Podcast
Knowledge = Power
Hosted by Rita · EN
Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.
48episodes
Episodes
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The Rise and Reign of the Mammals A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
May 913:25:44Tap to summarizeNew from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (“A masterpiece of science writing.” —Washington Post) and “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic), a sweeping and revelatory history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of the extraordinary family tree that led to us.We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today—lions, whales, dogs—represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions. How did we get here?In his acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs—hailed as “the ultimate dinosaur biography” by Scientific American—American paleontologist Steve Brusatte enchanted readers with his definitive history of the dinosaurs. Now, picking up the narrative in the ashes of the extinction event that doomed T-rex and its kind, Brusatte explores the remarkable story of the family of animals that inherited the Earth—mammals— and brilliantly reveals that their story is every bit as fascinating and complex as that of the dinosaurs.Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts how mammals survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs and made the world their own, becoming the astonishingly diverse range of animals that dominate today’s Earth. Brusatte also brings alive the lost worlds mammals inhabited through time, from ice ages to volcanic catastrophes. Entwined in this story is the detective work he and other scientists have done to piece together our understanding using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology.A sterling example of scientific storytelling by one of our finest young researchers, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals illustrates how this incredible history laid the foundation for today’s world, for us, and our future.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Transcribe →The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs A New History of a Lost World
May 910:07:09Tap to summarizeA sweeping and revelatory new history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientists."THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR BIOGRAPHY." — Scientific AmericanThe dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork—masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers—themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period—into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs’ peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth’s history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a “sixth extinction.”Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research—which he calls “a new golden age of discovery”—and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs’ epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come.
Transcribe →Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI Audible Logo Audible Audiobook – Unabridged
May 917:28:35Tap to summarize#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.“Strikingly original . . . A historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly.”—The Economist“This deeply important book comes at a critical time as we all think through the implications of AI and automated content production. . . . Masterful and provocative.”—Mustafa Suleyman, author of The Coming WaveFor the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
Transcribe →Building Applications with AI Agents
May 912:04:15Tap to summarizeGenerative AI has revolutionized how organizations tackle problems, accelerating the journey from concept to prototype to solution. As the models become increasingly capable, we have witnessed a new design pattern emerge: AI agents. By combining tools, knowledge, memory, and learning with advanced foundation models, we can now sequence multiple model inferences together to solve ambiguous and difficult problems. From coding agents to research agents to analyst agents and more, we've already seen agents accelerate teams and organizations. While these agents enhance efficiency, they often require extensive planning, drafting, and revising to complete complex tasks, and deploying them remains a challenge for many organizations.This book is your indispensable guide through this intricate and fast-moving landscape. Author Michael Albada provides a practical and research-based approach to designing and implementing single- and multiagent systems.Discover the core components and design principles of AI agentsExplore design trade-offs and implement effective multiagent systemsDesign and deploy tailored AI solutions, enhancing efficiency and innovation in your fieldPLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Transcribe →Open to Work - How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI
May 905:56:28Tap to summarizeAN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWork is changing for everyone, everywhere. Standing still isn't an option. Ryan Roslansky and Aneesh Raman, CEO and Chief Economic Opportunity Officer at LinkedIn, show you how to take control of this moment with clarity and confidence.The future of work is not a distant horizon. It is being built right now. While some of us are experimenting and adapting with AI, most of us are feeling anxious and uncertain, navigating rapid change with outdated playbooks. We're relying on old career advice that assumes the tasks you do at work are static, that the skills you learned in school last decades, and that success comes from moving up a predictable ladder. That's the old world of work, and it's on the way out.Open to Work offers a new path forward. Backed by real-time insights from over a billion professionals on LinkedIn, it is a clear-eyed view of what's actually changing, what skills you really need, and how to stay ahead at work as AI reshapes every aspect of work.You'll meet early movers like Neil, who used AI to get better at his job; Jonetta, who used AI to get a new job; and Taj, who used AI to build a business.You’ll also get expert perspectives across the future of work and careers, helping you discover what will make you competitive in ways no machine can replace. You'll learn how to:Assess which parts of your job to delegate to AI, and which to keep for yourselfBuild the core human capabilities that will carry you through any technological shiftTake action, including with a 30-60-90 day planBoth a roadmap and a rallying cry, Open to Work delivers an urgent truth: change is coming. The only question is whether you harness it or let it overtake you.
Transcribe →The Economist Audio Edition - May 02, 2026
May 207:51:45Tap to summarizeThe Economist Audio Edition - May 02, 2026
Transcribe →The Economist Audio Edition - April 25th-May 1st 2026
May 208:18:19Tap to summarizeThe Economist Audio Edition - April 25th-May 1st 2026
Transcribe →The Haunting of Hill House – Unabridged Shirley Jackson
Apr 3007:27:27Tap to summarizeNow a hit Netflix miniseries directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy HuttonPast the rusted gates and untrimmed hedges, Hill House broods and waits.Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own.This classic horror novel has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror.
Transcribe →Eknath Easwaran - The Bhagavad Gita Unabridged
Apr 2908:54:41Tap to summarizeThe Bhagavad Gita is the best known of all the Indian scriptures, and Eknath Easwaran’s best-selling translation is reliable, readable, and profound.Easwaran's extensive introduction places the Bhagavad Gita in its historical setting, and brings out the universality and timelessness of its teachings. Chapter introductions clarify key concepts, and notes and a glossary explain Sanskrit terms.Easwaran grew up in the Hindu tradition in India, and learned Sanskrit from a young age. He was a professor of English literature before coming to the West on a Fulbright scholarship. A gifted teacher, he is recognized as an authority on the Indian classics and world mysticism.The Bhagavad Gita opens, dramatically, on a battlefield, as the warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. Yet, as Easwaran points out, the Gita is not what it seems – it’s not a dialogue between two mythical figures at the dawn of Indian history. “The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita’s subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life victorious.”Arjuna’s struggle in the Bhagavad Gita is acutely modern. He has lost his way on the battlefield of life and turns to find the path again by asking direct, uncompromising questions of his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, the Lord himself. Krishna replies in 700 verses of sublime instruction on living and dying, loving and working, and the nature of the soul.Easwaran shows the Gita’s relevance to us today as we strive, like Arjuna, to do what is right.Narrated by Paul Bazely, an actor of Indian heritage and a longtime student of Easwaran. Music by Yann Stoneman.
Transcribe →Jay L. Garfield, The Great Courses - The Meaning of Life Perspectives from the Worlds Great Intellectual Traditions
Apr 2918:42:14Tap to summarizeWhat is the meaning of life? It's a question every thoughtful person has pondered at one time or another. Indeed, it may be the biggest question of all - at once profound and universal, but also deeply personal. We want to understand the world in which we live, but we also want to understand how to make our own lives as meaningful as possible; to know not only why we're living, but that we're doing it with intention, purpose, and ethical commitment. But how, exactly, do we find that meaning, and develop that commitment? How can we grasp why we are here? Or how we should proceed? And to whom, exactly, we should listen as we shape the path we will walk? This comprehensive 36-lecture series from a much-honored scholar is an invigorating way to begin or continue your pursuit of these questions, and it requires no previous background in philosophical or religious thought. It offers a rigorous and wide-ranging exploration of what various spiritual, religious, and philosophical traditions from both the East and West have contributed to this profound line of questioning, sharing insights from sources that include ancient Indian texts, such as:The Bhagavad-GitaFoundational Chinese texts like the Daodejing and the Chuang TzuClassical Western texts, such as Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and Marcus Aurelius's MeditationsModern philosophers and writers like David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Leo TolstoyThe unique perspectives offered by Native Americans, in this case, the Lakota Sioux medicine man and writer, John Lame DeerMore recent and contemporary philosophers, such as Mohandas Gandhi and the Dalai Lama
Transcribe →