Evolution of Identity and Brain Pickings

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In this chapter, the speaker discusses how their answer to the question of what they do for a living has evolved over the years. They describe Brain Pickings as a collection of interesting things and explain their preference for consuming just-in-time information. They also discuss their reading habits and interests, focusing on old and out-of-print books that shed light on living a good and fulfilling life.

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Welcome to The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out their routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life.

This time around, we have a very special edition with two hit interviews from the podcast’s back catalog. It features two incredible guests: Jamie Foxx and Maria Popova.

My goal is to introduce people to interviews they might have missed over the years and encourage them to enjoy household names but also sample lesser-known people I consider stars. You can think of this format as my personal, curated selection of the best of the last 10 years, or at least some of my favorites.

Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) is an Academy Award-winning actor, a Grammy Award-winning musician, and a standup and improv comedian. He is one of the most consummate performers and entertainers that I have ever met. This conversation was voted Podcast of the Year in 2015.

Maria Popova (@brainpicker) is the creator of The Marginalian (long ago named Brain Pickings), which is included in the Library of Congress’ permanent web archive of culturally valuable materials. The Marginalian is Maria’s one-woman labor of love—an inquiry into how to live and what it means to lead a good life. From Mark Twain to Oscar Wilde and everyone in between, Maria finds the hidden gems. She is prolific and consistent—The Marginalian was created on October 23, 2006, and it has been running strong for 17+ years.

What do you think of this format? Please let me know on Twitter—or X, as the cool kids say—by tagging @tferriss.

Please enjoy!

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.