Curated playlist
New York University faculty
- Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
- Cliff EisenCliff Eisen studies where Leopold Mozart's works end and his son Wolfgang's begin.
- Saul BellowSaul Bellow learned he had entered the U.S. illegally as a child when he tried to enlist. He became a citizen in 1941.
- Kimbal MuskKimbal Musk sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX, yet the work he promotes most loudly happens in schoolyards. He was born on the 20th of September 1972. He is a businessman and restaurateur whose career runs from software to soil. His…
- Tom ShoneTom Shone argued the summer blockbuster deserved serious study, not scorn.
- Stephen Holmes (political scientist)Stephen Holmes argues that liberty depends on taxes. Rights need government enforcement to mean anything.
- Ralph EllisonA 1967 fire destroyed more than 300 pages of Ralph Ellison's second novel. He never finished it.
- Friedrich HayekThree days before the 1929 Wall Street crash, Friedrich Hayek wrote that no sudden collapse was expected.
- James FrancoFor five weeks, James Franco spent twelve hours a day in a gully built as a film set, and he left it only to use the lavatory. Between takes he read books, including academic textbooks, just to keep busy. The American actor and filmmaker…
- William Barrett (philosopher)William Barrett started college at City College of New York at fifteen. He later wrote philosophy for general readers.
- Ludwig von MisesNazi troops raided Ludwig von Mises's Vienna apartment and took his papers. He was already in Geneva.
- Oskar MorgensternOskar Morgenstern was born on the 24th of January 1902 in Görlitz, a town in the Prussian Province of Silesia. According to a rumor, his mother was a daughter of Emperor Frederick III. Whatever the truth of that story, the child grew up…
- Harold BloomHarold Bloom argued that every poet struggles to escape the shadow of earlier poets.
- David ChalmersWhy does seeing red feel like anything at all? Philosopher David Chalmers named this the hard problem of consciousness.
- Anna SchwartzA Federal Reserve official told Anna Schwartz, "Regarding the Great Depression, you're right."
- James BurnhamJames Burnham's 1941 book The Managerial Revolution helped inspire Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
- Erwin PanofskyIn 1934, Erwin Panofsky argued a famous Flemish painting was really a legal contract.
- William BaumolEconomist William Baumol explained why string quartets keep getting pricier.