Carlo Rovelli is no ordinary scientist. With a genius for revealing the mysteries the universe to those of us without his gifts, he is the heir to Hawking, Sagan, and Feynman; and alone among the leaders of theoretical physics, he draws as much upon art, philosophy, and myth as equations and experiments to illuminate the splendour and strangeness of reality. Now he joins one of the UK’s preeminent theatre practitioners, the wildly innovative actor, director, and founder of Complicite, Simon McBu...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Both a renowned psychotherapist and the 'best living essayist writing in English' (John Gray), Adam Phillips joins us to reflect upon what we must give up in order to feel more alive. To give up or not to give up? The question can feel inescapable but the answer is never simple. Giving up our supposed vices is one thing; giving up on life itself is quite another. One form of self-sacrifice feels positive, something to admire and aspire to, while the other is profoundly unsettling, if not activel...
Jan 30, 2024•30 min
We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... We've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. Dr Anna Lembke is here to help. Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, and an internationally renowned expert in addiction medicine treatment and e...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Do human beings have free will? For Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, science clearly demonstrates that free will is a powerful and dangerous illusion. Without free will, it makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than it does to scold a car for breaking down. But for philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, free will is not only compatible with our current scientific knowledge but justified by it. Free will underwrites our moral and artistic responsibilit...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 9 min
We’re in the middle of a global anxiety epidemic. But when it comes to fighting anxiety, you have more control than you think: the power is at the end of your fork. Psychiatrist and chef Dr Uma Naidoo joins us with a guide for taking back control, helping us to understand how food can be an indispensable tool in improving mental health. This podcast is presented in partnership with MindHealth360. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Every year we host a big thinker at the music festival Wilderness and our guest in 2023 was Sathnam Sanghera, the Times journalist whose two books on the history of the British Empire - Empireland and Stolen History - have transformed the way we think about our past and present. Sathnam returns to How To Academy on 25th January to tell us about Empireworld - his new book about the lasting impact of the Empire on other nations. A few tickets are still available on our website . Learn more about y...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Each month our sister podcast Found in Conversation explores global affairs and innovation with world-leading thinkers. In this episode, Oxford data scientist and TED star Hannah Richie and investor Rosa Sangiorgio reveal how we can overcome the climate crisis and become the first sustainable generation in history. If you enjoy the episode, you can subscribe to Found In Conversation on Apple or Spotify. Hannah explores the themes of this episode in more depth in her new book Not the End of the W...
Jan 13, 2024•35 min•Season 12Ep. 3
Mariana Mazzucato’s ideas have changed how governments see their role in the economy - but where do we go from here? Regular listeners will have heard the economist Mariana Mazzucato on this podcast before -- with George the Poet on modern-day moonshot programmes to can transform the economy, and with journalist Kamal Ahmed with a searing critique of the consulting industry. She recently returned to How To Academy to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking book that launched her ca...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Dan Ariely is a superstar TED talker and a world-leading social psychologist, specialising in the study of irrational behaviour and bad decisions. His new book Misbelief is a guide to why some people adopt conspiratorial beliefs and how the rest of us can help rather than make things worse - and offer advice to help us reduce our own susceptibility to such beliefs. He joined the podcast to share his insights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jan 05, 2024•44 min
Cambridge Professor Mary Beard has done more than anyone to bring the world of ancient Rome to life again. Comedian David Mitchell once studied history and won’t let it off the hook for the mess it’s made of everything. They came together to tell the story of our rulers -- from the emperors who ruled Britannia under the Roman occupation to the kings and queens who succeeded them and created England as we know it today. Mary's new book Emperor of Rome and David's new book Unruly are both availabl...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Those of us who suffer from anxiety either exhaust ourselves trying to cure it or resign ourselves to a lifetime of fear and worry. What if, instead of fighting our anxiety, we could turn it into a strength? Harvard's David Rosmarin has developed strategies to harness the power of anxiety to learn about ourselves, deepen our relationships with others, and achieve our deepest goals and dreams. His constructive, compassionate, and evidence-based approach will not rid you of your anxiety. Instead, ...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Immigration is probably the most divisive and heated subject in British politics today and the same is true in many other countries, including the Netherlands - where our guest on this episode, Hein de Haas, is a Professor focused on migration and development. His new book How Migration Really Works is an eye-opener for anyone seeking an understanding of why people immigrate and what it means for their origin countries and destination countries. Neither left-wing or right-wing, the book illumina...
Dec 15, 2023•35 min
Why are our closest relationships so often a source of more stress than solace? Whether the relationship is with a romantic partner, a parent, a child, a friend or a colleague, the dynamic is so often the same - you'd like the relationship to change for the better, yet nothing you try seems to work. Clinical psychologist Nicole LePera, creator of the global online community The Holistic Psychologist, joins the podcast to help us revolutionise our relationships. Her new book How to Be the Love Yo...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min
In a society riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception, How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How can we foster deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives? The New York Times columnist and bestselling author of The Road to Character joins Will Storr to share a practical, inspiring guide to understanding others and being understood in turn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Walter Isaacson was the editor in chief of Time magazine and CEO of CNN but he's best known to the public for his incredible biographies - including Leonardo da vinci, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs. He is the official biographer of Elon Musk and shadowed Musk through the saga of his purchase of Twitter. He joined us in London for a conversation with Matthew d'Ancona. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Amy Edmondson is one of the world's most influential organisational psychologists, a professor at Harvard Business School, and an expert on the concept of psychological safety. She joined to answer a simple, provocative question: what if it is only by learning to fail that we can truly hope to succeed? Her new book Right Kind of Wrong doesn't tell us that failure is a problem; but it doesn't tell us to fail fast, fail often either. It tells us how to fail well. She joined Hannah MacInnes to shar...
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr•Season 11Ep. 24
Marina Abramovic is an artist who for more than fifty years has pushed her mind and body to their limits - whether walking into a fire and almost dying from smoke inhalation, being stripped and attacked while passively allowing the public to manipulate her with tools and weapons, or sitting without interruption in MOMA for more than 700 hours facing the public. She's currently in London playing Maria Callas on stage at the English National Opera; and she's got a major retrospective of her work a...
Nov 28, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Luke O'Neill is a Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College, Dublin and one of the world's most respected immunologists, with 6 major discoveries to his name. He's also an infectiously enthusiastic broadcaster and public advocate for science. He's also a newspaper columnist and now the author of a wildly fun new history of science called To Boldly Go Where No Book Has Gone Before . He joined the How To Acadmey Podcast to tell us about his own career, and share the stories of both the most cel...
Nov 24, 2023•36 min
With more than forty years of clinical and research experience investigating the mind-body connection, Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel is sought out the world over for his expertise on the therapeutic potential of hypnosis – sharing his insights with everyone from world leaders at the WEF in Davos to health podcast superstar Andrew Huberman. Now he joins How To Academy to reveal what self-hypnosis can do for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Nov 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min
A global superstar following his legendary cover version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity aboard the ISS, Colonel Chris Hadfield is also an ace fighter pilot, a veteran of two space walks, the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, the former NASA Director of Operations in Russia, one of the most popular TED talkers of all time, an adviser to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, and was personally asked by King Charles to help lead a new project to protect the space environment. He joins the How To ...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 31 min
Iain McGilchrist’s book The Master and His Emissary was that rare thing: a bestselling classic of modern philosophy with genuine relevance to human life. It’s sequel, The Matter With Things, takes McGilchrist’s core insights into the nature of the mind and brain and explores their relevance for the myriad problems of modern life and civilisation. Drawing together his insights as a scholar and practitioner of medicine, psychiatry, neuroscience, philosophy, theology and the arts, and directly addr...
Nov 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min
For decades, Philippa Gregory has thrilled us with tales of the court and the machinations of kings, queens, and courtiers. Now she turns her attention not to the lives of our rulers but the ordinary women whose lives and accomplishments are missing from the national story: a hidden history of those who had no legal presence, no voice in government and no right to own property – but still ruled, governed, and made fortunes. Highlighting the drive, ingenuity and vast contribution made, Philippa p...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Conde Nast’s MD Albert Read is on a mission to put the imagination back at the forefront of our lives. Albert joins the podcast to examine how the imagination has evolved through the millennia, and how you can nurture and cultivate your own creativity. His interlocutor Will Gompertz was a Director of the Tate Galleries and is now the Artistic Director of the Barbican. A household name from his time as the BBC’s first ever Arts Editor, he’s the internationally bestselling author of books distilli...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 22 min
From his early movies to his later documentaries, he has made a career out of exploring the boundaries of human endurance: what we are capable of in exceptional circumstances and what these situations reveal about who we really are. But these are not just great cinematic themes. All his life, Herzog would embrace risk and danger, constantly looking for challenges and adventures. He joins Mark Kermode to reveal the influences and ideas that drive his creativity and have shaped his unique view of ...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Every month the How To Academy team release a new episode of Found in Conversation with our friends at Pictet. In this episode, we explore the past, present, and future of the European Project with Oxford Prof Timothy Garton Ash and Baroness Catherine Ashton, former EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 27, 2023•36 min
A Professor at Harvard Business School specialising in happiness and leadership, Arthur Brooks joins us to share his insights into realising greater happiness, no matter how challenging your circumstances. Drawing upon the ideas in Build the Life You Want , his new book co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, he will offer not unrealistic promises of perfect bliss, but evidence-based tools to meet you wherever you are and make greater happiness a choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Zeke Faux is an investigative reporter for Bloomberg and the author of Number Goes Up - a wild, first hand account of his journey into the world of crypto currencies and the larger than life he met along the way - including Sam Bankman Fried, the founder of FTX. He joined us for a conversation with Oliver Bullow, the author of Butler to the World and Moneyland . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 20, 2023•38 min
Menopause affects every woman, and yet so many approach it with shame, fear, misinformation or silence. Why is no one talking about this? Who has the correct information? And how can we get it? Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter are here to tell you the truth, so you can make informed decisions about your life and your body. By exploring and explaining the science, debunking damaging myths, and smashing the taboos around the perimenopause and menopause, Davina and Naomi will equip you to make the...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Today we face not one crisis but a cascade: sputtering growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, an escalating climate emergency, worsening inequality, increasing nationalism and a decline in global co-operation. But though the situation seems dire, it is not yet broken beyond repair. In this episode, we bring together former UK PM Gordon Brown, business leader and former chair of President Obama's Global Development Council Mohamed El-Erian, and Nobel laureate economist Michael Spence t...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 17 min
We are on the cusp of a major revolution in psychiatric medicine and neuroscience. After fifty years of prohibition, criminalisation and fear, science is finally showing us that psychedelics are not dangerous or harmful. Instead, when used according to tested, safe and ethical guidelines, they are our most powerful newest treatment of mental health conditions, from depression, PTSD, and OCD to disordered eating and even addiction and chronic pain. Professor David Nutt, one of the world's leading...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 14 min
