Choice Conversations

  Stefan Molyneux is back, and this time we discuss his fantastic novel The God of Atheists.  I had a ton of fun talking about this book with Stefan, and if you’ve not yet read it, don’t worry, this episode does not contain any spoilers.   And if you’ve not yet read The God of Atheists, I have to ask why not?  This novel is truly a masterwork, the most important work of fiction since The Fountain Head.  You’ve got to read this book!       The paperback version can be found here:   http://www.lulu.com/shop/stefan-molyneux/the-god-of-atheists-softcover/paperback/product-1775028.html;jsessionid=E620D82D6A8242A91415F77BAECF6534       PDF and audio versions of the book are available for gold donors on Stef's website:    http://www.freedomainradio.com/Donate.aspx       Bumper music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j1sxvun384

Steve Patterson co-hosts with me as we talk to Alfie Kohn, the best-selling author of many books on parenting and education.  We spend a large portion of the show discussing how using punishments and rewards, carrots and sticks, teaches children that they are only loved under certain conditions, they are only valuable when they do good.   There are many ramifications of this approach, none of which are desirable.  We also discuss some of the flaws of the public education system, how it crushes the natural desire of children to learn.   Find more from Alfie Kohn here:  http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php       Bumper music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0H3RlaQVrM

In this show I speak with Seth Andrews, author of Deconverted: a Journey from Religion to Reason, and founder of the website and podcast The Thinking Atheist.       We talk about Seth’s journey from being a Christian radio DJ to being a public advocate for truth, what proof is required to believe in a deity, free markets, and more!       Please visit Seth’s wonderful site and buy his book:   http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/       Bumper music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xA84aIAWEk

  Andrew Horowitz joins me to discuss investing in the financial markets.  He talks about his journey working in the industry the last 20 plus years and how much things have changed.  We discuss the economy, and learn what do you do when the economy and the market send you different signals.    Find more from Andrew here:   http://www.thedisciplinedinvestor.com       Bumper music:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAdQzCq53XE

  With Mother’s Day looming, there is no better time to have on one of my favorite mothers, Adele Faber.  In this show, we both share stories about our experience as parents.  Adele talks about the new edition of her best seller How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids will Talk and provides us with scores of sage advice.       You can find Adele here:  http://www.fabermazlish.com/   And her books here:  http://www.fabermazlish.com/publications.php       Bumper music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

  Sean Croxton teaches us about JERF, Just Eat Real Foods.  We learn exactly what real food is, how our friends sabotage us when we’re trying to lose weight, why it’s important to have good reasons to get healthy, the importance of sleep, and how Sean gained a fear of planes!       You can find Sean below:       http://undergroundwellness.com/       https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/btr-underground-wellness-show/id296766401   http://www.youtube.com/undergroundwellness   https://twitter.com/ugwellness   https://www.facebook.com/undergroundwellness       Bumper music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0H3RlaQVrM

  I welcome back Pete Gerlach to discuss psychology and self-help.  We cover his great article “Five Epidemic Personal, Marital, and Family Hazards”:   http://sfhelp.org/hazards.htm       Here is the link to his free 7 lesson self-improvement course mentioned during the show:   http://sfhelp.org/pop/course.htm       Pete’s youtube channel:   http://www.youtube.com/user/gercacn/videos?view=1&flow=grid       Pete provides phone consultations:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xznYTHZGjps&feature=player_embedded                              Or find a local therapist who specializes in IFS therapy (Inner Family systems):   http://www.selfleadership.org/find-an-ifs-therapist.html       An interview with Dr. Faye Snyder about RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder):   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MrVq-3UviY       Bumper music:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

Two Beers with Steve has now become the Choice Conversations podcast.  In this show we learn about the host’s journey; how he unplugged from the matrix.       Below are links to several items mentioned during the show.       Peter Gerlach’s “Break the Cycle” website:  http://sfhelp.org/pop/course.htm   Wes Bertrand and Complete Liberty:  http://completeliberty.com/   The Market for Liberty free audio book:  http://podiobooks.com/title/the-market-for-liberty/   True News 13: Statism is Dead - Part 3 - The Matrix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P772Eb63qIY   “The Law” by FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT:  http://mises.org/books/thelaw.pdf,  http://mises.org/media/2648/The-Law (audio version)   How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne:  http://www.amazon.com/How-Found-Freedom-Unfree-World/dp/0965603679/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366068892&sr=1-1&keywords=how+i+found+freedom+in+an+unfree+world     Nathaniel Brandon sentence completion exercises:   http://www.nathanielbranden.com/exercises/   ht

Our guest this week is Andy Craig, CEO & Founder of Plain English Finance.  We talk about his book “Own the World,” which is about the importance of learning to invest; why everyone can and should manage their own money.   Learn more about Andy at his blog:  http://plainenglishfinance.com/   Here are links to the free newsletters Andy mentions during the show:   http://www.stansberryresearch.com/products#podcasts   http://agorafinancial.com/

  This show is a short conversation Steve and I had while waiting to interview Andy Craig.  We talked about parenting, specifically Alfie Kohn’s great book Unconditional Parenting.  Since the topic of this opening discussion was dramatically different then the topic of our interview of Andy Craig (which was finance/investing), I decided to break the discussion up into two separate podcasts.        Here is a link to Wes Bertrand’s reading of the book Unconditional Parenting, as discussed during the show:       http://completeliberty.com/magazine/read/episode-137---unconditional-parenting-part-one_143.html

This week Dan Carlin joins us to mix a little history into the discussion.  Dan is the host of a political podcast called Common Sense, as well as one on history called Hardcore History.  On the latter, he recently did a series on the Mongol empire, and that is the discussion for today’s show.    I had a blast doing this show, getting to pick Dan’s brain on a variety of points about the colorful story of the Mongols.  Check out his web site for more:   http://www.dancarlin.com/

In this week's show we revisit a question from the last podcast, is society truly progressing?  To help us answer the question we have a round table discussion.  Hosts Steve and Chris are joined by previous guests Wes Bertrand of the Complete Liberty Podcast and Brett Veinotte from the Schools Sucks Project.  Listen to the show to discover why we almost titled this episode "The Philosophy of Hookers."        http://schoolsucksproject.com/   http://completeliberty.com/

Steve returns from vacation to engage in one of the more unusual podcasts we have ever done. Steve subjects Chris Stefanick to a scenario in which he changes the incentives of the scenario through a series of questions.  Recently Steve has been experimenting with this series of questions in an effort to expose the perverse incentives behind government redistribution. Obviously the experiment is still evolving and Steve would gladly accept different scenarios and questions to add to his experiments. If you are interested in helping out just contact us at twobeerswithsteve@hotmail.com

On today’s show we talk to Dayna Martin, the UnNanny.  We discuss her book, Radical Unschooling, and the odyssey she has been on with her family living the life style.  It was amazing to hear how different life can be if you do not follow the main stream paradigm.       I encourage you to check out more of the great work she is doing:   http://daynamartin.com

This week’s guest is Wes Bertrand from the Complete Liberty podcast.  We cover psychology, ethics, parenting, statism, nutrition; seemingly no topic is off limits!        Wes is so well rounded he has four different websites, each with a different focus.  I encourage you to explore them.       http://completeliberty.com/   http://happinesscounseling.com/   http://healthymindfitbody.com/   http://logicallearning.net/

Pete Gerlach joined us once again, this time to talk about the skill of communication.  We discuss reasons people communicate, skills needed to communicate effectively, and a few of the more than 30 communication blocks that he details on his website. Here is a link to his "Lesson 2" study guide on effective communication: http://sfhelp.org/cx/guide2.htm Here are links to his youtube playlists on communication: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB607BA268DCAFD5D http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BC5FBF046A1CFCE

Brett Venoitte of The School Sucks Project joins us to discuss the reason why he does not call our school system the 'Education System', the chief reason is that education is not the goal of our current school system. Brett elaborates on how he does not think reforming our current system will do any good.  Along with many criticisms of the current public school system Brett also gives his vision of restoring critical thinking skills into a truly educational system, something our current system lacks. 

We invited Peter Gerlach to talk about his 7 Self-Help Improvement Lessons.    1)  Free your wise resident true Self and reduce two to six "wounds."    2)  Learn effective thinking and communication basics and skills    3)  Learn to practice healthy three-level grief    4)  Learn how to choose and maintain high-nurturance relationships    5)  Learn how to evolve and maintain high-nurturance families    6)  Learn kids' needs and effective parenting basics and skills    7)  Use lessons 1-6 to evolve a high-nurturance stepfamily

On today's show we talk to Judy Pardo, a psychotherapist and certified P.E.T. instructor.  She tells us about the parenting method's presented in the wonderful book by Thomas Gordon, Parent Effectiveness Training, and the work she does with parents and children in New York City.You can find more about Judy here:  www.villageparenting.comGordon Training International's website is a great resource for the P.E.T. method:  www.gordontraining.com

Tom Woods the historian, economist, and political analyst joins Chris and I on Two Beers With Steve to discuss his latest venture The Liberty Classroom. A first of it's kind on-line education forum that aims to educate Liberty-minded individuals while at the same time arming the students with tools for debating. Tom refers to Liberty Classroom as teaching the Real Version of history and the Real Version of economics and when I challenged him on what he was implying Tom responds that he is not implying anything at all, that instead he is explicitly stating that the current narrative taught in public schools and universities is flawed and incorrect at times and goes unchallenged.