Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2025-12-20
Books mentioned on 173. Steve Levitt Says Goodbye to People I (Mostly) Admire
In the last episode of the podcast, Stephen Dubner turns the microphone on Steve Levitt. They talk about Levitt’s favorite — and least favorite — moments from the show’s five-year run, his quest to reform education, and his next podcasting gig.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Sapiens
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is a sweeping exploration of how Homo sapiens evolved, dominated the planet, and created complex societies through shared myths and imagined realities.
Discussed“And so what was interesting as I read his amazing book, Sapiens, there is not a character in the entire book. So he violates your first rule of storytelling, like how can this book sell millions of copies when it doesn't have anything that people like?”
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Noise
Discussed“Conorman talked about his book noise which is the variability in human judgment. And I took Conorman's concept of a noise audit which is measuring the aggregate variability in a group and use this to evaluate how school police officers assess threats of violence at K through2 schools.”
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Harry Potter
“I hadn't read anything that was about science or about psychology since I was in grad school, maybe. It's been great for me to just spend time reading what smart people are thinking and then having to pull that all together with the discipline of deadlines. The other thing that's been great for me about Puma is I have almost”