Mere Mortals Book Reviews

The best way to understand apathy is to not understand at all.

In this episode, I’m back with a review of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the 1966 classic that helped define the true crime genre. I unpack the book’s retelling of the brutal Clutter family murders in Kansas, the psychology of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock and Capote’s readable, gripping style. While I can appreciate the book’s historical importance, strong reporting and the way it gives readers close access to the killers, I kept coming back to the same question: why? For me, the most unsettling part was that there doesn’t seem to be any satisfying meaning behind the crime beyond damaged people committing senseless violence.

I also reflect on why true crime generally doesn’t work for me, despite how popular it is. Reading this didn’t leave me feeling wiser or more understanding of the world — it mostly left me feeling sad. I touch on the ethical questions around capital punishment, the lack of redemption in the story and why meaningless suffering makes this such a heavy read. My final take: it’s an important and well-written book for those interested in true crime, but personally it wasn’t for me and I land at roughly a 2.5 out of 10.

If you got value from the podcast please provide support back in any way you best see fit!

Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:01) What In Cold Blood is about
(00:02:19) The killers and the senseless motive
(00:07:05) Why true crime leaves him cold
(00:09:54) Truman Capote and the book's reporting style
(00:11:52) Capital punishment and moral questions
(00:15:42) Final verdict and whether it is worth reading
(00:18:13) What is next for the book reviews

Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFq
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts

Value 4 Value Support:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Can a book about stupidity leave you feeling stupider? The Psychology of Stupidity, edited by Jean-François Marmion, promises explanations from some of the world's smartest people. I finished it wondering how it became a bestseller.

In this Mere Mortals Book Review, I explain why the collection disappointed me: repetitive discussions of terminology, arguments I found one-sided, and interviews that didn't deliver the depth I was hoping for.

I also discuss the handful of ideas I did find interesting, before looking more closely at the book's treatment of artificial intelligence, meat-eating and intelligence, and its conversation with Daniel Kahneman.
These are my reactions to the book and the way its arguments are presented. If you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear what worked for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The book and its big promise
00:21 Red flags—and my dad's warning
01:01 What I hoped to learn
01:41 The “world's smartest people” pitch
02:37 How the collection is structured
03:06 My verdict—and the few bright spots
04:09 Repetition instead of insight
05:30 The artificial intelligence argument
08:19 Meat-eating, intelligence and missing balance
10:30 The interviews I wanted more from
11:47 What did I actually learn?
12:23 Would I recommend it?

BOOK
The Psychology of Stupidity
Edited by Jean-François Marmion

Subscribe to Mere Mortals Book Reviews for more honest reviews, practical ideas and conversations about the books we read.

Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReU
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcast


Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFq
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts

Value 4 Value Support:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Can uncertainty make you stronger and does Antifragile actually show you how?

In this Mere Mortals Book Review, Juan explores Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. There are powerful ideas here, but I finished the book with mixed feelings about its practical application, repetition and relentless personal attacks.

I unpack the difference between fragile, robust and antifragile, explore the barbell strategy and question how easily these frameworks translate into everyday life.

My biggest takeaway? Via negativa: improving by removing harmful habits and unnecessary complexity. Sometimes progress comes from subtraction.

We also explore why a system can benefit from failures that hurt its individual members, my pushback on Taleb’s views about technology, and the ethics of becoming stronger at someone else’s expense.

Glad I read it, but would I recommend reading every page?

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introducing Antifragile and Taleb
01:30 Why I picked it up
02:08 Structure, maths and optional chapters
03:23 Fragile vs robust vs antifragile
04:51 The limits of antifragility
06:25 The Hydra, aviation and individual sacrifice
08:58 Longevity and Taleb’s confrontational style
10:45 Where I push back on health and nature
12:00 The barbell strategy: can you apply it?
13:49 Convexity, concavity and practical usefulness
16:06 Via negativa: improvement through subtraction
17:04 The Lindy effect, technology and AI
18:34 Too long, too repetitive, too many attacks?
19:43 The ethics of shifting risk onto others
20:51 My verdict: should you read it?
21:40 What I’ll apply to my own life

What’s one thing you could REMOVE from your life to make it better? Let me know in the comments.

Subscribe to Mere Mortals Book Reviews for honest reflections on books, big ideas and their place in everyday life.

Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReU
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcast


Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFq
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts

Value 4 Value Support:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Can we slow AI development down while everyone is still trying to win the race?

In this episode of Mere Mortals Book Reviews, I'm reviewing an article: “We Must Pace the Frontier” by Dario Amodei.

I unpack the proposals for embedded evaluators, coordination between AI companies and international cooperation. Then I share where I'm supportive, where I'm sceptical, and why reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile has me questioning the comparison between AI safety and aviation.

We also explore recursive self-improvement, the tension between global cooperation and US–China competition, and whether today's AI capabilities already give us enough to work with.

This is my personal reading and critique of the article. Read it yourself and tell me where you agree or disagree.

READ THE ARTICLE
https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier

CHAPTERS
00:00 An article review with big implications
00:32 The controversy behind the conversation
02:25 What does “pacing the frontier” mean?
03:36 Embedded evaluators: independent eyes inside AI labs
05:29 Antifragile, aviation and learning from failure
07:23 Recursive self-improvement and company coordination
09:18 Global cooperation meets US–China competition
11:32 Different levels of AI pacing
12:17 My verdict: slow down, pause or keep going?

Should AI companies slow down, pause completely or keep pushing forward? What would change your mind?

Subscribe to Mere Mortals Book Reviews for more reflections on books, articles and the ideas they leave us wrestling with.

Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReU
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcast


Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFq
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts

Value 4 Value Support:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

I never watched Game of Thrones. Then I finally picked up George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and I get it now.

I went into the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire with almost no connection to the TV series. In fact, years ago I made it about four minutes into episode one before turning it off.

The book was a very different story.

It starts slowly enough, building the people, families, politics and world but somewhere around the first third it starts accelerating. By the final few hundred pages I was absolutely smashing through chapters just trying to find out what happened next.

In this review I get into:

Why George R. R. Martin's POV structure works so well
How he manages to interweave so many characters and storylines
Why the world somehow feels enormous while remaining grounded
The comparison with The Lord of the Rings
The brutality, darkness and unpredictability of the story
Why the final third completely hooked me
The slightly uncomfortable reality of starting an unfinished series
Whether you should read the book if you've already watched the show

My rating: 9/10.

00:00 I finally read A Game of Thrones
01:02 Going in without watching the TV series
03:09 The problem with starting an unfinished series
05:11 Bigger than The Lord of the Rings?
06:19 Why the POV structure works so well
08:15 When the book hits overdrive
10:47 The dialogue, brutality & darkness
11:51 Why the fantasy still feels grounded
13:46 My final thoughts
14:47 Should you read A Game of Thrones?


Connect with Mere Mortals:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFq
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts

Value 4 Value Support:
Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast