How To Academy Podcast

How To Academy is London's home of big thinking. From Nobel laureates to Pulitzer Prize winners, we invite the world’s most influential voices to share new ideas for changing ourselves, our communities, and the world. Our biweekly podcast is your chance to hear in-depth from the most exciting thinkers in global culture.

Society & Culture
Science
Self-Improvement
26
Kenneth Roth - Fighting for Humanity: Three Dec...
The long-time head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, joins us to tell the story of taking on the world’s biggest human rights villains, and explores the ongoing fight for a better world.
71 min
27
Assyriologist Selena Wisnom - Mesopotamia and t...
Located in modern-day Iraq, Mesopotamia was the first human civilisation and the birthplace of writing. Selena Wisnom is one of the few people alive today who can read the cuneiform tablets that tell its story.
27 min
28
Agnes Callard - Socratic Wisdom for Our Modern ...
Philosopher and University of Chicago Professor Agnes Callard reveals how Socrates can continue to guide us in the tumult of our modern world.
62 min
29
Psychologist to the Lionesses Kate Hays - How t...
The Lionesses’ Performance Psychologist Kate Hays shares a practical playbook on how to thrive, fulfil your potential, and sustain long-term success.
60 min
30
Courtney Love and Todd Almond - The Legend of B...
After Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan is Courtney Love’s all-time rock’n’roll hero. Todd Almond performed Dylan’s songbook on Broadway. They join us for a deeply personal celebration of the legendary songwriter.
59 min
31
Sumit Paul-Choudhury - Why You Should Be an Opt...
A deep dive into the power and science of optimism that will change the way you think for good, with the former editor of New Scientist, Sumit Paul-Choudhury.
57 min
32
George Osborne Meets Tom Holland - The Lives of...
The award-winning star of The Rest is History Tom Holland joins George Osborne to breathe new life into the reign of the Caesars.
72 min
33
Andrew Brodsky - The Secrets of Successful Virt...
To email or not to email? That is the question. We are all virtual communicators, but the struggles of expressing ourselves on text, email, and video calls are familiar to us all. Andrew Brodsky shares an illuminating guide to how we can all communicate better virtually.
58 min
34
Sahil Bloom - How to Design Your Dream Life
Entrepreneur and author of The Curiosity Chronicle, Sahil Bloom joins Chris Donnelly for a groundbreaking guide to rejecting the default path and designing the life you've always dreamed of.
47 min
35
Historian and Novelist Ada Palmer - Was the Ren...
Historian and novelist Ada Palmer debunks the myths of the Renaissance and reveal a richer picture of the era and its luminaries, from the Medicis to Machiavelli.
55 min
36
Sunita Sah - The Power of No in a World that De...
In a world that expects compliance, what is the power of defiance and how can we stay true to ourselves? Cornell Professor Sunita Sah reveals the power of 'no'.
59 min
37
Anna Sulan Masing - Chinese and Any Other Asian
Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores the vast history of othering and belonging for East and Southeast Asians in the UK, and what it means to be East and Southeast Asian in Britain today.
48 min
38
Neal Stephenson – Dawn of the Atomic Age
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Termination Shock Neal Stephenson joins us to unveil his creation of a new tale: Polostan, an epic of intrigue presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age.
54 min
39
Activist, Actor and Baroness Lola Young - Defyi...
The beloved social justice activist Baroness Lola Young shares her remarkable path from a childhood spent in foster care to becoming one of the first Black women in the House of Lords.
58 min
40
Frankie Boyle Meets George Monbiot - The Fight ...
Legendary environmentalist George Monbiot joins comic Frankie Boyle to take on neoliberalism: the insidious doctrine impoverishing society and threatening democracy itself.
92 min
41
Neuroscientist Adam Zeman - The New Science of ...
We think of imagination as a creative faculty. The truth is that it’s the default setting of our daily lives. Robin Ince ventures into the maze of the mind with Professor Adam Zeman.
56 min
42
Novelist and Activist Cory Doctorow - Fear and ...
Blogger, author, and activist Cory Doctorow is the most provocative, original, and widely admired thinker on the politics of Big Tech writing today.
54 min
43
Caitlin Moran Meets Alex James - Cocaine, Crash...
Blur’s legendary bassist Alex James shares his heartfelt and hilarious account of being catapulted back into the limelight with Times journalist Caitlin Moran.
63 min
44
Yanis Varoufakis Meets Slavoj Žižek
Join the rockstar philosopher and revolutionary Slavoj Žižek for a celebration of his life and thought with his friend, world famous economist Yanis Varoufakis.
85 min
45
Cosmologist Roberto Trotta - How the Stars Sha...
All of humanity has arisen under the same sky. Cosmologist Roberto Trotta explores how the night sky has shaped civilisation and what it means to be human.
57 min
46
Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk – A Life in Writing
Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has moved readers across the globe with his evocative and deeply stirring novels. He joins us to illuminate his art.
55 min
47
Neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston - How ...
Can scientists now preserve human minds beyond death - and if so, should they? Australian neuroscientist and science communicator Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston joins us to explain the cutting-edge of his field.
32 min
48
Vanity Fair’s Lili Anolik - Joan Didion v. Eve ...
It’s sixties Hollywood. The relationship between two literary titans is about to explode. Vanity Fair's Lili Anolik reveals glittering insights into the literary rivalry of its age. This is Joan Didion v. Eve Babitz.
57 min
49
Lucy Hughes-Hallett - The Brief & Brilliant Lif...
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize Lucy Hughes-Hallett reveals the stunning life of the dazzling young Englishman at the heart of seventeenth-century court politics.
57 min
50
Andrew Roberts - 150 Years of Winston Churchill
On Winston Churchill's 150th birthday, Andrew Roberts joins Matthew D'Ancona to illuminate the life of this towering figure and share what Churchill might think of our world today.
74 min