Shows
Personal LandscapesSophy Roberts on A Training School for ElephantsIn 1879 a forgotten Irish adventurer called Frederick Carter marched four tamed Asian elephants from the coast of East Africa to the edge of the Congo. He was sent to establish a training school for African elephants so they could be used to transport cargo in place of vast armies of porters.It’s a tale of ineptitude, hypocrisy and greed filled with powerful chiefs, ivory dealers, Catholic nuns and dissolute colonial officials set against the beautifully described landscapes of Tanzania, the Congo, Brussels, Iraq and India.Sophy Roberts joined me to talk about Fre...2025-04-2955 min
Let’s Buy a Business5 Acquisitions / Businesses on Your Own Terms with Chase MurdockChase Murdock is a legend. He is one of the most genuine people I know and the founder of Decada Group. Decada Group is a holding company in Salt Lake City, UT. He’s self-funded a holding company with a custom suit shop, an art school, a construction company, and more. Podcast Nuggies Building a holding company and long term businesses on their own terms Repeatable Playbooks across industries Digging deep for 12 months, and then Finding and Hiring World-Class CEOs Need IT Help? Check out....www.inzotechnologies.com, I-N-Z-O, or...2025-04-2529 min
Personal LandscapesJoseph Koudelka with biographer Melissa HarrisJosef Koudelka was born in Czechoslovakia the year Germany annexed the Sudetenland. His childhood was overshadowed by Nazi occupation. He lived under the postwar communist regime, and watched Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1968.His work is permeated by feelings of tragedy but the man himself is surprisingly optimistic, seizing on the present moment while appreciating the beauty of life.Biographer Melissa Harris joined me to talk about Koudelka’s wandering life, his remarkable network of friends, and his interest in capturing the end of things. This is a...2025-04-151h 01
The Comic Literate PodcastDaredevil: The Man Without Fear- Frank Miller's Exploration Of Matt Murdock's OriginsIn this week's episode, Ryan makes Jamie read the 1993 limited series, Daredevil: Man Without Fear. Written by Frank Miller and art by John Romita Jr. They also debate whether the art is great or terrible, the surprising lack of Catholicism in this interpretation, and what if Daredevil had a dog sidekick?Timecodes00:00 - Intro03:38 - Comic Talk Starts with Comic Credits04:48 - Starting with the Arting29:13 - Story with Spoilers01:04:18 - Historical Corrections for Last Week's EpisodeYouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_2GA9q40JoBmnbOrkjGuJg ...2025-04-141h 10
Personal LandscapesClair Wills on Ireland’s missing personsClair Wills was in her twenties when she learned she had a cousin she'd never met.It wasn’t as though their families drifted apart. She’d never been told of this person’s existence. It was shrouded in shame and secrecy, and she wanted to understand why. Her memoir Missing Persons may change how you think about your own family, and your family secrets.We spoke about Ireland’s mother and baby homes, the stigma of illegitimacy, and how secrecy can shape a family and a society. This...2025-04-0153 min
Personal LandscapesDeborah Lawrenson on her mother the spyWhat would you do if someone you knew your entire life — your mother — suddenly revealed that she’d been a spy? Deborah Lawrenson turned her story into a novel. The tangled web of espionage she weaves in The Secretary is fiction, but the background to the story is authentic, drawn in part from a seemingly innocent diary her mother wrote in 1958 while working at the British Embassy in Moscow. It’s an exciting high stakes thriller with insightful social commentary and a vivid sense of place. Exactly the sort of novel she excels at.We spo...2025-03-1846 min
Personal LandscapesMichael Asher on crossing the Sahara by camelIn 1986, Michael Asher and his wife Mariantonietta Peru set out to cross the Sahara from west to east, by camel and on foot. Their 4,500 mile (7,200 km) journey is the longest trek ever made by Westerners in the Sahara, and the first recorded crossing from west to east by non-mechanical means. I read Asher’s book about this trip — Impossible Journey — more than twenty years ago, and it’s been in my travel literature top ten ever since.We spoke about traveling by camel, Saharan cultures, and what it was like to see the Nile afte...2025-03-041h 17
Natürliche Ausrede233 with Ryan Murdock on travel, writing and the corruption in MaltaThe journalist, traveler and travel writer Ryan Murdock ist the author of the book „A sunny place for shady people“.A political reportage about the kleptocracy / corruption / criminal energy of the highest ranks of government set against the historical / straight up beautiful backdrop of the island of Malta.A conversation about the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia and what was ledig up to her murder, about the Panama Papers and institutionalised corruption, how online gambling, tax evasion etc. started with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, about the neglected Arab history of Malta and why...2025-03-031h 29
Personal LandscapesCharles Nicholl on Rimbaud’s lost Africa yearsArthur Rimbaud turned French poetry on its head in his late teens. His work influenced everyone from the modernists and the Beats to Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison, but he wasn’t recognized or well-liked in his lifetime. He guzzled absinthe, sponged money off friends, and wrecked the life of fellow poet Paul Verlaine. And then he renounced poetry at age 20 and simply walked away. The last we hear of him, he’s somewhere in Africa living as a trader and gunrunner — and for a while, that was all we knew. The book we’re talking about tod...2025-02-181h 06
Personal LandscapesPaul Theroux on life’s vanishing pointsThe stories in The Vanishing Point, Paul Theroux's new collection, span the globe from Hawaii and the South Seas to Africa and New England. They have all the qualities I love in his fiction: a sharp bite of satire that skewers pretension, crisp dialogue, and an eye for the small, clear detail — an action, a pattern of speech, an element of dress — that reveals someone’s deepest character. He describes the things we all see but don’t mention in polite conversation, and he shines a light on thoughts we actively avoid.Paul is the author of some 33...2025-02-041h 35
Personal LandscapesPamela Petro on the Welsh presence of absencePamela Petro is an American writer obsessed with a country she visited by chance. She first went to Wales as a graduate student in her early twenties. The place felt deeply familiar from the moment she arrived, as did the sense of longing that permeates its landscape and stories, both recent and ancient.The Welsh have a word for this acute presence of absence, an untranslatable term that captures the feeling of something left behind or taken away, irretrievable beyond place and time, but that forever saddens, motivates and marks us. It’s a feeling that re...2025-01-2159 min
Personal LandscapesKatja Hoyer on daily life in East GermanyDonate to Personal Landscapes.Eighties movies portrayed East Germany as a vast open-air prison populated by monotonous grey blurs without individuality or agency, but the GDR was not a static land that time forgot.Katja Hoyer's brilliant book Beyond The Wall tells its story through the lives of ordinary people. She also grapples with the ongoing tension between a Germany that sees the GDR as an aberration, and the desire of East Germans to hold on to their memories of a life they lived in colour.We spoke about daily l...2025-01-071h 06
Personal LandscapesJulian Evans on Odesa and UkraineDonate to Personal Landscapes.Julian Evans first visited the city of Odesa, Ukraine on a boat journey down the Dnipro River in 1994. He fell in love with its distinct personality as a self-contained world. He also fell in love with a local woman, and for nearly thirty years, her city became his city, too. His new book, Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War, weaves memoir with history and literature to give us a haunting portrait of a country struggling against terrible odds to survive. We spoke about the city of Odes...2024-12-2446 min
Personal LandscapesJeffrey Meyers on charting parallel livesDonate to Personal Landscapes.A great biography reveals the raw humanity behind lives of rare genius. In his latest book, Parallel Lives: From Freud and Mann to Arbus and Plath, Jeffrey Meyers draws on Plutarch’s principle of dual composition to shed fresh light on some of the figures who did so much to shape our world.It’s full of literary feuds, illicit romance, chronic alcoholism and sympathetic attachments between writers, artists, actors, directors, and thinkers —names you’ll recognize, and ‘greats’ you thought you understood.We spoke about Plutarch’s u...2024-12-101h 00
Personal LandscapesCam Honan on the hiking lifeDonate to Personal Landscapes.Cam Honan has hiked across 56 countries on six continents, logging over 96,500 km in three decades. Backpacker Magazine called him “the most traveled hiker on earth”.I’ve wanted to speak with him for ages about his excellent website The Hiking Life. He's also the author of Wanderlust Nordics, Wanderlust Himalaya, Wanderlust Mediterranean, Wanderlust USA, The Hidden Tracks, and other books.We talked about his favourite Nordic trails, how to go light by ditching your tent and sleeping bag, and why you should see the world at walking...2024-11-261h 24
Personal LandscapesRichard Grant: A race to the bottom of crazyDonate to Personal Landscapes.Richard Grant has lived in Arizona for more than twenty years, and his latest book — A Race to the Bottom of Crazy — is a fascinating blend of memoir, history, local issues and encounters with strange characters.It’s a place where social guardrails are weak, and outlandish behaviour is the order of the day. Arizona doesn’t just reflect national trends, it exaggerates them. Is it a bellwether for the world to come?We spoke about the lure of the desert, Arizona’s southern border, water shortages...2024-11-121h 06
Personal LandscapesLesley Downer on poetry in Japan’s deep northDonate to Personal Landscapes.Lesley Downer's fascination with Japan's most famous poet took her from Tokyo's drab industrial concrete into what was then a seldom-visited part of Honshu.It was a place of sake-drenched poetry sessions in thatched-roof highland villages, and holy mountains where modern ascetics continued to roam between their past and future lives in search of atonement. Her book about this journey, On The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was reissued by Eland in 2024.We spoke about Matsuo Basho’s haiku, mountain ascetics and Japan’s undiscovered nort...2024-10-291h 19
Personal LandscapesThomas Swick: Life in Cold War PolandDonate to Personal Landscapes.Thomas Swick moved to Warsaw at the height of the Cold War. His newest book Falling Into Place is a memoir of his life behind the Iron Curtain, but it’s also a writer’s coming of age in the heyday of post-Watergate journalism.We spoke about life in the Eastern Bloc, Polish films, and the ten sins of travel writing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2024-10-151h 12
Travel Writing PodcastMalta Vice - Narrating Organized Crime and Corruption in Paradise - an Interview with Ryan MurdockWhen Ryan Murdock moved to Malta in 2011, he intended to write a "breezy island novel" replete with quirky characters and sun-soaked tranquility. He would go on to write a book, but it was not the one he imagined. In a book that is part thriller, but anthropological examination, and part tribute to the pioneering Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Ryan told a gripping tale that all serious readers of travel writing need to have on their shelves.2024-10-0648 min
Personal LandscapesIan Fleming with biographer Nicholas ShakespeareDonate to Personal Landscapes.Ian Fleming was overshadowed by the fictional character he created in the final decade of his life, but his own story is far more interesting.Biographer Nicholas Shakespeare joined me to talk about Fleming’s troubled childhood, his wartime intelligence work, and how an American president made James Bond a bestseller. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2024-08-071h 27
Personal LandscapesKapka Kassabova: Europe’s last nomadic pastoralistsDonate to Personal Landscapes.Kapka Kassabova writes about marginal places and the interdependence of humans and animals in traditional societies. In her last four books, she has made the Balkans her subject — a region I love visiting for its rugged geography and people. She’s one of today’s most interesting writers on place, and one whose work will stand the test of time.We spoke about her newest book Anima: A Wild Pastoral, the interdependence of humans and animals, and what it’s like to live as a shepherd in a vertical world.2024-07-021h 04
Always Better than Yesterday with Ryan Hartley | A Podcast for Heart Centred LeadersEp 265 Interview Sessions with Maureen Murdock PhD | Self Discovery Through Myth and MemoirMAUREEN MURDOCK, PhD, is a Jungian psychotherapist who has taught memoir writing since 1990 at UCLA, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and more. Maureen is the author of multiple books, including The Heroine’s Journey and Father’s Daughters.
Maureen’s latest book, Mythmaking: Self Discovery and the Timeless Art of Memoir, is a deep dive into the archetypal themes that underlie most memoirs. Using excerpts from beloved contemporary memoirs, practical advice about craft, and writing prompts, you will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the rich scope of the memoir genre and why it is so popu...2024-06-1944 min
Personal LandscapesEric Cline: Why civilization ended in 1177 B.C.Donate to Personal Landscapes.The Late Bronze Age Mediterranean was a surprisingly interconnected place. Trade flourished, interrupted by the odd embargo, and military conflicts used disinformation for strategic gain. And then something terrible happened that brought it all to an end. Large empires and small kingdoms that had been flourishing for centuries all collapsed at around the same time. It was as though civilization itself had been wiped away. What caused it? And could it happen to us?Eric Cline joined me to talk about the globalized Bronze Age world, why...2024-06-111h 26
Personal LandscapesPaul Theroux on Orwell and Burma SahibDonate to Personal Landscapes.Long before he wrote 1984 — and long before he was even George Orwell — Eric Blair was a nineteen year old policeman in Burma. Biographies skirt over this five year period, but it was the making of the writer he would become.Today’s guest set out to imagine those years in a wonderful new novel called Burma Sahib.I've read all of Paul Theroux's books over the last 30 years. They were a crucial influence on me as a young traveller and writer, and I’ve gotten enormous enjoymen...2024-05-271h 31
Personal LandscapesJonathan Raban: one of our greatest writers on placeDonate to Personal Landscapes.Jonathan Raban wrote about human landscapes rather than uninhabited ones, and the borderlands between what a place professes to be and what they are.An Englishman who emigrated to Seattle at the age of 47, his status as an outsider gave him a unique perspective on America as the land of perpetual self-reinvention. Many of his books involved water — from the coastal UK to the Mississippi and the Inside Passage — and all contain interior as well as physical journeys.Julia Raban and editor John Freeman joined me to t...2024-05-1455 min
Personal LandscapesJames Salter: with biographer Jeffrey MeyersDonate to Personal Landscapes.James Salter is the best American writer you’ve probably never read. He was a fighter pilot in the Korean War, and a successful screenwriter. His sentences are fractured jewels. The details are closely observed, the imagery poetic. Every page contains an observation I want to write down.Biographer Jeffrey Meyers joined me to talk about Salter’s remarkable prose style, his core themes of love and loss, and why this giant of American fiction isn’t more widely read today. This is a public episode. If you...2024-04-301h 08
Personal LandscapesAndrew Finkel: Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman EmpireDonate to Personal Landscapes.Sherlock Holmes fans span the range from casual to obsessive. They included Abdulhamid II, the last ruler of the Ottoman Empire to hold absolute power. A description of the sultan having Holmes stories read to him at bedtime set journalist Andrew Finkel off on the flight of fancy that became his first novel. We spoke about The Adventure of the Second Wife, the Sherlock Holmes craze, the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, and the nature of obsession. This is a public episode. If you'd like to d...2024-04-1655 min
Personal LandscapesThe Wakhan Corridor with Bill ColegraveDonate to Personal Landscapes.I first got interested in the Wakhan Corridor when I read The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. This weird bit of political geography once formed a buffer between Tsarist Russia and Imperial Britain. It’s been closed to traffic for more than a century, and it remains one of the world’s least-visited corners.Bill Colegrave joined me to talk about the Wakhan region, his search for the source of the Oxus River, and the challenges of traveling to such a remote place. This...2024-04-0249 min
Personal LandscapesJustin Marozzi: Tamerlane and SamarkandDonate to Personal Landscapes.I’d always thought of Tamerlane as a sort of cut-rate Genghis Khan. It was only when researching a trip to Uzbekistan that I discovered he was one of the world’s greatest conquerors.Justin Marozzi joined me to talk about Temur’s military genius, his architectural and cultural legacy, and how he’s remembered in Uzbekistan today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2024-03-191h 13
Personal LandscapesAlex Kerr: Finding hidden JapanDonate to Personal Landscapes.I’ve often thought of it as one of the world’s most misunderstood countries. Not because it’s uniquely inscrutable but because it’s so beset by stereotypes. The truth is more complicated and far more interesting.Alex Kerr is the author of Lost Japan, Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan, and Hidden Japan.He joined me to talk about embodied philosophy, “instantaneous culture”, and how to look beyond the modern and connect to Japan’s deeper essence. This is a public episod...2024-03-041h 17
Personal LandscapesBarnaby Rogerson: The making of the Middle EastDonate to Personal Landscapes.Barnaby Rogerson joins me to talk about the origins of the Sunni-Shia schism, the differences between them, and the current ethnic and linguistic rivalries plaguing the Middle East. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2024-02-021h 17
Personal LandscapesSarah Anderson: Founding The Travel BookshopDonate to Personal Landscapes.Sarah Anderson founded the iconic Travel Bookshop in 1979.You might be familiar with it even if you’ve never been to London. It was the inspiration for the bookshop in the 1998 Hugh Grant / Julia Roberts film Notting Hill.What are the biggest challenges of running a bookshop? Was there a ‘golden age’ of literary travel writing? Who are Sarah’s favourite forgotten writers about place?I’ve got all that and more in the last Personal Landscapes episode of 2023. Talk about ending the year on a...2023-12-111h 06
Personal LandscapesLouisa Waugh: Life on the edge of MongoliaDonate to Personal Landscapes.Louisa Waugh lived in a village in the far west of Mongolia in the late 1990s, and wrote a remarkable book about her experience.Hearing Birds Fly describes a world of drought-stricken spring, lush summer pasture and brutal winters when fetching water meant hacking holes through river ice.In this harsh and stunningly beautiful landscape, villagers lived on mutton, dairy products and vodka, and met incredible hardships with smiles and laughter as they carved out a life in one of our world’s most remote corners....2023-11-211h 09
Personal LandscapesBruce Chatwin: with editor and friend Susannah ClappDonate to Personal Landscapes.Bruce Chatwin’s first book — In Patagonia — changed our idea of what travel writing could be.He was a traveler, an art expert whose keen eye for fakes made him a star at Sotheby’s, and to those who knew him, a perpetual house guest and mesmerizing conversationalist.His friend and editor Susannah Clapp joined me to talk about Chatwin’s unforgettable writing style, and his lifelong obsession with nomads. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscriber...2023-11-0756 min
Personal LandscapesLaura Trethewey: Mapping our unknown oceansDonate to Personal Landscapes.This might just be the strangest landscape I’ve featured on the podcast. It’s also the one we know least about.Laura Trethewey joins me to discuss bizarre underwater landscapes, the difficulties of sonar mapping, and the amazing race to map the world's oceans. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-10-241h 03
Travel Writing WorldJeremy Bassetti Speaks with Ryan Murdock about “The Hill of the Skull”Toady I’m bringing you a conversation I had with Ryan Murdock for his Personal Landscapes Podcast. He was kind enough to not only chat with me about my book The Hill of the Skull on his podcast, but let me re-broadcast a the conversation here on Travel Writing World. We talk about sacred mountains, anthropology, Bolivia, globalization, pilgrimage, and other topics.
If you aren’t subscribed to Ryan’s podcast, I recommend that you do so. Just search for Personal Landscapes in your favorite podcatcher or visit personallandscapespodcast.com.
In personal news:
The crowdfunding campaign for The Hill of the Sk...2023-10-1253 min
Personal LandscapesTim Cocks: Life in Africa’s biggest megacityDonate to Personal Landscapes.Lagos is a massive city with massive problems. I've always thought of it as a place to avoid. But I came away with a very different impression of Africa’s largest megacity after reading the book we’re discussing today.Tim Cocks joins me to speak about ancestral spirits, the importance of community networks, and the desperate need to hustle without getting hustled yourself. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.pers...2023-10-101h 02
Personal LandscapesJeremy Bassetti: Pilgrims on Bolivia’s Hill of SkullsDonate to Personal Landscapes.Sacred mountains are revered across a wide array of cultures. They're sites of sacrifice and of ritual, perhaps because they feel closer to the gods: physical border zones between the sacred and profane.Jeremy Bassetti joins me to talk about a strange religious pilgrimage in an off-the-track corner of Bolivia, the concept of liminal spaces, and suffering as the root cause of hope. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast...2023-09-2653 min
Personal LandscapesThe Pyrenees: Matthew Carr on Europe’s savage frontierDonate to Personal Landscapes.The Pyrenees form one of the great European landscapes, but they're all too often overshadowed by the romance of the Alps. As you'll hear in today's podcast, they have their own very different set of stories to tell.Matthew Carr joins me to talk about medieval troubadours, Cathar castles, and Second World War escape routes from Nazi occupied Europe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-09-121h 10
Personal LandscapesSimon Winchester: Outposts at the edge of the worldDonate to Personal Landscapes.If you think colonialism ended after the Second World War, then my latest conversation may surprise you. Simon Winchester joins me to talk about Tristan da Cunha, hiding under a bed in the Falklands, and how he bluffed his way into the world’s most notorious military base.Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire was first published in 1985, and is still in print. It’s one of the 5 or 6 books I had in mind when I started the Personal Landscapes podcast, and it remains one of my...2023-08-291h 24
Personal LandscapesTom Parfitt: Walking the High CaucasusDonate to Personal Landscapes.Tom Parfitt walked across the northern flank of the Russian Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, through republics whose names are synonymous with violence, extremism and warfare. He joins me to discuss the Circassians, mass relocations under Stalin, and high mountain villages where resourceful people have survived for centuries on the stoniest ground. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-08-151h 05
Personal LandscapesRichard Grant: Travels With American NomadsDonate to Personal Landscapes.Nothing symbolizes freedom in America like the open road. Richard Grant joins me to discuss frontiersmen and plains Indians, riding the rails, and the role of the Scotch-Irish in forging the utterly unique American view of freedom. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-07-041h 05
Personal LandscapesAnthony Sattin: How nomads shaped settled civilizationDonate to Personal Landscapes.Why have nomads gotten such a bad rap? And why is their knowledge essential for us today? Anthony Sattin joins me to discuss nomadic empires, cycles of history, pastoral peoples, and how steppe nomads contributed to the European Renaissance. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-05-311h 06
Personal LandscapesThe Sahara with Eamonn GearonDonate to Personal Landscapes.If you think the world's largest desert is an empty wasteland, then you’re in for a surprise.The Sahara has been home to cattle pastoralists, mighty empires, and trade routes that connected the Mediterranean world with sub-Saharan Africa.I’m joined by Eamonn Gearon, author of a wonderful cultural history of the Sahara.We talk about desert whales, fossil water, astonishing rock art older than history, and a few of the travelers who explored this vast region and returned to tell the tale...2023-05-111h 37
Personal LandscapesEastern Europe with Jacob MikanowskiDonate to Personal Landscapes.The more I’ve travelled in Europe, the more my interest has shifted east, to a region that looks increasingly complex the deeper you delve into it. I reached out to Jacob Mikanowski to help me understand its empires, faiths, stories and nations.He's the author of a fascinating new book called Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land. We spoke about frontier societies, plagues of vampires, and the gift of seeing comedy amidst tragedy. This is a public episode. If...2023-04-201h 37
Personal LandscapesBerlin with Barney White-SpunnerDonate to Personal Landscapes.Berlin has been a crucible of culture, an industrial powerhouse, a nest of spies, and now, it’s Europe’s capital of cool. Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner joins me to talk about the Hohenzollern dynasty, waves of immigration and destruction, and the distinctly irreverent Berlin character that we both know and love. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-04-041h 20
Personal LandscapesJoseph Roth: The collapse of the civilized worldDonate to Personal Landscapes.Joseph Roth's short form journalism captured fleeting moments with universal implications, and the social conflict, cultural upheaval, and acceleration of the inter-war years. He also wrote one of the 20th century's finest novels. Biographer Keiron Pim joins me to talk about perpetual movement, straddling borders, and the loss of a world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-03-221h 13
Personal LandscapesNorman Lewis: The 20th century’s greatest travel writerDonate to Personal Landscapes.Norman Lewis had an instinct for being in exactly the right place to capture traditional ways of life on the brink of modernity, but his books are far from dry — he also had an unerring eye for the absurd. Biographer Julian Evans joins me to talk about Lewis’s escape reflex, the subjectivity of witness statements, and the past as a place. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2023-03-071h 00
Investor Cheat Code Podcast with Mike SimmonsBRRRR Strategy, Property Management, and Mobile Park Investing with Ryan Murdock REWINDToday’s Guest: Ryan Murdock
Ryan spent ten years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. Today, he is VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital, a real estate investment company from Bigger Pocket’s Brandon Turner. Ryan has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, nationwide consulting, and mobile home parks. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 2008 and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties.
Highlights From The Show:
Before Ryan...2023-02-2055 min
Personal LandscapesSteve Kilbey: writing, lyrics & songs about placeDonate to Personal Landscapes.Steve Kilbey is the singer and lyricist of legendary Australian rock band The Church. He's made dozens of albums, and written several volumes of poetry and a memoir called Something Quite Peculiar. He was also the single biggest influence on my own development as a writer. We discuss lyric writing, songs about place, the disillusionment of success, and how music can recall our most intense experiences with vividness and immediacy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus...2022-12-012h 01
Personal LandscapesGordon Peake: Insider stories from the world of foreign aidDonate to Personal Landscapes.Gordon Peake’s work as an international development consultant has led him to the world’s forgotten corners, places once besieged by anthropologists and now overrun by Western aid workers. He's written books on Timor-Leste and Bougainville, and the inside stories he shares about the big money world of development projects will surprise you and make you laugh. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-11-141h 07
The Ryan Painter ShowThe Ryan Painter Show - 10-23-2022WE'RE BACK! After four and a half months (no wonder I'm tired) on the election trail, I'm back in the saddle bringing you society, culture, and current events insights. I'll provide a breakdown of my experience with the local election soon, but in this episode, I introduce a new segment called Let's Get Into It, I talk with Mayor-Elect of Saanich Dean Murdock, and Councillor-Elect of Saanich Colin Plant, Councillor-Elect of Landford Colby Harder, and Check News Political Correspondent Rob Shaw about the BC NDP leadership race (or lack thereof).
If you like the show, please consider becoming a subscribing...2022-10-241h 24
Passive Mobile Home Park InvestingInterview with Ryan Murdock of Open Door CapitalWelcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Ryan Murdock from Open Door Capital. Ryan and Andrew discuss the benefits of having a vertically integrated mobile home park property management company as an owner/ operator. They also discuss the opportunities available today in the MHP space and the proactiveness needed in the current economic market in order to transact. They also discuss in depth what Ryan thinks are the most important things that passive investors should look out for...2022-10-1131 min
Personal LandscapesEdith Durham: The traveler who became Albania’s mountain queenDonate to Personal Landscapes.When I hiked through the Accursed Mountains last June, I met older Albanians who still referred to Edith Durham as their “mountain queen”. Her books provide a rare first-hand look at a turbulent and seldom traveled corner of Europe during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Durham's biographer, Marcus Tanner, joined me to discuss her travels, her relief work in the Balkans, and her role in helping create an independent Albania. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to b...2022-09-3057 min
Always Better than Yesterday with Ryan Hartley | A Podcast for Heart Centred LeadersEp 192 Interview Sessions with Maureen Murdock PhD | The Heroine's JourneyOn episode 192 I am joined by Maureen Murdock, PhD. Maureen is a psychotherapist, writing teacher and the author of seven books, including The Heroine’s Journey:Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, a ground-breaking book which revealed a broader understanding of the female psyche on both a personal and cultural level. Murdock is also the author of Unreliable Truth, The Heroine’s Journey Workbook; Fathers’ Daughters; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children and is the editor of an anthology of memoirs written by her writing students entitled Monday Morning Memoirs: Women in the Second Half of Life.
Murdock’...2022-09-2855 min
Personal LandscapesDavid Thompson and the mapping of CanadaDonate to Personal Landscapes.David Thompson travelled some 90,000 kilometres across North America as a fur trader and surveyor, mapping one-fifth of the continent. His work was so accurate it remained the basis of all maps of the west for almost a century. And yet, he died in obscurity, his remarkable achievements largely forgotten. His biographer D'Arcy Jenish joins me to talk about this remarkable man’s life and work, and his role in creating the Canada we know today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...2022-09-071h 03
The Maine Real Estate ShowReal Estate Investing with Ryan MurdockThis week Harrison and Danni are joined by Ryan Murdock from Open Door Capital. We discuss Ryan's Maine roots, his journey from local to national real estate investor, and his advice on how people can get started and grow in the world of investing. The conversation covers what’s happening around town and an update on the latest news and trends in the real estate market.2022-09-0445 min
Combat StorySEAL Team 3 & DEVGRU Intel Officer | Silicon Valley | Kristen Murdock | Combat Story (Ep 85)Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more! Today we hear the Combat Story of Kristen Murdock, who spent 13 years in the Navy as...2022-08-061h 36
Personal LandscapesRebecca Lowe: Cycling through the Middle East’s fractured mosaicDonate to Personal Landscapes.In 2015, Rebecca Lowe set out on a year long cycling trip from London to Tehran, a journey that revealed a splintered mosaic of cultures, countries and languages, each with their own unique traditions. We talked about the Arab Spring, the promise of Sudan, and the stark cultural divides within cosmopolitan Iran. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-07-261h 02
Personal LandscapesMartha Gellhorn: with biographer Caroline MooreheadDonate to Personal Landscapes.Martha Gellhorn wanted to be known as a novelist. Instead, she’s remembered as one of the 20th century’s greatest war correspondents. She wrote about what war does to ordinary people, and the despair of those who have lost everything. Biographer Caroline Moorehead joins me to talk about this remarkable woman. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-05-2749 min
Personal LandscapesGuy Kennaway: Life in a Jamaican villageDonate to Personal Landscapes.One People is a comic novel but Cousins Cove is a real village, and the stories Guy Kennaway tells were gathered during his first ten years as an idle British expat. We spoke about Jamaican culture, the legacy of slavery, and why he’s a passionate advocate for Patwa, the national language. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-05-131h 17
The Manufacturers' NetworkPartnering with Your Suppliers for Manufacturing Success with Mike MurdockConnect with Mike MurdockEmail: MDOCK50@gmail.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/golfer53/Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm excited to introduce our guest today Mike Murdock. Mike is the President of M2 Collaborative Solutions. He has 38 plus years of manufacturing operations and vendor supplier optimization experience. In addition, he works with cross-functional teams internally and externally. Mike works directly with key strategic vendors that support their daily manufacturing needs and requirements. Mike, welcome to the show.Mike Murdock: Hey, L...2022-04-1830 min
Personal LandscapesSophie Haydock: Egon Schiele and fin de siècle ViennaDonate to Personal Landscapes.Turn-of-the-century Vienna was a cultural crucible where the air seethed with repressed desire. No artist captured this more vividly than Egon Schiele. Sophie Haydock imagines herself into his world in her debut novel The Flames. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-03-121h 09
PassivePockets: The Passive Real Estate Investing Show54. Mobile Home Parks: An Income-Driven Strategy With Ryan Murdock
You shouldn’t have to choose between cash flow and appreciation. Mobile home parks are becoming quite common investments for real-estate investors. Ryan Murdock, co-founder and strategic advisor to mobile home park syndicator, Open Door Capital, joins Jim Pfeifer to teach us how these assets can often generate more cash flow and appreciation than other multifamily investments. Ryan also talks about leveraging value-add opportunities that enable forced appreciation for mobile home parks. Listen in and learn more as Ryan lets us in on the secret to why he considers mobile home parks recession-resistant assets.To see the fu...2022-03-0643 min
Personal LandscapesCarole Angier: The strange world of W.G. SebaldDonate to Personal Landscapes.W.G. Sebald has been described as “a writer of almost unclassifiable originality”. He wrote about the plight of emigrants, and in particular, emigrants from the Holocaust. His obsessions included survivor’s guilt, the nature of decline and fall, loss and decay, and the downward plunge of nature and history. I discussed Sebald's life and work with his biographer Carole Angier. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-02-201h 37
Personal LandscapesDavid Eimer: Cultural survival in China’s borderlandsDonate to Personal Landscapes.David Eimer is the author of the critically acclaimed The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China. We spoke about that country's tumultuous border regions, and how different ethnic minorities have tried to keep their culture alive beneath the Han yoke. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2022-01-291h 06
We Build Great Apartment CommunitiesMobile Home Park Investing with Ryan MurdockIn today’s episode, John Backett sits with Ryan Murdock - Strategic Advisor at Open Door Capital LLC - a private, well-capitalized, real estate investment firm that aims to help clients achieve superior risk-adjusted returns through the acquisition of mobile home communities, apartment complexes, and self storage facilities nationwide. Ryan has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, and especially mobile home parks – including nationwide consulting and turn-around projects. Let’s all sit back and welcome our guest, Ryan, and let’s continue to learn more how on to build...2022-01-1138 min
Personal LandscapesDervla Murphy: Reflections on a lifetime of travelDonate to Personal Landscapes.Dervla Murphy has been described as a ‘travel legend’ and ‘the first lady of Irish cycling’. For five decades she’s travelled the world in a series of truly remarkable journeys, mostly alone and mostly on foot. I had the great fortune to speak with her a week after her 90th birthday. We talked about the loss of traditional cultures, travel in the pre-internet age, and the general state of the world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus e...2021-12-0955 min
Personal LandscapesNigel Barley: The Innocent AnthropologistDonate to Personal Landscapes.Nigel Barley wrote one of the funniest travel books I've ever read, and it nearly got him kicked out of his academic discipline. We spoke about the grim reality of fieldwork, his odd attraction for monkeys, and why fiction tells us more than anthropology about what it means to be human. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-10-011h 19
Personal LandscapesJeremy Seal: Modern Turkey and the 1960 coupDonate to Personal Landscapes.Jeremy Seal is the author of six books, including A Fez of the Heart. We spoke about the infinite courtesies of Turkish hospitality, cultural divides, and the legacy of the 1960 military coup. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-08-181h 24
Personal LandscapesJohn Gimlette: Madagascar, and ‘walking the dead’Donate to Personal Landscapes.John Gimlette is the author of five books, including The Gardens of Mars. We spoke about Madagascar, ‘walking the dead’, and writing about places on the margin of the map. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-08-051h 05
Personal LandscapesSara Wheeler: Russia, Antarctica and how we shape storiesDonate to Personal Landscapes.Sara Wheeler is the author of 10 books, including Mud and Stars. We spoke about her travels in Russia, living as writer-in-residence on an Antarctic research base, and the reciprocal relationship between story and memory. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-07-211h 02
Personal LandscapesJerry Kobalenko: Searching for ghosts on Ellesmere IslandDonate to Personal Landscapes.Jerry Kobalenko is one of Canada’s most experienced High Arctic travelers, and the author of The Horizontal Everest and Arctic Eden. We spoke about the lure of Ellesmere, and searching for the traces of historic travelers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-07-021h 25
Personal LandscapesLawrence Millman: the Arctic, technology and saving storiesDonate to Personal Landscapes.Lawrence Millman is the author of 18 books, and a master of northern writing. We talked about his book Last Places, eating bird s**t in Iceland, and his efforts to preserve stories before they fade away. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-06-221h 49
Personal LandscapesRory Maclean: Berlin, Bowie and the new Cold WarDonate to Personal Landscapes.Rory Maclean is the author of 15 books, including Berlin: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries. We talk about Berlin, making a film with David Bowie, the state of Europe, and how a glimpse of the Berlin Wall formed a lasting influence on his books. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-06-151h 16
Personal LandscapesAnthropology-lite with Barnaby Rogerson of Eland booksDonate to Personal Landscapes.Eland has been resurrecting lost travel classics and keeping them in print for more than 35 years. I talk with publisher Barnaby Rogerson about anthropology-lite, why the post-war period was a golden age for British travel writing, and why some of the 20th century’s most exciting writers were autodidacts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe2021-06-081h 39
Personal LandscapesIntroducing... Personal LandscapesDonate to Personal Landscapes.The novelist and island writer Lawrence Durrell believed that everyone has a personal landscape, a landscape that resonates with them on some deep tuning fork level, where you feel most at home, and where you think your deepest thoughts.I’ve spent more than 20 years exploring such places as a traveler, and as a writer of magazine features and books.I’m going to talk to the people who write those books and publish those books. Experts on different geographical and cultural regions, and on long-dead writ...2021-06-0603 min
Lee's Summit Town HallMeet Ryan Murdock, candidate for LSR7 Board of EducationHosts Nick Parker and Jason Norbury are joined by incumbent Ryan Murdock to talk about his campaign for reelection to the Lee’s Summit R-7 Board of Education, his thoughts on the board’s pandemic response during the current academic year as well as other important issues facing the district.
2021-03-1730 min
Creek Side Chats With Successful Real Estate InvestorsCSC 138 Ryan Murdock: Successful Transition for Electronics to Real Estate InvestingRyan Murdock
Successful Transition from Electronics to Real Estate Investing
Today Dr. Allen chats With Ryan Murdock, a real estate investor and VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital. Ryan Murdock spent 10 years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. Ryan was a licensed real estate broker for over a decade and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties outside of his interest in Open Door Capital.
After 10 years in the electronics manufacturing industry, Ryan realized that he should think about some other f...2021-03-1225 min
Multifamily Investing Made SimpleMobile Home Parks Made Simple with Ryan MurdockToday’s guest is Ryan Murdock, Strategic Advisor at Open Door Capital LLC. He has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, and especially mobile home parks – including nationwide consulting and turn-around projects. In 2008, he became a licensed real estate broker, owning and operating a portfolio of residential rental properties. Let’s welcome our guest, Ryan, and learn more about mobile home parks.[00:01 – 06:46] Opening Segment We introduce our guest, Ryan Murdock Ryan talks about bad real estate advice he heard before [06:47 – 17:52] Mobile Home ParksR...2020-12-0143 min
Investor Cheat Code Podcast with Mike SimmonsBRRRR Strategy, Property Management, and Mobile Park Investing with Ryan MurdockIn this episode, I have the opportunity to interview successful investor, Ryan Murdock. Ryan spent ten years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. Today, he is VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital, a real estate investment company from Bigger Pocket’s Brandon Turner. Ryan has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, nationwide consulting, and mobile home parks. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 2008 and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties. Before Rya...2020-11-0956 min
The Multifamily Journey Podcast10. Massive Growth and Expert Operation of 1,000 Mobile Home Park Pads with Ryan MurdockJoin Blake Dailey, the host of the Multifamily Journey Podcast, with his guest Ryan Murdock, as they talk about investing in mobile home parks and scaling your company. Ryan is the VP of Acquisitions for Brandon Turner's Open Door Capital, a company that buys, owns, and operates mobile home parks all across the country.In this episode, you’ll learn:· Attaining financial freedom by investing in real estate to have more time to do what you want.· Setting a compelling vision for your company, even if it seems impossible.· Having the right...2020-11-0347 min
The Military Millionaire PodcastFrom Building Several Businesses to Operating an Empire with Ryan Murdock "The Mercenary"Episode: 114
Ryan Murdock
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Join David Pere and Ryan Murdock as they talk about staying engaged, being open to new opportunities, and maintaining a good work-life balance.
Ryan was in the semiconductor manufacturing industry before deciding to quit his W2 job and get into real estate through house hacking a duplex. Since then, he’s been a licensed real estate broker, got into property management, and has slowly built his own residential and rental properties portfolio. He relocated to Maui to start open door capital with Brandon Turner, and they’ve been...2020-10-3050 min
Real Estate Investing Made Simple#28 Scaling Through Partnerships with Ryan MurdockIn this episode, Bailey Kramer sits down with Ryan Murdock to talk about Scaling With Partnerships.Guest: Ryan MurdockRyan Murdock spent 10 years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. He has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, and especially mobile home parks - including nationwide consulting and turn-around projects. Ryan was a licensed real estate broker for over a decade and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties outside of his interest in Open Door Capital.2020-10-0141 min
Millennial Millionaire Real Estate Podcast#80 with Ryan Murdock: Creating Systems to be Completely Hands Off and Have Your Business Operate Without YouIn this episode, Jonathan Farber interviews Ryan Murdock on his journey from leaving his stable corporate W-2 job with a househack to killing it in real estate and achieving his financial freedom. Ryan is a multitalented real estate investor based in Hawaii whose key strategy is always adding value. In this episode, we delve into topics like: work life balance as an early investor, using leverage to grow your business, being a value-add person, and more!
Top Takeaways:
Managing your work against your life on the way up - 8:45 - 14:15
If you want to...2020-09-2443 min
Monumental with Evan HolladayFrom Small-time Landlord to 1000+ Mobile Home Units with Ryan MurdockRyan Murdock spent 10 years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. He has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, and especially mobile home parks - including nationwide consulting and turn-around projects. Ryan has been a licensed real estate broker since 2008 and owns and operates his own portfolio of residential rental properties in addition to the Open Door Capital portfolio.Follow Ryan and his work with Open Door Capital.http://www.odcfund.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmurdock/https://www.facebook.com/ryan.murdock.94https...2020-09-1643 min
Team Building PodcastInvest Your Way to Success by Finding Deals that Work for You w/Ryan MurdockThere are many ways to make money in real estate, and if we want to take advantage of everything the industry has to offer, we can’t limit ourselves to just one avenue. Adding investing to the list of services we provide does more than increase our number of revenue streams. By offering clients the opportunity to sell their homes through us and to us, we pave the way for tailor-made value. The problem is, many agents are nervous about entering the space. How can first-time investors get started, and what ob...2020-09-0320 minLee's Summit Town HallLSR7 Board President Ryan Murdock and the reopening decisionLee's Summit R-7 Board of Education President Ryan Murdock joins hosts Nick Parker and Jason Norbury to discuss this week's vote on the plan to reopen schools. The conversation looks at the board's process, as well as some insight into its future decisions through the pandemic.
2020-08-2636 min
Weiss AdviceBuilding a Mobile Home Park Empire with Ryan MurdockSend us a textToday I had the pleasure of speaking with real estate investor and the VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital, Ryan Murdock.Let’s dive into Ryan’s journey of building the biggest mobile home park empire.Things you will learn in this episode:[00:01 – 07:20] Opening SegmentRyan talks about how he got into BiggerPocketsGrowing his real estate portfolioApplied to become Brandon Turner’s assistant[07:21 – 15:19] Building a Mobile Home Park EmpireRyan talks their newest project, Open Door Capital LLCWhy mobile home parks...2020-08-1226 min