The James Altucher Show

Episode Description:

This is a From the Archive episode with Arianna Huffington.

Arianna Huffington returns to the show for a conversation about sleep, success, reinvention, and the cultural delusion that burnout is the price of achievement.

James begins by asking practical sleep questions: Is nine hours too much? Can sleep be split into two four-hour blocks? Arianna explains that for most people, seven to nine hours is the real range...

Episode Description:

Nancy Cartwright is best known as the voice of Bart Simpson. But in this archive conversation, James is interested in the artist behind the voice.

Nancy joins the show to talk about In Search of Fellini, the film she co-wrote with Peter Kjenaas based on her own trip to Italy in the 1980s. At the time, Nancy was already working as an actress and voiceover performer, but she became obsessed with Federico Fellini&rs...

Episode Description:

Mike Massimino’s path to space was not a straight line. It was a long series of obstacles, failures, second attempts, and decisions not to quit.

In this From the Archive conversation, James talks with Mike about his memoir Spaceman, his two shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope, his career at NASA, his work at Columbia, and the deeper lessons behind becoming an astronaut.

Mike explains that ...

Episode Description:

This is a From the Archive episode with Ray Dalio. Ray Dalio built Bridgewater Associates into one of the most influential investment firms in the world. But in this archive conversation, James is less interested in the headline version of success and more interested in the painful turning point that made Ray rethink everything.

At 34, Ray’s business nearly failed. He had been confident—by his own des...

Episode Description:

This From the Archive episode features Tyra Banks and her mother, Carolyn London, in a conversation about beauty, business, motherhood, reinvention, and the power of not trying to be perfect.

There is no “A Note from James” section for this episode.

James begins by explaining why America’s Next Top Model mattered to him as a father. He watched the show with his daughters, and what stood out was n...

Episode Description:

This is a From the Archive episode with Dan Harris.

Dan Harris returns to the show for a wide-ranging conversation about meditation without the incense, jargon, or grandiose promises.

James begins with Dan’s story: his work at ABC News, his public panic attack, his substance abuse, his reporting from war zones, and the recovery path that led him to meditation. Dan’s first book, 10% Happier, made the ca...

Episode Description:

This is a From the Archive episode with one of my favorite guests: Steven Pressfield.

Steven Pressfield has spent his career writing about war, creativity, discipline, storytelling, and the inner battle every artist faces. In this archive conversation, James and Steven explore how stories work—and why the same structures that power novels and movies also show up in real life.

They begin with The Legend of Ba...

A Note from James:

I’m doing a big experiment in my life.

I recently started taking a GLP-1—tirzepatide, one of the so-called weight-loss drugs. But I didn’t start taking it specifically for weight loss. I had some blood work done for the first time in a long time, and there was a small indication that I might be pre-diabetic. My doctor suggested trying tirzepatide, and I wanted to understand what I was getting into...

A Note from James:

I’ve done several hundred podcasts, but if people asked me who were the one or two people I most wanted to have on the show, Garry Kasparov would be at the top of the list. He was World Chess Champion for twenty years, and I’ve followed his career since the early ’80s.

His book, Deep Thinking, tells the story of his matches against Deep Blue, but it’s really about what may be the most import...

A Note from James:

This is a very special episode for me.

There have only been a few times in the history of this podcast when I’ve had the chance to sit down with one of my heroes. This is one of those times.

Frank Miller is one of the most important storytellers of my life. When I first picked up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, it completely changed what I thought comics could be. This wasn’t just another Batman...

A Note from James:

I’ve been obsessed with anti-aging and longevity science for a long time. I’ve had many longevity researchers on the podcast, but this episode feels different because something we’ve been discussing for years has now moved into human trials.

David Sinclair first came on the show in 2019, when his book Lifespan was published. He’s a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and that fi...

Episode Description:

Prediction markets allow people to trade contracts tied to real-world events—from elections and weather to rocket launches, airport traffic, awards, and the words a public figure might use during a speech.

But James argues that having an opinion isn’t enough. Betting on your favorite team, preferred candidate, or a vague feeling about what might happen is speculation without an edge. His rule is simpl...

A Note from James:

Mark Pincus is one of the true OGs of the internet. You probably know him as the founder of Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, Zynga Poker, and Words With Friends. Zynga was eventually acquired by Take-Two in a transaction valued at approximately $12.7 billion. Before Zynga, Mark started Tribe, one of the first social networks—before MySpace and Facebook.

He has spent more than 25 years building, failing, ...

A Note from James:

If I could tell my children to read one post of mine, it would be this post.

Influence is how they will navigate a world of uncertainty.

Robert Cialdini is the most influential person in the world. And by that I mean, he wrote the book Influence, which sold 3 million copies and defines the six critical aspects of all influence.

Now he has a new book, Pre-Suasion, going 10x deeper into the concepts of persuasion. I go...

Episode Description:

In this episode from the early days of The James Altucher Show, James sits down with T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, to examine why earning money, keeping money, and feeling secure about money are three very different skills.

Harv recounts cycling through 14 jobs and 12 businesses before building a successful chain of fitness stores—and then losing much of what he had earned. That e...

A Note from James:

Oh my gosh, one of my favorite guests ever: Ben Mezrich.

Ben wrote Bringing Down the House, which became the movie 21. He wrote The Accidental Billionaires, which became The Social Network. And now his latest page-turner, Checkmate, is about one of the most explosive scandals in modern sports: the Hans Niemann chess cheating controversy that took over the world.

You remember the story. Magnus Carlsen, the greatest c...

A Note from James:

Have you ever read The Da Vinci Code?

That book was definitely a page-turner. Before I read it, I had never really heard of Opus Dei. And after today’s conversation with Gareth Gore, you might wish you had never heard of Opus Dei either.

In The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei is a mysterious organization tied to the Catholic Church, secret history, and global power. But today’s guest, Gareth Gore, started invest...

A Note from James:

Today on the show, I have a very special guest and a good friend of mine, Brandon Webb.

Brandon has been on the show many times before. He’s a former Navy SEAL, and he also ran the Navy SEAL sniper school that trained some of the best snipers in the world, including the sniper the movie American Sniper was based on. He’s written a ton of books about the military, leadership, confidence, mental toughness...

A Note from James:

Today on The James Altucher Show, I’m excited to welcome back one of my favorite guests, David Epstein.

David is the bestselling author of Range, which completely changed how I think about my own jack-of-all-trades life. In his new book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, David flips the usual idea of creativity on its head. We’re always told that creativity comes from total freedom: the bl...