📚 3 Books mentioned in "The One Thing Stephen Dubner Hasn't Quit | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 95" of People I (Mostly) Admire
Podcast: People I (Mostly) Admire
Episode: The One Thing Stephen Dubner Hasn't Quit | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 95
Published on January 10, 2023
Here’s a list of all the books mentioned in this episode. Click on the links to watch specific excerpts on YouTube and feel free to purchase the books if they caught your interest!
Freakonomics
Buy Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, Andrea Montero Cusset on Amazon
I don't think I'm making this up; I think I remember that the publisher even initially insisted that your name had to be in a smaller typeface—you know, on the cover of Freakonomics.
In this segment, Steve Levitt shares a memorable incident regarding the cover of their book 'Freakonomics', where he recalls that the publisher preferred to have his name printed in smaller letters compared to that of co-author Stephen Dubner.
When Freakonomics happened, my biggest priority in life was having a family and raising a family and hopefully trying to live in New York City.
Stephen Dubner reflects on the significance of 'Freakonomics' in his life and how it aligned with his priorities at the time.
So I did think through all this, but when it worked with Freakonomics, it was just like, it wasn't so much joy like, 'Oh my God, this is great for me.'
Stephen Dubner briefly reflects on his feelings when 'Freakonomics' became successful.
Alright, so let me ask you this, had you not written Freakonomics, do you think you would have won a Nobel Prize by now for the body of academic research you've done?
In this segment, Stephen Dubner poses a thought-provoking question to Steve Levitt regarding the impact of their book 'Freakonomics' on Levitt's potential to win a Nobel Prize for his academic contributions.
Well, I don't know about that, but for me, the biggest thing that Freakonomics did is that it opened up options outside of academics, and honestly, much to my surprise, a lot of those activities were a lot more fun than academics.
Steve Levitt discusses how the book 'Freakonomics' provided him with various opportunities beyond academia, revealing that some of these activities turned out to be much more enjoyable.
Obviously, our two lives would look really different if we'd never written Freakonomics.
Stephen Dubner mentions that their lives would be quite different if they hadn't co-authored 'Freakonomics', highlighting the significant impact of the book on their personal and professional trajectories.
Have you ever gone back and read just chunks of Freakonomics or Super Freakonomics?
In this segment, podcast host Steve Levitt inquires whether his guest, Stephen Dubner, has revisited sections of 'Freakonomics' or its follow-up, 'SuperFreakonomics'.
Love it, and this conversation with Stephen Dubner, after this short break, they'll return to talk about what would have happened if they'd never written Freakonomics.
In this segment, host Steve Levitt shares that after the break, he will continue the discussion with Stephen Dubner, focusing on the intriguing question of how their lives might have unfolded if they had never authored 'Freakonomics'.
Not for the cash, because honestly, even though the deal for Freakonomics was relatively large for book deals, my half wasn't that much larger than the contracts I was already getting for other books, so it wasn't really that.
Stephen Dubner explains that financial gain wasn't the primary motivation for writing 'Freakonomics', despite the substantial book deal.
You want to swallow a lot of pride to write Freakonomics!
Steve Levitt humorously remarks on the level of pride one must overcome to write 'Freakonomics'.
And by that I mean Freakonomics was by Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner, and by putting us out of alphabetical order, it was like I was a star, and you were the hired hand.
Steve Levitt humorously comments on the author listing for their book 'Freakonomics', mentioning the alphabetical order of their names.
Because we got offered a bunch of money to write the book that would become Freakonomics, right?
Steve Levitt talks about being offered a significant amount of money to write the book that later became known as 'Freakonomics'.
My single favorite story about us is what happened when it came time to negotiate how we'd split the payments over Freakonomics because we had gotten this big advance to write a book together, but we'd never actually talked about who would get what share.
Steve Levitt shares a favorite story regarding how he and Stephen Dubner negotiated the payment division for their book 'Freakonomics', highlighting the humorous aspects of their collaboration.
So anyway, this night of the World Series game, sleeping on the couch in your house, and I was up pretty late for the game, and then I couldn't sleep because I wasn't feeling well; I just stayed up all night, and I wrote a version of what's the opening, the intro, the prelude of Freakonomics.
Stephen Dubner recounts a night during the World Series when he struggled to sleep and ended up writing the opening introduction of his book 'Freakonomics'.
This was like the beginning of our starting to write Freakonomics in your office.
Stephen Dubner shares a moment from the early days of writing 'Freakonomics'.
I think you're selling yourself short on how much you participate, especially in the first book Freakonomics because we talked through a lot of that before I would write—sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone—and I always took a lot of notes.
In this segment, Stephen Dubner acknowledges Steve Levitt's significant contributions to their collaborative book 'Freakonomics', emphasizing how they often discussed ideas before Dubner wrote the content.
Freakonomics
Buy Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, Andrea Montero Cusset on Amazon
You no doubt know Stephen as the co-author of the Freakonomics books and the creator and host of Freakonomics Radio.
The podcast host, Steve Levitt, introduces Stephen Dubner, identifying him as the co-author of the 'Freakonomics' books. This highlights their collaboration on the 'Freakonomics' series.
Superfreakonomics
Buy Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner on Amazon
Have you ever gone back and read just chunks of Freakonomics or Super Freakonomics?
In this segment, host Steve Levitt inquires if guest Stephen Dubner has revisited sections of 'Freakonomics' or 'Super Freakonomics'.