2021 Listening List
Some of my favorite episodes and series I listened to during 2021
Listed in no particular order, with a one-sentence quote or recollection from the episode
Individual episodes
Annie Duke on “Slight Change of Plans”: The Science of Quitting
Gotta know … when to fold ‘em
Dr. Ken Kamler on “The Decision Science Podcast”: Everest and Extreme Decision-Making
“People often get the time horizons of their goals wrong.”
Min Jin Lee on “Asian Enough”: Author of “Pachinko” and “Free Food for Millionaires”
“I’m a politicized person because I know what happens, and also I know what happened”
NPR’s “Consider This”: Georgia Shooting: The Latest in a Year of Trauma and Terror for Asian Americans
Nothing new here, just perhaps a little more coverage
Balaji Srinivasan on “The Tim Ferriss Show”: Really long episode one, and two
How one blockchain and decentralization enthusiast thinks about the future
Noah Feldman on “The Tim Ferriss Show”: Harvard Polymath
Using history to prepare for the future
Dambisa Moyo on “Making Sense”: The State of the World
Beyond the illuminating content re: economics and policy, I love that Dambisa puts Sam in his place on race
Nicole Snell on “Nike Trained”: Fight for yourself
Self-defense and living life
Mark Davis on “People I Mostly Admire”: [He] can’t stop watching basketball
“You don’t need to have the final word if you have the final say” (or something like that)
Max Tegmark on “People I Mostly Admire”: Treating Humanity Like a Child Will Save Us All
I like these existential chats
“Hidden Brain”: Work 2.0: The Obstacles You Don’t See
Fuel vs. friction: sometimes it’s better to remove impediments than trying to force a change
Robert O’Neill on “The Megyn Kelly Show”: Killing Bin Laden
What a hero
Hugh Jackman on “The Drive”: Reflections…
Who doesn’t love the Wolverine?
Kat Cole on “The Knowledge Project”: The Power of Possible
Leadership, transparency, and learning
Dax Shephard on “Armchair Experts”: Day 7
Relapses happen
Paul Conti on “The Tim Ferriss Show”: How Trauma Works
“We shouldn’t ask why the addiction, we should ask why the pain.”
William MacAskill on “Making Sense”: Doing Good
A nice intro to “effective altruism”
Geraldine Mae Cueva on “Tim and Friends”: Merchant, cannabis connoisseur, and coolest person you need to know
I couldn’t not put a plug in for my own podcast with my best friend, Ger!
Series or seasons
NASA’s Curious Universe mini-series starting with the intro to the Webb Space Telescope
Really fun, digestible, science podcast, and the Webb Space Telescope is launching on December 24, 2021!
Bad Women: The Ripper Retold
New facts and takes on the victims of Jack the Ripper
Data Science Skeptic: Time Series
I love math, and I especially enjoyed this episode on Deep Probabilistic Koopman