Jeanette Winterson on Making Peace with the Past

Conversations | 12 December 2016 | 0h 50m | Listen Later
Interview with Jeanette Winterson recounting stories from her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson endured a difficult childhood before going on to become one of Britain’s most successful writers. Very very funny.

Gary Klein on Pre-Mortem Analysis

Capital Allocators | 23 September 2019 | 0h 49m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Gary Klein about tools to improve decision-making, including the Shadow Box technique, Cognitive After-Action Reviews, and Pre-Mortems. Dives deep on Pre-Mortem analysis, starting with its history in the Air Force, what it is, how it works, when it falls short, and the benefits of reducing overconfidence, time efficiency, increasing candor, and making groups smarter. Also critiques other risk mitigation techniques such as devil’s advocates, red teams, and risk assessment.

America’s Child Brides

The Documentary | 29 September 2019 | 0h 51m | Listen Later | iTunes
48 out of 50 American states allow a child to marry, usually with parental consent or a judge’s discretion. In 17 states there is no minimum age, meaning in theory, a two-year-old could marry. Backgrounds the campaign to change the law and raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 without exceptions across all American states.

Max Hastings on the Dambusters

History Extra | 19 September 2019 | 0h 37m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Max Hastings about his book Chastise: The Dambusters Story 1943. A retake on a familiar story. Hastings argues that while the airmen were brave and Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the bouncing bomb was innovative, that the disruption to the Nazi war effort was temporary rather than crippling. Arthur Harris, the head of Bomber Command, opposed the attack, received much of the public credit, and failed to capitalise by attacking the repair operation.

Bethany McLean on Saudi America

Reader’s Corner | 4 January 2019 | 0h 29m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Bethany McLean about her book Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World. Fracking has upended the global energy map, transforming America into the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas. But McLean sets out that fracking has grown with cheap money and capital raising without delivering the promised returns.

Prohibition

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy | 30 September 2019 | 0h 10m | Listen Later | iTunes
When the US outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, it inadvertently created one of the most successful black markets in the world. Tim Harford considers how much it costs to make something illegal, and what a failed law reveals about the way criminals make their money.

Keeping the Flywheel in Motion with Jim Collins

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish | 1 October 2019 | 2h 23m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Jim Collins. Explores what makes companies and people successful using the lenses of level 5 leadership, flywheels, bullets and cannonballs, the twenty-mile march, compounding and leadership. Draws out key ideas from Good to Great, Turning the Flywheel, Built to Last, and How the Mighty Fall.

The Rise of the East India Company with William Dalrymple

Dan Snow’s History Hit | 26 September 2019 | 0h 42m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with William Dalrymple about his book The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire. Discusses the rise of the East India Company, from the decline of the Mughals to alliance with powerful Indian bankers, as well as weighing in on some of the most important questions which have dogged the role of the British in India for generations.