The Jonah Keri Podcast, Episode 27

My guest this week is Chris Jones, writer for Esquire magazine, Esquire.com, and the excellent blog Son of Bold Venture. You can also follow Chris on Twitter @MySecondEmpire.

The topics we cover:

• 1:09-9:43: How Chris became the king of game show-related investigative journalism
• 9:44-14:32: Chris has such a cool gig: he gets to write about things like renovating his house. What motivates someone to entirely rebuild a house (more than once)?
• 14:33-21:32: A sudden philosophical discussion breaks out: What’s the difference between wisdom and intelligence? And how does this relate to the American Dream?
• 21:33-24:58: How does one land a gig where you get to write about everything from politics to sports to entertainment to renovating your house?
• 24:59-26:43: Balancing longer-form magazine writing with shorter-form, quicker-turnaround Web writing
• 26:44-33:28: What drives many of the best writers? Curiosity. (Plus, a segue into the dangers of getting scooped.)
• 33:29-36:12: How does a writer develop the skillset to come up with great story ideas?
• 36:13-43:04: Chris and I reject anti-intellectualism, reclaim the terms “geek” and “nerd”, and proclaim those terms to be compliments of the highest order. (Also, this segment discusses robot dinosaurs. You heard me. ROBOT DINOSAURS.)
• 43:05-54:50: How do you develop the stomach to become a war journalist — or take on any job that presents great danger, things that can never be unseen, or both? (Shoutout to… Scarlett Johansson?!)
• 54:51-57:44: How Son of Bold Venture got its name, and its mandate
• 57:45-1:00:30: Why do people like to talk about, and listen to, meta conversations about writing and media?
• 1:00:31-end: Food Pick of the Week (and various plugs)

My pick
Chris’s pick

Player embedded below. To download, right click here.

Or, subscribe on iTunes.