People I (Mostly) Admire cover art

People I (Mostly) Admire

Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt tracks down other high achievers for surprising, revealing conversations about their lives and obsessions.

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Every guest on People I (Mostly) Admire

160 guests, ranked by how many people never want them back.

  1. —
    Ken Burns

    88. Ken Burns on Heroism, Horror, and History · Sep 2022

    0 votes
  2. —
    Arnold Schwarzenegger

    122. Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You · Jan 2024

    0 votes
  3. —
    Yuval Noah Harari

    84. Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing · Jul 2022

    0 votes
  4. —
    Max Tegmark

    52. Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave (Part 2) · Nov 2021

    0 votes
  5. —
    Carl Hart

    28. Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve? · 3 episodes

    0 votes
  6. —
    Rick Doblin

    115. The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic · Sep 2023

    0 votes
  7. —
    Avi Loeb

    113. Do We Have Evidence of Alien Life? · Sep 2023

    0 votes
  8. —
    David Eagleman

    144. Feeling Sound and Hearing Color · Nov 2024

    0 votes
  9. —
    Peter Singer

    90. Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt · Oct 2022

    0 votes
  10. —
    Richard Dawkins

    137. Richard Dawkins on God, Genes, and Murderous Baby Cuckoos · Aug 2024

    0 votes
  11. —
    Nate Silver

    117. Nate Silver Says We're Bad at Making Predictions · Oct 2023

    0 votes
  12. —
    Peter Attia

    8. Peter Attia: “I Definitely Lost a Lot of IQ Points That Day” · 3 episodes

    0 votes
  13. —
    Robert Sapolsky

    18. Robert Sapolsky: “I Don’t Think We Have Any Free Will Whatsoever.” · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  14. —
    Kevin Kelly

    106. Will A.I. Make Us Smarter? · May 2023

    0 votes
  15. —
    Tim Harford

    15. Tim Harford: “If You Can Make Sure You're Not An Idiot, You've Done Well.” · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  16. —
    John McWhorter

    72. “Leaving Black People in the Lurch” · Apr 2022

    0 votes
  17. —
    Michael Lewis

    63. The Only Covid-19 Book Worth Reading · Feb 2022

    0 votes
  18. —
    David Simon

    109. David Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why. · Jul 2023

    0 votes
  19. —
    Caroline Paul

    131. Getting Old, Adventurously · May 2024

    0 votes
  20. —
    Chris Anderson

    138. Chris Anderson on the Power of TED · Aug 2024

    0 votes
  21. —
    Wendy MacNaughton

    Drawing from Life (and Death) (Update) · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  22. —
    Fei Fei Li

    118. “My God, This Is a Transformative Power” · Nov 2023

    0 votes
  23. —
    Sue Bird

    12. Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.” · 3 episodes

    0 votes
  24. —
    Cat Bohannon

    125. Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever? · Feb 2024

    0 votes
  25. —
    Angela Duckworth

    32. Angela Duckworth Explains How to Manage Your Goal Hierarchy · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  26. —
    Jared Diamond

    55. Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours · Dec 2021

    0 votes
  27. —
    Maya Shankar

    34. Maya Shankar Is Changing People’s Behavior — and Her Own · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  28. —
    Andrew Yang

    54. Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet · Dec 2021

    0 votes
  29. —
    Rajiv Shah

    127. Rajiv Shah Never Wastes a Crisis · Mar 2024

    0 votes
  30. —
    Edward Glaeser

    44. Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away · Sep 2021

    0 votes
  31. —
    Austan Goolsbee

    61. Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last? · Feb 2022

    0 votes
  32. —
    Bapu Jena

    41. Dr. Bapu Jena on Why Freakonomics Is the Best Medicine · Aug 2021

    0 votes
  33. —
    Emily Oster

    17. Emily Oster: “I Am a Woman Who Is Prominently Discussing Vaginas.” · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  34. —
    Helen Czerski

    121. Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans · Dec 2023

    0 votes
  35. —
    John Donohue

    20. John Donohue: “I'm Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution.” · 2 episodes

    0 votes
  36. —
    John List

    94. The Price of Doing Business with John List · Dec 2022

    0 votes
  37. —
    Joshua Angrist

    70. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Experiment · Apr 2022

    0 votes
  38. —
    Richard Thaler

    58. Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist? · Jan 2022

    0 votes
  39. —
    Werner Herzog

    120. Werner Herzog Thinks His Films Are a Distraction · Dec 2023

    0 votes
  40. —
    Bruce Friedrich

    29. Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat · 2 episodes

    0 votes

Recent episodes

245 episodes from the feed, newest first.

  1. 38. Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2)

    with Sendhil Mullainathan

    Sep 2026
  2. 37. Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time

    with Sendhil Mullainathan

    Aug 2026
  3. 36. How Rahm Emanuel Would Run the World

    with Rahm Emanuel

    Aug 2026
  4. 35. David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything

    with David Epstein

    Aug 2026
  5. 34. Maya Shankar Is Changing People’s Behavior — and Her Own

    with Maya Shankar

    Aug 2026
  6. 33. Travis Tygart Is Coming for Cheaters — Just Ask Lance Armstrong

    with Travis Tygart

    Aug 2026
  7. 32. Angela Duckworth Explains How to Manage Your Goal Hierarchy

    with Angela Duckworth

    Jul 2026
  8. 31. Peter Leeson on Why Trial-by-Fire Wasn’t Barbaric and Why Pirates Were Democratic

    with Peter Leeson

    Jul 2026
  9. 30. Dambisa Moyo Says Foreign Aid Can’t Solve Problems, but Maybe Corporations Can

    with Dambisa Moyo

    Jul 2026
  10. 29. Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat

    with Bruce Friedrich

    Jul 2026
  11. 28. Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve?

    with Carl Hart

    Jun 2026
  12. 27. Daniel Kahneman on Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About It

    with Daniel Kahneman

    Jun 2026
  13. 26. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis Helps Steve Train His Brain

    with Nelson Dellis

    Jun 2026
  14. 25. Sam Harris: “Spirituality Is a Loaded Term.”

    with Sam Harris

    Jun 2026
  15. 24. Are We Under Threat from a New Kind of Terror? (Replay Ep. 24)

    with Amaryllis Fox

    May 2026
  16. 23. Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything

    with Greg Norman

    May 2026
  17. 22. Sal Khan: “If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.”

    with Sal Khan

    May 2026
  18. 21. Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?”

    with Pete Docter

    May 2026
  19. 20. John Donohue: “I'm Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution.”

    with John Donohue

    May 2026
  20. 19. Marina Nitze: “If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.”

    with Marina Nitze

    Apr 2026
  21. 18. Robert Sapolsky: “I Don’t Think We Have Any Free Will Whatsoever.”

    with Robert Sapolsky

    Apr 2026
  22. 17. Emily Oster: “I Am a Woman Who Is Prominently Discussing Vaginas.”

    with Emily Oster

    Apr 2026
  23. 16. Joshua Jay: “Humans Are So, So Easy to Fool.”

    with Joshua Jay

    Apr 2026
  24. 15. Tim Harford: “If You Can Make Sure You're Not An Idiot, You've Done Well.”

    with Tim Harford

    Mar 2026
  25. 13. Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” (UPDATE)

    with Yul Kwon

    Mar 2026