Conversations with Tyler Cowen

I love this podcast. Mostly because the question Tyler will never ask is “what is your latest book about.” But also because Tyler assumes his listeners are smart and curious.

Thank you for sharing Derek. This will help me to improve the conversations in my podcast.

I am always impressed while listening by the shear number and depth of understanding on so many topics. What am I doing with my life?

Just curious, which interview does he talk about the Saramaccan language of Suriname?
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/john-mcwhorter/ — Derek

The podcast sounds great, will definitely check it out.

P.S. "Open Borders - by Bryan Caplan" looks and sounds like propaganda.

I highly recommend reading something more objective like "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" by the economist Ha-Joon Chang. It's a great book and surprisingly anti-capitalist.

In my head i always correct the podcast title to "interrogations with Tyler" because they are mot converstions. Nevertheless they are really interesting. Loved the one with Rick Rubin lately.

I love Tyler. He’s just so prolific, it’s hard to get to everything

Wow! Divine timing; I'm reading a book called "Concerning The Spiritual In Art" by "Wassily Kandinsky" and I'm loving it; Your article is just according to this book by nature and truthful just like the mentioned book (I needed to read your article, career-wise.).

By the way, I subscribed to his podcast on "Castbox". He got an episode with "Rick Rubin"! Will listen to that for sure.

Thank you!

I can imagine being in a situation similar to tyler after he has just confirmed a new guest. It'd be a rush to have a deadline and go deep on one persons life. Then so rewarding to go deeper with them in person. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for this !!

I’m also a big fan of Tyler for all the reasons that you mentioned, including he’s not afraid to push back on a guest’s answer and try to play devil’s advocate.

Derek, would you be interested in being a guest on the podcast and if so, what obscure and thought-provoking questions do you think Tyler would ask you that you haven’t been asked in other interviews?

I don't really know Tyler, but coming from you, with that description, I will totally check this out!

It makes me think about my way to interview people as I don't do any research (or very little) before an interview. I want to learn from the mouth of the interviewee and I want my readers to discover with me what he has to say.

Thanks for letting me know about this guy. I appreciate the depth of his questions as well.

I just listened to the Dana Gioia episode from your recommendation and as much as I normally tend to agree with you, I don't on this.

To me, Tyler sounded like he was sticking with pre-prepared questions and often didn't follow up. Not only did that seem slightly rude like he didn't listen to Dana, it also made for an awkward and unnatural conversation that zig-zagged constantly which I found exhausting.

Granted, this is based on one episode so it might not apply in general.

Is there a place online that people go to talk about the podcasts as they come out?

The twitter account for the podcast is generally thin: twitter.com/cowenconvos

Derek,
Fascinating post!
I’m especially interested in this guy Tyler.
This is something that I’d do for the rest of my life if I could afford to do it on a regular basis.
( which in other words means I could do it when I could do it)
I’d love it if you could watch this price that I made .
I not only shot it but also did all the “conversations.
youtu.be/iHkCPeSYrGU
My particular mentors who I think were the best at doing “conversations” as opposed to doing “interviews” were James Lipton of INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO and Charlie Rose who was fired some years ago because of inappropriate behavior with women workers
Thanks
Ed

Thanks for spotlighting one of my favorite interview podcasts. You nailed what makes Cowen special as an interviewer. I especially like that transcripts of each conversation are on his website.

Just downloaded several dates of this podcast for my daily walks. Thanks

I have read Cowen, but never listened. I have to admit I didn't like him. You have made me reconsider and give him a second chance.

Subscribing to Conversations with Tyler. Thanks!

Thank you for the recommendation, Derek! I just listened to the Rick Rubin one, and I really liked it.
Instead of the usual, "What was it like to start Def Jam records?" and other inane questions, he asks about interesting subjects you wouldn't expect.
I, for one, don't mind that he doesn't follow-up...it's like a little morsel, and you move on to the next subject.

Thanks again!

I heard Tyler for the first time on the Bankless podcast recently and was impressed. This post has me excited to dive into his podcast, thanks Derek!

Thank you for turning me on to something new. I love interviewing people and I listen to people like Terry Gross to see what they do to create the magic. Now, I have a new teacher in the art of interviewing. I will definitely listen to Tyler

A hidden gem in this podcast series for me was #121, Daniel Carpenter on Smart Regulation. It rolled over from a previous episode but I couldn't change it because I was painting. Initially, I considered putting my stuff down because it sounded incredibly boring, but I learned something from every single minute of the podcast. I've found this to be true for nearly all of the episodes I've listened to and now that I'm writing this comment I'm really contemplating why I haven't listened to more. So, I'm going to get on that. Thanks!

I’m in the throes of reading John Steinbeck’s “Traveling With Charlie In Search of America” where he laments the evaporation of regional dialects. Something I’d never considered before.

Tyler's great! Enjoyed his recent interview with Rick Rubin, and have been a fan ever since I discovered him on Tim Ferriss' pod and started reading his blog

Sounds interesting and fun.
I’ll check it out.

I used to listen to every episode. But they are not short and it's real work to keep up! What I like most is that I've never heard of most of his guests yet I still find it fascinating to listen to Tyler and his guests talk. I appreciate this curated selection to get me back into listening to the podcast.

Man, my world is so small. Most of my meaningful conversations are with fish, trying to understand their ways.

We must be on the same wavelength this week. I literally featured Tyler’s interview prowess this week on my podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-one-percent-better-podcast/id1254121785?i=1000597125489

I heard that Cheech (Richard) Marin’s art museum in Riverside
Is one of the best!

Love Tyler Cohen already and this is the first I’ve heard of him. I recently participated in a documentary on The Beach Boys I’d love to hear a treatment of the optimism of their music!!!

For someone with English as L1, Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) is probably the easiest Southeast Asian language to learn. Go for it!

Which episode made you want to learn Swahili?
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/john-mcwhorter/ — Derek

Wow, Derek this looks very interesting. I will check it out! Best steve

While I understand the premise of being prepared and thoroughly researched, I love sitting down with someone I have never met, no nothing about, and start from that base.

Thanks for the three links! I'm going to spend some time with Tyler Cowen ASAP. I first read of him in something about the econonomic rubrics you'd apply to find the best Indian restaurants, and that was really interesting.

I haven't read the whole Bible yet, but I did read a chapter a day in 2021, and added a psalm per day about midway through the year. (Catholics, us: we weren't Bible readers.) That was after I jumped aboard a group project to read all of Shakespeare in 2020, a very rich way to spend a year like that one was. In 2022, on the centenary of its publication, I read Joyce's Ulysses in 80 days along with a group based at Trinity College, Dublin. When that wrapped up, I dug around a little bit and found a guided way to read Dante's Divine Comedy in 100 days; I'm in the MWF group, just emerged from Puratorio today and will finish mid-spring.

I have found this to be true with all great media and art: "He’s asking questions for himself, not us. "

Cheers for this. I've heard a few conversations with Rick Rubin recently due to his recent book release I guess. They were all interesting, but this got some interestingly unexpected answers. So wildly varied. His very first question, "What can we all do to become better listeners" in that episode resonated with your recent post on wanting to lose every debate as well. Which I agreed with for casual conversation, but when you're trying to get things done, sometimes the conversation needs to be somewhat directed otherwise you're there forever! Balancing the interesting with what needs to get done is really where the skill lies - easier when you can agree the motivations in advance!

Hey Derek,

Your new reading list sounds like it’s taking a similar path to mine, away from business and into the classics.

In looking for a reading plan that covers the classics, I stumbled upon the fact that most homeschools build upon the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program. This included a classical reading list that had Homer, Virgil, the Bible and more, learning Latin, stargazing, learning to waltz, memorising poetry, singing folk songs, etc.

The brochure for it is here: write.as/f8239ge47gyff.md

A priest that did the course got two of the three lecturers to record on tape their lectures years later, which can be found under the humanities tab at 3wisdoms.com

Email me if you would like the poetry memorization list, as I was able to obtain that.

For Latin learning, the recommendation used to be the oral or conversational method. Now most people recommend the books Lingus Latina: Familia Romana and Lingus Latina: Roma Aeterna as the fastest way to learn it.

Good to see your reading interests broaden. I’ll check out this podcast as it sounds up my alley too, so thanks for sharing. :-)

Tyler Cowen's unique exploration style shows in every conversation, and I like how no topic is too casual or serious for a dinner/lunch table conversation. I met him last August at the EV India Unconference, and I remember talking about the countries he wanted to visit and how each place reflects the people there. And not to forget his love for Indian food, culture, and cities!

Last week, we had an EV <> Interintellect virtual meeting with Tyler. The key topic was around the geopolitics of identifying talent, and the answer was a single word -- curiosity.

This reminds me of your (Derek Sivers) quote I came across recently: "It's not about what you know; it's about what you do about it." And I think curiosity is a significant catalyst that takes you from simply 'knowing' to doing something about it, and it says a lot about a person (could be a 5-year-old or a 50-year-old, but the same ideology stands)

Derek, thank you for this. I'm developing a show & will be the interviewer, & I've been wanting to sharpen my notions of how to approach that. I'm looking forward to hearing Tyler & his process.

Assuredly Tyler is a magnificent interviewer. One of the things he seems to get better than most is how to do all that research, yet approach the interviewee with "fresh eyes" or a "beginner's mind". It is a bit of a neat trick to utilizing what you learned about the person being interviewed in order to uncover something new/different. It can create magical moments for them, you, and other observers.

The timing couldn't be better! I just started a podcast channel in my college where I will be interviewing exciting students and professors. Thank you for this Derek!

Thanks for sharing! So I had to go and listen to why Indonesian should be a universal language, and I can see where he's coming from. I'd find it hard to explain colloquial Indonesian though :)

Thanks, Derek, for this recommendation. It's just the perfect level of depth - not superficial like popular podcasts and not too advanced. I've noticed that guests appreciate the quality of questions in every episode as well.

Thanks for sharing it! For those fluent in French, I strongly recommend to watch "Les rencontres du Papotin", it's a TV show where people with mental handicap interview actors, politicians, etc. They are brave enough to ask questions nobody would ask. We learn so many things about the guests. It's amazing.

Thanks for this, Derek. Off topic but your post just brings me an idea. I still think I will make a podcast at some point. I did in the past but it's only about entrepreneurship, while I'm interested in also other topics. Anyhoo, almost every podcast/ interview I have watched, they are always "brilliant accomplished people", that makes complete sense. We want to learn from those who figured out, who walked the path, who got there where we're striving to. Now I think perhaps "unaccomplished" people who are not (yet) famous but still brilliant can bring us enlightenment stories and insights as well. I hope I can learn from them and make those lessons available for others in the future.

John McWhorter is great in many intellectual fields. If you want to save a couple bucks, he has three FREE audiobooks on Audible in their Plus Catalogue on language and its history.

I love his interviews, too. His podcasts from Kenya were illuminating for me. His knowledge is diverse. My dive into his podcasts started with Anna Keay. So good. conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/anna-keay/