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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries

We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups – and they are all true. Tim Harford (Financial Times, BBC, author of “The Data Detective”) brings you stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, and hilarious fiascos. They'll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser. New episodes every other Friday.

133 - Pushkin Hosts Celebrate World Happiness Day
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  • 133 - Pushkin Hosts Celebrate World Happiness Day

    The Happiness Lab’s Dr. Laurie Santos brings together other Pushkin hosts to mark the International Day of Happiness. Revisionist History’s Malcolm Gladwell talks about the benefits of the misery of running in a Canadian winter. Dr. Maya Shankar from A Slight Change of Plans talks about quieting her mental chatter. And Cautionary Tales host Tim Harford surprises everyone with the happiness lessons to be learned from a colonoscopy.

    Hear more of The Happiness Lab HERE.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Wed, 20 Mar 2024
  • 132 - Do Nothing, Then Do Less

    Chuck Yeager's plane pitched and rolled as it plummeted from the sky. He grappled with the controls inside the cockpit, but to no avail: he couldn't steady the aircraft. The test pilot was known for his nerves of steel but, as the barren Mojave Desert hurtled towards him, even he was afraid. What to do?

    It's tempting to think that adding to our lives - more action, more work, more possessions - will lead to greater success and happiness. But sometimes doing less is the better option, as Chuck Yeager was to learn the hard way.

    In their second crossover episode, Tim Harford teams up with Dr Laurie Santos (host of The Happiness Lab) to examine why subtraction can be so challenging and so helpful.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Fri, 15 Mar 2024
  • 131 - Buried Evil: V2 Rocket (Part 3)

    As US troops approached a Nazi prison camp, they could hear agonized wailing. The stench of rotting flesh filled their nostrils. Moments later they discovered a pile of smoldering corpses, alongside emaciated survivors.

    Next to the concentration camp they found something else: tunnels filled with tools — and partially assembled rockets. The soldiers had hit upon the evil heart of the V2 manufacturing program: enslaved laborers, imprisoned underground.

    And the rocket program's director? Wernher von Braun had already fled. He now had just one concern: persuading the Americans to let him switch sides…

    For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.


    Do you have a question for Tim? Send it to tales@pushkin.fm and we'll do our best to answer it in a Q&A episode.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Fri, 01 Mar 2024
  • 130 - Into the Black Lair: V2 Rocket (Part 2)

    In the 1920s, Germany’s Society for Spaceship Travel boasted some of the sharpest scientific minds – like the incandescently brilliant young Wernher von Braun. But it had very little money, and progress was slow.

    Then, in 1932, the army made a proposal: it would fund more serious research if the enthusiasts at the Society would develop a rocket weapon.

    Despite a string of failures to launch, von Braun was able to convince key powerbrokers in Nazi Germany that they couldn’t afford to ignore rocket technology. How did he do it? And what happened when the murderous Heinrich Himmler made a play for the rocket program?

    For a full list of sources for this episode, visit timharford.com.


    Do you have a question for Tim? Send it to tales@pushkin.fm and we'll do our best to answer it in a Q&A episode.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Fri, 16 Feb 2024
  • 129 - Supersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket (Part 1)

    At the height of World War Two, British intelligence began receiving reports that the enemy was developing a rocket weapon. The idea seemed fantastical — resources in Nazi Germany were scarce and a rocket-building program defied economic logic.

    But one intelligence chief took the reports of a rocket weapon seriously and he managed to convince Winston Churchill to heed the threat too. The British Prime Minister gave the order to bomb Germany’s rocket factory to rubble, and 600 bomber planes embarked on a full-scale attempt to obliterate it.

    From the air, the damage appeared devastating. The British thought they had succeeded in crushing the rocket-building program. But they were wrong.

    For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.


    Do you have a question for Tim? Send it to tales@pushkin.fm and we'll do our best to answer it in an upcoming Q&A episode.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Fri, 02 Feb 2024
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