The Plague came up with a genuine on-air endorsement 5 times across the episodes we processed. This page collects every one of those moments: who said it, what they said, and the exact point in the episode.
Camus wrote The Plague in 1947 and it's found new life on podcasts obsessed with pandemics, isolation, and what people do under pressure. Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman guests have brought it up 5 times combined.
Each mention here links to the exact moment on YouTube, so you can hear the specific reason a guest reached for a decades-old French novel to explain something happening right now.
It is the year 2072, sixty years on from the scarlet plague that decimated the earth's population. As one of the few who knew life before the plague, James Howard Smith tries to impart what he knows to his grandsons while he still can. Jack London's visionary post-apocalyptic novel The Scarlet Plague was written in 1912.
Where to get it & every mention“I just finished a book called The Plague that looked at the history of civilizations through the lens of different plagues very interesting” — Joe Rogan 02:53:55
Evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad returns for his 10th JRE to discuss antisemitism, parasitic ideas, suicidal empathy, and AI fears.
“my favorite book Now by kamu is probably the plague and all of that has evolved” — Lex Fridman 00:47:58
Lex Fridman summarizes George Orwell's 1984 and shares personal takeaways on love, hate, power, and resisting totalitarianism.
“the most important book that i've read in the last year when i've been forced to be isolated was existential literature it was i decided to reread camous the plague” — Barry Barish 02:05:03
Nobel laureate Barry Barish explains how LIGO measured gravitational waves with the most precise instrument humans have ever built.
“oh yeah that's a great book it's a great book and it's right now to read it it's fine i think that book is about love” — Lex Fridman 02:05:03
Nobel laureate Barry Barish explains how LIGO measured gravitational waves with the most precise instrument humans have ever built.
“i will tell you the last line of the plague we learn in times of pestilence that there's more to admire in men than to despise and i love that” — guest 02:38:40
Social psychologist Sheldon Solomon argues the fear of death secretly drives nearly everything humans build, believe, and destroy.
