tip of Tierra del Fuego, through the Andes. We recorded this one floating on a pond in northeast Pennsylvania, which makes this one a "pondcast." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Adventures with camels, mace, and a special woman in Jaisalmer, India. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Tyler is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, winner of The Amazing Race, and has walked the length of Japan--then made an award-winning documentary about the experience, called Kintaro Walks Japan. Dude is busy! Plus, he's super smart and funny. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Simon is a biologist with special interest in birds of prey and marijuana. You'll hear how one led to the other (by way of Zimbabwe). We spent a lovely Dutch afternoon chatting amidst the animals all around us. He is the owner of Serious Seeds, one of the most respected lines in Holland, and originator of famous strains like AK-47, Bubble Gum, Chronic, Kali Mist, and White Russian. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Wim Hof holds a slew of world records and has done things like climb within spitting distance of the summit of Mount Everest in shorts, run marathons above the arctic circle in shorts and in the Kalahari desert without water, sit in ice water for 90 minutes, swim under icebergs.... You get the picture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

The inherently fraudulent nature of fame, fortune, and beauty; premature ejaculation; traditional education; the Unabomber, and existential despair. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Uber-blogger Mark Manson has a new book coming out called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which was inspired by a blog piece he wrote that struck a nerve. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

A man in his 30s starts to think he might be gay, a young couple wonder about seeing other people, a couple try to deal with a rape. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Willem was the guide on my 9-day tour of southern Africa. Over the course of our trip, I grew to know and like him. He's quiet, but runs deep, as you'll hear. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

David Ley is a sexologist, therapist, and author of three important books that challenge mainstream views of human sexuality. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

When Johann arrived in the Galapagos for an educational trip, he knew that something important had changed in his life. He's built a life around that recognition. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Rivah Winter is a marine biologist specializing in coral reef systems. As of 2017, she'll be at the Frost Museum of Science in Miami, Florida. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Andrew Baker teaches at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami, FL. He studies coral with a focus on resiliency and recovery. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

I respond to a guy who is mystified at all the people who are taking totally absurd shit seriously. It's the fundamental conundrum all sane people face in an insane society. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe