Episode · Freakonomics Radio · 2022-12-30
Stephen Dubner & John List: books mentioned on Freakonomics Radio #494
John List: Why Most Ideas Fail to Scale | Freakonomics Radio | Episode 494
Stephen Dubner recommended Parent Nation by Dana Suskind, and discussed Grit by Angela Duckworth. Also mentioned: The Voltage Effect by John A. List.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Voltage Effect
The Voltage Effect by John A.
Discussed“In your book, John, you write, 'I don't believe Travis Kalanick is a bad person; he's a good person who made several bad calls at scale.'”
Where to get it
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Grit
Grit by Angela Duckworth is a popular exploration of passion, perseverance, and the long-term pursuit of difficult goals.
Discussed“It also would seem to be a cross purposes with the notion of grit which is the name of the book written by our mutual friend Angela Duckworth”
Where to get it
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Parent Nation
Parent Nation by Dana Suskind is an insightful nonfiction book that examines the systemic challenges facing families and outlines policy changes required to support young children and parents across society.
Recommended“It's called parent Nation unlocking every child's potential fulfilling society's promise for the record”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged The Voltage Effect
“What my book is trying to claim about is that all of our failures to scale—and the world is replete with failure after failure after failure—I want that to be viewed as a failure of common sense.”
Plugged The Voltage Effect
“the book that John list just published is called the voltage effect how to make good ideas great and great ideas scale”
Plugged The Voltage Effect
“Here's another passage from the book: a pharmaceutical company develops a promising new sleep medication in its lab, but the drug doesn't live up to its promise in randomized trials.”
Passing The Voltage Effect
“Here's an example from The Voltage Effect.”