John interviews Adam Tooze, a historian, the author of five books on economic history, and a professor at Columbia University, where he is the director of the interdisciplinary European Institute. Adam also writes a newsletter, “Chartbook,” which in its own words, reports on "economic data, images, stories that matter." Adam’s two latest books deal with the major economic crises of the past two decades. “Crashed” looks back at the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and explains both its causes and the rescue plan that got us out of it – though not without eroding democracies aroun ..read more

John interviews Steve Coll, a staff writer at The New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, an author of eight books, and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize.  Between 1989 and 1992, he worked as The Washington Post's South Asia bureau chief. That experience ultimately led him to write two books on Afghanistan and Pakistan (with a third on the way). The first, “Ghost Wars,” won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005. It chronicles the C.I.A.'s secret wars in Afghanistan and how these fueled the founding of Al Qaeda. The second, “Directorate S,” focuses on the Pentagon and C.I.A.’s s ..read more

John interviews Jeffrey Stern. An award-winning journalist and the author of three books, Jeffrey originally started his career as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan. In 2018, his book “The 15:17 to Paris” was adapted into a film by Clint Eastwood, and in 2019, he won the Overseas Press Club award for best human rights reporting in any medium and Amnesty International’s USA Media Award in the international news category. John talks to Jeffrey about how he became a writer; his first book, “The Last Thousand,” which tells the story of a school in the slums of Kabul that has sent kids to Ivy ..read more

John interviews Joseph Kanon, a former publishing executive who became a best-selling author in his 50s. Joseph’s spy novels take place in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War that followed. He published his debut novel, “Los Alamos,” in 1997, and the story of a murder set against the backdrop of the Manhattan Project won the Edgar Award for best first novel. His third novel, “The Good German,” was adapted to the big screen by director Steven Soderbergh and starred George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Joseph’s stories are told through characters navigating ethically fraught terrain ..read more

John interviews Priya Donti, a Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also the co-founder and chair of Climate Change A.I., an organization working at the intersection of climate science and machine learning. Priya’s goal is to use machine learning to analyze, slow, and adapt to climate change. This could include optimizing pollutive supply chains, improving climate models, and helping researchers create next-generation batteries. John and Priya talk about these applications; machine learning’s relevance for insurance companies; and why A.I. isn’t a silver bu ..read more

John interviews journalist Josh Tyrangiel. After quickly rising through the ranks at Time Magazine, Josh became the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and then the executive vice president of news at Vice Media. There, he launched the Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning “Vice News Tonight.” Last year, Josh joined Eden Productions, as a development executive in charge of documentaries. John talks to Josh about his career, the future of the news business, and what makes for a good podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information ..read more

John interviews Tim Higgins. Tim is a tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal, a regular CNBC contributor, and the author of “Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century.”  The book chronicles Tesla’s multiple near-death experiences and shows how it came to symbolize the electric car and, ultimately, grew into the largest automaker in the world by market value. However, Tim says, “this isn't the story of Elon Musk,” and the book reports on many of the other figures that give Tesla its edge. John and Tim discuss Musk’s penchant for bold moves (good and bad); Tesla’s true com ..read more

John interviews Mark Tercek, a former partner at Goldman Sachs who left the world of finance to become the CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – the world’s largest environmental nonprofit organization. During his 11 years at TNC, the organization raised over $7 billion dollars to fight climate change and protect land and water around the world. Tercek is also the author of “Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.” John and Mark discuss the move from investment banking to environmentalism, why he brought a business approach to the organization, and how t ..read more

John interviews journalist Josh Tyrangiel. After quickly rising through the ranks at Time Magazine, Josh became the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and then the executive vice president of news at Vice Media. There, he launched the Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning “Vice News Tonight.” Last year, Josh joined Eden Productions, as a development executive in charge of documentaries. John talks to Josh about his career, the future of the news business, and what makes for a good podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information ..read more

John interviews award-winning journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. about a recent essay, published in Medium, where he excoriates the Biden administration's handling of the pandemic. In part one of this two-part interview, John and Donald discuss the administration’s aforementioned stumbles; the financial incentives motivating the leaders of the anti-vaccine movement; and the deadly risks posed by the Delta variant, as tens of millions of unvaccinated children return to school. Make sure to tune in tomorrow for part two, to hear John and Donald discuss the coronavirus’ origins. See acast.com/priv ..read more