Ep. 587 - Johann Hari - New York Times bestseller, over 2 million books sold in 40 languages
My Time Capsule
Cast Off Productions
4.8 • 842 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Johann Hari is a New York Times bestselling author whose five books have sold more than two million copies in 40 languages. His acclaimed works include Stolen Focus, Lost Connections, Chasing the Scream and Magic Pill, exploring issues ranging from attention and mental health to addiction and obesity. His TED Talks have been viewed more than 93 million times, and Chasing the Scream was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Hari also served as Executive Producer of an eight-part television series with Samuel L. Jackson. His work has been praised by figures including Oprah Winfrey, Noam Chomsky, Elton John and Naomi Klein. A former journalist, Johann has written for many of the world’s leading publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, The Spectator and Le Monde Diplomatique. He has appeared on major broadcast and podcast platforms including NPR’s All Things Considered, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, The Joe Rogan Experience and the BBC’s Question Time. Johann has twice been named National Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International and has also received Comment Awards for Cultural Commentator of the Year and Environmental Commentator of the Year.
Johann Hari is our guest in episode 587 of My Time Capsule and he chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he’d like to put in a time capsule; four he’d like to preserve and one he’d like to bury and never have to think about again .
For Johann’s book, visit - https://johannhari.com .
Follow Johann Hari on Instagram: @johann.hari .
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Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .
Music by Pass The Peas Music .
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to my time capsule. My name's Mike Fenton-Stevens, and my time capsule is the podcast where people tell me five things from their life they wish they had in a time capsule. |
| 0:20.3 | Four things they cherish and |
| 0:21.5 | one thing they like to forget. My guest in this episode is Johann Hari. Johann is a British writer |
| 0:28.0 | and journalist. Until 2011, he wrote for the Independent, among other outlets, but since then he's |
| 0:33.8 | written deeply researched books on the topics of depression, the war on drugs, |
| 0:37.9 | the effect of technology on attention span, and anti-obesity medication. |
| 0:42.9 | Johan graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 2001, with a double first in social and political sciences. |
| 0:49.8 | Johan's 2015 book, Chasing the Scream, The First and the Last Days of the War on Drugs, |
| 0:55.9 | critiques the global prohibition of illicit narcotics. |
| 0:59.3 | He followed this with the 2022 book, Stolen Focus. |
| 1:03.1 | He went on to write lost connections, in which he argues the depression and related mental health conditions |
| 1:08.3 | are not solely caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, |
| 1:11.7 | instead being rooted in social, environmental and psychological factors. He followed this with the |
| 1:17.2 | 2022 book, Stolen Focus, Why Can't You Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again, |
| 1:23.4 | arguing that elements of modern lifestyle, including smartphones and social media, are destroying |
| 1:28.5 | our ability to concentrate. His latest book is Magic Pill, the extraordinary benefits and |
| 1:34.2 | disturbing risks of the new weight loss drugs, recounting his first-person experiences of taking |
| 1:40.1 | the weight loss drug a Zempec. Johann was a producer and writer on the 2021 film, |
| 1:45.6 | The United States versus Billy Holiday. |
| 1:47.9 | He's been a guest on the huge Joe Rogan podcast, |
| 1:51.1 | as well as HBO's Real Time with Bill Mayer, |
| 1:54.0 | BBC's Question Time, |
... |
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