Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you've come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and televi

Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | September 2026

Sep 2026

0:00 / 232:06

367 | Jared Diamond on the Course of History and the Role of leaders

Sep 2026 · 5 books

0:00 / 77:15

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Jared Diamond

and of course he had uh a very famous book guns germs and steel uh back in like nineteen ninety seven i think it was ▶ tap to play from here

Prophets, Prophets, Coach, and Kings: When do Leaders Matter

Jared Diamond

so he's written many books since then but the new book is called prophets prophets coach and kings when do leaders matter ▶ tap to play from here

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond

i did want to touch on collapse as one of the books you're talking about because we're doing this arc from this grand history ▶ tap to play from here

Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

Jared Diamond

after the year twenty nineteen when i published my book upheaval ▶ tap to play from here

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

so um tul s um war and peace ▶ tap to play from here

366 | Jim Al-Khalili on Time, Quantum, Biology, and Cosmology

Aug 2026 · 3 books

0:00 / 75:16

From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time

Sean Carroll

when i was writing my first trade book from eternity to here we were talking about the title we liked the actual title right from ▶ tap to play from here

On Time: The Physics That Makes the Universe Tick

Jim Al-Khalili

today's guest jim alkalili uh has a new book out called on time and his sub subtitle is the physics that makes the universe tick ▶ tap to play from here

Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology

Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden

with whom i went on to write a a book on quantum biology um called life on the edge ▶ tap to play from here

365 | Vitor Cardoso on Why Black Holes Are Special

Aug 2026

0:00 / 65:36

364 | Stuart Firestein on How Science Relies on Ignorance and Failure

Aug 2026 · 5 books

0:00 / 76:23

It Could Be Otherwise: Science in the Age of Uncertainty

Stuart Firestein

so he has a book on ignorance he has a book on failure uh he has a book most recently the most recent book is called it could be otherwise science in the age of uncertainty ▶ tap to play from here

Ignorance: How It Drives Science

Stuart Firestein

ignorance is subtitled what drives science ▶ tap to play from here

Failure: Why Science Is So Successful

Stuart Firestein

and failure is subtitled what makes science so successful ▶ tap to play from here

True Enough

Catherine Elgin

there's a book in fact called true enough by catherine elgin ▶ tap to play from here

Candide

Voltaire

when it was invented was invented the word was invented by voltaire for his novel candide or optimism ▶ tap to play from here

363 | Chandra Sripada on How LLMs and Humans are Cognitive Cousins

Aug 2026 · 5 books

0:00 / 111:36

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman

people are often are familiar with ▶ tap to play from here

Unified Theories of Cognition

Alan Newell

unified theories of cognition beautiful book john anderson's book ▶ tap to play from here

Rules of the Mind

John Anderson

rules of the mind you know ▶ tap to play from here

The Modularity of Mind

Jerry Fodor

this is jerry foder and in modularity of the mind ▶ tap to play from here

How the Mind Works

Steven Pinker

if you read the introduction to how the mind works by steve pinker that's an ambitious book ▶ tap to play from here

Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | August 2026

Aug 2026 · 5 books

0:00 / 237:36

The Big Picture

Sean Carroll

i talk about this in the big picture where i talk about the idea of planets of belief ▶ tap to play from here

Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton

i just listened to the audiobook of jurassic park this summer and i feel like the ghost of ian malcolm is warning me that this is not a good idea ▶ tap to play from here

The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus

this question is referring to the story by albert camus myth of sisyphus and ▶ tap to play from here

Quanta and Fields

Sean Carroll

in quanta and fields you explicitly write of the positron field page 210 as separate from the electron field ▶ tap to play from here

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

i've just finished reading stephen hawking's brief history of time and noted that he and gregory laflamm believed that the arrow of time would not reverse in a contracting phase of the universe ▶ tap to play from here

362 | Luis Bettencourt on the Universal Properties of Self-Organizing Cities

Jul 2026 · 1 book

0:00 / 80:07

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

goes back to adam smith and so on as a mechanism in this view of the wealth of nations ▶ tap to play from here

361 | Bonnie Bassler on How Bacteria Talk and Work Together

Jul 2026

0:00 / 75:51

Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | July 2026

Jul 2026 · 8 books

0:00 / 243:28

The Feynman Lectures on Physics

Richard Feynman

if you look up in the feynman lectures on physics or the feynman lectures on gravitation ▶ tap to play from here

The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation

Richard Feynman

or the feynman lectures on gravitation and i think but i'm not 100 sure about this in the character of physical law ▶ tap to play from here

The Character of Physical Law

Richard Feynman

in the character of physical law he talks about this problem ▶ tap to play from here

The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions

William G. Bowen and Derek Bok

there's a great book by derek bach and oops i forget the other guy's name derek bach used to be the president of harvard and he and the president of princeton um yeah so two elite institutions they did this ▶ tap to play from here

Spacetime and Motion

Sean Carroll

the first book in the biggest ideas in the universe series space time in motion will have no problem understanding ▶ tap to play from here

I Am a Strange Loop

Douglas Hofstadter

i'm reading douglas hofstadter's book i am a strange loop ▶ tap to play from here

Quanta and Fields

Sean Carroll

i talk about this at some length in quanta and fields ▶ tap to play from here

The Emergent Multiverse

David Wallace

david wallace's book the emergent multiverse ▶ tap to play from here

360 | Marc Berman on the Science of Touching Grass

Jul 2026 · 3 books

0:00 / 89:40

Nature and the Mind, The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical and Social Wellbeing

Mark Berman

the book is called nature and the mind the science of how nature improves cognitive physical and social wellbeing ▶ tap to play from here

The Big Picture

Sean Carroll

actually when i was reading your book the big picture you have a figure in their sort of about this ▶ tap to play from here

I Am a Strange Loop

Douglas Hofstadter

i mean i've been reading hofstetter's book too i am a strange loop which is kind of interesting too ▶ tap to play from here

359 | Solo: Theories of Dark Energy

Jun 2026

0:00 / 116:11

358 | Solo: Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant

Jun 2026 · 1 book

0:00 / 119:50

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, Volume One: Space, Time, and Motion

Sean Carroll

please pick up my book the biggest ideas in the universe volume one space time and motion where we explain what all these things mean ▶ tap to play from here

357 | Jeff Coller on mRNA, Vaccines, and Bespoke Therapeutics

Jun 2026

0:00 / 79:51

356 | Andrea Wulf on Enlightenment, Nature, Romanticism, and Modernity

Jun 2026 · 3 books

0:00 / 77:13