We have a real treat today—someone perfect for this program. Our guest is Aaron Anderson. He’s the author of two investment books, but much more importantly to me he is a fellow member of the Investment Policy Committee here at Fisher Investments, a longtime colleague of mine, and one of the sharpest investment minds I’ve known.We talk about his ou…

Today we have Eisner award-winning comics artist, author, and educator, Nick Sousanis in to talk about his book, Unflattening.How to explain this strange book? Well, written and drawn entirely as a comic book, Unflattening is an experiment in visual thinking using graphic art to illustrate the ways we construct knowledge. Weaving together diverse w…

Today we have award-winning scientist, author, educator, and film producer Sean B. Carroll with us to talk about the role of chance in biological life with his newest book, A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You.Randomness and chance of course play a role in just about everything, and especially investments…

Hello everyone today is May 12th 20-21 and welcome to another edition of the Well-Read Investor, the podcast that profits your mind and your money. I’m your host Mike Hanson. Today we’re talking history—a period of history most, even universities, gloss over: The period in the West commencing after the fall of the Roman Empire and leading up, more …

This week we have Arnold Kling on the show to discuss his book The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides. Now in its third edition, it’s a short little guide to navigating ideology and tribalism in today’s politics. Politics is of tremendous importance to investors—it defines the rules by which we operate, individual and…

This week we’re discussing Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, with authors and professors Deirdre McCloskey and Art Carden.Since we started the podcast now more than a year ago, we’ve had esteemed guests from a variety of fields, but having Diedre McCloskey on is special. In my humble opinion, she’s on…

We spoke with comedy writing legend Gene Perret about how comedy works, and a lifetime spent writing jokes for the likes of Bob Hope, Carrol Burnet and Phyllus Diller, to name just a few. But he spent a significant portion of his career writing books and teaching about comedy as well. He’s on today to speak about his book, The New Comedy Writing St…

We’ve got a really fun and interesting guest this week in Tyler Maroney, a former investigative journalist who today runs his own highly successful private investigation firm. His recent book is The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence is Reshaping the World, about the role private investigators play in global commerce, government accountab…

We have a truly special guest for you today in Randall Wallace. He’s the Oscar nominated author of the screenplay for the film Braveheart, but you’ll also know him from huge blockbuster films like We Were Soldiers, Pearl Harbor, and Secretariat, to name a few. We’re talking today about his book, “Living the Braveheart Life: Finding the Courage to F…

Today Mike speaks with Professor Aswath Damodaran about his book, Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. Aswath is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University and his career-spanning work on valuation, portfolio management and corporate finance cut across numerous books and popular lectures online…

Today our guest is Professor William Goetzmann, here to talk about his book Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible. Will is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Faculty Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. I think of him as sort of an economic a…

This very special episode finishes out the Well Read Investor’s first year! We’ll be back in January with a new year and stacks of new books to discuss. I just want to say thank you to everyone involved in making the show what it is. This went from literally zero just 12 months ago to a show we’re all quite proud of today. Specifically, our amazing…

Today we have Dr. Paul Morland to discuss his book, The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World. Paul is associate research fellow at Birkbeck College, at the University of London, a business consultant, and a renowned authority on demography. The Human Tide is available widely on amazon and other online venues.Demographics are a timely …

We are delighted to have Gregory Zuckerman, a long-time journalist for the Wall Street Journal on the show to discuss his book: The Man Who Solved the Market, the often-dramatic story of how Jim Simons and a group of unlikely mathematicians applied their skillsets to become some of the most successful investors of all time. Simons is a “quant”, whi…

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Today we have Diana Henriques on the program to discuss her book, A First-Class Catastrophe: The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History.Diana is a financial journalist with really too many major awards to mention, spanning a decades long career covering some of the most impactful stories of the era—including Enron and Long-Term …

Today we speak with Douglas McCormick, co-founder and managing partner of private equity firm HCI Equity Partners and the author of Family Inc.: Using Business Principles to Maximize Your Family’s Wealth. Doug’s had a tremendous career in finance and investing, and you’d be interested to know he’s a Westpoint graduate and served as Captain in the A…

Today we have Laurence B. Siegel on the program to discuss his book, Fewer, Richer, Greener: Prospects for Humanity in an age of abundance. Mr. Siegel, Larry, is a graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, author of more than 200 articles and monographs on investing and related topics, and has won many awards including the Gra…

Today Mike speaks with Amity Shlaes about her most recent bestseller, Great Society: A New History. The title reflects the era of American politics where President Lyndon Baynes Johnson pursued a set of social policies designed to help the underprivileged called “the Great Society” - a time in so many ways applicable to now, and they talk about the…

In Episode 5 we are thrilled to have Pulitzer Prize winning Historian Professor John Lewis Gaddis to discuss his most recent book, On Grand Strategy, and much else over his prolific career. John Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University, where he teaches courses on the Cold War, grand strategy, biogra…

In Episode 4 Host, Michael Hanson speaks with noted economist and professor Dr. W. Brian Arthur on the show, discussing his book Complexity and the Economy. With a list of accomplishments too long to list—the 1990 Schumpeter Prize in Economics among them—Dr. Arthur’s wide-ranging career spans numerous books and publications, over a decade teaching …

In Episode 3 we continue our mini-theme on Artificial Intelligence with award-winning economist and professor Joshua Gans, speaking about his book Prediction Machines: the simple economics of Artificial Intelligence, co-written with professors, Ajay Agrawal and Avi Goldfarb. This is an expansive career that features several books, numerous publicat…

Mike's guest for Episode 2 is Professor Melanie Mitchell, speaking about all things Artificial Intelligence. Melanie is the Davis Professor of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute and Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University. Mike focuses on her latest book, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. They talk about sep…