Comedic actor, producer, and writer Rainn Wilson visits Google to discuss his book “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.” The book is a deep-dive into the problem-solving benefits that spirituality gives us to create solutions for an increasingly challenging world. The trauma that our species has experienced in recent years is not going away anytime soon. Existing political and economic systems are not enough to bring the change that the world needs. In this book, Rainn Wilson explores...
Sep 19, 2023•59 min•Ep 382•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Robert Califf visits Google to share his views on the nascent field of technology-enabled healthcare. One of the most prominent and influential physician-scientists in the US, Robert is the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, where he is responsible for protecting public health by assuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs and medical devices. Described as “the most qualified commissioner in the FDA's History”, Dr. Califf is a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Duke ...
Sep 15, 2023•55 min•Ep 381•Transcript available on Metacast Actor, producer and director Idris Elba visits Google to discuss the creative influence that Africa and its diaspora has across the tech, entertainment and business worlds. The only child of African immigrants to the UK, Idris Elba is one of a handful of British actors who can claim to be a Hollywood leading man. In 2002, he rose to fame playing the role of Stringer Bell in HBO’s “The Wire”, which is still considered to be one of the finest TV dramas ever made. He went on to big-screen success a...
Sep 12, 2023•45 min•Ep 380•Transcript available on Metacast Behaviorist dog trainer Rob Peladeau visits Google to discuss effective strategies for training your dog. Rob has been training dogs for almost twenty years, specializing in behavior modification and rehabilitation of aggressive and reactive dogs, as well as problem solving for unwanted behaviors. Rob and his company NextGen K9 specialize in helping dogs that struggle to cope with the urban environment we live in. Many unwanted traits become apparent when dogs are not given the right stimulus th...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 379•Transcript available on Metacast Author and research scientist Lewis Dartnell visits Google to discuss his book “Being Human: How our Biology Shaped World History.” The book explores how our biology has shaped our relationships, our societies, our economies and our wars, and how it continues to challenge and define our progress. Powerful yet dextrous, instinctive yet thoughtful, humans are expert communicators and innovators. Our exceptional abilities have created the civilization we know today. But we're also deeply flawed. Ou...
Sep 05, 2023•56 min•Ep 378•Transcript available on Metacast Psychotherapist Barry Michels visits Google to discuss his book “The Tools,” which he co-authored with psychiatrist Phil Stutz. The book presents a uniquely effective set of four tools that bring about dynamic change in the present and impart a greater understanding of the depth and complexity of the human condition. “The Tools” addresses the most common complaint patients have about psychotherapy: the interminable wait for change to begin. Barry Michels, an LA-based therapist, was frustrated by...
Sep 01, 2023•57 min•Ep 377•Transcript available on Metacast Psychologist, author and mindfulness performance expert George Mumford visits Google to discuss his book “Unlocked: Embrace Your Greatness, Find the Flow, Discover Success”. We all strive to find flow, when our skills, expertise, and mindset are aligned and we can perform at the highest level. George Mumford calls this being “unlocked”—a state anyone can achieve at any time. As a psychologist trained in the field of mindfulness and personal development expert, Mumford has decades of experience h...
Aug 29, 2023•47 min•Ep 376•Transcript available on Metacast Author Sam Gosling visits Google to discuss his book "Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You". Does what's on your desk reveal what's on your mind? Do those pictures on your walls tell true tales about you? And is your favorite outfit about to give you away? For the last ten years, psychologist Sam Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds, such as desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and our cars, he shows not only how we showcase...
Aug 25, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 375•Transcript available on Metacast Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance visits Google to discuss her book “Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark.” The book is an inspirational and science-packed memoir that details how she carved out a place in the field of astrophysics, grounding herself in her passion and a lifelong love of the stars. As a child, Sarafina spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. The daughter of an A...
Aug 22, 2023•49 min•Ep 374•Transcript available on Metacast Russell Brand and Bob Roth visit Google to discuss transcendental meditation, commonly referred to as TM, and how it has greatly improved their lives. Comedian, actor, and best-selling author Russell Brand has been practicing Transcendental Meditation for nearly 10 years. He says the technique has been instrumental in fostering creativity, appreciating fatherhood, and maintaining his recovery from addiction. Bob Roth, a TM teacher, taught Russell to meditate and the two remain close friends. Bob...
Aug 18, 2023•54 min•Ep 373•Transcript available on Metacast Songwriter and recording artist Jason Derulo visits Google to discuss his book “Sing Your Name Out Loud: 15 Rules for Living Your Dream.” The book tells the remarkable story of Jason’s come up, told through the fifteen rules he lives by—like working hardest at what comes easiest, taking calculated risks, sticking to a routine, and respecting the numbers—which he credits with turning his many far-fetched goals over the years into reality. In 2009, an 18-year-old son of Haitian immigrants burst on...
Aug 15, 2023•43 min•Ep 372•Transcript available on Metacast Tim Urban has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers. With wry stick-figure illustrations and occasionally epic prose on everything from procrastination to artificial intelligence, Urban's blog, “Wait But Why”, has garnered millions of unique page views, thousands of patrons and famous fans like Elon Musk. Urban has previously written long form posts on “The Road to Superintelligence”, and his recent TED talk has more than 6 million views. Tim speaks about his blog “Wait but Why” and ...
Aug 11, 2023•53 min•Ep 371•Transcript available on Metacast Dominique Roques visits Google to discuss his book “In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Source of Nature's Scents.” The book contains a mix of history, travelog, and memoir from one of the perfume industry’s leading scouts of natural ingredients, as he tells the story of the precious plants needed to make our favorite fragrances. Do you know how many flowers it takes to produce a kilo of rose oil? One million roses, each handpicked. When it comes to nature, Dominique Roques is a uni...
Aug 08, 2023•44 min•Ep 370•Transcript available on Metacast Jia Jiang visits Google to discuss his book “Rejection Proof.” Jia came to the United States with the dream of being the next Bill Gates. But despite early success in the corporate world, his first attempt to pursue his entrepreneurial dream ended in rejection. Jia was crushed, and spiraled into a period of deep self doubt. But he realized that his fear of rejection was a bigger obstacle than any single rejection would ever be, and he needed to find a way to cope with being told no without letti...
Aug 04, 2023•54 min•Ep 369•Transcript available on Metacast Award-winning structural engineer Roma Agrawal visits Google to discuss her book “Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way.” The book takes readers on a deep dive into the seven most basic building blocks of engineering that have shaped the modern world. From the physics behind both Roman nails and modern skyscrapers, to rudimentary springs that inspired lithium batteries, Agrawal shows us how even the most sophisticated items are built on the foundations of the...
Aug 01, 2023•41 min•Ep 368•Transcript available on Metacast Vanessa Van Edwards visits Google to discuss her book “Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People.” Do you feel awkward at networking events? Do you wonder what your date really thinks of you? Do you wish you could just decode people? To do this and more, you need to learn the science of people. As a human behavior hacker, Vanessa Van Edwards created a research lab to study the hidden forces that drive us. In her book “Captivate”, she shares shortcuts, systems, and secrets for taking charg...
Jul 28, 2023•49 min•Ep 367•Transcript available on Metacast Tim Spector visits Google to discuss his book “Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well”, an easy-to-follow guide on how to eat—for our health and the health of the planet. Tim’s book reveals a new approach to nutrition, encouraging us to forget misleading calorie counts and nutritional breakdowns. In “Food for Life”, he draws on over a decade of cutting-edge scientific research, along with his own personal insights, to deliver a new and comprehensive approach to what we should all know abo...
Jul 25, 2023•49 min•Ep 366•Transcript available on Metacast Eric Ries visits Google to discuss his book ""The Lean Startup"", a guide to help both new and established entrepreneurs and managers do one important thing: make better, faster business decisions. Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. “The Lean Startup” is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions o...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep 365•Transcript available on Metacast Author Shelmina Babai Abji visits Google to discuss her book “Show Your Worth: 8 Intentional Strategies for Women to Emerge as Leaders at Work”. The book provides readers with a toolbox designed to harness the power of intention and strategy to accelerate success—tailor-made for women who are underrepresented in their fields. If you're a woman, especially a woman of color, you know this already: You face unique challenges and obstacles as you work to scale the corporate ladder. From not seeing o...
Jul 18, 2023•48 min•Ep 364•Transcript available on Metacast Do you have a keen imagination, rich inner life, and vivid dreams? Is time alone each day as essential as air? Do others call you too shy or overly sensitive? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be a highly sensitive person, or HSP. In this Talk, marriage & family therapist Alane Freund, an expert consultant working with the trait of high sensitivity, discusses how to use your strengths as an HSP, coping mechanisms for dealing with overstimulation, ways to improve your relat...
Jul 14, 2023•48 min•Ep 363•Transcript available on Metacast Actors Jay Baruchel & Glenn Howerton join actor and filmmaker Matt Johnson to discuss their film “Blackberry,” the story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone. The film tells the story of two mismatched entrepreneurs – egghead innovator Mike Lazaridis and cut-throat businessman Jim Balsillie – who join forces in an endeavor that was to become a worldwide hit in little more than a decade. The device that one invented and the other sold was the BlackBerry, an...
Jul 11, 2023•59 min•Ep 362•Transcript available on Metacast Disability-rights advocate and popular YouTuber Chris Ulmer visits Google to discuss his nonprofit “Special Books by Special Kids.” “Special Books by Special Kids” seeks to expand society's definition of normal by spreading empathy, understanding, and acceptance for neurodiverse and disabled individuals. What started as an idea for a book series became a multi-media movement when special education teacher Chris Ulmer began sharing stories from his classroom on social media. Ulmer began his onlin...
Jul 07, 2023•47 min•Ep 361•Transcript available on Metacast Physicist and author Michio Kaku visits Google to discuss his book “Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything.” The book takes us on an exhilarating tour of humanity’s next great technological achievement—quantum computing. The runaway success of the microchip processor may be reaching its end. Running up against the physical constraints of smaller and smaller sizes, traditional silicon chips are not likely to prove useful in solving humanity’s greatest challe...
Jul 04, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 360•Transcript available on Metacast Sara Zaske visits Google to discuss her book “Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children.” When Sara Zaske moved from Oregon to Berlin with her husband and toddler, she knew the transition would be challenging, especially when she became pregnant with her second child. She was surprised to discover that German parents give their children a great deal of freedom—much more than Americans. In Berlin, kids walk to school by themselves, ride the subway alone, cut...
Jun 30, 2023•47 min•Ep 359•Transcript available on Metacast Associate professor of philosophy Mariana Alessandri visits Google to discuss her book “Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves through Dark Moods,” a philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly human. Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, det...
Jun 27, 2023•50 min•Ep 358•Transcript available on Metacast Yanis Varoufakis visits Google to discuss his book “And the Weak Suffer What They Must?”, a critique of the European Union’s austerity policies during the Greek financial crisis of the early 2010’s. In January 2015, Yanis Varoufakis, an economics professor teaching in Austin, Texas, was elected to the Greek parliament with more votes than any other member of parliament. He served as Greece’s Minister of Finance for five months in 2015. In his book, Varoufakis delivers a fresh look at the history...
Jun 23, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep 357•Transcript available on Metacast Author Monica Parker visits Google to discuss her book “The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead.” The book takes readers on a multidisciplinary journey through psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, literature, and business to show us how to become more open to experiencing wonder and to reconnect with a reverence for the world and all the magic in it. A world-renowned speaker, writer, and authority on the future of work, Monica Parker has...
Jun 20, 2023•41 min•Ep 356•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Judith Orloff visits Google to discuss her book, “The Empath’s Survival Guide.” The book teaches readers how sensitive people can thrive in an insensitive world. What is the difference between having empathy and being an empath? “Having empathy means our heart goes out to another person in joy or pain,” says Dr. Judith Orloff, “but for empaths it goes much farther. We actually feel others’ emotions, energy, and physical symptoms in our own bodies, without the usual defenses that most people ...
Jun 16, 2023•54 min•Ep 355•Transcript available on Metacast Award-winning authors Hasan Kubba and Ash Ali visit Google to discuss their book “The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed”. This groundbreaking book shows how to identify your own Unfair Advantages and apply them to any project, offering a unique framework for assessing your external circumstances in addition to your internal strengths. What is the difference between a startup that makes it, and one that crashes and burns? Behind every story of success is an unfair ad...
Jun 13, 2023•47 min•Ep 354•Transcript available on Metacast What is consciousness? How do physical processes in the brain give rise to the self-aware mind and to feelings as profoundly varied as love or hate, aesthetic pleasure or spiritual yearning? These questions today are some of the most hotly debated issues among scientists and philosophers. Now, in his book “The Conscious Mind”, philosopher David Chalmers offers an analysis of this heated debate as he unveils a major new theory of consciousness, one that rejects the prevailing reductionist trend o...
Jun 09, 2023•27 min•Ep 353•Transcript available on Metacast 
