How To Academy Podcast
Episodes
Psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell - How to Overcome Your Blind Spots
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After 15 years of treating clients as a psychotherapist, Emma Reed Turrell has observed one recurring factor that plagues her patients: blind spots. T...
Christiana Figueres - Our Story of Nature
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christiana Figueres' podcast Outrage + Optimism is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the complexity of the climate situation. Thi...
Philip Ball – How Life Works
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Ball returns to the How To Academy Podcast to share the extraordinary revelations of contemporary science and make us think again about what we...
Gary Stevenson – Confessions of a Trader
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Stevenson was the youngest trader in the whole city, and became the most profitable one too at his bank after betting against the economy. But wh...
Classicists Mary Beard and Jo Quinn - Who Made The West?
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We think we know what it was like to rule – and be ruled – in the Ancient Roman world. We think we know that Roman values and ideas formed the cor...
Neuroscientist Charan Ranganath meets Robin Ince - Why We Remember
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over twenty-five years, neuroscientist Charan Ranganath has studied the flawed, incomplete and purposefully inaccurate nature of memory to find that o...
Harvard's Christopher Palmer - Metabolism and Mental Health
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Christopher Palmer advocates a metabolic approach to mental health, focussing on the the things we put in our body as the key to how they function....
Diplomat Christiana Figueres and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman - How to Fight the Climate Crisis
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A household name in the climate movement, Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention ...
Justin Webb Meets Brian Klaas - Why Everything We Do Matters
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if, by exploding our illusion of control, we can make better decisions and live happy, fulfilling lives? Offering an entirely new perspective, my...
Neuroscientist Tali Sharot - How to See the World Anew
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We get used to dirty air, people grow to accept authoritarianism, take foolish risks, and we are more liable to believe misinformation than ever befor...
Philosopher Tom Chatfield - How Technology Changes Humanity, From Fire to AI
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Philosophy Tom Chatfield loves technology and the humanities with equal passion, and has spent a lifetime thinking about our relationship to the devic...
Novelist Kiley Reid - Come and Get It
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The author of the New York Times bestseller Such a Fun Age returns with a tale of campus politics, desire, and bad behaviour. How much of yourself are...
Neuroscientist Dr Richard Restak – How To Prevent Dementia
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Neurologist and professor Richard Restak has dedicated his life to the science of brain health. Now he returns to How To Academy to share more ways to...
Novelist and Macarthur 'Genius' Kelly Link - The Book of Love
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kelly Link is the author of ludicrously acclaimed genre-defying short story collections including Magic For Beginners and the Pulitzer nominated Get i...
Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence at Work
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Multitasking is a myth. Flow states don’t equate to enlightenment. An emotionally engaged boss is best for business. In this podcast, Harvard psycho...
Novelist and Diplomat Ray Nayler - The Tusks of Extinction
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ray Nayler's novel The Mountain in the Sea announced him a major new voice in speculative fiction, able to seamlessly fuse the novel of ideas and the ...
Dr Gemma Newman - The Six Healing Health Habits You Need to Know
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Family doctor Dr Gemma Newman has come to understand that body, mind and soul are not separate, and that only through a ‘whole body’ treatment pla...
Amitav Ghosh - How the Opium Trade Shaped Capitalism
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One small plant has played an outsized role in shaping the world we live in today. Engineered by the British Empire with profound consequences for Ind...
Musician James Blunt - Not Safe For Work
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The pop star James Blunt has written a memoir about his life as one of the biggest acts of the noughties: a memoir that is filthy, funny, and quite po...
Comedian Ruby Wax - On Mental Health
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ruby Wax joins us to share an honest and stirring portrait of the depths of her psyche. Recounting her mental health journey including through a monas...
Physicist Carlo Rovelli Meets Theatre-Maker Simon McBurney
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Haw...
Psychotherapist Adam Phillips - What We Must Give Up to Feel More Alive
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Both a renowned psychotherapist and the 'best living essayist writing in English' (John Gray), Adam Phillips joins us to reflect upon what we must giv...
Stanford Psychiatrist and Addiction Expert Anna Lembke - The New Neuroscience of Pleasure, Pain, and Balance
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting,...
Daniel Dennett v. Robert Sapolsky - Do We Have Free Will?
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do human beings have free will? For Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, science clearly demonstrates that free will is a powerful and dangerous i...
Dr Uma Naidoo - How to Calm Your Mind With Food
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 e...
Sathnam Sanghera on the British Empire - Live at Wilderness
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Oxford Data Scientist Hannah Richie - Combating Climate Anxiety
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each month our sister podcast Found in Conversation explores global affairs and innovation with world-leading thinkers. In this episode, Oxford data s...
Economist Mariana Mazzucato - The Entrepreneurial State and the Future of Innovation
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 hea...
Psychologist Dan Ariely - Why People Are Drawn to Conspiracy Theories, and How to Help
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Ariely is a superstar TED talker and a world-leading social psychologist, specialising in the study of irrational behaviour and bad decisions. His...
Mary Beard and David Mitchell - On Rulers and Power
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cambridge Professor Mary Beard has done more than anyone to bring the world of ancient Rome to life again. Comedian David Mitchell once studied histor...
Harvard Psychologist David Rosmarin - How To Thrive With Anxiety
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
Hein de Haas - Debunking Myths About Migration
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Immigration is probably the most divisive and heated subject in British politics today and the same is true in many other countries, including the Net...
Holistic Psychologist Nicole LePera - How to Heal Your Relationships
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
New York Times columnist David Brooks - How to Know Others and Be Truly Seen
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, s...
Walter Isaacson - The Life of Elon Musk
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 L...
Harvard Business School Prof. Amy Edmondson - Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Edmondson is one of the world's most influential organisational psychologists, a professor at Harvard Business School, and an expert on the concep...
Performance Artist Marina Abramović Meets Tim Marlow
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 dyin...
Immunologist Luke O'Neill - The Joy of Science
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Stanford Professor Dr. David Spiegel - How Hypnosis Can Change Your Life
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With more than forty years of clinical and research experience investigating the mind-body connection, Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel is sought o...
Astronaut Chris Hadfield Meets Robin Ince
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Neuroscientist and Philosopher Iain McGilchrist - The Divided Brain and the Meaning of Life
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Iain McGilchrist’s book The Master and His Emissary was that rare thing: a bestselling classic of modern philosophy with genuine relevance to human ...
Philippa Gregory - 900 Years of Women's History
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, Philippa Gregory has thrilled us with tales of the court and the machinations of kings, queens, and courtiers. Now she turns her attentio...
Albert Read Meets Will Gompertz - Where Good Ideas Come From (and How to Have More)
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Werner Herzog Meets Mark Kermode - A Life in Cinema
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 e...
Timothy Garton Ash and Catherine Ashton - The Future of Europe (Bonus Episode)
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, p...
Arthur Brooks - How to Build the Life You Want
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A Professor at Harvard Business School specialising in happiness and leadership, Arthur Brooks joins us to share his insights into realising greater h...
Zeke Faux Meets Oliver Bullough - Inside the Wild Rise and Fall of Crypto
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 cr...
Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter - How to Thrive Through Menopause
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Gordon Brown, Mohamed El-Erian, Michael Spence - Fixing the Permacrisis
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we face not one crisis but a cascade: sputtering growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, an escalating climate emergency, worsening in...
David Nutt - How Psychedelics Can Change Your Life
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are on the cusp of a major revolution in psychiatric medicine and neuroscience. After fifty years of prohibition, criminalisation and fear, science...
Camilla Nord - The New Neuroscience of Mental Health
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We commonly misperceive mental health as being all in the mind, and physical pain in the body; but neuroscientist Camilla Nord’s groundbreaking rese...
Michel Faber - Why Music Matters
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michel Faber is one of the most acclaimed contemporary novelists in the English language; a master of the form able to move effortlessly between histo...
Dr Anders Hansen - How to Be Happier and Less Distracted
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Don't worry, be happy", "focus on the important things", "smile more". We've all heard these platitudes, and we've all been annoyed by them. But how ...
John Higgs - The KLF, the Band That Burned a Million Pounds
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
John Higgs has joined this podcast to talk about William Blake, James Bond, and the Beatles - and now he's back with another iconic British cultural e...
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross - Your Brain on Art
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For most of us, the arts are a great source of pleasure. But could making art actually be good for your brain and body? Susan Magsamen is the founder ...
Joyce Carol Oates - Zero Sum
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The author of 58 novels, as well as plays, poetry, non-fiction and short stories, Joyce Carol Oates is famed across the literary world for writing at ...
Jesse Coomer - The Power of Breathwork
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jesse Coomer was an English professor suffering from what he called "The Modern Human Condition" - in other words, he was a mess of stress and anxiety...
Kristen Ghodsee and Angela Saini - Radical Experiments in the Good Life
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What can we learn from historical attempts to live together and raise children differently? Kristen Ghodsee is a professor at the University of Pennsy...
Dr James Kinross - The New Science of the Microbiome
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Kinross is a consultant surgeon at Imperial College and one of the world's leading experts on the science of the microbiome — the complex ecos...
Emma Southon - Women of the Roman Empire
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Emma Southon is a podcaster and ancient historian. Her new book A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women does exactly what it says on the tin: sidest...
Rahul Jandial - How to Rewire Your Brain (Summer Repeat)
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For years Dr Rahul Jandial, a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist, has transformed the lives of his neurosurgery patients by putting them through ‘brain...
David Christian - A User's Guide to the Future (Bonus Episode)
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you get behind the wheel of a car, throw or catch a ball, change jobs, or move to a new country, you are making a series of predictions about wha...
Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché - Nostalgia is a Weapon
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The writer Helen Macdonald is best known for the award winning memoir H is For Hawk and other distinguished works exploring our relationship to the na...
Julia Cameron and Elizabeth Gilbert - The Path to Higher Creativity (Summer Repeat)
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Cameron is the author, poet, and screenwriter whose book The Artist's Way is one of the most influential creativity manuals ever written. Elizab...
Alan Philps - Stalin's Disinformation War
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Philps is the former foreign editor of the Daily Telegraph and an expert on Russian politics. He's the author of a new book called The Red Hotel,...
Marie Kondo - Kurashi at Home (Summer Repeat)
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marie Kondo became a global superstar when she introduced the world to the life-changing magic of tidying up. Now Marie joins us to share the art of k...
Victoria Belim - The Resilience of Art in Times of War
11 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Mourning a place is even more difficult than mourning a person,” writes Victoria Belim in The Rooster House. Her book is part-memoir, part-detec...
Dr Pooja Lakshmin - Sustainable Strategies for Real Self-Care
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leading psychiatrist Dr Pooja Lakshmin knows first-hand how toxic the wellness industry can be. In search of radical answers to her own personal exper...
Booker Prize winner George Saunders - Liberation Day (Summer Repeat)
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Revisiting one of our favourite episodes of last year, the Booker Prize winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo shares his idiosyncratic take on the hu...
Malcolm Harris - How Palo Alto Conquered the World
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did the suburb of Palo Alto become the epicentre of a global tech revolution, changing not just American capitalism but the world? Malcolm Harris ...
Dr Amy Shah - How to Manage Hunger and Cravings
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest on this episode is Amy Shah, a physician who trained at Cornell, Columbia and Harvard. She specialises in nutrition and the mind-body connec...
Andy Clark - How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do our minds build our worlds? One of the most important living thinkers in cognitive science and philosophy joined us with a grand new vision to ...
Christina Wallace - How To Futureproof Your Career
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How can you make 'work' work for you? Christina Wallace is a millenial, an entrepreneur, a professor at Harvard Business School, and an expert in buil...
Booker 2022 winner Shehan Karunatilaka - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered ...
Emma Gannon - The Meaning of Success
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you think you'd be happier if you won the lottery? Do you spend your days scrolling, thinking everyone else is living life better than you? Have yo...
Richard Dawkins - Live at Wilderness Festival 2022
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How To Academy is back at Wilderness Festival this August, where we will be hosting the journalist and author of Empireland Sathnam Sanghera on his ne...
Viorica Marian - The Power of Language
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Viorica Marian joins us to explore how crucial multilingualism is to human flourishing. Her new book, The Power of Language, distils her research to s...
Peter Heather - Will the West Fall Like Rome?
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What can we learn about the decline of the west from the fall of the Roman Empire? Was decline inevitable for Rome and is it inevitable for the US too...
Lorraine Candy - How to Have a Magnificent Midlife
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lorraine Candy is the go-to voice for a generation of women seeking information and guidance. Now the bestselling author of Mum, What’s Wrong With Y...
Scott Shapiro - The Dark Art of Hacking
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Shapiro is a professor at Yale who teaches the philosophy of law. He is also a hacker, and the author of a new history of hacking, cybersecurity...
James Comey - The Pursuit of Justice in a Divided America
23 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since he was fired by Trump for refusing to bend the knee, the former FBI director James Comey has become one of the most insightful and authoritative...
Gretchen Rubin - How to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest on this episode, Gretchen Rubin, writes bestselling books about the routes we can take to find happiness and fulfilment; in the process she'...
William Dalrymple and Sathnam Sanghera - British Imperialism in India
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did the Mughal empire – which then generated just under half the world’s wealth – come to be replaced by the first global corporate power - ...
Richard Ford - A Life in Literature
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest on this episode Richard Ford is one of the masters of American literary fiction. Frequently compared to Updike, Faulkner and Hemingway; he'...
Andre Solo - How To Thrive as a Sensitive Person
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever been told you're too sensitive? What if we told you that being sensitive wasn't a weakness, but a superpower? Our guest on this episode ...
Susie Alegre - Protecting Freedom of Thought in the Digital Age
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Susie Alegre is a leading human rights barrister and a pioneer of digital human rights in the age of AI and big tech. In her book Freedom to Think, sh...
Sarah Knight - How to be an Adult and Get Treated Like One
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Knight made her name as the author of the sensational anti-self help book The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**K and has sold more than 3 ...
M. John Harrison - Living in an Age of Fantasy
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As a member of the 1960s science fiction New Wave, M. John Harrison worked with authors like Michael Moorcock and JG Ballard to he helped turn generic...
Alastair Campbell Meets Beth Rigby - Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's communications chief and is now one of the UK's most sought after political commentators; The Rest is Politics, his...
Thomas Hertog - Stephen Hawking's Final Theory of the Universe
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Hertog was Stephen Hawking's PhD student and went on to become a leading cosmologist in his own right. He and Hawking developed a radical new t...
Ruby Wax Meets Julia Samuel - I'm Not As Well As I Thought I Was
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
These days, trying to stay sane in a completely chaotic world makes life incredibly difficult, especially if you're struggling with your mental health...
Fiona Buckland - How to Change Your Life
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What makes a fulfilling life, and how can we live one? Life coach Fiona Buckland explores the overwhelming world we live in and the stressors and temp...
Justin Gregg - What Animal Intelligence Tells Us About Human Stupidity
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if human intelligence is more of a liability than a gift? According to the animal cognition expert and author of If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal Just...
Robin Ince Meets Chris van Tulleken - Why We Can't Stop Eating Stuff That Isn't Food
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 150 years, we have entered a new ‘age of eating’ where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances: Ultra-Pro...
Mick Herron - Slow Horses, Bad Actors
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thriller writer Mick Herron is the heir to John Le Carre - the author of the wildly acclaimed Slough House espionage novels. The TV adaptation named...
Eleanor Janega - Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the ideal medieval woman have a pot belly and small feet? Which days of the week was sex permitted? Why did the transgender sex workers of Lon...
Alexa Hagerty - Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anthropologist Alexa Hagerty spent years working with forensic teams and victims’ families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America. ...
Adam Gopnik - The Mystery of Skill and Mastery
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik is a master literary stylist, acclaimed as one of wisest and most insightful figures in American journalism. But was he a...
Microsoft President Brad Smith - Tools and Weapons
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith hosts conversations with leaders in government, business, and culture that explore the world’s most cr...
Richard Restak - The Neuroscience of Strengthening Your Memory
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Octogenerian neurologist Ricard Restak is living proof that a declining memory is not an inevitable fact of ageing. A professor at George Washington U...