Accomplishment and Happiness (Adam Gopnik, Th...

What if uncertainty isn't a temporary problem science will eventually solve, but a fundamental feature of reality? Neuroscientist Stuart Firestein joins Michael Shermer to make the case that the universe may be far less deterministic—and the future far less predictable—than we li ...  Show more

UFOs were once the stuff of tabloids and conspiracy theories. Today they're the subject of congressional hearings, Pentagon investigations, mainstream news coverage, and a new wave of claims about government cover-ups and alien technology. Adam Kirsch, senior editor at The Atlant ...  Show more

Writer and essayist Adam Gopnik has been called “one of the greatest thinkers and wordsmiths of our age.” He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker, to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism since 1986. The internat ...

In many ways, being driven to achieve our goals is a good thing. But what happens when being a high-achiever causes us to lose sight of our larger objectives like being kind or leading a team? In this episode, the author of “How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope, an ...  Show more

The New Yorker essayist explores the mystery of mastery as he tackles skills he believed he could never learn. Including boxing, figure drawing and – in his 50s – driving.

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Today’s book is: The Good-Enough Life (Princeton UP, 2022) by Avram Alpert. We live in a world oriented toward greatness, one in which we feel compelled to be among the wealthiest, most powerful, and most famous. This book explains why no one truly benefits from this competitive ...  Show more