The simplicity of life back then is appealing today, as long as you don’t mind Church hegemony, the occasional plague, trial by gossip — and the lack of ibuprofen. (Part two of a three-part series, “Cradle to Grave.”)
Jan 23
660. The Wellness Industry Is Gigantic — and Mostly Wrong
Zeke Emanuel (a physician, medical ethicist, and policy wonk) has some different ideas for how to lead a healthy and meaningful life. It starts with ice cream. (Part three of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”) SOURCES:Zeke Emanuel, oncologist, bioethicist, profess ... Show More
1h 5m
Jan 21
Steve Levitt Quits His Podcast, Joins Ours
After five years, Levitt is ending People I (Mostly) Admire, and will start hosting the occasional Freakonomics Radio episode. We couldn’t be happier. SOURCES:Steve Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics and host of People I (Mostly) Admire. RESOURCES:"How to Help Kids Succeed," by Pe ... Show More
45m 58s
Apr 2024
Season 3, Episode 6: Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages
Send us a textJoin Professors Jeffrey Sachs and an expert on religious conflict, Richard E. Rubenstein as they discuss Rubenstein’s book, Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages. Rubenstein skillfully gui ... Show More
48m 49s
Apr 2025
Medieval Codicology (WEIRD MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT ART & MEMES & SNAILS) with Evan Pridmore
<p>Medieval art memes! Human-faced animals! Drunk monks! And a preponderance of snails. Middle Ages manuscript expert, art history communicator, and Medieval Codicologist Evan Pridmore covers: what those golden illuminated Middle Ages manuscripts were made of, who drew them, why ... Show More
1h 14m
Nov 2024
Will Kids Online, In Fact, Be All Right?
<p>In her new FX docuseries “Social Studies,” the artist and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield delves into the post-pandemic lives—and phones—of a group of L.A. teens. Screen recordings of the kids’ social-media use reveal how these platforms have reshaped their experience of the world ... Show More
48m 28s
Aug 2025
Egypt’s Last Hieroglyph and the Fiery Archbishop of Alexandria
August 24, 394. On the walls of a fading Egyptian temple, a priest carves what will become the last known hieroglyph in history. At the same moment, in Alexandria, a fiery archbishop named Theophilus is rising to power. He mocks the ancient Egyptian gods, desecrates their temples ... Show More
33m 21s
<p>From John Cheever’s 1964 short story “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1964/07/18/the-swimmer"><strong>The Swimmer</strong></a>” to Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling 2006 memoir, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Pray-Love-Everything-Indonesia/dp/0143038419"><stro ... Show More