I have never purchased a subscription to any podcast before. These two are so funny and I look forward to every new episode. So much fun.

I enjoy the content and listen to a lot of Podcasts. Now, very little free content. I do pay for two other podcasts that each cost $2.99 per month. A leap to $4.99 is too much if listeners want to listen to other podcasts. Please consider lowering the cost.

He makes great podcast but he gives up on them and leaves the listeners hanging. Started with You’re Wrong About which he just quit. Maintenance Phase has a slow to nonexistent release schedule and now it’s happening here too. I have to patreoned 2 out of 3 but I’m done getting invested in Hobbes’ projects.

Think what you want but this show does the work. The depth of research in that episode puts all other coverage to shame.

I stumble upon this podcast. The two folks have such a great banter. They’re very insightful with the information they provide outside of the book and analysis. Totally recommend.

I like Peter on 5-4 a lot, but these episodes often showcase that he doesn’t know much outside of law, though shows the same level of confidence for his opinions. The podcast is just them ranting and complaining (though perhaps that’s the podcast’s obvious reason for existing), and I find it tiring. They mock authors for not knowing what they’re talking about (perhaps often fair), but they also don’t seem to know what they’re talking about - they tend to present things in a way that makes them sound ridiculous so that they can mock them, when they themselves don’t seem to have the correct context or know what the science says.

Listening to this podcast is enlightening, educational, & also somehow comforting (to know there are men “out there” who get it). The dynamic between the duo is superb. Their wit & humor gives me much needed doses of comfort & joy. I listened to all the free episodes, then eventually subscribed to get the bonus episodes. Now I’m patiently waiting like a girl on Christmas morning for the next episode to drop. We all need more Michael & Peter… please don’t make us beg. p.s. Thanks for helping me declutter my bookshelf!

As someone who hates grifters and terrible writers, I am the intended audience for this podcast. This is one of the few podcasts that makes me laugh out loud in this bleak political climate. However, if you don’t personally lean left, you might not find it funny. Michael Hobbes is such a great researcher, and Peter is super sarcastic and biting in an entertaining way.

Got here from maintenance phase and stayed as it’s just as informative and entertaining.

The girlies love Peter. And I’ll follow Michael to a new podcast every time.

This podcast is such a comfort to me. It's informative, fun, and admittedly reiterates my views to think twice about the information I receive (not in a weird, far right fake news kind of way). Also, when they make eachother laugh it's infectious because then I start laughing. Thanks for some joy in this current climate.

First thing: I am LOVING your podcast. Found out about it from another wonderful book podcast, Overdue. And while I understand your time and insights are valuable and worthy of monetizing your podcast, as a trans woman who just this past summer was able to find a job in her profession after 10 years on SSD and food stamps, it was disappointing to see that your episode on trans people was “subscribers only.” I realize your minimum monthly subscription cost is very reasonable, it still struck me as just another way for trans people to be excluded. BTW: I would be writing this in an email, but as near as I can find out you need to be a member to email you. Anyway, yeah, for 10 years my income was dangerously limited and there were times I had no place to live. If you were to change just one subscriber episode to a general audience episode it would mean a lot to me, and perhaps to trans people who are being targeted in ways that are increasingly barbaric ways. Again, I love your podcast—you guys are hilarious and smart. I also love the queer friendly nature of your podcast. Maybe don’t send a mixed message about that? Sincerely, Radiance

Easy relaxed yet informative and intellectually engaging listening, with great dynamic between the hosts and a few good LOL moments. I love everything Michael Hobbes has ever made and this holds up. I don’t know how to email you guys so I’ll write it here: in response to your request in the latest episode, as a dedicated lesbian I can confirm I have never heard any of that lingo from the latest episode. Your suspicions were correct - it’s totally made up. Also, Mike did another interesting pronunciation (which I now forget) that went without notice, after the werewolf one. I like listening just to see what new and witty pronunciations I’ll get to hear from Michael. 😊 thanks for your great work !!

Best fake podcast

How dare you Mike

I have to wait too long between episodes. Love the hosts’ dynamic. 5 stars.

I love Mike’s takes on everything! But every once in a while he pronounces something in a way that makes me question if english is his first language. Wierwolf made me wonder if Earth was his first planet. No where in the history of the english-language-diaspora, from Beowulf on, has WIERWOLF been the correct pronunciation. 😂

I listened to multiple episodes of this podcast and it took me a while to realize that what I should be doing is listening to the authors that these podcast hosts are criticizing, and not them.

wierwolf

Saying what needs to be said about pop science. Super entertaining. Great dynamic between Peter and Michael. Highly recommend for people who want to laugh and also learn a lot

This podcast is perfect. Intelligent and well-researched, but also hilarious. Love Peter and Michael, they balance each other out nicely and have great chemistry. 10/10 podcast.

SERIOUSLY THOUGH it’s “where”-wolf (werewolf). COME ON, Michael.

I love this podcast! Would you consider reviewing the defining decade? I just finished it and am very curious to hear what you’d say about it.

we’re wolves

I instantly knew I’d love this podcast when it was announced. Michael and Peter are fantastic hosts. This is a bastion of intelligence and fun in a world of increasing ignorance and misery.

I get so much joy out this show whether I’m familiar with the book or author up for discussion for the episode or not… And I’d like to thank Michael and Peter for inspiring me to leave my career and become an author and life coach

I tried to like it. But it’s like listening to a toddler explain to me how the college student didn’t do his calculus right based on what he heard from other college students. The college student probably got it wrong but I’m not sure these guys got much right. For all the criticism of pop science this is just the same thing but from an opposing side.

This is absolutely a five star podcast but I’m docking a star after Magic the Gathering caught a stray in one of the latest episodes. There are dozens of us that play Magic as adults! Dozens!

As a science & psychology teacher I can’t get enough. Very insightful, gets you to question popular punditry & psychology, and the hosts do a lot of research and leg work to make their case (almost always debunking). And I laughed a lot at many episodes such as “Who Moved My Cheese?” which was both evil and ridiculous. See also, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”

I look forward to their podcast and their paid bonus content every month. This is the podcast/content that I had been wanting for years, and I am so glad that it exists!

Debunking famous “pop science” books - I love it! Michael and Peter and very funny

These guys are so entertained by their own thoughts and humor. As performers, they are their own biggest fans. As

Do “The Rise of the Creative Class” by Richard Florida

Grateful my brother introduced me to this gem. It’s the only podcast I pay to subscribe to and the only podcast that makes me cackle aloud every episode. Highly recommend!

Love this show and these two geniuses! I’m very grateful for it & have listened to several of these countless times when I need a guaranteed laugh.

10/10 but I didn’t notice how much Michael says “mmm” until I pavlov’d myself in singing whatcha say every time he says it in the most recent episode

Wow. Listened to the most recent episode and was almost immediately hate crimed by Peter. Sabrina over Chappell? Leave the gay stuff for the gays Peter!

started interesting and amusing and became woke rambles and one sided views about the world we live in. Just unbearable at this point.

So I feel compelled to leave a review. Every episode has been super interesting. Impressed with the amount of research Michael puts in. Peter is incredibly funny. Love the podcast.

Ad an avid reader I was intrigued by the concept and interested in the premise. What I found was an utter waste of time and arguably a net negative for society. Instead of substantive criticism, Hobbes and Shamshiri resort to sneering, name calling and the destruction of straw men. Even when I agree with their dislike or criticism of a particular book or position, they constantly undermine themselves by arguing in unabashed bad faith. I had hoped to bolster my own opinions (and criticisms) of books by listening to a podcast like this, but I’d never use their form of childishness to represent how I feel about a book. This podcast is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with modern dialogue, and you’d be better off not polluting your mind with the forms of argument they engage in. I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts, many of which I disagree with. But it’s rare for me to leave a long review, and even rarer to conclude that the content is utter trash.

I loved this show when they focused on airport books. The silly sarcasm was fun and made sense for the genre, including the sometimes uncharitable comments and exaggerations. Once they get into politics and serious current events, they do the thing that they accuse the worst books of doing - make huge leaps and use throwaway funny comments to hide that they’re simply following their biases. Cute when you’re attaching “the five love languages,” very problematic when you’re discussing the Middle East. If these episodes were a book, they wouldn’t pass their own critique. Tried listening to the Sam Harris one but they lost me when they flippantly dropped “genocide” about Israel/Palestine mere minutes after discussing accuracy and fact checking regarding body counts. What makes it ok for them to not keep the same standards they accuse the books they discuss of not keeping? Ugh.

If you’re a huge fan of smug, witless destruction of strawmen, this is for you. I suppose I should listen to more than one episode of this before rendering judgement, but I don’t hate myself that much. Shame on Apple for recommending this trash.

Intriguing concept of a podcast. And some very insightful comments. Sadly, those insights are few and far between, and found in a pile of conjecture and wildly biased views. Accusing authors of bias and unfounded comments would land so much better if they weren’t picking and choosing their targets.

Before I heard this, I thought the dumbest conversation I’d hear on a podcast would be a Joe Rogan solo pod echoing back. Thanks to this podcast, I’ve now heard worse.

only discovered within the last week and been binging episodes. never knew this duo was what i was missing in my life. also, the sam harris episode was great. after seeing some of the most recent comments on the sam harris episode, i am, however, having trouble understanding why, for one, anyone would side with that horrible human and, two, why people are upset that a *Muslim* man is against a genocide against Muslim people who’ve been under attack for the past 75 years. LOL. overall, i haven’t come across an episode i didn’t like and i am definitely here for more political pieces!

If he was my Dad I’d go to Mars without telling him

After you finish school, it can be hard to figure out how to dig into pop culture that doesn’t feel right, but is assumed to be right by so many. Peter and Mike not only do it for you, but give you a framework in which you might be able to look into this stuff yourself and and get fired from your job for constantly researching airport books. This podcast is a hug for my over active brain.

…on Sam Harris—I’m not a Harris fan but am interested in being educated. This was not educational but was sleep inducing.

Some update here, NOW is the time for you boys to review “ The power of now” 😂 Someone give these guys 5 stars. I laugh so hard through the episode my husband have to wonder if I was ok.

Great podcast, funny and smart. If you enjoy Maintenance Phase, 5-4, or older You’re Wrong About I highly recommend. I am constantly thinking I’ve never heard of a book they’re reviewing only to realize a third of the way in the book is responsible for the background radiation of a decade of my life. Only complaint is that episodes touching on feminist/gender issues (The Game) are clearly much less well informed than others. Would love it if the next time they talk about experiences that women have their could be someone more familiar with the material present.