Back in 2016, I listened to the first three, and since then, I've tried to catch as many as possible. In my opinion, they are absolutely captivating in different ways:
- "The Lady Vanishes" explores how a female painter in Victorian England disappears after an initial success.
- "Saigan, 1965" digs into some reasons behind intelligence failures associated with the Vietnam War.
- "The Big Man Can't Shoot" looks at why Wilt Chamberlain decided to abandon the underhand free throw after making 28 out of 32 in his famous 100-point single game NBA scoring record.
All of these look at a single person, event, or idea in history in order to make a larger point, and part of what I'd like you to get out of this experience is simply association with an active, expansive, inquisitive, and curious mind which are mental characteristics that you can cultivate. Feel free to listen and comment upon any of 29 podcasts he's done so far. They are mostly between 35 and 45 minutes long, so find yourself a rainy day with nothing to do and hunker down for an entertaining podcast. I predict that you will "actually" like these if you give them a chance.
In terms of what I'm asking you to do, please listen to one of the podcasts and then write a 300 to 400-word post that summarizes it and introduces one quoted passage from the podcast with your own personal response to it. Organize your comment into two separate paragraphs by skipping a line. Thanks and I hope you enjoy it.
—MS