Learning to Think Like Someone Else (with David Marquet)
Former submarine commander David Marquet joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to explore how distancing--thinking like someone else, somewhere else, or sometime else--can unlock better choices in business and life. They talk about leadership without giving orders, how to empower teams, and what it means to see yourself as a coach rather than a boss. Along the way, they discuss Jeff Bezos's leap to start Amazon, Steve Jobs' unique vision, and how a simple mindset shift can transform a struggling crew--or your career. A conversation about thinking clearly under pressure, avoiding regret, and becoming the kind of leader who creates other leaders instead of followers.
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Let Me Be Forgotten (with Lowry Pressly)
What do we lose when every moment is recorded, every action scrutinized, and every past mistake preserved? Philosopher and author Lowry Pressly joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to discuss why privacy isn't just about secrets or information control, the necessity of spontaneity, the importance of moral growth, and what we need to become fully human. From photography to forgetting, surveillance to selfhood, this episode challenges our assumptions about what it means to be seen--and unseen--in a data-driven world.
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Read Like a Champion (with Doug Lemov)
Many students graduate high school today without having read a book cover to cover. Many students struggle to learn to read at all. How did this happen? Listen as educator and author Doug Lemov talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the failed fads in reading education, the mistaken emphasis on vocabulary as a skill, and the importance of background knowledge for thinking and reading comprehension. Lemov and Roberts also discuss their love of difficult-to-read authors, the power of reading in groups, the value of keeping a reading journal, and how even basketball can be more enjoyable when we have the right terminology.
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James Marriott on Reading
Is long form reading a dying pastime? Journalist and cultural critic James Marriott joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to defend the increasingly quaint act of reading a book in our scrolling-obsessed, AI-summarized age. He urges juggling a paper book and a Kindle, recounts ditching his smartphone to rescue his attention, and shares tactics for finding the "right" beach novel and biography. He and Russ also debate the value of re-reading, spar over Dostoevsky, celebrate Elena Ferrante, and swap suggestions for poetry that "puts reality back in your bones." Throughout, they argue that the shallowness of social media makes the best case for diving into the dense, intellectually difficult, yet uniquely transformative power of books.
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How to Walk the World (with Chris Arnade)
Skip the Mona Lisa when you visit Paris. Don't tour the Coliseum in Rome. Walk, don’t hurry. Chris Arnade speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about a different way to travel. Listen as Arnade shares what he learned from Istanbul's small community mosques and how Avignon's Congolese-neighborhood cathedrals provided moving moments of spirituality. He also explains why Japan and Vietnam's emphasis on community lends itself to more happiness than America's "me-focused" approach, and what gear he carries--and leaves behind--for his extremely long walks through the world. Finally, he offers suggestions for choosing places to eat on the road that can elevate meals into meaningful experiences. This is a thoughtful conversational journey about veering off the beaten path to find home in surprising places.
EconTalk: Conversations for the Curious is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford's Hoover Institution. The eclectic guest list includes authors, doctors, psychologists, historians, philosophers, economists, and more. Learn how the health care system really works, the serenity that comes from humility, the challenge of interpreting data, how potato chips are made, what it's like to run an upscale Manhattan restaurant, what caused the 2008 financial crisis, the nature of consciousness, and more. EconTalk has been taking the Monday out of Mondays since 2006. All 900+ episodes are available in the archive. Go to EconTalk.org for transcripts, related resources, and comments.
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