Stephen J. Dubner (@Freakonomics) is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality.
He is best-known for writing, along with the economist Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics (2005), SuperFreakonomics (2009), and Think Like a Freak (2014), which have sold more than 5 million copies in 35 languages.
In this podcast, we discuss dozens of topics, including: his writing process, religion, parenting, favorite documentaries, and much, much more.
I recommend checking out his new book, Think Like a Freak. If you liked the assumption-busting, myth-testing stories of Freakonomics or any of my books, you’ll enjoy it.
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Show notes are below, courtesy of reader Kasperi — thanks for posting in the comments!
You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
Selected Show Notes and Links
Questions:
-How do you collaborate with your co-author getting the material together for a narrative?
-How do you make a good story? How does Stephen start brainstorming a story?
-How Stephen ended up choosing his own religion
-From the book, which two principles would Stephen most like to teach to his children?
-Discussion about Stephen’s children & Tim’s thoughts about family and kids
-As a mentor, how would Stephen improve his student’s thinking?
-Stephen talks about how it’s sometimes easier to learn from bad examples than great examples
-The surprising origin of the word ‘sophisticated’
-How to overcome “mental masturbation”– wasting mental energy on meaningless nonsense
-In the book, which were the principles that didn’t make it in, but could have made it in alternate universe?
Rapid fire questions:
-What are Stephen’s favorite movies/documentaries?
-What does the first hour of Stephen’s day look like?
-Does the clothing you wear affect your mood or attitude?
-What are Stephen’s favorite sources of reading material?
-If Stephen could provide his younger self one or two pieces of advice, what would those be?
Movies mentioned in episode:
Seven Up!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058578/
Websites mentioned:
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Marginal Revolution
http://marginalrevolution.com/
Freakonomics (Find Stephen here)
Books mentioned:
Companies/organizations mentioned:
Uber
Quantified Self