Sideways

BBC Radio 4•www.bbc.co.uk

Society & Culture

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.

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Episodes

7. Top of the Pops

You might not have heard of Max Martin, but you've definitely heard the songs he's written. You probably know the words whether you like the songs or not. Martin has written many of the world's biggest pop hits. He has 23 number ones, second only to Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Matthew Syed explores the extraordinary career of the enigmatic pop powerhouse who's one of Sweden's most significant musical exports. Matthew contrasts Martin's songwriting process with the practice of scientific rese...

Mar 24, 2021•29 min

6. A Recipe for Happiness

A young entrepreneur builds the ‘happiest company in the world’, an online shoe retailer so profitable that Amazon snaps it up for over a billion dollars. But what if the company’s profits and happiness could be boosted by a radical reimagining of the workplace? No more bosses, no more job titles, just creativity, equality and pure joy. Matthew Syed tells the extraordinary story of Tony Hsieh, a visionary entrepreneur who abandoned social hierarchy in his Las Vegas-based shoe company. Could it b...

Mar 17, 2021•30 min

5. The Most Selfish People on Earth

On the spacecraft Voyager, hurtling through deep space sits a golden record, filled with the music of planet earth. It is a cultural gift for unknown extraterrestrial life forms. If an alien species discovers this unique double LP, they'll be greeted by the singing of the Mbuti people of the Congo recorded by the anthropologist Colin Turnbull. Matthew Syed examines Turnbull's seemingly utopian experiences in the forest with the Mbuti and contrasts them with his utterly bleak account of the Ik pe...

Mar 10, 2021•28 min

4. Looping the Loop

Matthew Syed asks what the world's greatest fighter pilot can tell us about decision making. He discovers a theory that transformed warfare and might have played a key role in Brexit. John Boyd was a rebel. The quintessential cigar-chomping fighter pilot. A legend within the US Air Force, he was known to be able to shoot down any opponent in a dogfight in under 40 seconds. He developed a decision making tool that would take the military by storm – OODA - observe, orient, decide, act. Boyd explai...

Mar 03, 2021•28 min

3. The West and the Rest

Did a shift in our sexual behaviour 2000 years ago lead to the rise of the west as a globally dominant force? Matthew Syed wants to put the western mind in the spotlight. There’s a good reason for doing this. It turns out that 96% of psychological experiments have been carried out on western students. Why is this? Because western students are easy to access for a psychologist working in a university. This might sound convenient, but there’s a problem - it turns out that westerners think in a par...

Feb 24, 2021•29 min

2. 1 in 73 Million

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently. In this episode, Matthew tells two stories, both of which raise profound questions about how we think. A group of terrified teenagers discover a disturbing app on social media. A world renowned doctor sets out to uncover hidden crimes. The tragic events Matthew examines lead to a mother getting jailed for killing her two children. The key piece of testimony in her trial hinges o...

Feb 10, 2021•29 min

1. Siding with the Enemy

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently. A criminal walks into a Swedish bank brandishing a machine gun. He takes a handful of bank workers hostage. The police lock the victims and their captors in the vault and then things start to get weird. Despite being held captive and threatened with violence, the hostages side with the criminals. Stockholm Syndrome is born. In this episode, Matthew Syed re-examines the birth of ...

Feb 10, 2021•29 min

See The World Differently

Join bestselling author Matthew Syed as he explores the ideas that shape our lives. With sound design from Peabody Prize winner Benbrick, Sideways combines big ideas with narrative storytelling, offering a new perspective on the way we live.

Feb 03, 2021•2 min

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