Podcast Episodes
Back to Search63. The Only Covid-19 Book Worth Reading
Episode 63
Steve loved Michael Lewis’s latest, The Premonition, but has one critique: Why aren’t there even more villains? Also, why the author of best-sellers …
4 years ago
62. How Does Historian Brad Gregory Make a Boring Topic So Mind-Blowing?
Episode 62
A leading expert on the Reformation era, Brad, a University of Notre Dame professor, tells Steve about how the “blood gets sucked out of history,” an…
4 years, 1 month ago
61. Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last?
Episode 61
The former chairman of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisors tells Steve how improv comedy was a better training ground for teachin…
4 years, 1 month ago
60. Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us
Episode 60
By mid-century, 10 million people a year are projected to die from untreatable infections. Can Cassandra, an ethnobotanist at Emory University convin…
4 years, 1 month ago
Why Aren’t All Drugs Legal? (Replay Ep. 28)
The Columbia neuroscientist and psychology professor Carl Hart believes that recreational drug use, even heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine, is an…
4 years, 1 month ago
Are We Under Threat from a New Kind of Terror? (Replay Ep. 24)
Amaryllis Fox is a former C.I.A. operative and host of the Netflix show The Business of Drugs. She explains why intelligence work requires empathy, a…
4 years, 1 month ago
59. Who Gives the Worst Advice?
Episode 59
Steve usually asks his guests for advice, whether they’re magicians or Nobel laureates. After nearly 60 episodes, is any of it worth following — or s…
4 years, 2 months ago
58. Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist?
Episode 58
The Nobel laureate and pioneering behavioral economist spars with Steve over what makes a nudge a nudge, and admits that even economists have plenty …
4 years, 2 months ago
57. What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet?
Episode 57
The legendary venture capitalist believes the same intuition that led him to bet early on Google can help us reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.…
4 years, 2 months ago
56. Claudia Goldin: What’s “Greedy Work” and Why Is It a Problem?
Episode 56
Harvard economist Claudia Goldin and Steve talk about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to…
4 years, 2 months ago