Steve Levitt

Their books have a lot of similarities, and yet talking to them was a completely different experience.

No.

It was interesting for me to see it.

I've always cared a lot more about process than outcome.

And so when I do an interview and it turns into an amazing episode, that feels good.

But I'm also almost equally as intrigued when I do an interview and it's bad because

I feel awful when it's me.

I feel such a tremendous obligation to my guests.

And if I do a bad job, it's very hard for me to shake.

It really haunts me.

A bunch of times I missed the boat.

I'll tell you one where I didn't miss the boat, but it would eventually cause me to miss a boat on a later occasion.

It was with Richard Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins was an interesting interview for me, first because he's legendary and he's such a huge thinker.

The other problem is that he has written, what, 20 books?

It was really hard to try to tackle his whole canon of knowledge that he had created.

And the easiest and the best interview is always one.

were with Freakonomics fans.

There's this power dynamic that happens in interviews where the interviewer is way below the interviewee.

And it's really hard to have a normal conversation because of that power dynamic.