Best First Person Scholar Podcast Podcasts (2024)

1
#124. Hypochondria: A Personal Story and Historical Exploration 57:38

4h ago57:38

57:38

Caroline Crampton is a writer and a podcaster, and the author of two books. The Way to the Sea, published in 2019, recounts the stories, literature, and history about the Thames Estuary in the U.K. Her second book, published in 2024 and the subject of today’s interview, is A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria. Crampton creates a…

1
22: Simon Woodroffe OBE talks about being badly bullied and abused at boarding school aged 7. Low self esteem, anger, fake bravado led to drink, drugs, briefly prison. Then 12 Step Recovery Groups -Stage ... 47:17

5d ago47:17

47:17

Simon Woodroffe. OBE is an original Dragon on Dagon's Den and founder of the Yo Sushi restaurant chain. He believes in people doing things that are outside of their comfort zone. He talks about abandonment, being sent to boarding school aged seven, and being bullied and abused by the the Headmaster. The subsequent fear, low self esteem and anger he…

1
#123. Space Archaeology: Preserving Artifacts on the Moon 56:49

1h ago56:49

56:49

Beth O’Leary is a Professor Emerita at New Mexico State University, whose areas of interest include both cultural anthropology and archaeology. She is one of the creators and experts in Space Archaeology and Heritage, investigating the heritage status of the Apollo 11 Tranquility Base site on the Moon. In 2010, she and colleagues successfully nomin…

1
#122. The Life, Times, and Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, a Founding Thinker of the Enlightenment 53:40

1h ago53:40

53:40

Ian Buruma is a Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College. Originally from the Netherlands, he is a prolific writer with broad interests, including Japanese and Chinese culture and history, organized religion and religious intolerance, and intellectual and political freedom or lack thereof. He has been a regular contributor to the Ne…

1
#121. Doing Philosophy with Children 55:16

4d ago55:16

55:16

This interview is dedicated to Samantha Keleher Bursum, who died on March 1 of 2024 in a car accident at the age of 14. She participated in this interview, at age 11, with her mother, Lori Keleher, who is a philosophy professor at New Mexico State University. Together they share the joys and benefits of philosophical conversations with children, st…

1
#120. A Muslim Scholar, Who Converted to Islam, Promotes Interfaith Dialogue 59:42

2h ago59:42

59:42

Celene Ibrahim is a multidisciplinary scholar specializing in Islamic intellectual history, gender studies, and ethics. Her 2020 monograph, Women and Gender in the Qur'an, won the Association of Middle East Women's Studies Book Award and was featured by the American Academy of Religion for Women's History Month. Ibrahim is also the author of Islam …

1
#119. A History of American Inequality. 58:59

6h ago58:59

58:59

Jamie Bronstein has been a history professor at New Mexico State University since 1996. She is the author of six books about American and British History: Land Reform and Working-Class Experience in Britain and the United States, 1800-1862 (published in 1999); Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in 19th-century Britain …

1
#118. Unjust Inequities in Bankruptcy Law 56:02

16d ago56:02

56:02

Melissa Jacoby is a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches commercial and bankruptcy law. Melissa is a frequent commentator in the news media and has spoken with thousands of people about debt, lending, commercial law, and bankruptcy. In 2021 the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, appointe…

1
#117. A Cause Fraught with Peril: Exposing Abusive Medical Research 52:28

15d ago52:28

52:28

Carl Elliott is a philosophy professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and a recipient of the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. His work focuses on the influence of market forces on medicine, the ethics of enhancement technologies, research ethics, the philosophy of psychiatry, and the work of Ludwig Wittg…

1
#116. What is the Universe Made of and What is its Destiny? 59:04

16d ago59:04

59:04

Harry Cliff is a particle physicist at the University of Cambridge. He is a member of an international team of around 1400 physicists, engineers and computer scientists who use the CERN particle accelerator in search of answers to some of the biggest questions in modern physics, such as the nature of dark matter and why the universe is made of matt…

1
#115. Women and War 56:30

1M ago56:30

56:30

David Jacobson, Professor of Sociology at the University of South Florida. Today's interview, focuses on his book, Of Virgins and Martyrs: Women and Sexuality in Global Conflict. Published in 2013, the book explores the interplay among cultural, political, economic, and historical forces that shape gender relations and violence, individualistic vs.…

1
#114. Real World Harms Created by Advances in Artificial Intelligence 56:23

1M ago56:23

56:23

Madhumita Murgia is a writer specializing in artificial intelligence and its impact on society. She was the artificial intelligence editor for Wired magazine and in February 2023 was appointed as the first A.I. Editor of the London-based Financial Times. Her recent book, Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of A.I., was shortlisted for the 2024 Wom…

1
#113. A Renaissance Man Reflects on the Creative Process and the Honing of Artistic Skills 56:21

1M ago56:21

56:21

Las Cruces’s very own renaissance man, Bob Diven -- an accomplished painter, sculptor, set designer, actor, playwright, composer, actor, satirist, cartoonist, singer-songwriter, folk guitarist; columnist, and more -- reflects on the creative process and the development of artistic skills. Recorded 2/13/21.…

1
#112. Reclaiming the Vietnamese Heritage Her Refugee Father Never Shared 54:11

1M ago54:11

54:11

Vietnamese-American Christina Vo is the author of two memoirs. The first, entitled The Veil Between Two Worlds: A Memoir of Silence, Loss, and Finding Home, was published in 2023. Our interview will focus on her second book, published this past April, entitled, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam: A Father Flees. A Daughter Returns. A Dual Memoir. This book c…

1
#111. The National Park Service, Its Mission, and How it was Co-opted by the South to Celebrate the Confederacy 55:25

2M ago55:25

55:25

Dwight Pitcaithley, the former Chief Historian of the National Park Service, discusses NPS's history and its three-fold mission of preservation, research, and education, with the last segment focusing on the controversies surrounding Civil War monuments. Recorded 2/10/21.By Stuart Kelter

1
#110. Research that Proved the Toxic Effects of Lead in Our Gasoline and in Our Drinking Water 56:12

2M ago56:12

56:12

Joel Schwartz won a MacArthur Award for work that made a major contribution to the phase-out of lead in gasoline. Ronnie Levin worked at the Environmental Protection Agency to help establish federal standards and more robust testing to protect consumers from lead in drinking water. Both Schwartz and Levin teach at the Harvard University T.H. Chan S…

1
#109. Finding Meaning After Catastrophic Illness or Injury 57:57

2M ago57:57

57:57

Dr. Keith Rafal, medical director of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island and creator of the non-profit organization and website, Our Heart Speaks, through which people from around the world share inspirational stories and artistic expressions about their rehabilitation, healing, connection, and meaning. Recorded 3/7/21.…

1
#108. The Amazing Auditory World of Sea Creatures 58:16

3M ago58:16

58:16

Amorina Kingdon is an award-winning science writer, at Hakai Magazine until 2021 and as a contributor to publications at the University of Victoria and the Science Media Center, both in Canada. She is also a writer of fiction, published in PRISM and Flash Fiction magazine. The subject of today’s interview is her recently released book, Sing Like Fi…

1
#107. Teaching Social Justice Issues to White Students in a Wealthy Suburb of Boston 57:54

3M ago57:54

57:54

David Nurenberg is a professor, educational consultant, and writer in the Boston area who teaches courses at both the high school and graduate level, in suburban, urban, and international teaching and learning environments. He shares his insights on all things educational in his podcast, Ed Infinitum, and is the author of the book, What Does Injust…

1
#106. The Incredible Potential and Daunting Risks of Stem Cell Therapy 56:22

3M ago56:22

56:22

Sheldon Krimsky was a professor of humanities and social sciences at Tufts University and a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution. His long and distinguished career focused on the links between public policy and science and technology, environment and health, and ethics and values. His work stressed the import…

1
#105. How Mandela Averted Civil War in South Africa 53:28

3M ago53:28

53:28

Justice Malala is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators, both in print and on television. A longtime weekly columnist for The Times of South Africa, he has also written for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Financial Times, among other major publications. He is the author of the #1 bestseller, We Have N…

1
#104. The Promise and Shortcomings of Massive Open Online Courses 56:32

3M ago56:32

56:32

Justin Reich is a professor in Comparative Media Studies and director of the Teaching Systems Lab, both at MIT. He is the host of a podcast called TeachLab; one of the earliest researchers in the development of Harvard X, which was one of the first initiatives in massive scale online course offerings; and developer and host of five open online cour…

1
#103. Cognitive Biases that are Amplified by Social Media 56:09

3M ago56:09

56:09

Amanda Montell is a linguist, cultural commentator, and host of the weekly podcast Sounds Like a Cult. In addition to essays published in Time, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines, she has published three books. Her first, Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, released in 2019, established her as a writer who deconstructs bi…

1
21: SHED CHAT WITH RACHEL JONES, EDITOR OF TOES IN THE WATER, SPECIAL NEEDS TEACHER, TALKS ABOUT THE POWERFUL EFFECTS WILD WATER SWIMMING HAS HAD ON SELF ESTEEM , AUTO IMMUNE DISEASE, RAISING TWO KIDS ... 22:39

2M ago22:39

22:39

Rachel Jones is the editor of Toes in the Water: Stories of lives changed by wild swimming talks about the good and the bad times and how swimming in cold wild water has transformed her and other people's lives for the better. https://bit.ly/4bLFpbn She highlights a sense of community, trauma, divorce, self-discipline, self-regulation, resilience, …

1
#102. How Bayesian Statistics Underpins Both Scientific Prediction and Everyday Functioning 55:28

3M ago55:28

55:28

Tom Chivers is a science writer who has won several awards, including the Royal Statistical Society’s award for statistical excellence in journalism, the Association of British Science Writers’ science journalist of the year, and the Times’s science books of the year. He has written three books. His first, The Rationalist’s Guide to the Galaxy: Sup…

1
#101. Schadenfreude (Pleasure From Someone Else's Misfortune) 57:21

3M ago57:21

57:21

Colin Wayne Leach is a social and personality psychologist at Columbia University, who researches Schadenfreude -- i.e., deriving pleasure from witnessing someone else's misfortune -- and related emotions, such as Genugtuung, which means deriving pleasure from seeing justice done. Recorded 4/12/21.By Stuart Kelter

1
#100. What Life Was Like in the Prehistoric Past 56:07

4M ago56:07

56:07

Ran Barkai is the co-author, with Eyal Halfon, of the recently published book, They Were Here Before Us: Stories from the First Million Years. Dr. Barkai is a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, who for 20 years has co-directed the excavations and research at Qesem Cave in northern Israel. His wide-ranging research interests encompass …

1
20: PAUL UNWIN TALKS TRAUMA,, SURVIVOR'S GUILT, CREATING CASUALTY, GRATITUDE, GRIEF, FEAR, DRUMMING,GRATEFUL DEAD, STEELY DAN, BEDALES EMDR, ARTHUR MILLER, NOT DWELLING ON REGRET. 1:29:11

4M ago1:29:11

1:29:11

Paul Unwin is the co-creator of huge hit TV show 'Casualty' with best friend Jeremy Brock, was the artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic, and collaborator and good friend of playwright Arthur Miller, to name a few accolades. He talks about the traumatic turning point of his life at the young age of 19, therapy and later EMDR, survivor's guilt. H…

1
#99. Ethical Dilemmas of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing 55:33

4M ago55:33

55:33

Vardit Ravitsky is a Professor of Bioethics at the University of Montreal and President of the International Association of Bioethics. Her research focuses on the ethical, legal and social implications of genetics/genomics and assisted reproductive technologies and their implications for women’s autonomy and for disability rights. She is President …

1
#98. Re-examining the Evidence for the Genetic Basis of Mental Illness 56:45

4M ago56:45

56:45

Jay Joseph is a clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Joseph challenges the empirical evidence behind the mainstream view that mental illness is genetically based, and argues instead that the real causes include oppression, trauma, abuse, and psychologically unhealthy aspects of the social and political environment. He is the aut…

1
#97. How to Best Help the Most Vulnerable Children? Start Before They're Even Born! 55:03

4M ago55:03

55:03

David Olds is a professor at the Pediatrics-Prevention Research Center at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has devoted his long and distinguished career to the developing and testing of very early interventions in family and child functioning, starting prenatally and continuing through toddler age. After devoting decades to high qu…

1
#96. Compassionate Care for a Devastating Disease 56:22

4M ago56:22

56:22

In 2003, Ron Hoffman became the founder of an organization in Falmouth, Massachusetts called Compassionate Care ALS (CCALS.org), which has helped well over 1000 families with Lou Gehrig’s disease on both practical and spiritual levels, above all by being deeply present. His memoir, Sacred Bullet, published in 2014, reveals in powerful and personal …

1
19: A SHED CHAT HARVEY LISBERG-INTO SOMETHING GOOD. MANAGER OF HERMAN'S HERMITS, GRAHAM GOULDMAN ,I'M NOT IN LOVE, 10CC, GORDON GILTRAP, SAD CAFE, JIMMY WHITE. TALKING ABOUT MICK JAGGER BEING BASHED BY ... 43:29

4M ago43:29

43:29

New to 2024: SHED CHATS Shed Chats are briefer conversations with interesting people - not specifically to do with mental health, but fascinating topics nonetheless. Self-effacing Harvey Lisberg talks about making his own luck, His wild life in the music business, meeting Elvis, Colonel Parker, playing on the same bill as the Stones. What it was li…

1
#95. The Amazing Grit and Determination of the First Women Doctors 55:10

5M ago55:10

55:10

Olivia Campbell is a journalist, essayist, and author focusing on the intersections of medicine, women, history, and nature. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and many other major publications. She is the author of the 2021 NY Times bestseller, Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed…

1
#94. Can Trauma Be Inherited? 55:49

5M ago55:49

55:49

Isabelle Mansuy, a professor in neuroepigenetics in the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich and the Department of Health Science and Technology of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Specializing in neuroepigenetics and molecular psychiatry, Dr. Mansuy is doing cutting edge research, using mice, to separate nature from nurture…

1
#93. An Evolutionary Perspective on Mental Illness and Human Suffering 56:56

5M ago56:56

56:56

Psychiatrist, professor, and researcher, Randolph Nesse, is a cofounder of the field of evolutionary medicine. Twenty-five years ago his book, Why We Get Sick, which he co-authored with George C. Williams, went on to sell more than 100,000 copies and to be translated into eight languages. He served for many years on the faculty of the University of…

1
#92. The Trailblazers of the Dance Theatre of Harlem 55:12

5M ago55:12

55:12

Karen Valby is a culture writer whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, O Magazine, Glamour, Fast Company, and EW. She is also the author of two books. The first, Welcome to Utopia: Notes from a Small Town, was published in 2010. Her soon-to-be-released book, The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood,…

1
#91. The Corporatization of American Health Care 56:25

5M ago56:25

56:25

Robert W. Derlet, MD is a Professor Emeritus at the medical school of the University of California, Davis, former Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Davis Medical Center, candidate for Congress in 2016, and author of the recent book, Corporatizing American Health Care. Recorded 6/16/21.By Stuart Kelter

1
#90. Symbiotic Relationships with Bacteria 55:42

5M ago55:42

55:42

Michele Nishiguchi, a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Merced, she runs the Nishiguchi Symbiosis Lab, specializing in the study of the association and interaction between the tiny Bobtail squid and a light emitting bacteria called Vibrio fischeri, which are relevant to the evolution of both beneficial and det…

1
#89. The History and Continued Threats of White Supremacist Terrorism 55:35

5M ago55:35

55:35

Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware are the coauthors of the recently published, God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. Dr. Hoffman is a professor at Georgetown University, professor emeritus of terrorism studies at the University of St Andrews, Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center, and a Fellow for Counterter…

1
#88. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America 57:43

6M ago57:43

57:43

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster, and musician, focusing on race, public policy, and applied ethics. At the age of 28, he is already becoming a well-known commentator and critic on issues related to race-based policies. He was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a fellow and contributing editor at their City Journal. He…

1
#87. Hard Choices that the Green Revolution Poses 57:41

6M ago57:41

57:41

Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent for Reuters covering the green energy transition and the mining of the minerals required for its implementation. He previously covered the U.S. shale oil revolution, politics, and the environment. He is the author of the recently published book, The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power…

1
86. How Religious Practice Creates Faith, Rather than the Other Way Around 55:02

6M ago55:02

55:02

Tanya Marie Luhrmann is an anthropologist of religion at Stanford University, whose work focuses on the edge of human experience: hearing voices, having visions, the world of the supernatural, and the world of psychosis, whether on the streets of Chicago with homeless and psychotic women, with people who hear voices in India, Ghana, and southern Ca…

1
#85. The History of Myanmar (Burma) 59:23

6M ago59:23

59:23

Ken Hammond is a professor of East Asian and global history at NMSU since 1994, who lived in Beijing from 1982 to 1987 prior to completing his PhD at Harvard in 1994. He subsequently joined the history faculty of NMSU, specializing in East Asian history, particularly 16th century China. From 2007 to 2015 he was co-director of the Confucius Institut…

1
#84. Reflections of a Human Rights Leader 53:11

6M ago53:11

53:11

Richard ("Dick") Scobie was the Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee from 1972 to 1998. Under his direction, the UUSC defended human rights and promoted humane solutions to social problems worldwide, from war zones in Central America, Africa and Asia, to America’s broken systems of criminal justice and child welfare. H…

1
#83. Unseen, Unheard, Yet a Clear Sense of Another’s Presence 55:24

7M ago55:24

55:24

Ben Alderson-Day is a professor of psychology at Durham University in the UK, researching the phenomena of voice-hearing and unusual sensory experiences. Specializing in atypical cognition and mental health, his work spans cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, philosophy, and child development. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the Early Career Ha…

1
#82. Why Is It So Difficult to Promote Social Mobility and Equality of Opportunity? 55:35

7M ago55:35

55:35

Aveek Bhattacharya was the Chief Economist and is now the Interim Director of the Social Market Foundation (SMF), a non-partisan think tank based in the U.K., which aims to promote evidence-based policy and cross-party co-operation in politics. Prior positions include Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, researching and advoca…

1
#81. The Neurology of Memory in the Continuity of Experience and Personal Identity 56:57

7M ago56:57

56:57

Michael Yassa is a professor at the University of California at Irvine, where he is the director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. His research focuses on how the brain learns and remembers information, and how learning and memory mechanisms are altered in aging and neuropsychiatric disease, especially dementia. Today's int…

1
18: MARY RYAN: DOCTOR, SCHOLAR, WIFE, MOTHER, SURVIVOR, DOG LOVER, COLD WATER SWIMMER TALKS . PERSONALITY DISORDER, GOOD & BAD PRIESTS, BEING A G.P. POWER, VIOLENCE, NOT BEING BELIEVED, LOVE 1:25:45

7M ago1:25:45

1:25:45

By Blue Baltic Entertainment Ltd

1
#80. Political Dynamics of the Drug Cartels of Mexico 57:02

7M ago57:02

57:02

Neil Harvey is a professor and academic department head in the Government Department at New Mexico State University. His main areas of interest encompass politics in Mexico and Latin America, especially social movements in the struggle for democracy and new forms of political representation. He has carried out field research in Chiapas, Mexico, int…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

First Person Scholar Podcast

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide