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Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt tracks down other high achievers for surprising, revealing conversations about their lives and obsessions. Join Levitt as he goes through the most interesting midlife crisis you’ve ever heard — and learn how a renegade sheriff is transforming Chicago's jail, how a biologist is finding the secrets of evolution in the Arctic tundra, and how a trivia champion memorized 160,000 flashcards.

To get every show in our network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, sign up for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts at http://apple.co/SiriusXM.

People I (Mostly) Admire

How psychologist Dan Gilbert went from high school dropout to Harvard professor, found the secret of joy, and inspired Steve Levitt's divorce.

 

SOURCE:Daniel Gilbert • , professor of psychology at Harvard University.

 

RESOURCES: • "
What the Data Says (and Doesn’t Say) About Crime in the United States • ," by John Gramlich (Pew Research Center, 2020).
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress • , by Stephen Pinker (2018).
 • "
Mistakenly Seeking Solitude • ," by Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder (
Journal of Experimental Psychology • , 2014).
 • "
Just Think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind • ," by Timothy D. Wilson, David A. Reinhard, Erin C. Westgate, Daniel T. Gilbert, Nicole Ellerbeck, Cheryl Hahn, Casey L. Brown, and Adi Shaked (
Science • , 2013).
 • "
The End of History Illusion • ," by Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Timothy D. Wilson (
Science • , 2013).
Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending • , by Elizabeth Dunn (2013).
 • "
If Money Doesn't Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren't Spending It Right • ," by Elizabeth W. Dunn, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Timothy D. Wilson (
Journal of Consumer Psychology • , 2011).
This Emotional Life • , by Daniel Gilbert (2010).
Stumbling on Happiness • , by Dan Gilbert (2006).
 • "
Affective Forecasting • ," by Timothy D. Wilson and Daniel T. Gilbert (
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology • , 2003).

 

EXTRAS: • "
Drawing from Life (and Death) • ," by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2023).
 • "
Who Gives the Worst Advice? • " by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2021).
 • "
Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time • ," by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2021).
 • "
Am I Boring You? • " by 
Freakonomics Radio • (2015).

Turning Work into Play (Update)

In her book, Rumbles, medical historian Elsa Richardson explores the history of the human gut. She talks with Steve about dubious medical practices, gruesome tales of survival, and the things that medieval doctors may have gotten right.

 

SOURCE:Elsa Richardson • , medical historian at the University of Strathclyde.

 

RESOURCES:Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut: The Secret Story of the Body's Most Fascinating Organ • , by Elsa Richardson (2024).
Michael Levitt retirement speech • (2024).
 • "
Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne Plant? An Analysis of the Original Illumination Experiments • ," by Steven D. Levitt and John A. List (
NBER Working Paper, • 2009).
 • "
Floating Stools — Flatus versus Fat • ," by Michael D. Levitt and William C. Duane (
The New England Journal of Medicine, • 1972).
 • "
Factors Influencing Pulmonary Methane Excretion in Man • ," by John H. Bond, Rolf R. Engel, and Michael D. Levitt (
Journal of Experimental Medicine, • 1971).
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, • by Charles Darwin (1872).
The Levitt Lab Founding School Leader • , job listing.
The Levitt Lab • , information page.

 

EXTRAS: • "
An Update on the Khan World School • ," by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2023).
 • “
Is This the Future of High School? • ” by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2022).
 • “
Sal Khan: ‘If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People • ,'” by 
People I (Mostly) Admire • (2021).
 • "
The Power of Poop • ," by 
Freakonomics Radio • (2011).

147. Is Your Gut a Second Brain?

Steve Levitt has spent decades as an academic economist, “studying strange phenomena and human behavior in weird circumstances.” Now he’s turning his curiosity to something new: interviewing some of the most interesting, unorthodox people around — from actresses to athletes, authors to inventors. Here is a preview of Levitt’s new podcast, which premieres August 21st. New episodes every two weeks. “People I (Mostly) Admire” is a production of the Freakonomics Radio Network.

Introducing “People I (Mostly) Admire”

By cataloging the steady march of human progress, the Harvard psychologist and linguist has become a very public intellectual. But the self-declared “polite Canadian” has managed to enrage people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Steve Levitt tries to understand why.

1. Steven Pinker: "I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully”

She’s best known for playing neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, but the award-winning actress has a rich life outside of her acting career, as a teacher, mother — and a real-life neuroscientist. Steve Levitt tries to learn more about this one-time academic and Hollywood non-conformist, who is both very similar to him and also quite his opposite.

2. Mayim Bialik: “I Started Crying When I Realized How Beautiful the Universe Is”

The dean of Yale’s School of Management grew up in a small village in Guyana. During his unlikely journey, he has researched video-gaming habits, communicable disease, and why so many African-Americans haven’t had the kind of success he’s had. Steve Levitt talks to Charles about his parents’ encouragement, his love of Sports Illustrated, and how he talks to his American-born kids about the complicated history of Blackness in America.

3. Kerwin Charles: “One Does Not Know Where an Insight Will Come From”

It was only in his late twenties that America’s favorite brainiac began to seriously embrace his love of trivia. Now he holds the “Greatest of All Time” title on Jeopardy! Steve Levitt digs into how he trained for the show, what it means to have a "geographic memory," and why we lie to our children.

4. Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird”

Steve Levitt has so far occupied the interviewer chair on this show, but in a special live event — recorded over Zoom and presented by WNYC and the Greene Space — the microphone is turned toward him. His Freakonomics friend and co-author Stephen Dubner checks in on the wisdom Levitt has extracted from his interviews, finds out why Levitt is happiest when angering everyone across the political spectrum, and asks Levitt why he ends every interview with the same question.

Steve Levitt: “I'm Not as Childlike as I'd Like to Be” (Bonus Episode)

She was the sixteenth employee at Google — a company once based in her garage — and now she's the C.E.O. of its best-known subsidiary, YouTube. But despite being one of the most powerful people in the tech industry, few outside of Silicon Valley know the name Susan Wojcicki. Levitt talks with her about the early days of Google, how her background in economics shapes the company's products, and why YouTube's success has created a range of unforeseen and serious issues.

5. Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!”

He graduated high school at 14, and by 23 had several graduate degrees and was a research assistant with Stephen Hawking. He became the first chief technology officer at Microsoft (without having ever studied computer science) and then started a company focused on big questions — like how to provide the world with clean energy and how to optimize pizza-baking. Find out what makes Nathan Myhrvold’s fertile mind tick, and which of his many ideas Steve Levitt likes the most.

6. Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy”

At 27— and without a college degree — she was named chief technology officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today, Marina Nitze is trying to reform the foster care system. She tells Steve how she hacked the V.A.’s bureaucracy, opens up about her struggle with Type 1 diabetes, and explains how she was building websites for soap opera stars when she was just 12 years old.

19. Marina Nitze: “If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.”

19. Marina Nitze: “If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.”

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