Transcript
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You know that moment when you're tracking down a lead and something just doesn't feel right? Maybe it's a source that doesn't seem accurate, or a technical explanation that sounds impressive but falls apart under scrutiny. That's when you need Claude not to give you easy answers, but to help you think through what's actually happening. Let's say you're trying to understand how a particular technology works. Upload the technical papers. Ask Claude to break down the methodology. It doesn't just translate jargon, it helps you spot where the logic might be shaky. Or maybe you're researching a company's claims about their breakthrough innovation. CLAUDE can search current sources, cross reference information, and help you see patterns that might not be obvious at first glance. It's built for those who don't stop at something being just good enough. Whether you're investigating emerging tech, following complex business stories, or just someone who finds themselves going down research rabbit holes, Claude matches that energy of wanting to really dig deep into the why. See why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner. Try Claude for free@claude AI searchengine.
Terry Gross (1:05)
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Episode is brought to you in part by Joe's Jeans. You know how we're all constantly trying to find that balance, comfort and style, function and fashion the clothes that actually keep up with us. That's what's great about Joe's jeans. New Kinetic 2.0 fabric the fabric looks like classic denim. It's rugged and timeless, but the feel is completely different. The Kinetic 2.0 denim fabric is supple and lightweight and with four way stretch, they move the way you do. It's the kind of denim you forget you're wearing. But other people notice in the best way. Whether it's a casual day, working from home, running around the city, or grabbing dinner at night, these jeans just fit the rhythm of everyday life. And because they're crafted with premium materials and thoughtful details, they don't just work for today, they're made to last. You've got options too. The Ascher and Doheny and the Brixton and Nod. Two styles you'll keep reaching for. When you want to strike that balance of comfort and style, go to joezjeans.com and use code ENGINE at checkout to take 20% off your first purchase. That's Joe's jeans.com code ENGINE for 20% off. Welcome to Search Engine. I'm PJ Vogt. No question too big, no question too small. When I was 14, I had a Discman with an FM radio feature. And when I got tired of whatever weaker than CD was in there, I turned on the radio and listened to Terry Gross on her show, Fresh Air. Fresh Air, I would argue, is the best long form interview show that anyone has ever made. The way she interviews people, Terry Gross is famous for her astounding levels of preparation. Whoever it is, a writer, a musician, an actor, anybody, she will have seen or heard everything they've ever done. She'll have read all the other interviews, and then she'll arrive and just be completely present. You can feel a lot of times when she interviews someone, this feeling that she's getting a public person to reveal something new and genuine about themselves, that they never have. A good episode of. Fresh Air for me, seems like it can answer the question, how did this person come to be? I didn't know all that when I was little. I just knew I liked our interviews more than any others. I was drawn to them because I could listen to adults in public, talking the way I imagined they spoke privately. It was thrilling. When we started Search Engine, it was my first time trying to learn how to conduct long form interviews. I'd interviewed a lot of people before, but long form is a different skill, differently hard. And I wanted to interview Terry Gross about how she does it. The question of the episode was either gonna be how do you interview people? Or how do you make an interview show? Or maybe just how do you listen? I got her email, I sent her a short note that took a very long time to write, and she wrote back a polite note saying she was busy, but to check again in the future when things might be calmer over there. So I was gonna do that. But then a few weeks ago, I heard this interview she'd given for Fresh Air's 50th anniversary. And it was just, to my ear, the platonic ideal of the conversation I'd hoped to have. Somebody had done it better than I could. The interviewer is this man named Sam Fragoso. He has a podcast called Talk Easy. Sam's a young podcaster, but he's the real deal. You can tell he'll be doing this when he's old. And he's very clearly trying to interview Terry Gross with a level of preparedness and care and attention with which she interviews other people. Sam is trying to Terry Gross. Terry Gross. And Terry, who's almost never on the other side of the microphone, is settling into it over the course of the interview. She's clearly not entirely comfortable being the person being asked questions, but also she's clearly trying to be generous to someone who has tremendous respect for her, to give him what other people have given her. Trust and vulnerability, the whole thing. It's long. It's an hour and a half. And when I listened, I thought, this is the conversation you'd play for someone who asked, how do I interview people? It's a class. But it's not just that. It also helped me move forward with some other questions that had been crashing around my brain about life and lineage and how someone thinks about a life spent in service of their work that they love. Terri's husband, who she was with for 47 years, the writer Francis Davis, died earlier this year. And Sam also talks to her about that relationship and that loss, and she shares what that kind of grief is like. It's a rare kind of conversation. Okay, here's Sam and Terri.