An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life

Welcome to a new miniseries on Identity and Politics! In this episode, Nic and Adam discuss the objects they carry with them, as well as the ways in which we interact with material culture inform our identity and our politics. In the episode, Adam said that Danny Miller called blue jeans the first "post-semanitc" object, when he meant "post-semiotic" (what an idiot). Want to let us know the things you carry? Email us at [email protected] or message us on instagram @_goodlifeguide! Sources: Oxford Bibliographies: Material Culture The Things They Carry by Tim O’Brien Capitalism and Ego Formation by Alice Cappelle (video) Objects and Self Identity by S Wheeler

It's time! Our annual holiday special! Only a bit late!  This is our annual episode, featuring Zac, in which we have a bit of fun, reflect on the year just passed, and make vague promises for the year ahead. Enjoy!

This week Nic and Adam are continuing their self-help kick by taking a look at Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and Samuel Smiles' Self Help. As with the previous book, Nic is much more receptive than Adam who is bitter and jaded. Nevertheless, here at An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life, we are not snobby about where we obtain our wisdom from, and we try to tease out the value nevertheless! Adam's audio is a little wacky this episode. Will try and fix it for next time, apologies!  Also, a few corrections: Adam said it sold half a million copies by the time Sam Smiles died, but actually this was a quarter of a million. Furthermore, when Adam said "Great Men of history, and it is almost exclusively men", he meant those who had managed to be featured in this book.  Fiction is Better than Self-Help by Alice Cappelle 

Baby we back.  Welcome to Season Six of An Unqualified Guide to the Good Life! This season is all about ambition. To start the season off, we're starting in the same place that a lot of people start in their pursuit of ambition: self-help books. In this episode we discuss one of the best selling self-help books of all time: Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Nic maintains that there is some useful advice to be pulled from this book. Adam believes it to be almost meaningless drivel. Do either of them have something insightful to say? You decide!  The books Adam promised to mention were Happy by Derren Brown and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. You can contact us on Instagram @_goodlifeguide or you can email us at [email protected]

In this episode, the boys discuss ritual in its myriad forms and ponder questions such as: What is ritual? What forms of ritual are there? Why should we bother with ritual? What actions deserve ritual? How can we incorporate rituals into our lives? What actions are indicative of ritual? What obscure academics can Adam introduce to the conversation? And more! Nic's sources: The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile Adam's sources: Emile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner Oh, and as of upload, it really is Monday. It's wicked late (apologies, again), but it is Monday.

Ok, this is an episode for us. The wonderful Zac Wolf returns for his second holiday special and it is special to have him! Join us for banter around Zac's passtimes, quiz-o-the-year style games, and all manner of eclectic facts.  There's some audio stuff, and perhaps a better editor could have fixed it, but we continue to learn.  In the edit, I feel I was a little harsh on the roast and I apologise deeply. 

In this episode Nic and Adam host musician and martial artist Dr Koul aka Mike Azkoul. They rediscover some of the broader topics of the season, from what the difference between religion and spirituality is, to the definition of spirituality, the role of meditation therein, the practice of it, the world views that it can underpin and much more. A broad-ranging conversation that captures lots of ideas and the links between them, this episode really helps bring the whole season on spirit together in one place.  If you would like to learn more about the guest you can follow him on social media @drkoul_official and @cotimusic

In this episode Nic and Adam discuss Brian Draper's "Soulfulness: Deepening the Mindful Life" as a jump-off point for discussing the idea of soul and what its role in helping us to live well is. Additional thought is paid to music as a particularly 'soulful' medium and why that may be. Adam also delivers an excellent introduction, 5 seasons in he's really starting to nail them. 

In this episode Nic and Adam discuss the notions of resilience and spiritedness. A lot of the talking points are drawn from Viktor E. Frankl's book 'Man's Search for Meaning' and his psychology school of logotherapy. 

In this episode Nic and Adam discuss consumption as it relates to spirituality. The conversation ranges from the use of different drugs in various religious ceremonies across various cultures and the current role of alcohol in society to religiously prescribed or recommended diets and their significance.