J. R. Thornton was born in London and graduated from Harvard College in 2014, where he studied history, English, and Chinese. He later competed for Harvard as an internationally ranked junior tennis player on the men's professional circuit.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard, J. R. published his first novel, Beautiful Country, loosely inspired by experiences he had living in Beijing as a teenager. The novel became a best-seller in China, and the film rights were subsequently purchased by WME/IMG.

J. R. returned to China in 2016 as a member of the inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars, earning an M.A. from Tsinghua University. He lives in Milan, where he works for AC Milan. Lucien is his second novel.

Lucien is described as an incendiary literary work about a gifted artist on financial aid at Harvard who falls victim to the manipulative control of his wealthy, enigmatic roommate. Drawing inspiration from the true crime stories of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. "Clark Rockefeller") and Adam Wheeler, Lucien is an immensely entertaining novel that will appeal to fans of The Secret History, The Incendiaries, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Saltburn. This is complicated, toxic friendship and dark academia at its best.

We talk about how he got started writing, lessons learned playing professional tennis, how he got his first agent, his writing routine, becoming immersed in his novel while writing it, maintaining discipline, writing in alternate places, where the idea for Lucien came from, developing the main character, publuishing, books and authors we love, cultivating creativity and curiosity, writing a screenplay, advice for writers, time travel, and we discuss I highlights I took from the book.

links are on the podcast shownotes page

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PJ Glassey started personal training in 1987 and successfully grew his business over the following 11 years, training clients in their homes and at local area gyms. With the help of these clients as test subjects, and armed with his degree in Exercise Science, PJ invented his "multi-protocol" concept and refined it through 1998, when he founded the X Gym. He is also the author of the book "Cracking Your Calorie Code" and the inventor of his Brain Type Test, which helps people achieve health and fitness results much faster through specific brain wiring techniques tailored to their unique brain type.

We talk about his unconventional training method, which focuses on toning and defining instead of bulking muscles and taking less time and being less dangerous, muscle size vs strength, muscle density instead of girth, endurance and strength training, sets to complete muscle failure, intensity, the equipment in his gym, comfort and the downward spiral of staying in your comfort zone, exercise goals, TRX, diet, alcohol and aging, breakfast, intermittent fasting, why aging comes from the relentless pursuit of comfort, avoiding dementia, brain training and body training, the value of discipline, the biggest mistake of New Year's resolutions, doing business based on Jesus Christ (and morals and ethics), sharing happiness, asking God for inspiration, beating writer's block, and more.

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Douglas Ell grew up in Connecticut, and graduated early from MIT, where he double majored in math and physics. He then obtained a masters in theoretical mathematics from the University of Maryland. After graduating from law school, magna cum laude, he became a prominent attorney. His legal training and work, combined with his academic science background and a lifetime of independent study, has given him a uniquely grounded approach to science, religion, and philosophy. He is a proponent of Intelligent Design and takes the Bible literally.

We talk about math and art, physics and how it led him to God, the three laws of thermodynamics, the universe and time, the fine tuning of the universe, why anything exists at all, atheism, Christianity, how all life runs on code (DNA), SETI, evolution and natural selection, entropy, deep time, Carbon-14 dating and rediometric dating, quantum entanglement, intelligent design, suboptimal design, his book Counting to God, the James Webb Telescope, cosmology, and more.

links are on the podcast shownotes page

support the show through Patreon