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Sean Carroll explores the strange and fascinating world of quantum physics, unpacking concepts such as Schrödinger’s cat, the Copenhagen interpretation, and Everett’s many-worlds theory. He explains how quantum mechanics challenges our understanding of reality, and examines what the existence of multiple possible worlds could mean for our conception of the universe.

learn more about Sean and listen to his podcast MINDSCAPE

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Producer: Rachel Barrett

Thanks to our researcher Chris van Ryn!

And thanks to Maia Iva!

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Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite

I asked Mark to break them down for me one by one: What is the tool? How does it work? When do you use it? Why is it good to apply? You'll find that these tools will make you a better writer.

You'll have a lot more fun when you write because you'll be so much more playful when crafting words.

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What do voyeurs want? What can the Greeks teach us about love? Why do we pursue those who we now are going to hurt us?

Despite our longing for lasting connection, love often falters on the rocks of misunderstanding and unmet expectations. Philosopher and founder of The School of Life, Alain de Botton, explores how romantic ideals mislead us and why emotional maturity, not chemistry, holds the key to enduring intimacy. Drawing on philosophy and psychology, he examines how our childhood shapes desire and how love, far from being a mystical or ethereal force, is a demanding skill we must patiently and consciously learn.

"One of our most consistently illuminating writers on contemporary culture." — John Gray

Alain de Botton is the bestselling philosopher redefining how we understand love, work, and meaning in the modern world. He first rose to prominence with Essays in Love, a novel-philosophy hybrid that became an international bestseller. He has since authored several bestselling works that blend literary elegance, psychological insight, and philosophical depth.

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Sean talks with writer and philosopher Ian Bogost about his new book The Small Stuff. They discuss what modern life has lost in its pursuit of convenience, efficiency, and optimization. From stick shifts to coffee cups, lawnmowers, and smartphones, Bogost argues that many of the small sensory experiences that once connected us to the physical world have quietly disappeared.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)

Guest: Ian Bogost

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Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s new book Said the Dead is part history, part ghost story and part unreliable memoir, exploring the lives, presences and forgotten voices of a derelict Victorian mental asylum in Cork. Ní Ghríofa, whose previous book A Ghost in the Throat won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, was in conversation with Rachael Allen, author of the poetry collections Kingdomland and God Complex.

You can buy a copy of Said the Dead from the London Review Bookshop.

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Rachel Yoder reads her story “The Promise,” from the August 10, 2026, issue of the magazine. Yoder is the author of the novel “Nightbitch,” which was published in 2021. A finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for début fiction, it was adapted for the screen in 2024.

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Mohsin Hamid joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “Man-Eating Cats,” by Haruki Murakami, which was published in The New Yorker in 2000. Hamid is the author of five novels, including “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” “Exit West,” a winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize and the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and “The Last White Man,” which was published in 2022.

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Irish musician Glen Hansard, best-known for his band The Frames and his part in the 2007 film ‘Once,’ died July 29 in a motorcycle crash. He was 56. Hansard got his start busking in the streets of Dublin. Ironically, it was his headmaster who urged him to drop out of school to pursue music. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2008, with his ‘Once’ co-star Markéta Irglová. Their song from the film, “Falling Slowly,” won an Oscar for Best Original Song. 

Also, Kevin Whitehead pays tribute to Tony Bennett, who would have been 100 next week, and film critic Justin Chang reviews ‘I Want Your Sex.’ 

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Ever since AI was founded in the 1950s, people have talked and written about 'intelligence' as though we all broadly agree on what that word means. But there's considerable debate on that score, and among the debaters are philosophers - like this week's guest - who question the degree to which machines can be said to be intelligent at all, and think that claims of intelligence can all too easily deflect attention from the real ethical issues around AI.

Guest: Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria

Producer: David Rutledge

The famous writer Oscar Wilde died alone in a French hotel in 1900. Since that time, so much has been written about the man - much of it rumour and speculation. In his new book, 'After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal', Oscar Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland sets the record straight. The book is thirty years in the making and is an exploration of Wilde’s posthumous reputation and how his imprisonment for homosexuality affected Wilde's family, friends and literary legacy.

• Guest: Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's grandson and author, Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal
• Producer: Ali Benton

Originally broadcast in January 2026.