As the physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker—the author of the mind-expanding book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence—sees it, every single thing on Earth can be traced to life’s beginnings. Walker studies the origins of life on this planet—one of science’s greatest unsolved puzzles—and, beyond that, whether alien life exists on other planets. As part of her research, she’s advancing a physics known as “assembly theory,” a new way of thinking and talking about life’s origins and, in turn, time. She displays that rare gift for demystifying deeply layered concepts—and for reminding us of how profound it is to be alive, in this moment, in the first place. On this special episode—produced in partnership with the Aspen Art Museum and recorded in Aspen, Colorado, during the inaugural AIR festival earlier this month—Walker makes a compelling case for why understanding life’s origins is crucial to understanding ourselves.Special thanks to our episode sponsor, the Aspen Art Museum. Show Notes:Sara Imari Walker[6:59] Assembly theory[10:00] Thomas Moynihan[11:13] “Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence” (2024)[13:36] Michael Lachmann[18:38] Lee Cronin[18:48] Bertrand Russell [21:04] “A.I. Is Life”[24:10] Paley’s watch argument[25:36] Steve Jobs[25:54] “Reflecting on the iPhone's cultural impacts as it turns 18”[29:14] “It’s Time to Retire the Word ‘Technology’”[32:46] Copernican Revolution[36:14] “Hundert Autoren gegen Einstein” or “One Hundred Authors Against Einstein” (1931)[40:54] Arizona State University: School of Earth and Space Exploration[45:03] AIR Aspen[46:20] Carlo Rovelli[47:44] Thaddeus Mosley[47:54] Constantin Brâncuși[47:55] Isamu Noguchi
In 2003, when the author James Frey published his first book, A Million Little Pieces—a gut-punch account of his experience with addiction and rehab—nobody could have expected what would come next. Thanks to an Oprah Book Club endorsement, A Million Little Pieces was instantly catapulted to bestseller status, but soon blew up in scandal after Frey admitted to having falsified certain portions of the book, which had been marketed as a memoir. The drama that ensued sparked a media controversy—one that now, around 20 years later, feels petty and misplaced, especially in the context of today’s cancel-culture climate. More than 10 million copies of A Million Little Pieces have sold since, and Frey is still at it, writing, publishing, and pushing the boundaries of his art. His latest novel, Next to Heaven, is a rollicking, raunchy, absurd-yet-not satire about money, murder, and the all-too-human desires for power, pleasure, and greed. On the episode—our Season 11 finale, in which Frey sat lotus for the entire duration—he reflects on the A Million Little Pieces saga; his long-term study of Taoism; writing as a gateway to vulnerability; and why love, for him, is the greatest drug there is.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:James Frey[5:08] “Tao Te Ching”[5:08] Lao Tzu[5:08] Stephen Mitchell[5:08] Taoism[8:51] Cubism[13:11] “A Million Little Pieces” (2003)[14:16] “Next To Heaven” (2025)[14:16] New Canaan, Connecticut[17:14] Jackie Collins[17:14] “Hollywood Wives” (1983)[17:14] Danielle Steel[21:35] Honoré de Balzac[29:37] “Katerina” (2018) [29:37] “Full Fathom Five” (1947) by Jackson Pollock[37:14] “Larry King Live” (2006)[39:09] “Tropic of Cancer” (1971)[42:24] “Up to Me” (1985)[44:20] “Kissing a Fool” (1998)[52:22] “My Friend Leonard” (2005)[52:22] “Bright Shiny Morning” (2008)[52:22] “The Final Testament” (2011)[58:56] “Author Is Kicked Out of Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club”[58:56] “James Frey: ‘I Always Wanted to Be the Outlaw’”[01:03:18] Bret Easton Ellis[01:03:18] Jay McInerney[01:03:18] Norman Mailer[01:10:54] Rashid Johnson[01:10:54] HBO’s “Native Son” (2019)
Through her sharp and biting political commentary—whether as host of the podcast Fast Politics, as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, or as a political analyst on MSNBC—Molly Jong-Fast has, over the past decade, become something of a household name. But, as the daughter of the once-famous author and second-wave feminist Erica Jong—whose 1973 novel Fear of Flying catapulted her into the literary limelight—she has actually been in the public eye for much longer, decades before this more recent notoriety of her own making. Jong-Fast’s latest book, the searing, heartbreaking (but also, at times, hilarious) memoir How to Lose Your Mother, is in some sense an effort to take her story back after being in the shadow of her narcissistic, too often out-of-reach mother for so long. It’s also a book about aging and frailty, and an extremely difficult, gut-wrenching year: In 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia, right around the same time that Molly’s husband learned he had a rare cancer.On the episode, Jong-Fast talks about her own actual fear of flying, in addition to her mother’s book of the same name; 27 years of sobriety and how her time in A.A. has transformed her life; and the importance of confronting the vicissitudes of aging and one’s passage through time.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:Molly Jong-Fast[4:28] “Fear of Flying” (1973)[4:28] Erica Jong[4:49] “How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir”[7:53] “Spartacus” (1951)[7:53] “April Morning” (1961)[7:53] “The Immigrants” (1977)[9:15] Lee Krasner[10:04] Susan Faludi[10:04] “Backlash” (1991)[12:09] “Fear and Flying Erica & Erotica in Connecticut” (1980)[12:09] “Fanny” (1980)[14:57] Marty Seif[18:26] Special Guest: Erica Jong (2023)[19:39] Pan Am Flight 001[21:11] “The Year of Magical Thinking” (2005)[21:11] “Notes to John” (2025)[26:54] “The Sex Doctors in the Basement” (2005)[36:46] “Normal Girl” (2000)[38:52] Jacob Bernstein[38:52] Carl Bernstein[38:52] Stalin Peace Prize[46:05] Michael Tomasky[48:55] Hazelden[49:57] “How Molly Jong-Fast Tweeted Her Way to Liberal Media Stardom”
Few artists aim to make sense of the subjectivity and complexity of time and space quite like the Polish-born, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade. In each of her works, ranging from sculptures and large-scale public installations to films, photographs, and works on paper, Kwade displays an astute sense of temporality and the ticking hands of the clock. Her practice, in a literal and figurative sense, is a quest to understand time as a ruler and shaper of our lives and of our world. For her latest exhibition, “Telos Tales,” on view at Pace Gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood through August 15, Kwade has created three monumental steel-frame sculptures with treelike limbs alongside new mixed-media works in an effort to engage the intangible nature of time. As with all her work, “Telos Tales” is philosophical, illusionistic, and inspires wonder: Long after a viewer has seen it, it will leave them questioning.On the episode, Kwade considers the unfathomability of all things, finds humor in being human, and explains what a relief it is to know that some questions have no clear answers—and never will. Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:Alicja Kwade[13:19] “Alicja Kwade: Telos Tales” at Pace Gallery[16:56] “Hiroshi Sugimoto on Photography as a Form of Timekeeping”[18:41] “Alicja Kwade: Pretopia” (2025)[24:42] On Kawara’s Date Paintings[25:04] “Alicja Kwade & Agnes Martin: Rhythm, Equilibrium, and Time” (2024)[25:04] “Gegen den Lauf” (2012-2014)[29:48] “Stellar Day” (2013)[31:44] “Against the Run” (2015)[31:44] “Against the Run” (2019)[31:44] Pinacoteca Agnelli Art Center[35:04] “88 Seconds” (2017)[35:04] Eadweard Muybridge[39:24] Hiroshi Sugimoto[49:00] Salvador Dalí[49:00] Harry Houdini[49:00] Kazimir Malevich[59:27] “iPhone” (2017)[59:27] “Computer (PowerMac)” (2017)[01:04:47] “LinienLand” (2018)[01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Parapivot” (2019)[01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Viva Arte Viva” (2017)[01:08:30] “L’ordre des Mondes (Totem)” (2024)[01:13:50] Jason Farago[01:13:50] “Celestial Visions on the Met Roof”
With one small, clever—and now-trademark—idea in 1990, the chef Thomas Keller turned not only the notion of the ice-cream cone on its head, but the fine-dining world, too. Now, 35 years later, his hospitality group comprises 10 restaurants, including The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York City—both of them three-Michelin-starred—as well as Bouchon Bistro and Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas and The Surf Club Restaurant in Miami. Across his entire hospitality operation, a highly refined, expertly tuned set of standards feeds his “one-guest-at-a-time” philosophy and culture. In many respects, Keller was at the forefront of a local-focused cooking movement. He was also a pioneer in making fine dining more relaxed and approachable—and decidedly less fussy. The food world today would not be the same were it not for his wide-spanning influence.On the episode, Keller reflects on how it took two decades of failing and learning from mistakes before at last, in 1994, he opened The French Laundry, which instantly received rave reviews and remains one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. He also discusses his recent Chef’s Table episode on Netflix and his cameo on the FX show The Bear, memory-making as a key part of his operation, and why persistence is the greatest form of pleasure.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:Thomas Keller[4:57] “Chef’s Table: Legends” (2025)[4:57] The French Laundry[4:57] Per Se[7:24] Grant Achatz[7:24] Bobby Flay[7:24] Tom Colicchio[7:24] Emeril Lagasse[7:24] Le Pavillon[10:13] “The Bear”: Season 3, Episode 10 (2024)[10:13] Christopher Storer[10:13] “Sense of Urgency” (2013)[10:13] Hans Zimmer[10:13] Bouchon Bistro[10:13] “Thomas Keller’s Roasted Chicken” (2020)[17:26] “Chef Thomas Keller on Finding Professional Success After 40” (2022)[23:55] “The French Laundry Cookbook” (1999)[25:57] Daniel Boulud[28:24] Graham Kerr[28:24] “The Galloping Gourmet” (1968)[32:27] Roland Henin[33:47] Florence Fabricant[33:47] “Food; Flights of Fancy” (1988)[33:47] “Checkers Has Lost Its Chef” (1992)[38:08] “Sally Schmitt, Trend-Setting Restaurateur, Is Dead at 90”[40:12] The French Laundry Kitchen[40:12] Snøhetta[40:12] “Thomas Keller, an Exacting Chef at a Crossroads”[48:47] “The Reach of a Restaurant” TED Talk[48:47] “The French Laundry, Per Se” (2020)
The drummer and percussionist Billy Martin, whose name many Time Sensitive listeners may recognize—he created the Time Sensitive theme song—defies any boxed-in or limiting definitions of his work. Best known as a member of the band Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW), he’s spent the past three-plus decades making experimental, boundary-pushing, and uncategorizable instrumental jazz-funk-groove music, shaping sounds that feel as expansive as they are definitive and distinctive. Across all his artistic output, Martin continually, meditatively searches for harmony. He is also a composer, a teacher, a visual artist, and a builder and craftsman. His expansive creative practice comes most alive at his home in Englewood, New Jersey, where he has cultivated a bamboo garden, crafted his own Japanese-style teahouse, and constructed a music studio. Martin is someone for whom rhythm is not just something heard, but also seen and felt.On the episode, he talks about his MMW journey at length, his concept of “rhythmic harmony,” and why he views sound creation as a sacred act.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:Billy Martin[7:31] Medeski Martin & Wood[7:31] John Medeski[7:31] Chris Wood[7:31] “Not Not Jazz” (2024)[10:12] Iggy Pop’s “Avenue B” (1999)[10:12] Don Was[11:27] “The Lover” (1995)[11:27] “Friday Afternoon in the Universe” (1995)[11:27] “Old Angel Midnight” (1973) by Jack Kerouac[13:44] Ra-Kalam Bob Moses[13:44] John Scofield[13:44] David Baker[15:57] “Shuck It Up” (1993)[15:57] “It’s a Jungle in Here” (1993)[18:12] “Latin Shuffle” (1998)[18:12] “Combustication” (1998)[18:12] Frankie Malabe[18:12] Art Blakey[33:25] Thelonious Monk[33:58] “Life on Drums” (2011)[38:32] John Bonham[38:32] Charlie Watts[38:32] Stewart Copeland[38:32] Elvin Jones[38:32] Max Roach[38:32] Danny Richmond[38:32] Charles Mingus[38:32] Jack DeJohnette[38:32] Joe Morello[38:32] Roy Haynes[38:32] Stan Getz[38:32] Airto Moreira[38:32] Naná Vasconcelos[38:32] Babatunde Olatunji[39:58] Gus Johnson[39:58] “Whatever Happened to Gus” (1998)[39:58] Steve Cannon[40:54] “Chubb Sub” (1995)[40:54] ”Uncle Chubb” (1992)[46:41] “Shack-man” (1996)[47:06] “Drumming Birds” (2004)[54:48] “Bamboo Rainsticks” (1999)[54:48] Amulet Records[1:00:23] Creative Music Studio
For the British architect John Pawson, minimalism isn’t just a design philosophy, but a life philosophy—with his 1996 book, Minimum, serving as a defining jumping-off point. Over the course of more than four decades, Pawson has quietly amassed a global following by distilling spaces, objects, and things down to their most essential. With projects ranging from his career-defining Calvin Klein Collection flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City, completed in 1995, to a remote monastery complex in the Czech Republic he’s been building for Cistercian monks of the Trappist order for more than 25 years; from hotels in Los Angeles, Madrid, and Tel Aviv to London’s Design Museum; from private homes in Colorado, Greece, Japan, Sweden, and beyond, to a chair and cookware; from lamps and linens to doorknobs, bowls, to even a steak knife, Pawson’s tightly focused yet seemingly boundless practice places him in a category all his own.On the episode—our fourth “site-specific” taping of Time Sensitive, recorded at Pawson’s country home in the Cotswolds—he discusses the problems he sees with trying to turn minimalism into a movement; his deep-seated belief in restraint, both in life and in architecture; and his humble, highly refined approach to creating sacred spaces.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:[08:06] Tetsuka House (2005)[08:06] “John Pawson’s Approach to Making Life Simpler”[08:06] Shiro Kuramata[08:06] Katsura Imperial Villa[08:06] North York Moors[12:41] “Minimum” (1996)[12:41] Sen no Rikyū[17:35] Calvin Klein Collections Store (1995)[17:35] Ian Schrager[17:35] Paul Goldberger[17:35] Cathay Pacific (1998)[20:59] “Elements of Style” (1959) by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White[20:59] “Plain Space” (2010)[20:59] Raymond Carver[23:08] Bruce Chatwin[23:08] “Wabi”[23:08] Chatwin Apartment (1982)[26:26] Deyan Sudjic[28:12] Ryōan-ji[31:11] “John Pawson: Making Life Simpler” (2023)[30:16] Neuendorf House (1989)[30:16] Tilty Barn (1995)[37:19] Claudio Silvestrin[37:51] Philip Johnson[40:49] Home Farm (2019)[40:49] “Home Farm Cooking” (2021)[47:18] Bill Brandt[55:46] Hester van Royen Apartment (1981)[56:36] Casa Malaparte[56:36] Mies van der Rohe[56:36] Barcelona Pavilion[59:356] The Design Museum (2016)[59:356] Farnsworth House[59:356] “Inside the Brick House, Philip Johnson’s Private Playground”[1:02:26] Pawson House (1999)[1:05:53] The Feuerle Collection (2016)[1:10:33] Abbey of Our Lady of Nový Dvůr (2004)[1:21:54] Pieter Jansz. Saenredam
Through her “archaeology of the future” design approach, the Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh has firmly established herself as a humanist who brings a profound awareness of past, present, and presence to all that she does. In the two decades since winning her breakthrough commission—the Estonian National Museum in Tartu—her practice has taken off, with Ghotmeh swiftly becoming one today’s fastest-rising architectural stars. Just a week after we recorded this episode of Time Sensitive, she was named the winner of a competition to design the British Museum’s Western Range and, shortly after that, she was announced as the architect of the new Qatar Pavilion in the historic Giardini of Venice; she is also the designer of the Bahrain Pavilion at the just-opened 2025 Osaka Expo. Across her high-touch, high-craft projects, whether a brick-clad Hermès leather-goods workshop in Normandy, France, completed in 2023; the timber-framed 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London; or the concrete-walled Stone Garden apartment tower (2020) in Beirut, Ghotmeh celebrates the hand.On the episode, Ghotmeh reflects on the long-view, across-time qualities of her work and outlines what she believes is architecture’s role in shaping a better world ahead.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Lina Ghotmeh[5:01] “The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things”[5:01] George Kubler[5:01] Trevor Paglen[8:41] “The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time”[8:41] Tim Ingold[11:15] “Windows of Light”[11:15] “Lecture: Lina Ghotmeh”[12:06] Beatriz Colomina[12:06] “Are We Human?”[19:58] Gaston Bachelard[24:04] Olga de Amaral[24:04] Cartier Foundation[24:04] Juhani Pallasmaa[24:04] “The Eyes of the Skin”[26:39] Luis Barragán[31:09] Stone Garden (2020)[31:09] Hermès Workshops (2023)[36:36] Peter Zumthor[36:36] “Atmospheres”[41:53] Khalil Khouri[44:51] Jean Nouvel[44:51] Norman Foster[44:51] Estonian National Museum (2016)[46:41] Renzo Piano[46:41] Richard Rogers[46:41] Maya Lin[46:41] Dan Dorell[46:41] Tsuyoshi Tane[50:45] “The Poetic, Humanistic Architecture of Lina Ghotmeh”[51:40] Rimbaud Museum[54:48] “Light in Water” (2015)[54:48] The Okura Tokyo[59:22] Les Grands Verres, Palais de Tokyo (2017)[59:44] Zero-Carbon Hotel Concept (2019)[59:42] Serpentine Pavilion (2023)[1:04:11] Osaka Expo Bahrain Pavilion (2025)
For as long as he can remember, Leonard Koren has been searching for beauty and pleasure. Throughout his career, the author and artist—he prefers the term “creator”—has spent considerable time putting to paper expressions and conceptual views that architects, artists, designers, and others have long struggled to find the proper framing of or words for. In 1976, when he launched the counterculture publication WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, he ushered in the idea of “gourmet bathing,” which has maintained a potent cultural niche in the nearly 50 years since. With Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, published in 1994, Koren introduced the Japanese expression for “beautiful, imperfect, and impermanent” to the West, where it quickly took on a life of its own. Perhaps one of Koren’s greatest talents is his rare ability to translate philosophical meditations on seemingly esoteric subjects into accessible, approachable texts about ways of being, seeing, thinking, making, and feeling. On the episode, Koren details his best—and worst—baths, and explains why he views his life as one long aesthetic experience.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Leonard Koren[4:01] “Undesigning the Bath”[7:30] Century Tower[7:30] 7132 Hotel (Therme Vals)[9:26] “WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing”[9:26] Max Palevsky[9:26] Craig Elwood[13:32] “From ‘WET’ to ‘Wabi-Sabi’: Leonard Koren’s Adventurous Aesthetic Journey”[13:32] Mick Jagger[13:32] Richard Gere[13:32] Debbie Harry[17:09] Charlie Haas[18:25] “The Slow Lane”[18:25] Pilar Viladas[21:49] “How to Take a Japanese Bath”[21:49] “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers”[21:49] “Wabi-Sabi: Further Thoughts”[28:23] Okakura Kakuzō’s “The Book of Tea”[31:38] Glenn Adamson[31:38] Sen no Rikyū[39:29] “Noise Reduction: A 10-Minute Meditation for Quieting the Mind”[42:32] “The Haggler’s Handbook”[44:22] “283 Useful Ideas from Japan”[46:56] “The Flower Shop”[46:56] Blumenkraft[46:56] “On Creating Things Aesthetic”[46:56] “Which “Aesthetics” Do You Mean?”
Since publishing his debut essay collection—Video Night in Kathmandu, featuring far-flung reportage from 10 Asian countries—in 1988, the prolific travel writer Pico Iyer has gone on to write more than a dozen books exploring themes ranging from displacement and identity to globalization and technology, as well as contribute to publications such as The New York Times, Time, and Condé Nast Traveler. Over the years, Iyer’s travels have taken him to some of the world’s most remote destinations—North Korea, Bhutan, and Iceland, to name a few—but it’s his hundred-plus visits to a Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur, California, that form the heart of his latest book, Aflame: Learning From Silence. Connecting with his inner stillness during these various sojourns in solitude has left him wholly transformed, opening him up to discover the thrumming, ineffable joy of being truly awake to the world and wonderfully alive. On this episode of Time Sensitive, Iyer explores the purpose and joy of travel, and shares deeply moving reflections about what he finds most essential in life.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Pico Iyer[4:25] “Aflame”[4:25] “Autumn Light”[4:25] Philip Larkin[4:25] “The Art of Poetry No. 30”[7:18] Bashō[7:18] Leonard Cohen[10:21] New Camaldoli Hermitage[10:21] Post Ranch Inn [16:25] “Postmodern Tourism: A Conversation with Pico Iyer”[17:08] “The Eloquent Sounds of Silence”[21:48] “The Joy of Quiet”[31:42] “What Ping-Pong Taught Me About Life”[33:14] “Walden”[37:28] “The Open Road”[41:37] “Video Night in Kathmandu”[41:37] “The Lady and the Monk”[41:37] “Lonely Places”[41:37] The Global Soul[44:40] “In the Realm of Jet Lag”[52:35] “Culture: The Leading Hotels of the World”[55:17] Potala Palace[55:17] Naoshima, Japan[55:17] Teshima, Japan[55:17] Narita, Japan[01:00:43] “The Half Known Life”[01:10:10] “No Time”
Faye Toogood is perhaps best known for her Roly-Poly chair, among the more famous pieces of furniture to come out of the 2010s and take over the zeitgeist, but the London-based designer’s artistry and craft runs much deeper and spans much wider. She began finding, collecting, cataloging, producing, and editing her “assemblages” long before she ever had a name for them, and her design career has been marked by exactly that, beginning with the debut of Assemblage 1 (2010) and through to her latest, Assemblage 8: Palette (2024). On the whole, Toogood’s creations serve as material investigations and discipline-defying attempts to better understand herself. Without formal training in design, Toogood—who was the Designer of the Year at the Maison&Objet design fair in Paris this past January and the Stockholm Furniture Fair’s Guest of Honor in February—uses what she describes as the feeling of being “a fraud in the room” to her advantage. Through her work, she is an enigma; with projects across furniture, interiors, fashion, and homewares, she’s unwilling to be defined by a single output and has instead built a multilayered practice and belief system that allows her to be “all heart and hands.” On this week’s Time Sensitive—our debut of Season 11—Toogood talks about the acts of creation and connection, and how each underscores the enduring play that’s ever-present in her work.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Faye ToogoodToogood[3:49] Assemblage 1[7:43] Assemblage 7[13:28] Seamus Heaney[14:50] Isamu Noguchi[14:50] Kan Yasuda[17:23] Roly-Poly chair[18:06] Rachel Whiteread[20:07] Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden[22:45] Matisse Chapel[25:40] “Ways of Seeing”[29:57] “Womanifesto!”[36:55] Assemblage 8[52:17] “The World of Interiors”
Malcolm Gladwell may be one of the most widely read—and, with his Revisionist History podcast, listened to—journalists of our time. A New Yorker magazine staff writer and the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), and Outliers (2008), he has myriad awards and honors to his name. But this impressive trajectory has never been some planned-out or preordained journey; in fact, as Gladwell says on this episode of Time Sensitive, he has never been one to try to overly plan for or divine the future—of his career, of his life, or of anything, really. “Expectations are a burden and wherever possible should be abandoned,” he says. Gladwell’s radical receptiveness is perhaps what has led him to become one of today’s most prolific and eclectic writers, reporting on topics ranging from office design and french fries, to dog fighting and Steve Jobs, to automobile engineers and marijuana. Across all of his writing, Gladwell exhibits a rare sleight-of-hand ability to take certain intellectual or academic subjects and leap-frog them into popular culture, and, in doing so, make seemingly esoteric phenomena entertaining and widely accessible.On the episode—recorded in the Pushkin Industries outpost in Hudson, New York—Gladwell talks about the disappearance of what he calls “the critical enterprise in America”; and how A.I. is complicating his famous “10,000-Hour Rule.”Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Malcolm Gladwell[4:36] Revenge of the Tipping Point[5:06] The Tipping Point[13:43] Unsafe at Any Speed[22:52] Anand Giridharadas[24:00] Revisionist History[25:39] Blink[31:07] The Holocaust in American Life[43:16] “10,000-Hour Rule”[43:16] Outliers[56:06] The Bomber Mafia (Podcast Mini Series)[56:06] Pushkin Industries[59:56] John Grisham[1:06:56] The Bomber Mafia (Book)
Richard Christiansen believes that the true definition of luxury is having one’s senses on full blast—seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, and touching the world around by engaging in its beauty and bounty to the fullest. This idea is at the heart of his company, the garden-pleasure apothecary Flamingo Estate, which is both a place—a home and garden on a seven-acre property in the hills of Los Angeles—and a brand, which operates a global farming collective and sells wellness, beauty, and “home essentials” products. In just a few years, Flamingo Estate has collaborated with cultural figures such as Julianne Moore, Martha Stewart, and Ai Weiwei, and created some 200 or so products, from C.S.A.-style farm boxes and flower arrangements, to scented candles and a rosé wine, to body washes and chocolates. Capturing the spirit of all this is a new book, Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive, which tells the story of his company’s rapid rise and includes interviews with the likes of Jane Fonda, John Legend, and Alice Waters.On the episode, Christiansen talks about his lifelong connection with beekeeping and honey; why more brands should embrace “radical inconsistency” in their products; and how reading a book by Jane Goodall, and later befriending the anthropologist and conservationist, changed the course of his life.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Richard Christiansen[4:24] Flamingo Estate[8:05] Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive[46:21] Jane Goodall[12:48] Alice Waters[15:06] Harvey[35:35] Chandelier Creative[45:51] Benetton[45:51] Colors[50:35] Rumiko Murata[52:35] Owl Bureau[58:28] “The Summer Day”
To the majority of humankind, rocks may appear to be static, timeless objects, but not to the geologist Marcia Bjornerud. In her mind, rocks are rich pieces of text that have evolved (and continue to evolve) across millennia, and are therefore incredibly timeful. “They almost demand reading,” Bjornerud says on this episode of Time Sensitive. “You have the feeling that you’re communicating with some larger, wilder, more ancient wisdom.” A two-time Senior Fulbright Scholar, a professor of geology at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and an expert on the geophysics of earthquakes and mountain building, Bjornerud serves as a sort of geological translator of these “texts,” reading their encrypted messages and stories—tracing their etymologies, essentially—and from there inferring why things are the way they are. Bjornerud’s translations shine across her four books, including the newly published Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks.On the episode, she discusses the power of looking at the world through a Deep Time lens, why we’re currently in what she considers a “golden age” of geoscience, and what a “time literate” society would mean for humanity and the planet.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Marcia Bjornerud[15:18] Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World[07:16] Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks[07:16] “Studying Stones Can Rock Your World”[07:16] Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geologic Curiosities[07:16] Carbon cycle[09:47] Rock deformation[13:54] The overview effect[17:42] “Geology Is Like Augmented Reality for the Planet”[21:28] Colonization of Mars[21:28] Anthropocene[29:06] Planned obsolescence[29:06] Green technology revolution[31:40] Seventh Generation Principle[34:01] Stonehenge[38:29] University of Minnesota[41:02] Svalbard, Norway[41:02] Norwegian Polar Institute[44:15] Yoshihide Ohta[50:06] “Lost Time in Amatrice”[54:19] Kola Superdeep Borehole
With great privilege, believes the humanitarian and entrepreneur Nachson Mimran, comes great responsibility. Brought up in a family that operates one of the largest agri-industrial businesses in West Africa, Mimran comes from considerable wealth, but unlike so many who have a background such as his, he is open and forthright about his inheritance and the responsibility he sees of doing good with it. With his decarbonization, refugee empowerment, and “human optimization” organization to.org, he’s creating deep impact through various design and development projects in refugee settlements—including the Bidi Bidi Performing Arts Center, completed last year in Uganda—and empowering individuals and communities via what he describes as “venture philanthropy.” At The Alpina Gstaad hotel in the Swiss Alps, which he’s the co-founder of, he provides exceptional hospitality experiences that subvert certain traditional industry codes, fostering a relaxed but elevated environment.On the episode, recorded in front of a live audience at The Lobby “hospitality event” in Copenhagen earlier this fall, Mimran discusses his big-picture view of the word hospitality; how a family tragedy led him and his brother to found to.org; and his bold vision for building transformative spaces for refugees.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Nachson Mimran[00:44] The Lobby[03:46] to.org[09:37] The Alpina Gstaad[09:37] Jean Claude Mimran[11:00] Marcel Bach[13:47] Arieh Mimran[19:29] Pangaia[23:28] Regenerate[23:28] Kakuma Refugee Settlement[23:28] Sumayya Vally[26:04] Hassell[26:04] Xavier De Kestelier[27:06] Bidi Bidi Performing Arts Centre[27:06] Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement[27:49] Mike Zuckerman[27:49] Nakivale Refugee Settlement[32:11] The Throne[38:16] Kutupalong Refugee Settlement[48:09] André Balazs
Perhaps best known for his novels Motherless Brooklyn (1999), The Fortress of Solitude (2003), and Chronic City (2009)—or, more recently, Brooklyn Crime Novel (2023)—the author, essayist, and cultural critic Jonathan Lethem could be considered the ultimate modern-day Brooklyn bard, even if today he lives in California, where he’s a professor of English and creative writing at Pomona College. His most celebrated books take place in Brooklyn, or in the case of Chronic City, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and across his genre-spanning works of fiction, his narratives capture a profound sense of the rich chaos and wonder to be found in an urban existence. Lethem is also the author of several essay collections, including the newly published Cellophane Bricks: A Life in Visual Culture (ZE Books), which compiles much of his art writing from over the years written in response to—and often in exchange for—artworks by friends, including Gregory Crewdson, Nan Goldin, and Raymond Pettibon.On the episode, Lethem discusses his passion for book dedications; the time he spent with James Brown and Bob Dylan, respectively, when profiling them for Rolling Stone in the mid-aughts; how his work is, in part, a way of dealing with and healing from his mother’s death in 1978, at age 36; and why he views his writing as “fundamentally commemorative.”Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Jonathan Lethem[5:35] Cellophane Bricks[5:35] High School of Music and Art[5:35] Motherless Brooklyn[5:35] The Fortress of Solitude[5:35] The Disappointment Artist[7:15] Carmen Fariña[9:08] The Great Gatsby[9:08] Brooklyn Crime Novel[10:59] Lynn Nottage[13:08] Bennington College[23:41] The Collapsing Frontier[23:41] Italo Calvino[27:37] Dada movement[27:37] Dissident Gardens[31:21] Nan Goldin[34:33] “The Ecstasy of Influence”[42:32] “Being James Brown: Inside the Private World of the Baddest Man Who Ever Lived”[42:32] “The Genius and Modern Times of Bob Dylan”[51:00] Chronic City[1:06:26] Jorge Luis Borges
To the lighting designer Lindsey Adelman, light is at once ubiquitous and precious, quotidian yet miraculous; it can be easily overlooked or taken for granted, but it also has the potential to become transformative or even otherworldly. Through her craft-forward approach, Adelman creates pieces that defy strict labels and explore the tensions between organic and industrial forms and materials, combining hand-blown glass with industrial and machine-milled components. Since launching her eponymous company in 2006, she has built a formidable business, perhaps becoming best known for her Branching Bubble chandeliers, a series that consists of glass “bubbles” elegantly mounted on the ends of brass, bronze, or nickel “branches.” Adelman also runs an experimental space called LaLAB as a means of exploring and meditating on illumination through the creation of one-off and limited-edition pieces, as well as private commissions.On the episode, she discusses her recent decision to shift her company away from a large-scale production operation and toward a smaller, more intimate “studio” model; the great surprise of having one of her designs installed in Vice President Kamala Harris’s Washington, D.C., home; and her love of hosting.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Lindsey Adelman[6:05] Ingo Maurer[6:05] Gaetano Pesce[7:55] Burst Chandelier[12:22] “A Realm of Light”[14:55] Isamu Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures[17:20] Yosemite National Park[18:41] James Turrell[18:41] House of Light[20:47] Noguchi’s “Lunar Infant”[24:40] Writings by Agnes Martin[26:52] Hiroshi Sugimoto[27:46] David Lynch[29:08] “Paul McCarthy: WS”[29:08] Matthew Barney[30:54] Haruki Murakami[33:14] “A Cacao Ceremony That Brought Close Friends Even Closer”[48:13] Branching Bubble chandelier[48:13] Buckminster Fuller[52:01] Adelman’s open-source D.I.Y. light project[52:30] David Weeks[52:30] Lunette[52:46] “The Lighting Designer From Everyone’s Dream Brooklyn Brownstone”[52:46] Rich People Problems[52:46] Gwyneth Paltrow
In the eyes of the architecture critic Paul Goldberger, a building is a living, breathing thing, a structure that can have a spirit and even, at its best, a soul. It’s this optimistic perspective that has given Goldberger’s writing a certain ineffable, captivating quality across his prolific career—first at The New York Times, where he served as the paper’s longtime architecture critic, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1984; then as the architecture critic at The New Yorker from 1997 to 2011; and now, as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Goldberger is the author of several books, including Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry (2015), Why Architecture Matters (2009), and Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture (2009). He is also the chair of the advisory board of the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, where we recorded this episode, our third “site-specific” interview on Time Sensitive.On the episode, Goldberger discusses the Glass House’s staying power as it turns 75, the evolution of architecture over the past century, what he’s learned from writing architects’ obituaries, and the Oreo cookie from a design perspective.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Paul Goldberger[05:17] Glass House[05:17] Philip Johnson[07:06] Ludwig Mies van der Rohe[07:06] Farnsworth House[08:42] Brick House[12:37] Gordon Bunshaft[12:37] Lever House[12:37] Frank Lloyd Wright[12:37] Guggenheim Museum[13:18] TWA Flight Center[13:18] Kevin Roche[13:18] Ford Foundation building[13:18] CBS Building[15:17] Noyes House[16:17] U.N. Headquarters[17:50] Centre Pompidou[17:50] I.M. Pei[17:50] Louvre Pyramid[17:50] Frank Gehry[17:50] Guggenheim Bilbao[20:00] Walt Disney Concert Hall[23:20] Stuyvesant Town[24:24] “Oreo, at 75, the World’s Favorite Cookie; Machine Imagery, Homey Decoration”[25:46] “Quick! Before It Crumbles!: An architecture critic looks at cookie architecture”[25:46] Nora Ephron[26:18] “Design Notebook; Commonplace Things Can Be Great Designs”[27:16] Bauhaus[29:10] Fallingwater[29:10] Richard Neutra[29:10] Lovell House[29:10] Gehry House[29:10] Louis Kahn[32:38] “Philip Johnson, Architecture’s Restless Intellect, Dies at 98”[32:38] “Louis I. Kahn Dies; Architect Was 73”[35:30] Paul Rudolph[36:50] Zaha Hadid[37:22] “New Police Building”[38:19] Henry Geldzahler[41:31] Why Architecture Matters[43:21] Chrysler Building[47:28] Vincent Scully[48:18] Lewis Mumford[1:00:47] The City Observed: A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan[1:00:47] World Trade Center[1:02:49] “Here Is New York” by E.B. White[1:05:33] Design: The Leading Hotels of the World[1:07:25] Ritz Paris[1:07:25] The Dylan Amsterdam[1:09:01] “Why Buildings Grow On Us”
The artist Francesco Clemente may have been born and raised in Naples, but—having lived and worked around the world, including in Rome, India, New York City, and New Mexico—he considers himself a citizen of no place. Widely known for his work across mediums, from drawings and frescoes to mosaics, oils, and sculptures, Clemente makes art that evokes his mystical perspective, with his paintings often featuring spiritual subjects or dreamlike symbols. Beyond exhibiting in galleries and museums, over the years Clemente has also made works for a variety of other venues, including a nightclub, a hotel, a Hollywood film, and the Metropolitan Opera. This fall, his work (and name) will be central to his latest unusual project: the soon-to-open Clemente Bar at chef Daniel Humm’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park.On the episode, Clemente discusses his collaboration with Humm, frescoes as the most luminous artistic medium, his deep affinity with India, and the certain timeworn quality to his art.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Francesco Clemente[3:55] Clemente Bar[3:55] Eleven Madison Park[3:55] Daniel Humm[3:55] Alba Clemente[7:50] Murals for the Palladium nightclub[7:50] Hudson Hotel[7:50] Ian Schrager[8:43] Arata Isozaki[8:43] Philippe Starck[8:43] Kenny Scharf[8:43] Keith Haring[8:43] Jean-Michel Basquiat[8:43] Steve Rubell[9:43] Works for Great Expectations (1998)[9:43] “The Sopranos” series[9:43] Portrait of Fran Lebowitz[11:37] Portrait of Toni Morrison[23:12] Jiddu Krishnamurti[23:12] Theosophical Society[24:49] Álvaro Siza[24:49] Museo Madre[32:48] Cy Twombly[32:48] Joseph Beuys’s exhibition “We Are the Revolution” (1972)[35:30] Rudolf Steiner[36:56] Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke[37:57] Swami Vivekananda[39:20] Salman Rushdie[41:31] Nisargadatta Maharaj[46:51] Andy Warhol[46:51] Allen Ginsberg[48:13] William Blake[48:54] Raymond Foye[48:54] Hanuman Books[50:04] “The Four Corners” (1985)[53:36] Saint Francis
In her new book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press), the historian and Harvard professor Sarah Lewis unpacks a major part of United States history that until now wasn’t just brushed over, but was intentionally buried: how the Caucasian War and the end of the Civil War were conflated by P.T. Barnum, former President Woodrow Wilson, and others to shape how we see race in America. Long overdue, The Unseen Truth is a watershed book about photography and visuality that calls to mind works by history-shaping authors such as James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and bell hooks. Lewis is also the founder of the Vision & Justice initiative, which strives to educate the public about the importance of art and culture for equity and justice in the U.S., and is launching a new publishing venture with Aperture this fall.On the episode, she discusses the tension between pedagogy and propaganda; the deep influence of Frederick Douglass’s 1861 “Pictures and Progress” lecture on her work; how a near-death car crash altered the course of her life and The Unseen Truth; and the special ability of certain photographs to stop time.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Sarah Lewis[04:01] The Unseen Truth[05:24] Woodrow Wilson[05:24] Frederick Douglass[05:24] P.T. Barnum[06:51] Toni Morrison[06:51] Angela Davis[06:51] Mathew Brady[51:14] Vision & Justice[11:35] Caucasus[14:02] Imam Shamil[17:38] Caucasian War[19:31] MFA Boston[19:31] The Metropolitan Museum[22:30] “Pictures and Progress”[28:41] “A Circassian”[28:41] “Slave Ship”[28:41] “The Gulf Stream”[35:13] Frances Benjamin Johnston[39:20] Jarvis Givens[39:20] Fugitive Pedagogy[44:05] The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search of Mastery[49:08] Montserrat[49:08] Under the Volcano[51:36] Aperture[52:26] Maurice Berger[52:26] Coreen Simpson[52:26] Doug Harris[52:26] Deborah Willis[52:26] Leigh Raiford[52:57] Hal Foster[56:01] Hank Willis Thomas[56:01] Theaster Gates[56:01] Mark Bradford[56:01] Amy Sherald[57:58] Wynton Marsalis[57:58] Charles Black, Jr.[57:58] Louis Armstrong[57:58] Brown v. Board of Education