Hey there. It's Stephen Dubner. The psychologist and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman recently

died at age 90. If you've been a regular listener to Freak economics radio over the

years, you've likely heard us talk about Kahneman.

He became famous for his 2011 book Thinking Fast and Slow, but it was his decades of earlier

research, much of it done with his collaborator Amos Tversky. his

decades of earlier research, much of it done with his collaborator Amos Tversky, that revolutionized not only

psychology but helped create the field of behavioral economics. Their ideas hinged on the observation that we humans aren't nearly

as rational as standard economic theory would have us believe. In 2016, the journalist Michael

Lewis told the Kahneman Dversky story in his book The Undoing Project, a friendship that changed our minds.

We spoke with Lewis about that book when it was published and I wanted to replay that episode now in memory of Danny Kahneman.

If this episode doesn't fully satisfy your Kahneman curiosity, don't worry. We have just begun work on a proper

retrospective of his life and career. If all goes well, you will hear that in a few months.

As always, thanks for listening. There aren't many people in the world write excellent books that also get turned into excellent films.

Among them is this guy.

My name is Michael Lewis and I just think of myself as a writer.

What makes Michael Lewis's rare feet even rarer is that his books wouldn't seem at all conducive to the Hollywood treatment.

Books like Moneyball.

Which was about the way the Oakland A's managed to function

on a shoestring budget in Major League Baseball.

And the book was, in my mind really about the way the market

for baseball players misvalue those players that the then experts in

baseball scouts would make big mistakes in deciding who was a good player

...