People I (Mostly) Admire

She might not be a household name, but Suzanne Gluck is one of the most powerful people in the book industry. Her slush pile is a key entry point to the biggest publishers in the U.S., and the authors she represents have sold more than 100 million books worldwide. Steve Levitt talks with Gluck — his own agent — about negotiating a deal, advising prospective authors, and convincing him to co-write Freakonomics. This episode original...

He’s been an engineer, a surgeon, a management consultant, and even a boxer. Now he’s a physician focused on the science of longevity. Peter Attia talks with Steve Levitt about the problem with immortality, what’s missing from our Covid response, and why nicotine is underrated. This episode originally aired on November 27th, 2020.

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She showed up late and confused to her first silent retreat, but Caverly Morgan eventually trained for eight years in silence at a Zen monastery. Now her mindfulness-education program Peace in Schools is part of the high-school curriculum in Portland, Ore. Steve Levitt finds out what daily life is like in a silent monastery, why teens find it easier than adults to learn meditation, and what happy children can teach their parents. T...

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 hi...

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 ra...

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. This episode originally aired on October 2nd, 2020.

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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 Americ...

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. This episode originally aired on September 4th, 2020.

Hoste...

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. This episode originally aired on August 21st, 2020.

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In the last episode of the podcast, Stephen Dubner turns the microphone on Steve Levitt. They talk about Levitt’s favorite — and least favorite — moments from the show’s five-year run, his quest to reform education, and his next podcasting gig.

• SOURCES:
  • Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio, co-author of Freakonomics books.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How to Help Kids Succeed," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025).
  • "Feeli...

The late Robert Solow was a giant among economists. When he was 98 years old he told Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so hard to reduce inequality, and how his field lost its way. 

• SOURCES:
  • Robert Solow, professor emeritus of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Secrecy, Cigars, and a Venetian Wedding: How the P.G.A. Tour Made a Deal with Saudi Arabia...

Michael Crow is the president of Arizona State University, which U.S. News & World Report has called the most innovative school in the country for 11 years running. He tells Steve about why higher education needs to change, and how A.S.U. is leading the way. Plus: Steve has an announcement about the podcast.

• SOURCES:
  • Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Fifth Wave: The Evolutio...

Michael Greenstone knows it’s corny, but he wants to make the world a better place — by tracking the impact of air quality, developing pollution markets in India, and … starting a podcast, which Steve says proves he’s over the hill.

• SOURCES:
  • Michael Greenstone, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

• RESOURCES:
  • "New evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy...

Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer at 22. She made her illness the subject of a New York Times column and a memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She and Steve talk about what it means to live with a potentially fatal illness, how to talk to people who've gone through a tragedy, and ways to encourage medical donations.

• SOURCES:
  • Suleika Jaouad, author.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an ...

Physicist and former pop star Brian Cox tells Steve about discovering the Higgs boson, having a number-one hit, and why particle physics research will almost certainly not create a black hole that destroys all life on earth.

• SOURCES:
  • Brian Cox, physicist at the University of Manchester.

• RESOURCES:
  • Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe, by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw (2023).
  • "Higgs10: The Higgs bos...

Irving Finkel is an expert on cuneiform — the oldest known writing system. He tells Steve the amazing story of how an ancient clay tablet unlocked the truth about Noah’s ark (and got Finkel in trouble with some Christians).

• SOURCES:
  • Irving Finkel, curator in the department of the Middle East at the British Museum.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How to write cuneiform," by Irving Finkel (The British Museum, 2021).
  • "PBS Nova: Sec...

Moon Duchin is a math professor at the University of Chicago whose theoretical work has practical applications for voting and democracy. Why is striving for fair elections so difficult?

• SOURCES:
  • Moon Duchin, professor of mathematics at Cornell University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Gerrymandering: The Origin Story," by Neely Tucker (Timeless: Stories from the Library of Congress, 2024).
  • "Redistricting for Proportionality," ...

Frances Arnold pioneered the process of directed evolution — mimicking natural selection to create new enzymes that have changed everything from agriculture to laundry.

• SOURCES:
  • Frances Arnold, professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. 

• RESOURCES: 
  • "Innovation by Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life," by Frances Arnold (Nobel Lecture, 2018).
  • "Bacteria taught to bond carbon and sil...

Steven Pinker’s new book argues that all our relationships depend on shared assumptions and “recursive mentalizing” — our constant efforts to understand what other people are thinking. He and Steve talk about the psychology of eye contact, the particular value of Super Bowl ads, and what it’s like to get cancelled.

• SOURCES:
  • Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University.

• RESOURCES:
  • When Everyon...