
People I (Mostly) Admire
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher - siriusxm.com
Latest episode: Sat Aug 02 2025
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 the Freakonomics Radio Network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, start a free trial for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
194 total episodes
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- Aug2163. The Data Sleuth Taking on Shoddy Science56mins
- Jul26Arne Duncan Says All Kids Deserve a Chance — and Criminals Deserve a Second One (Update)46mins
- Jul19162. Will We Solve the Climate Problem?57mins
- Jul5161. How to Captivate an Audience48mins
- Jun28Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit (Update)48mins
- Jun21160. How to Help Kids Succeed60mins
- Jun7159. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Manifesto for a Gift Economy57mins
- May31Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence? (Update)42mins
- May24158. Why Did Rome Fall — and Are We Next?55mins
- May10157. The Deadliest Disease in Human History65mins
- May3Abraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better (Update)46mins
- Apr26156. A Solution to America’s Gun Problem59mins
- Apr12155. Helping People Die54mins
- Apr5Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” (Update)44mins
- Mar29154. Can Robots Get a Grip?57mins
- Mar15153. We’re Not Getting Sicker — We’re Overdiagnosed63mins
- Mar8Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars (Update)49mins
- Mar1152. Hunting for the Origins of Life46mins
- Feb15151. Neurobiologist, Philosopher, and Addict53mins
- Feb8Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done. (Replay)53mins
- Feb1150. His Brilliant Videos Get Millions of Views. Why Don’t They Make Money?58mins
- Jan18149. Stanford’s President Knows He Can’t Make Everyone Happy56mins
- Jan11Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears (Update)48mins
- Jan4148. How to Have Good Ideas59mins
- Dec21147. Is Your Gut a Second Brain?57mins
- Dec14Turning Work into Play (Update)50mins
- Dec7146. Is There a Fair Way to Divide Us?65mins
- Nov23145. Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Still Starstruck51mins
- Nov16Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?” (Update)45mins
- Nov9144. Feeling Sound and Hearing Color62mins
- Oct26143. Why Are Boys and Men in Trouble?66mins
- Oct19Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power (Replay)40mins
- Oct12142. What’s Impacting American Workers?63mins
- Oct5EXTRA: Using Data to Win Gold26mins
- Sep28141. The Language of the Universe47mins
- Sep21Drawing from Life (and Death) (Update)61mins
- Sep14140. How to Breathe Better64mins
- Aug31139. How PETA Made Radical Ideas Mainstream60mins
- Aug24Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time (Update)46mins
- Aug17138. Chris Anderson on the Power of TED58mins
- Aug13EXTRA: Remembering Susan Wojcicki31mins
- Aug3137. Richard Dawkins on God, Genes, and Murderous Baby Cuckoos52mins
- Jul27What It Takes to Know Everything (Update)40mins
- Jul20136. The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist64mins
- Jul6135. How to Grow a White Rhino55mins
- Jun29Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.” (Replay)42mins
- Jun22134. Why Do We Still Teach People to Calculate?58mins
- Jun8133. Pay Attention! (Your Body Will Thank You)59mins
- Jun1John Green’s Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride (Update)61mins
- May25132. Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms64mins
- May11131. Getting Old, Adventurously52mins
- May4What It’s Like to Be Steve Levitt’s Daughters (Update)47mins
- Apr27130. Is Our Concept of Freedom All Wrong?55mins
- Apr13129. How to Fix Medical Research55mins
- Apr6EXTRA: Remembering Daniel Kahneman41mins
- Mar30128. Are Our Tools Becoming Part of Us?56mins
- Mar16127. Rajiv Shah Never Wastes a Crisis57mins
- Mar2126. How to Have Great Conversations47mins
- Feb17125. Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?48mins
- Feb3124. Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power44mins
- Jan20123. Walt Hickey Wants to Track Your Eyeballs50mins
- Jan6122. Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You39mins
- Dec23121. Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans45mins
- Dec9120. Werner Herzog Thinks His Films Are a Distraction50mins
- Nov25119. Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?47mins
- Nov11118. “My God, This Is a Transformative Power”43mins
- Oct28117. Nate Silver Says We're Bad at Making Predictions42mins
- Oct14116. Abraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better48mins
- Oct9EXTRA: Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin on "Greedy Work" and the Wage Gap43mins
- Sep30115. The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic53mins
- Sep16114. Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?58mins
- Sep2113. Do We Have Evidence of Alien Life?49mins
- Aug19112. Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars53mins
- Aug5111. Can a Moonshot Approach to Mental Health Work?56mins
- Jul22110. Drawing from Life (and Death)61mins
- Jul15Extra: An Update on the Khan World School24mins
- Jul8109. David Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why.58mins
- Jul1The Economics of Everyday Things: T. rex Skeletons18mins
- Jun24108. Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom54mins
- Jun10107. Bringing Data to Life58mins
- May27106. Will A.I. Make Us Smarter?56mins
- May13105. Can Data Keep People Out of Prison?51mins
- Apr29104. The Joy of Math With Sarah Hart53mins
- Apr15103. Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great57mins
- Apr1102. Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life56mins
- Mar18101. Celebrating 100 People I (Mostly) Admire49mins
- Mar4100. Chicago’s Renegade Sheriff Wants to Fix Law Enforcement63mins
- Feb1899. Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour48mins
- Feb498. Searching for Our Aquatic Ancestors57mins
- Jan2197. How Smart Is a Forest?58mins
- Jan796. Steven Strogatz Thinks You Don’t Know What Math Is58mins
- Dec2495. The One Thing Stephen Dubner Hasn’t Quit67mins
- Dec1094. The Price of Doing Business with John List66mins
- Nov2693. Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit55mins
- Nov1292. John Green’s Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride68mins
- Oct2991. Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done.58mins
- Oct1590. Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt58mins
- Oct8Extra: A Rockstar Chemist Wins the Nobel Prize51mins
- Oct189. A Cross Between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones53mins
- Sep1788. Ken Burns on Heroism, Horror, and History49mins
- Sep387. How Much Are the Right Friends Worth?53mins
- Aug2086. A Million-Year View on Morality52mins
- Aug685. What It Takes to Know Everything43mins
- Jul2384. Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing53mins
- Jul983. “There's So Many Problems — Which Ones Can I Make a Difference On?”50mins
- Jul282. Is This the Future of High School?44mins
- Jun2581. Why Bother Searching for Aliens?47mins
- Jun1880. Get Your Share of the Pie50mins
- Jun1179. Solar Geoengineering Would Be Radical. It Might Also Be Necessary.55mins
- Jun478. Giving It Away51mins
- May2877. Can Games Prepare Us for Catastrophes? (Part 2)34mins
- May2176. Is Gaming Good for You?41mins
- May1475. Self-Help for Data Nerds52mins
- May774. Getting Our Hands Dirty52mins
- Apr3073. Turning Work into Play51mins
- Apr2372. “Leaving Black People in the Lurch”47mins
- Apr1671. Bombs Away46mins
- Apr970. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Experiment35mins
- Apr269. Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence?45mins
- Mar2668. “No One Can Resist a Jolly, Happy Pig.”46mins
- Mar1967. We Can Play God Now41mins
- Mar1266. The Professor Who Said “No” to Tenure47mins
- Mar565. A Rockstar Chemist and Her Cancer-Attacking “Lawn Mower”50mins
- Feb2664. How Larry Miller Went from Prison Valedictorian to Nike Executive37mins
- Feb1963. The Only Covid-19 Book Worth Reading50mins
- Feb1262. How Does Historian Brad Gregory Make a Boring Topic So Mind-Blowing?44mins
- Feb561. Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last?52mins
- Jan2960. Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us49mins
- Jan22Why Aren’t All Drugs Legal? (Replay Ep. 28)43mins
- Jan15Are We Under Threat from a New Kind of Terror? (Replay Ep. 24)49mins
- Jan859. Who Gives the Worst Advice?43mins
- Jan158. Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist?46mins
- Dec2557. What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet?51mins
- Dec1856. Claudia Goldin: What’s “Greedy Work” and Why Is It a Problem?48mins
- Dec1155. Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours47mins
- Dec454. Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet53mins
- Nov2753. The Simple Economics of Saving the Amazon Rainforest32mins
- Nov2052. Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave (Part 2)30mins
- Nov1351. Max Tegmark on Why Treating Humanity Like a Child Will Save Us All45mins
- Nov650. Edward Miguel on Collecting Economic Data by Canoe and Correlating Conflict with Rainfall52mins
- Oct3049. Mathematician Sarah Hart on Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears46mins
- Oct2348. Marc Davis Can’t Stop Watching Basketball — But He Doesn’t Care Who Wins47mins
- Oct16Ken Jennings on How a Midlife Crisis Led Him to Jeopardy! (People I (Mostly) Admire, Ep. 4 Replay)47mins
- Oct9Mayim Bialik on the Surprising Risks of Academia and Stability of Show Biz (People I (Mostly) Admire, Ep. 2 Replay)49mins
- Oct247. Robert Axelrod on Why Being Nice, Forgiving, and Provokable are the Best Strategies for Life44mins
- Sep2546. Amanda & Lily Levitt Share What It’s Like to be Steve’s Daughters47mins
- Sep1845. Leidy Klotz on Why the Best Solutions Involve Less — Not More40mins
- Sep1144. Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away46mins
- Sep443. Arne Duncan Says All Kids Deserve a Chance — and Criminals Deserve a Second One46mins
- Aug2842. America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up43mins
- Aug2141. Dr. Bapu Jena on Why Freakonomics Is the Best Medicine41mins
- Aug1440. Harold Pollack on Why Managing Your Money Is as Easy as Taking Out the Garbage46mins
- Aug739. Aicha Evans Wants You to Take Your Eyes Off the Road49mins
- Jul3138. Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2)37mins
- Jul2437. Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time52mins
- Jul1736. How Rahm Emanuel Would Run the World42mins
- Jul1035. David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything50mins
- Jul334. Maya Shankar Is Changing People’s Behavior — and Her Own45mins
- Jun2633. Travis Tygart Is Coming for Cheaters — Just Ask Lance Armstrong45mins
- Jun1932. Angela Duckworth Explains How to Manage Your Goal Hierarchy51mins
- Jun1231. Peter Leeson on Why Trial-by-Fire Wasn’t Barbaric and Why Pirates Were Democratic46mins
- Jun530. Dambisa Moyo Says Foreign Aid Can’t Solve Problems, but Maybe Corporations Can44mins
- May2929. Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat45mins
- May2228. Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve?44mins
- May1527. Daniel Kahneman on Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About It44mins
- May826. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis Helps Steve Train His Brain35mins
- May125. Sam Harris: “Spirituality Is a Loaded Term.”43mins
- Apr24Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy.” (Episode 6 Rebroadcast)49mins
- Apr1724. Amaryllis Fox: “What Does This New Version of Mutually Assured Destruction Look Like?”58mins
- Apr1023. Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything42mins
- Apr322. Sal Khan: “If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.”44mins
- Mar2721. Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?”43mins
- Mar2020. John Donohue: “I'm Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution.”37mins
- Mar1319. Marina Nitze: “If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.”38mins
- Mar618. Robert Sapolsky: “I Don’t Think We Have Any Free Will Whatsoever.”41mins
- Feb2717. Emily Oster: “I Am a Woman Who Is Prominently Discussing Vaginas.”42mins
- Feb2016. Joshua Jay: “Humans Are So, So Easy to Fool.”42mins
- Feb1315. Tim Harford: “If You Can Make Sure You're Not An Idiot, You've Done Well.”42mins
- Feb6Yul Kwon: “Hey, Do You Have Any Bright Ideas?” (Part 2)29mins
- Jan3013. Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.”35mins
- Jan2312. Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.”40mins
- Jan911. Paul Romer: “I Figured Out How to Get Myself Fired From the World Bank.”34mins
- Dec2610. Suzanne Gluck: “I'm a Person Who Can Convince Other People to Do Things”36mins
- Dec129. Moncef Slaoui: "It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen"36mins
- Nov288. Peter Attia: “I Definitely Lost a Lot of IQ Points That Day”38mins
- Nov147. Caverly Morgan: "I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative."38mins
- Oct316. Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy”47mins
- Oct175. Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!”30mins
- Oct10Steve Levitt: “I’m Not as Childlike as I’d Like to Be”38mins
- Oct34. Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird”42mins
- Sep193. Kerwin Charles: “One Does Not Know Where an Insight Will Come From”39mins
- Sep52. Mayim Bialik: “I Started Crying When I Realized How Beautiful the Universe Is”45mins
- Aug221. Steven Pinker: "I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully”42mins
- Jul31Introducing “People I (Mostly) Admire”4mins