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The James Altucher Show

Ep. 139 - Cheryl Strayed: James' Go-To Author

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2015

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do you have a favorite book you return to over and over again? James does, and today the author of that book joins him on The James Altucher Show. Many of you know James does a Twitter Q&A every Thursday. But what you probably didn't know is that before he jumps online he rereads one book... He turns to Sugar for inspiration. Sugar is the fictional character in Cheryl Strayed's book, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. Cheryl Strayed has had a rough life: sexual abuse, divorce, past drug abuse, and her mother's death. All this pushed her to do something radical with her life. She decided to take a hike. Not your everyday hike; she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mojave Desert through California, Oregon, and Washington - and she did it alone. The hike finally healed her, and she turned it into her NY Times bestselling memoir, Wild. The book was then turned into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. Oprah loved the book so much she restarted her book club just to highlight it. Cheryl's new book Brave Enough was just released in October. James asks her, "Why a book of quotes?" As Cheryl says in the introduction of her book... "I've always been a quote collector... From the comic to the profound, the simple to the complex, the sorrowful to the ecstatic, the inspiring to the stern, whenever I need consolation or encouragement, a clear-eyed perspective or a swift kick in the pants - which is often - quotes are what I turn to. They've been tacked to the walls of every home I've made. I've written them down in my journals and kept them on files in my computer. I've scribbled them on the back of ripped-open envelopes and drawn them across stretches of sand." Now that they've met, James is almost sorry, as he'll not be able to steal from her so easily going forward.   Resources and Links: Cheryl Strayed Website Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Wild (the movie) starring Reese Witherspoon Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed Torch by Cheryl Strayed Dear Sugar podcast Oprah's 2015 Book Club ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

0:06.0

This is the James Alteter show on the Stansbury Radio Network.

0:19.0

So I'm so excited. Cheryl Strayed. Welcome to my podcast.

0:24.0

Thank you. It's great to be here today.

0:27.0

Cheryl, I have first off, let me give you a little, let me give a little interest.

0:30.0

So everyone knows for sure who you are, even though I think many people probably already know who you are.

0:35.0

The most obvious thing is there was a movie called Wild, which was based on your, on your memoir wild that was out.

0:46.0

When was the day? It was out like a year ago, right? With Reese Witherspoon?

0:50.0

Right, the movie came out a year ago, almost a year ago, and the book, I've looked at it in March of 2012.

0:56.0

So it's been almost, you know, three and a half years or so.

0:59.0

That's kind of like a long time for the lifespan of a book.

1:02.0

So congratulations on all the success of that.

1:05.0

And I think it was helped a little bit.

1:07.0

So people might know you also because Wild was a big Oprah pick as well.

1:11.0

Like she loved your book.

1:13.0

She did. She decided to restart her book club for a while.

1:18.0

Yes. It was a nice bit of news.

1:22.0

It's been an interesting wild ride.

1:24.0

And I have to say I, I beat Oprah to it because I read Wild before she recommended it.

1:32.0

I want to tell you that.

1:34.0

Wow, that's so great. So you read it right when it came out.

1:37.0

I read it right when I came out in part because there's another book you wrote, which I have to confess something to you about.

...

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