#172 Success In The Second Half Of Life — Henry Oliver on John Stuart Mill, Samuel Johnson, Penelope Fitzgerald, why we shouldn't dismiss Gladwell, writing, late bloomers, the importance of finding the others, Tyler Cowen's help and the lessons from Audrey Sutherland
Henry is a writer, speaker and brand consultant. He joins the podcast to discuss his upcoming book — Second Act — in which he analysises the phenomenon of late bloomers and what we can learn from them.
- Personal website
- Substack: The Common Reader
- X (Twitter): @HenryEOliver
- Second Act
⌛TIMESTAMPS
- (00:00) - Intro
- (00:11) - Guest introduction
- (00:57) - The scripts that Henry grew up with
- (05:10) - John Stuart Mill
- (07:41) - Samuel Johnson
- (14:23) - "The common reader" & Why we shouldn't dismiss Gladwell
- (17:41) - Writing
- (21:25) - His book about the late bloomers
- (28:10) - Penelope Fitzgerald
- (33:38) - Is it too easy to share your writing?
- (36:39) - The importance of finding the others
- (40:42) - Conversations, talking to yourself and writing
- (43:14) - Getting disappointed early
- (47:52) - There is no actual average person, the importance of taking variability into account
- (52:29) - How writing a book changes people
- (55:10) - Tyler Cowen and the power of the internet
- (57:47) - What Samuel Johnson would be working on today?
- (59:36) - The lessons from Audrey Sutherland
- (01:04:53) - Closing remarks
