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Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

From the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything, hear authors like you’ve never heard them before. Stephen Dubner and a stable of Freakonomics friends talk with the writers of mind-bending books, and we hear the best excerpts as well. You’ll learn about skill versus chance, the American discomfort with death, the secret life of dogs, and much more.

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.

The Freakonomics Radio Book Club

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings came to believe that corporate rules can kill creativity and innovation. In this episode, Hastings talks about his new book, No Rules Rules, and why for some companies the greatest risk is taking no risks at all. Hosted by Maria Konnikova.

2. What if Your Company Had No Rules?

As beloved and familiar as they are, we rarely stop to consider life from the dog’s point of view. That stops now. In this episode, we discuss the book Inside of a Dog with author and cognitive scientist (and dog devotee) Alexandra Horowitz. Hosted by Stephen Dubner.

3. Forget Everything You Know About Your Dog

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician who would like to put herself out of business. Our corporate funeral industry, she argues, has made us forget how to offer our loved ones an authentic sendoff. In this episode, Doughty shares insights from her book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons From the Crematory. Hosted by Maria Konnikova.

4. How to Be Better at Death

New York Times columnist Charles Blow argues that white supremacy in America will never fully recede, and that it’s time for Black people to do something radical about it. In his new book, The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto, he urges a “reverse migration” to the South to consolidate political power and create a region where it’s safe to be Black. Hosted by Stephen Dubner.

5. A Rescue Plan for Black America

In a word: networks. Once it embraced information as its main currency, New York was able to climb out of a deep fiscal (and psychic) pit. Will that magic trick still work after Covid? In this episode, hear Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess and Transformation, tell us about the past and future of the Big Apple. Hosted by Kurt Andersen.

6. How Does New York City Keep Reinventing Itself?

Bren Smith, who grew up fishing and fighting, is now part of a movement that seeks to feed the planet while putting less environmental stress on it. He makes his argument in a book called Eat Like a Fish; his secret ingredient: kelp. But don’t worry, you won’t have to eat it (not much, at least). Hosted by Stephen Dubner.

8. Is the Future of Farming in the Ocean?

When Richard Thaler published Nudge in 2008 (with co-author Cass Sunstein), the world was just starting to believe in his brand of behavioral economics. How did nudge theory hold up in the face of a global financial meltdown, a pandemic, and other existential crises? With the publication of a new, radically updated edition, Thaler tries to persuade Stephen Dubner that nudging is more relevant today than ever.

9. All You Need Is Nudge

Do you think public bathrooms are too small, smartphones are too big, and public transit just wasn’t made for you? Then you’re probably a woman. In her book Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez argues that products and processes — from medications to snowplow routes — have historically been tailored for the “standard male.” Hosted by Maria Konnikova.

10. Check the Data: It’s a Man’s World

To her neighbors in the English countryside, the woman known as Mrs. Burton was a cake-baking mother of three. To the Soviet Union, she was an invaluable Cold War operative. Ben Macintyre, author of Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy, explains how the woman who fed America’s atomic secrets to the Russians also struggled to balance her family and her cause. Hosted by Sarah Lyall.

11. The Mom Who Stole the Blueprints for the Atomic Bomb

The N.B.A. superstar Chris Bosh was still competing at the highest level when a blood clot abruptly ended his career. In his new book, Letters to a Young Athlete, Bosh covers the highlights and the struggles. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, he talks with guest host Angela Duckworth.

9. All You Need Is Nudge

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