Problems that are hard are usually hard because of the set of perspectives and tools that have been used to try to solve them.

So you have to always ask, am I bringing something new to this problem? And if you're not, then you should

say, well, maybe I should either try to get a different perspective or a different tool or a different

thing, or maybe give it a rest and work on something that I can get a little more progress with.

So there are people who know a lot about a few narrow topics.

And then there are other people who know a little bit about just about everything.

And then there's Nathan Mirvald who knows everything about everything.

Welcome to people I mostly admire with Steve Levitt.

I first met Nathan maybe a decade ago.

And from the very first time I met him, I was just blown away by his intellect and his enthusiasm.

And I've never asked him a question where he didn't give me an answer that was just

profound and detailed and knowledgeable. And what I love about talking to Nathan is not only that I

learn a lot from him, but somehow he makes me feel like everything in the world is interesting.

Nathan Mirvald, physicist, inventor, cookbook author, archaeologist, tech mogul,

scholar of penguin poop and dinosaur sex.

Let's just start at the beginning.

You graduated from high school when you were 14 years old.

You skipped four grades.

Were you a likable kid or were you the most annoying kid that ever existed? You know, it's very difficult for a teenager

to have that perspective on themselves famously. And, you know, I was never the weirdest kid in class

or the most misfit kid.

So in the pecking order, you were always at least one from the bottom with someone who could bully?

...