Michael Lewis reads my mind

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2019

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Lewis needs little introduction. He’s the author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short, The Blind Side, The Fifth Risk. He’s the host of the new podcast “Against the Rules.” He’s a master at making seemingly boring topics — baseball statistics, government bureaucrats, collateralized debt obligations — riveting. So how does he do it? What I wanted to do in this conversation was understand Lewis’s process. How does he choose his topics? How does he find his characters? How does he get them to trust him? What is he looking for when he’s with them? What allows him to see the gleam in subjects that would strike others, on their face, as dull? Lewis more than delivered. There’s a master class in reporting — or just in getting to know people — tucked inside this conversation. As in the NK Jemisin episode, Lewis shows how he does his work in real time, using me and something I revealed as the example. Sometimes the conversations on this show are a delight. Sometimes they’re actually useful. This one is both. Book recommendations: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain A Collection of Essays by George Orwell The Right Stuffby Tom Wolfe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I don't think I've written a book that you couldn't describe in a single sentence and kill
0:06.3	everybody's interest in it in the subject.
0:09.0	They're all potentially really boring subjects.
0:30.0	Hello, welcome to the Coinshaw on the Vox Media podcast network.
0:38.5	My guest today is Michael Lewis.
0:40.4	Michael Lewis is someone who almost needs no introduction.
0:43.4	But in case he needs an introduction for you, he's the author of Moneyball of Liars
0:47.8	Poker of the Fifth Risk of a book we talk about a lot here, Trail Fever, which is one of
0:52.8	my favorite books from the campaign trail, but the 1996 presidential campaign and he's
0:57.4	the host to the author.
0:58.8	I don't know.
0:59.8	He is the guy behind the new podcast series against the rules, which has been a really
1:04.7	fascinating podcast project looking at the fall and diminishing of umpires, of people
1:10.1	who actually keep the rules in everyday life.
1:13.2	I have, as almost all writers do, admired Michael for a long time and I was excited to
1:19.4	get this chance to talk to him and he was not what I expected at all and it was not
1:23.6	what I expected at all in the best possible way.
1:26.9	There is, I don't know, I'm a writer.
1:28.9	I know a lot of writers.
1:30.6	There's a force to his personality that you don't often see.
1:34.0	There, you actually I think helps make clear a little bit of how he does what he does
1:38.7	and why people want him around them.
	...

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