People I (Mostly) Admire
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.
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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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
25 snips
Mar 28, 2026 • 42min
15. Tim Harford: “If You Can Make Sure You're Not An Idiot, You've Done Well.”
Tim Harford, former World Bank economist turned journalist and author of The Undercover Economist and The Data Detective. He talks about the power and limits of data visualization, why admitting mistakes matters, and how to craft memorable stories from statistics. Conversations explore historical stats, practical rules for skepticism, and creative disruption in problem solving.
70 snips
Mar 21, 2026 • 43min
13. Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” (UPDATE)
Yul Kwon, former lawyer, FBI Academy instructor, entrepreneur, Survivor winner, and current Google researcher. He talks about overcoming severe childhood anxiety, taking small steps to change, treating a career as a portfolio, the social strategy and game theory that won Survivor, and how island life clarified his priorities.
11 snips
Mar 14, 2026 • 39min
12. Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.”
Sue Bird, legendary WNBA point guard and four-time champion and Olympic gold medalist, reflects on career longevity and smart practice. She talks about clutch performance, court feel, and equipment differences between men’s and women’s basketball. She also discusses WNBA economics, pushing to pay top players more, playing overseas, and life choices like fertility and living openly.
32 snips
Mar 7, 2026 • 34min
11. Paul Romer: “I Figured Out How to Get Myself Fired From the World Bank.”
Paul Romer, Nobel Prize–winning economist known for endogenous growth theory and charter cities. He discusses why big ideas cannot be manufactured. He explains knowledge as a non-rival good and its role in growth. He tells the story of attempting charter cities and the political obstacles. He reflects on quitting as a deliberate strategy and when to choose change over indecision.
47 snips
Feb 28, 2026 • 36min
10. Suzanne Gluck: “I'm a Person Who Can Convince Other People to Do Things”
Suzanne Gluck, a powerhouse literary agent at WME who negotiates major book deals, explains how she evaluates submissions and persuades authors and publishers. She recounts convincing someone to co-write a best-seller and her aggressive, emotional negotiation tactics. Short takes cover query advice, authenticity in writing, gender and power in publishing, and rules she lives by.
82 snips
Feb 21, 2026 • 39min
8. Peter Attia: “I Definitely Lost a Lot of IQ Points That Day”
Peter Attia, a physician known for longevity research and self-experimentation. He talks about nutrition, fasting, and ketosis. He explores sleep’s role in health and nicotine’s surprising effects. He critiques COVID response and describes designing rapid immunity studies. He reflects on career pivots and the limits of chasing immortality.
27 snips
Feb 14, 2026 • 39min
7. Caverly Morgan: "I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative."
Caverly Morgan, an educator and former Zen monk who founded Peace in Schools, talks about silent monastic training and bringing mindfulness into high-school classrooms. She recounts arriving late to a silent retreat, years of monastery routine, why teens take to meditation, and how a classroom pilot grew into a semester course and a children’s book.
112 snips
Feb 7, 2026 • 48min
6. Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy”
Nathan Myhrvold, inventor and former Microsoft CTO known for founding TerraPower and writing Modernist Cuisine, shares wide-ranging pursuits. He discusses studying with Stephen Hawking, creating radical clean-energy ideas like TerraPower and ocean-cooling pumps, the science behind high-temperature pizza baking, and how to nurture gifted kids while deciding when to quit and pivot.
51 snips
Jan 31, 2026 • 31min
5. Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!”
Susan Wojcicki, former Google early hire and longtime YouTube CEO. She recalls renting Google’s garage, explains why Google bought YouTube, and discusses scaling platforms, responsibility for harmful content, moderation strategies, and balancing regulation with company-driven fixes.
91 snips
Jan 24, 2026 • 42min
4. Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird”
Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! champion, bestselling author, and podcaster known for a 74-game streak, talks trivia, memory, and writing. He explains 'geographic memory' and spatial tricks for recall. He recounts training, buzzer timing, and how strategies like James Holzhauer's changed gameplay. He also chats about turning passions into careers and why you should keep the thing that makes you weird.
