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Dwayne Betts on the Iliad Jul 20, 2026

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What happens when a poet who survived prison sits down with the world's oldest war story--and reads it in three sleepless, wandering days? In this second episode of the EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad, Dwayne Betts and EconTalk host Russ Roberts trade their impressions of the Iliad, discovering it's less about war than about fathers, friendship, and the stubborn dignity people find inside fates they can't escape. Betts connects Achilles's rage and grief to his own experience of incarceration and depression, while Roberts marvels at Homer's cinematic style and the strange tenderness between enemies. Together they unpack the shield of Achilles, the ransom of Hector's body, and how an ancient poem about war still cracks readers open today. It's a conversation about reading as communion--and how a 2,800-year-old story became, unexpectedly, a way of connecting to each other.

From Sawdust to Paw Patrol: The Spin Master Story (with Ronnen Harary) Jul 13, 2026

Show notes

A nylon stocking filled with sawdust that grows grass for hair launched one of the most successful toy companies in the world. Ronnen Harary, co-founder of Spin Master and co-creator of Paw Patrol, talks about his book No Experience Necessary with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Harary traces his journey from selling grass-growing novelty heads at 23, through Devil Sticks and Air Hogs, to building Bakugan and Paw Patrol into global franchises touching the lives of millions of children. Along the way, he reflects on the artistry of commercial creation and what it means to build something that outlives its founders. The conversation closes on the eternal magic of toys and our childhoods.

EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad (with Ido Hevroni) Jul 06, 2026

Show notes

Ego, pride, wrath, fear, gods, superheroes, mortals, and lots of killing. Welcome to Homer's Iliad, which reads at times like a script for a Tarantino film or the latest installment of the Avengers franchise. In the first episode of the EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad, Ido Hevroni of Shalem College speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the surprising relevance of a 2800-year-old epic poem. Hevroni also provides useful background for first-time readers and what it's like to read the Iliad with combat veterans.

Do Less, Heal More: The Case for Medical Conservatism (with John Mandrola) Jun 29, 2026

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What if the surgery that fixed your knee did no better than fake surgery? EconTalk host Russ Roberts speaks with Dr. John Mandrola about a striking clinical trial in which patients who received sham knee surgery (a real incision, but no actual repair) did as well or better than those who had the actual procedure--one performed 700,000 times annually in the U.S. The conversation ranges from the power of placebo and nocebo effects (how expectation of harm can cause real suffering) to the broader philosophy of "medical conservatism"--the idea that humility, watchful waiting, and honest counsel often serve patients better than the knife. Mandrola argues that financial incentives, professional identity, and language itself ("bone-on-bone," "the widowmaker") conspire to push patients toward interventions that can do more harm than good.

Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald) Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

Can a phone be a cow? It could in 1990s Bangladesh. This was the insight of a small number of mobile phone market pioneers who helped catalyze the spread of the greatest technological revolution in human history. Listen as George Mason University economist Philip Auerswald speaks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how the extension of connectivity to traditionally excluded populations led to wide-scale transformations in productivity. They discuss the role of little-known entrepreneurs such as Iqbal Quadir and innovators like Claude Shannon in bringing the mobile phone to the entire world. Other topics include William Nordhaus's paper on the cost of illumination as a powerful metric of human progress, Schumpeter's notion of innovation as new combinations, and what Auerswald calls the most important question the field of economics can ask: How much of human progress is inevitable, and how much depends on the determination of remarkable individuals?

The Case for Sunshine (with Rowan Jacobsen) Jun 15, 2026

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Skin cancer comes from the sun. But so do many good things, according to author Rowan Jacobsen. Jacobsen talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the health benefits of sunshine and makes the case for prudent sun exposure. Topics discussed include the "heliotherapy" movement that peaked in the early 1900s in response to rickets and tuberculosis, why diagnosing skin cancer is on the rise, and why yesterday's sunscreens may have done more harm than good.

The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis) Jun 08, 2026

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Finding community can be difficult. But author Luke Burgis thinks the real challenge begins once we've found it and we're subject to social pressures to conform. Listen as Burgis and EconTalk's Russ Roberts trace the tension between individuals and their tribes through the foundational frameworks, such as family and school, that help forge our identities. Burgis argues that the disappearance of traditional rites of passage bodes ill for major life commitments such as marriage, and recounts his personal journey from Wall Street through the Great Books in search of a strong, differentiated self. He also draws lessons for today's communities from Saint Benedict's 1,500-year-old guide for monastic life and describes the moving ritual he practiced with his father before he died.

Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd) Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

If you want to change the world, how you spend your 80,000 working hours may be the most important decision you can make. Benjamin Todd, founder of 80,000 Hours, joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to dismantle the career advice you've been fed since childhood. "Follow your passion" turns out to be a trap. Chasing a big paycheck barely moves the happiness needle. And being a doctor has a smaller impact than you might think, says Todd. Todd and Roberts wrestle with the real ingredients of a fulfilling career--engaging work, supportive colleagues, meaningful problems--while debating whether Jeff Bezos has lived a worthy life and why most people won't part with 10% of their income to save lives abroad. Along the way, you'll meet unsung heroes like David Nalin, whose solution to dehydration saves millions of children's lives.

Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger) May 25, 2026

Show notes

What does a lifelong atheist do when his dead father appears above him in the emergency room? Author and war reporter Sebastian Junger nearly bled to death in 2020 from a ruptured aneurysm, and what he saw in those moments sent him on a journey into physics, near-death experiences, and the nature of consciousness itself. In his third appearance on EconTalk, Junger discusses his remarkable book In My Time of Dying with host Russ Roberts. He reflects on covering wars from Sarajevo to Afghanistan, the strange phenomenon of dying people seeing the dead, and why he's still an atheist. Along the way, Junger offers a powerful meditation on terror and reverence, blessing and wounding, and why understanding life's fragility might be the most sacred gift of all.

Tom Cruise's Body of Work (with Aled Maclean-Jones) May 18, 2026

Show notes

What can Tom Cruise's last impossible mission teach us about usefulness in the digital age? Aled Maclean-Jones argues that dangling from cargo planes, soldering hard drives, and skydiving nineteen consecutive times is really an extended tribute to embodied knowledge. Listen as MacLean-Jones and EconTalk's Russ Roberts analyze the unique concept of competence presented in Cruise's films. Along the way, they cover London cabbies who refuse to use Waze, a fatal dive at the sound barrier, solo sailing around the globe, and the small triumph of fixing a broken toilet by oneself. They conclude by exploring the possibility that physical mastery may come to matter more as computers take over the work of the mind.

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