# 5 Questions with Bruce Feiler Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler.md Podcast: [Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger](https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912) Published: 2026-06-18T09:52:00+00:00 Episode link: https://words.paulollinger.com/p/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202294425/01091ef204d8a64e7c8e251fe75f6b4b.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/episodes/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler Duration seconds: 2208 ## Resource Thanks very much to Bruce Feiler for joining me on the 5 Questions livestream to discuss his new book A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World—and How it Can Save Us . In this upbeat and positive conversation, Bruce and I discuss: • What came first, ritual or religion? • Why SEC football tailgating fits the definition of ritual • How Balinese tooth-filing ritual has much in common with modern Western dental customs • Why so many New Yorkers are jumping on the Knicks bandwagon (including someone’s wife who shall remain nameless) Subscribe to Bruce’s ‘The Nonlinear Life Substack and to Paul’s Reasonably Happy Substack. Get full access to Reasonably Happy at words.paulollinger.com/subscribe ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/episodes/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/5-questions-with-bruce-feiler.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.