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Andrew Leigh – The Shortest History of Innovation

    Conversations | 20 February 2026 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify

    Interview with Andrew Leigh about his book The Shortest History of Innovation. Explores human innovation from the wheel to artificial intelligence, debunking the ‘lone genius’ myth by emphasising tinkering, diverse teams, and global trade. Highlights how transformative innovations – from penicillin and the printing press to the stirrup and flush toilet – often bring unforeseen societal disruption. Discusses why certain societies innovate more, the impact of agriculture, urbanisation, and current challenges like AI and climate change.

    Book cover

    See also episodes with Andrew Leigh about earlier books. And other episodes on innovation.

    Saloni Dattani – The Hidden Bottleneck Holding Back the Future of Medicine

      Infinite Loops | 30 April 2026 | 1h 25m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
      Interview with Saloni Dattani discussing why medical innovation is often much slower than it needs to be. Explores why so much research still begins in animal models, how poor data distorts our understanding of disease, why clinical trials are one of the biggest bottlenecks in medicine, and how better systems could help promising treatments reach patients faster. Draws from her Substack Scientific Discovery, Works in Progress, and her podcast Hard Drugs.

      Saloni Dattani is one of my favourite thinkers. The Rationally Thinking episode is, I think, one of the very best on this site.

      Douglas H. Erwin – The Origins of the New

        Princeton UP Ideas Podcast | 6 April 2026 | 0h 46m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
        Interview with Douglas E. Erwin about his book The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology. Traces how thinkers from Darwin’s time to the present day have sought to discover the driving mechanisms of evolutionary novelty. Makes the case for separating novelty from innovation, showing that novelty involves the emergence of unique characteristics, while innovation concerns the success of those characteristics over time. Outlines a unifying conceptual framework for these dynamics, demonstrating how they have shaped everything from the evolution of avian feathers and flight to the creation of human language and advances in digital computing.

        One of more than 75 episodes on evolution.

        Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rule-Breakers

          The Next Big Idea Club | 10 July 2025 | 0h 44m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
          Interview with Helen Lewis about her book The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea. Argues that the term genius grants people membership in a supposedly superior class that affords them licence for noxious eccentricities, exasperating ego trips, and downright bad behavior. Advocates a more nuanced understanding of creativity that leaves room for building on others’ ideas, understands that expertise is domain-specific, and that luck and timing play major roles in big achievements.

          How Henry VIII Accidentally Started the Industrial Revolution, with Anton Howes

            Works in Progress | 29 July 2025 | 1h 11m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
            Interview with Anton Howes discussing how Henry VIII turned Britain into an economic backwater – making it the unlikeliest place for the Industrial Revolution to happen. But, he explains it only took a small cabal of people who understood the problems of the time to turn the fate of the country (and thus, the world) around.

            See other episodes with Anton Howes and make sure you subscribe to Age of Invention, his Substack. I also recommend the Works in Progress newsletter.

            Matt Ridley: How Your 14X Richer Future Arrives Faster Than You Think

              The Rational Optimist Society | 4 June 2025 | 0h 50m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
              Interview with Matt Ridley discussing the policies that unleash innovation, why free trade is crucial for prosperity, the surprising region Matt Ridley is “max long” on for the next decade, China’s tech trajectory, the future of biotech beyond Ozempic, the real cost of current energy policies, and why censorship is a critical threat to progress.

              Chelsea Follett on Centers of Progress

                The San Francisco Experience | 27 July 2023 | 0h 30m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
                Interview with Chelsea Follett about her book Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World. Discusses cities whose innovations have transformed human lives and reflects on the freedom, openness, and population concentration common to these transformations.

                What the EV Industry’s Challenges Reveal About Innovation and Regulation

                  HBR Ideacast | 4 February 2025 | 0h 27m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
                  Interview with Mike Colias about his book Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles. Draws lessons on managing innovation, regulation, and competition from the experience of the EV industry transitioning to electric vehicles.