Technologist, serial entrepreneur, world-class investor, self-experimenter, and all-around wild and crazy guy Kevin Rose (@KevinRose), rejoins me for another episode of The Random Show. In this one we discuss Japanese whisky, domestic speakeasies, wooden saddles, the rebooting power of Anthony de Mello’s Awareness, poetry, the art of surrender and letting go, mushroom cultivation in the Pacific Northwest, fasting, learning to say no, and much more!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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Want to hear another episode of The Random Show? — Listen to this 2017 conversation with Kevin Rose in which we discuss traveling in Japan on the cheap, love and marriage, beauty and absurdity, and urine drinking. (Stream below or right-click here to download):

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Connect with Kevin Rose:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

• Past Episodes of The Random Show
• Past Drunk Dialing Episodes
• Bar Gen
• The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss
• Tribeca Restaurant Brushstroke Will Close, Following Chef David Bouley’s Departure, Grub Street
• Shou Sugi Ban: The Modern Home Designer’s Obsession, Manomin Resawn Timbers
• The Twilight Zone
• Ichiro’s Malt Card Series — The Colored Joker, Dekanta
• Ichiro’s Malt Card Series — Six of Hearts, Dekanta
• Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon
• Hibiki 30 Year Old Whisky, Dekanta
• The Birth of SakÈ Documentary
• Cafe De L’ambre: Legendary, Tokyo Coffee
• The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
• Trial by Fire TV Debut, Tim Ferriss
• Founder Institute
• Why Japan’s Streets Are Spotless, World Economic Forum
• An Admirable Culture of Shame, The New York Times
• 34 Essential Things to Know Before You Visit China, Y Travel Blog
• Subtle Giveaways That Show You’re an American Tourist Abroad, Thrillist
• 10 Montreal Stereotypes You Don’t Want To Admit Are True, MTL Blog
• Things Tourists Should Beware of in Japan, Wander Wisdom
• The Goonies
• SeaWorld
• The Benefits of Forest Bathing, Time
• Physiological Effects of Touching Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis Obtusa), Journal of Wood Science
• An Ode To Japan’s Undiscovered, Aromatic Hiba Wood, T Magazine Singapore
• Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Dr. Qing Li
• Shinrin-Yoku: The Medicine of Being in the Forest
• Peter Mallouk — Exploring the Worlds of Investing, Assets, and Quality of Life, The Tim Ferriss Show #356
• Awareness by Anthony de Mello
• Waking Up with Sam Harris
• How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
• The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master by Hafiz and Daniel Ladinsky
• Powell’s Books | The World’s Largest Independent Bookstore
• Jour
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Sponsored The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
• Michael Singer’s Courses, Sounds True
• Why Latter-Day Saints Don’t Drink Alcohol, Tea, and Coffee? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• Oak Meditation and Breathing Exercises
• DRAM Apothecary Sparkling Water
• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
• True Ventures
• How to Grow Mushrooms Outside with the Log Inoculation Process, Fungially
• 9 Health Benefits of Lion’s Mane Mushroom (Plus Side Effects), Healthline
• Paul Stamets — How Mushrooms Can Save You and (Perhaps) the World, The Tim Ferriss Show #340
• Zero Fasting Tracker
• Dr. Peter Attia on Life-Extension, Drinking Jet Fuel, Ultra-Endurance, Human Foie Gras, and More, The Tim Ferriss Show #50
• The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight by Valter Longo
• Valter Longo — How Fasting Improves Chemotherapy — From the Early Mice Studies to Humans, Fast Life Hacks
• Could Intermittent Fasting Be the Answer to Reducing Breast Cancer Recurrence Risk? DAM. MAD. About Breast Cancer.
• Ganache Recipe & Video, Martha Stewart
• Ruby Jewel
• Remember the Hilarious Horror of GeoCities with This Website, Gizmodo
• Automattic
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
• John Muir Misquoted, Sierra Club
• Pulp Fiction
• The World’s Largest Psychedelic Research Center, The Tim Ferriss Show #385
• The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation
• TOMS
• The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
• Trip of Compassion
• Tim Ferriss, the Man Who Put His Money Behind Psychedelic Medicine, The New York Times
• 5-Bullet Friday

SHOW NOTES

• Coming at you from Kevin’s tailor-made speakeasy in Portland, musing over the fact that the time between the first Random Show and this one is literally a dog’s age. [03:38]
• What are we drinking tonight? [10:02]
• Why is Japanese whiskey Kevin used to buy in a Tokyo train station just a few years ago so expensive and hard to find today? [13:18]
• What would-be entrepreneurs who want to make themselves recession-proof might learn from artisan-level Japanese sake brewers and aged coffee connoisseurs specializing in 45-minute pour overs. [14:51]
• Why wooden Japanese saddles give me so much joy. [18:09]
• Japan as an art exhibit or zoo of pocket obsessions. [23:36]
• I’ve raved about Japan plenty of times on this show and will surely rave again. But what does Kevin find particularly appealing about Japan? [24:20]
• The best and worst places we’ve traveled are sometimes the same, but attempting to speak the local language usually has predictably good or bad results depending on where you are. [27:28]
• Kevin talks about his love for forest bathing. [31:20]
• Making Kevin (and perhaps you, gentle listener) aware of the book Awareness by Anthony de Mello and the powerful rebooting effect it has on me in times of mental disharmony. [35:23]
• On Pollan, poetry, Powell’s, and other pages we’ve been perusing. [39:52]
• Kevin’s takeaways about surrender and social programming from a course by The Untethered Soul author Michael Singer. [43:54]
• We agree that Sam Harris probably has the best paid meditation app, but you should check out Kevin’s Oak app if you want something simple and free to get started. [50:49]
• Can this sparkling water Kevin’s been raving about really change your world? What’s so special about it? [51:53]
• Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, Kevin’s found a different, deeper approach to work that better matches the pace of his newly realized, mushroom-cultivating lifestyle. [55:17]
• Kevin does a lot of fasting, but don’t worry — because Portland beers help him slow down considerably. We discuss his Zero fasting app, the differences between some of the better-known methods of fasting, and what the science is telling us about fasting’s miraculous effect on cancer patients. [57:27]
• No discussion about fasting would be complete if it didn’t wrap up with teary-eyed reminiscence over the Ruby Jewel ice cream we mercilessly devoured last night. [1:02:47]
• How I said no to saying no and aim to roll out a positive from this double negative. [1:04:23]
• Congratulations to the entire team at Johns Hopkins for the successful launch of the world’s largest psychedelic research center and the non-anonymous donors who made it possible. [1:17:43]
• What will this allow the researchers at Johns Hopkins to do that wasn’t possible before? [1:21:43]
• How has a high-dose psilocybin guided session directly helped Kevin? [1:25:27]
• How might someone who wants to help extend the funding for this research best target their donation? [1:26:35]
• Parting thoughts. [1:29:31]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Posted on: October 17, 2019.

Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

Who was interviewed? Here's a very partial list: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and nearly 100 more. Check it all out by clicking here.