#763: Margaret Atwood and Boyd Varty

This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited. The episode features segments from episode #573 "Margaret Atwood — A Living Legend on Creative Process, The Handmaid’s Tale, Being a Mercenary Child, Resisting Labels, the Poet Rug Exchange, Liminal Beings, Burning Questions, Practical Utopias, and More" and #571 "Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life." Please enjoy! Sponsors: Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (Start earning 5.00% APY on your short-term cash until you’re ready to invest. And when you open an account today, you can get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Terms apply. AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://drinkag1.com/tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.) Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: https://eightsleep.com/tim (save $350 on the Pod 4 Ultra) Timestamps: [00:00] Start [05:11] Notes about this supercombo format. [06:14] Enter Margaret Atwood. [06:48] What drives Margaret's ability to craft engaging speculative fiction? [10:52] The downsides of raising a family isolated in the woods. [15:44] Factors that nudged young Margaret toward poetry. [21:54] How limited options led Margaret to her current vocation. [24:07] How long it took for writing to pay off, and its benefits in the meantime. [30:34] Life lessons learned by teaching. [34:18] Enter Boyd Varty. [34:42] Setting the scene. [37:00] Origins of Londolozi Game Reserve and Boyd's childhood influences. [39:17] Why Boyd's family kept the seemingly useless property. [41:23] Boyd's experiences with The White Knuckle Charter Company. [50:00] Transforming scrubland into a safari business with help from Ken Tinley and Shangaan trackers. [56:04] Shangaan trackers' lineage and wildlife trust in Londolozi's caretakers. [59:46] Renias Mhlongo's supreme tracking skills and work ethic. [1:05:18] Hardest animals to track at Londolozi. [1:08:30] Safety measures in Londolozi's unpredictable environment. [1:10:21] "I don't know where we're going, but I know exactly how to get there." —Renias Mhlongo [1:12:26] Boyd's tracking evolution: from childhood to trauma recovery. [1:30:30] Definition of Ubuntu. [1:32:40] Boyd's 40-day tree-dwelling experience. [1:45:47] Bees, birds, and hive algorithms. [1:57:07] Interacting with lions in the wild. [2:01:41] Death conversations, ancient myths, and inexplicable animal movements. [2:07:30] Comparing trauma recovery paths within Boyd's family. [2:11:08] Ceremony work for trauma healing. [2:14:06] An authentic life as activism. [2:19:27] The impact of Byron Katie's Work on Boyd and me. [2:23:55] Boyd's first sweat lodge experience in Arizona. [2:29:18] Feelings. Nothing more than feelings. [2:31:48] What a close encounter with a beautiful predator taught Boyd about Ubuntu. [2:40:53] The therapeutic value of spending time with animals. [2:45:22] Contrasting lion roar descriptions: van der Post vs. Boyd. [2:49:40] Invitation to Londolozi and parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. 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