Jack Weatherford returns to the pod which marks a pretty sentimental moment for me (links are at the bottom of this email, before the transcript snippet).
Jack’s first appearance was #19 of the podcast. To this day, it’s my favourite podcast I’ve ever recorded. These are links to the first appearance.
Jack Weatherford #19 on Spotify
Jack Weatherford #19 on Youtube
But four years ago, when I had just started this podcast, I had written to Jack telling how I was listening to the final chapters of his book while walking across sand dunes in Merghouza, (a desolate slice of the Sahara in south west Morocco). The chapter was making the case for how the plagues viral spread was downstream of the Mongols connectivity of the modern world.
I wrote that I was keen to interview him for this podcast that I had just started.
There were lots of rejection for a while in the first few years and I had no expectations he would even get back to me. But to my surprise he did, and it was an emphatic yes.
We corresponded a bit over email, recorded a 4 hour discussion, of which 3 where published And it was as much a dedication to Mongolia as it was Genghis Khan and the Mongols.
And I’ve waited in the years since to see him appear on Rogan, Fridman, Tim Ferriss or even a Dan Carlin addendum, since these are all blokes who have openly praised and spoken about Jack’s work many times.
But so far, nothing, although it looks like one of them may correct this, which Jack may or may not give away at the end.
But onto this episode today.
Jack has just published his final instalment on the Mongols, his fourth book on the topic. It’s called Emperor Of The Seas and it’s about Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan, who expanded the Mongol territory beyond the dominion his grandfather conquered 50 years before him. Kublai folded into the Khan empire the fertile agricultural lands of south China, repurposed that fleet and the expertise along with and expanded the Khan empire beyond the oceans. Mongols sitting on horseback, atop goat skins, riding wooden ships.
Jack Weatherford #190 Of The Curious Worldview Podcast on Youtube