Dear Dr. Fantasy: episode 65, with Jake from Nerd Level Rising

Thank you so much for the fantastic conversation Philip! I had such a great time, as always a combination of fun and new insights! Truly am grateful to consider you a friend and this booktube community a very real home 😊

Wow this conversation got so deep at the end .. evolutionary psychology and the need to "transcend" our tribal instincts is always a fascinating topic to me.

Philip, I want to read the Edan trilogy more and more as I listen to your discussions!

Ps. Jake is so interesting! I'm endlessly grateful that he was a guest here 😊 I know he was so excited for it.

As an older weeb I'm looking forward to you reading Akira. Phillip Chase is about to explode.

Great conversation! I think AI is another tool that can be useful in a lot of ways, but like with other tools, the human input very much determines the output. I guess that back in the day a lot of classic painters were not happy and skeptical when photography came around, and later analog photographers were skeptical when Photoshop and digital photography came around... it will be interesting to see how it all develops further.

great conversation! loved learning about how Jake got into reading!

Wonderful discussion! I loved hearing about Jake’s reading journey and his pure joy for the fantasy genre. What you said about transcending tribalism among all creatures resonates with me so much. I can think of no better way of opening to that possibility than reading stories and discussing them! 💜

Awesome chat!

Team Replay here for the show. New subscriber.

One of my favorite DDF episodes! Thanks for the great chat you guys. I too remember the time before the smart phone social media juggernaut took over our lives lol! I sometimes watch candid camera footage from the 60s and 70s, at high schools, in daily life etc. it’s such a stark contrast how differently people interacted with each other!

This is the first DDF I've had the opportunity to watch from beginning to end and I'm so glad I did. Even though I'm an 80s baby and Jake is a 90s baby, I found his journey so relatable despite our age difference. It brought serious nostalgia vibes hearing him talk about being a kid before the internet and social media. What a time to be alive! And the last segment about "Othering" and tribalism, and humanities eventual demise if things don't change resonated with me so deeply. All around great discussion. Thanks to you both!

What a fantastic episode! Thanks for doing this guys—always love hearing the insight

Ah yes, Akira! I feel like my comment about Akira on one of your previous videos gave you a little nudge in that direction. 😉 If you end up reading it sometime in 2025, count me in for a read-along.

As for The Lord of the Rings, isn't its "difficulty" a bit overstated? It might be a generational thing, but most people I know around my age read it in their early teens. Back before the movies, it was often seen as a kids' book simply because it was fantasy—which, in hindsight, is ridiculous. But it also meant younger readers were exposed to it early, broadening their horizons in the process.

Jake has a very similar story to me. I dove in head first into reading at 24 and basically decided i wanted to read similar stories to the ones i liked on tv and in movies.

Did I hear you're planning to read Akira? Katsuhiro Otomo deserves endless praise for artistic ability. Future anime director Satoshi Kon worked as his assitant, helping draw all those elaborate cityscapes. Akira and Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind are interesting cases where you have the same person who wrote and drew the manga also directing the anime adaptation and then continuing to make the manga afterwards, expanding the story beyond the film version. That's pretty neat.

Great episode! DDF is always a pleasure especially if the conversation touches on so many fascinating topics. Those literacy statistics are shocking. And don't get me started on AI -- not a fan as you can imagine. Thank you, Philip, for a pleasant extended hour from a fellow dinosaur!

Pendragon!! One of my absolute favorite series growing up. I recently just found the last book I needed to complete the full set. I'm curious to re-read them but I'm not sure how they'll hold up in my 30s and I don't want to tarnish the nostalgia

Dragon Ball z mention that's awesome 😎.

Wow! Jake’s story about dealing with and conquering fear through the Harry Potter books is really inspired and to be honest, seems deeply symbolic.

Came for the thumbnail—staying for the conversation

A chat with jake . Yaay 😊