Ep. 116 - Robert Kurson: A Life's Obsession With No Way Out

If you're into hunting for buried pirate treasure then this is the show for you. Today I'm very happy to welcome bestselling author Robert Kurson to the podcast. Robert has just released Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship. This is the second book featuring John Chatterton and is about his quest with John Mattera to find the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. Bannister, a gentleman and business owner working with shipping companies in the Caribbean, one day turned pirate and stole a boat named The Golden Fleece, setting off on a pirate's adventure for years. Treasure hunting may seem like a romantic,  childish notion, but most treasure hunters are often seeking adventure, encountering huge adversity in their search and often risking all to solve the mysteries they encounter beneath the water. Chatterton (a police officer) and Mattera (a commercial diver) worked all week, used their savings, and spent every free minute of their time searching for this long lost ship. Shadow Diverswas Robert's first book featuring Richie Kohler and John Chatterton on their quest to solve the mystery of a WWII German U-boat found off the New Jersey coast in 1991 and how the questions surrounding this discovery would haunt these men, their marriages, and ultimately challenge every aspect of their lives. In Robert's first book, Crashing Through, he tells the story of Mike May who was blind from the age 3 and regained his vision at age 46 via a rare stem-cell transplant procedure. May had lived a very fulfilling life as a blind person, and actually delayed doing this procedure for over a year. Robert learned the lesson of storytelling early on. Growing up he was regularly brought out of school, sometimes for extended periods of time, to travel the country. By age 8 he had visited all 48 continental United States. This time away allowed him to get a first-hand sense of the power of storytelling. This unconventional upbringing also empowered Robert to discover and follow his passion from an early age. Robert recounts how he found himself utterly miserable living the life of a typical day-job employee. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he feels lucky that he was miserable enough to have the courage to do something as daring as leaving a high-paying, comfortable job to pursue his passion, just like John Chatterton did years ago. Robert and James agree that a good barometer of your happiness in a job is how you view the people you work with. If you enjoy the people you're working with then you can be happy at your job. If you don't enjoy being around attorneys, for example, then there's virtually no chance you'll be happy at work every day as an attorney. Thanks so much for listening Regards, David Newman P.S. Have you entered yet? Here is YOUR CHANCE to WIN a year's worth of James Altucher's favorite books from The James Altucher Show podcast.   P.P.S. If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on iTunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air! ------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com ------------ Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotify Follow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn