The James Altucher Show
James Altucher interviews the world's leading peak performers in every area of life. But instead of giving you the typical success story, James digs deeper to find the "Choose Yourself" story - these are the moments we relate to... when someone rises up from personal struggle to reinvent themselves. The James Altucher Show brings you into the lives of peak-performers: billionaires, best-selling authors, rappers, astronauts, athletes, comedians, actors, and the world champions in every field, all who forged their own paths, found financial freedom and harnessed the power to create more meaningful and fulfilling lives.
Episodes
Episode Description:
This second installment of “From the Archive” returns to James’s early, unfiltered conversation with Tim Ferriss. They unpack how to market by creating newsworthy moments (including a frigid book-launch fiasco turned lesson), how to learn anything using Tim’s DISS framework (Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing, Stakes), and why “possibility is negotiable” when you seek outliers and test assumptions. T...
A Note from James:
Data is oil. Data is the gold of this AI revolution. Imagine you have an AI that has all of everybody’s thoughts also—so it’s not just learning on tweets and texts, it’s learning on the 60,000 or so thoughts that 8 billion people think each day around the world.
This sounds like amazing science fiction and magic and everything that one could ever have dreamed of… or it could be the end of the world.
E...
A Note from James:
You know, I’ve known Scott Adams for probably 12 or 13 years. He was one of the first guests on this podcast, and he’s the creator of Dilbert, which was my favorite cartoon strip for decades. But then, starting around 2013, he started writing about his life, his opinions, his approach to life, and what made him a success. The first book he did in this genre was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still W...
Episode Description:
To launch our “From the Archive” series, James revisits his candid talk with Sara Blakely about turning fear into fuel, reframing failure, and selling a simple product with language and grit. You’ll hear the bathroom demo that won Neiman Marcus, the three-part courage engine she still uses, and how to protect the thinking time that sparks real ideas.
What You’ll Learn:
- A usable framework for...
A Note from James:
One of my favorite conversations on this show was with Peter Thiel. Yes—PayPal, Facebook, Palantir, and a dozen other hits. I first ran this episode years ago, and the advice still holds up. The same stories, the same frameworks—and the same challenge to think from first principles. Here’s Peter Thiel, one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time.
Episode Description:
In this redux, James pres...
A Note from James:
Tim Dillon is crazy—in the best way. Not “institution” crazy. Crazy smart. Years ago he told me things about Epstein, hustle culture, and how the world really works that felt outlandish then and obvious now. He’s quirky, honest, and usually right about what to pay attention to. Also, he’s flat-out funny. Let’s bring Tim back and see how much of that old conversation still hits today.
Episode Descriptio...
James brings back astrophysicist Brian Keating for a practical takedown of moon-landing conspiracy claims—and a wider lesson in how to reason when everyone has a microphone. From the Van Allen belts to “the flag waving,” Keating separates physics from folklore, explains what evidence actually looks like (hello, laser retroreflectors), and gives a playbook for engaging friends who’ve gone down the rabbit hole—without losing...
Today, we're sharing the recent episode of the Digital Social Hour Podcast by Sean Kelly. James Altucher joins the show to break down why the 10,000-hour rule is a myth, how to cheat your way into the top 1%, why obsession matters more than talent, and how AI is now the greatest mentor of all time.
From entrepreneurship and failure… to mental health, chess mastery, comedy, and why losing millions hurts more than being b...
A Note from James:
Tye Sheridan is one of my favorite actors. You might know him as Cyclops in the X-Men movies (Apocalypse, etc.) or as the lead in Ready Player One—which is not only a great movie but also one of my favorite sci-fi books. One of his first films was Mud with Matthew McConaughey.
What I didn’t realize: since 2016, while still acting, Tye has also been a serious AI entrepreneur. He and Nikola Todorovic co-foun...
Episode Description:
James sits down with astrophysicist Brian Keating for a candid, useful tour through three hot zones: how to think about AI (and where it actually helps), what’s broken in higher ed and admissions right now, and why outsourcing your mood to politics is a losing strategy. You’ll hear first-hand stories (from UC San Diego classrooms to New York City politics), specific ways James and Brian really use AI da...
A Note from James:
Are UFOs real or not? For 80 years there have been credible whistleblowers saying the government recovered craft—and even bodies. That’s why I wanted Kent Heckenlively on, the author of Catastrophic Disclosure: The Deep State, Aliens, and the Truth. I’m not here to decide for you. I want to hear the best evidence, ask the obvious questions, and have you help me figure out if we actually got closer to the ...
A Note from James:
Wisdom Takes Work is Ryan Holiday’s fourth book exploring the Stoic virtues, and this time he’s taking on the big one — wisdom. His earlier books on courage, temperance, and justice were all great conversations, but this one hit me personally. I’ve often thought I had wisdom, only to realize later that I didn’t — or at least not as much as I thought.
Ryan’s writing blends ancient Stoic philosophy with mode...
A Note from James
Tupac Shakur—one of the greatest rap artists ever—was shot and killed almost two decades ago. What else is there left to say about him? What new things can be said?
Well, Jeff Pearlman’s new book, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur, takes on that challenge. In our conversation, we talk about what Jeff uncovered in his research, why he wanted to write another Tupac book, and what made this...
A Note from James
Oh my gosh—I was scared after this one. In this episode, I learned about what’s really on the dark web… and the even scarier stuff on what’s called the deep web.
Eric O’Neill—who, by the way, is the former FBI agent who brought down Robert Hanssen, the biggest double agent in U.S. history—joined me for this conversation. Hanssen was the FBI’s top analyst on the Soviet Union, and at the same time, he was sec...
A Note from James
I first got really impressed with Steven Pinker when he wrote The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. He basically shows that over the past 10,000 years, every single century has been less violent than the one before it. You might think, “That can’t include the 20th century,” right? We had World War I, World War II, atomic bombs, the flu pandemic of 1920, Vietnam—all these massive wars....
Obsession, Secrets, and Sleight of Hand: Inside the Hidden World of Modern Magicians with Ian Frisch
A Note from James
I’ve always loved books where a journalist gets so deep into a subculture that they become part of it. Magic Is Dead by Ian Frisch is one of those. He starts out covering a secret society of magicians—“The 52,” named for the cards in a deck—and ends up becoming one of them.
It reminded me of other favorites like Word Freak (Scrabble), The Game (pickup artists), and Moonwalking with Einstein (memory champion...
A Note from James
I’m such a fan of this guy. I loved The Psychology of Money — it felt like he was writing directly about me. I’ve made a lot of money, lost it all, made it again, lost it again. Over and over. And Morgan gets it.
His new book, The Art of Spending Money, hits even deeper. It’s not just about being rich; it’s about freedom, simplicity, and contentment — the real returns of life. Every word of this conversatio...
A Note from James:
Bill O’Reilly’s new book, Confronting Evil, is both a history lesson and a warning. It’s a study of the most destructive figures in human history—from Hitler, Stalin, and Mao to Genghis Khan, Caligula, and even modern evildoers like Putin and the cartels.
When I first picked it up, I thought it would be about the past. But after reading it, I realized it’s really about right now—about how evil mutates, re...
A Note from James
Miesha Tate is one of my favorite people in the world. She’s an incredible athlete—the ultimate fighting champion of the planet at one point—but more than that, she’s someone who’s turned struggle, discipline, and excellence into wisdom.
I was honored when she asked me to be on her podcast, Built for Growth. We talked about surviving turbulence in life, doing hard things, and why obsession can be both a gif...
A Note from James
This might be the most insane chess story I’ve ever heard—not even really a chess story, but a cult story. It’s wild, intense, and ultimately inspiring. Danny Rensch grew up in a cult in Arizona. At just 10 years old, the cult leader noticed his chess ability, took him away from his parents, and he wouldn’t see his mother again for a decade.
I first heard Danny’s story when we met at Norway Chess a year and...
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