Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2023-05-09
Books mentioned on Best Of: Why Adults Lose the ‘Beginner’s Mind’
Ezra Klein discussed The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik. Alison Gopnik recommended Metazoa by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Mary Poppins by Pamela L. Travers, The children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston, and Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Philosophical Baby
Discussed“and one of them in particular that I read recently is the philosophical baby which blew my mind a little bit because what she does in that book is show through a lot of experiments and research that there is a way in which children are a lot smarter than adults”
Where to get it
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Metazoa
Metazoa is a popular science book by philosopher and diver Peter Godfrey-Smith that explores the evolutionary origins of animal consciousness, focusing heavily on cephalopods like octopuses.
Recommended“and Peter Godfrey Smith's wonderful book I've just been reading metazoa talks about the octopus and the octopus is very puzzling because the octaves don't have a long childhood and yet they seem to be really smart”
Where to get it
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Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins by Pamela L.
Recommended“and then for older children that same day my nine-year-old who is very into the Marvel Universe and superheroes said could we read a chapter for Mary Poppins which is again something that Grandmom reads and we had a marvelous time reading Mary Poppins and he said you know the book is so much better than the movie and he”
Where to get it
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The children of Green Knowe
The Children of Green Knowe is a classic children's fantasy novel by Lucy M.
Recommended“there's a book called The Children of green no k-n-o-w-e I like this because it's a book about a grandmother and her her grandson and he comes to visit her in this strange old house in the Cambridge Countryside and and gradually it gets to be clear that there are ghosts of the history of this of this house”
Where to get it
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Where the wild things are
Maurice Sendak's Where the wild things are is a beloved children's picture book that follows a young boy named Max on an imaginative journey to a land of fantastical creatures before returning safely to his bedroom.
Recommended“the fact that on the one hand you're in this safe place so with the wild things you know he's in his room where Mom is where supper is going to be and all the time sitting in that room he also Adventures out in this boat to these strange places where wild things are including he himself as a”
Where to get it
