The Etan Ilfeld Podcast
By Etan Ilfeld
Ilfeld is a London-based entrepreneur and the owner and managing director of Watkins Books and the Mind Sports Olympiad. He is the inventor of Diving Chess and the author of Beyond Contemporary Art and co-author of Duchamp versus Einstein.
The Etan Ilfeld PodcastApr 10, 2021
Liat Yakir on the Biology of Love
Many have studied it, written about it and even died for it and yet, it appears, we are mostly blind to the essence of love. Dr Liat Yakir takes us on a fascinating journey through the evolution of love in history and in modern times, showing the importance of hormones, neurons and genes that dictate who we’ll fall in love with and who we’ll reject.
A Brief History of Love is Dr Liat Yakir's first book.
William Hartston on Comedy and Laughter
William_Hartston is a polymath and author. From winning the British Chess Championship to writing opera reviews, his curiosity knows no bounds. In this interview, Etan Ilfeld and him discuss the history of comedy and what makes us laugh white reviewing his latest book, Knock Knock! In Pursuit of a Grand Unified Theory of Humour.
Here's a recent review of Hartston's book.
Stephen Wolfram on ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence and the future of technology
Stephen Wolfram is one of a kind, he's a mathematician, computer scientist, and theoretical physicist. He's also the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, which includes Mathematica and Wolfram alpha. He's written numerous books, including A New Kind of Science, which delved into the mystery of cellular automata, and most recently, What is ChatGPT Doing and Why Does it Work?
Etan Ilfeld and Stephen Wolfram discuss a wide range of topics from the future of artificial intelligence to open source versus proprietary software, to the evolution of culture and the future of education.
Uri Levine on Unicorn Startups and Founding Waze
Uri Levine is the founder of Waze and Moovit, and one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. In this interview with Etan Ilfeld, he gives you the ultimate guide to starting and running a business. He is also the author of Fall in Love with the Problem Not the Solution, which is published by Watkins.
As the cofounder of Waze – the world's leading commuting and navigation app with more than 700 million users to date, and which Google acquired in 2013 for $1.15 billion – Levine is committed to spreading entrepreneurial thinking so that other founders, managers, and employees in the tech space can build their own highly valued companies. Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on:
- Raising funding
- Firing and hiring
- Understanding your users
- Making up-scale decisions
- Going global
- Deciding when to sell
Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution offers mentorship in a book from one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and empowers you to build a successful business by identifying your consumers' biggest problems and disrupting the inefficient markets that currently serve them.
Rhonda Byrne on the Secret, Gratitude and Spiritual Growth
Rhonda Byrne has inspired millions of people through her book and film, The Secret. Since then, she's continued to publish numerous bestselling titles. In this interview she discusses how she learnt to use gratitude to overcome depression, increase her self-awareness and improve her health, and her ongoing spiritual journey.
Jim Al-Khalili on Physics and the Universe
Jim Al-Khalili is a professor of physics at the University of Surrey. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and also one of the world's best-known science communicators: He has presented numerous documentaries and hosts the acclaimed radio show, The Life Scientific, and his latest book, The World According to Physics, was published by Princeton University Press.
Topics range from the meaning of life to the chances of meeting extraterrestrials, the future of quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, which Jim assures us will change the world more than the internet has! We also discuss why Stephen Hawkings was wrong about the end of scientific progress, and better understand the nature of reality, the dangers of politicizing science, the meaning of science, and why enlightenment is better than ignorance.
Oliver Roeder on Chess, Scrabble, Poker, Go, Artificial Intelligence and the future of games
Oliver Roeder is a journalist in New York City. Recently, he has been a senior writer at FiveThirtyEight and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Roeder holds a PhD in economics with a focus on game theory, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Economist, Slate, Nautilus, Aeon and elsewhere. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human. This interview includes the development of AIs in games, and classic games such as Go, Checkers (aka Draughts), Bridge, Poker, Chess, Backgammon, and Scrabble.
Julia Cameron on Creativity
Julia Cameron is often referred to as the High Priestess of creativity and has authored more than forty books. Her best-selling title is called The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity, and has sold over five million copies and has been translated into over forty languages.
Julia is also a poet, songwriter, filmmaker, and playwright. She really can do it all.
Join me for this inspiring conversation on how to unleash your creative potential!
Fabien Riggall on Immersive Cinema
Fabien Riggall is a maverick, an activist, and a creative rebel. He is the inventor and creative director of Future shorts, Future Cinema and Secret Cinema. He is also the co-founder of March for Europe and has campaigned for freedom of cultural expression and for the rights of migrants. In this interview, Etan Ilfeld and Fabien Riggall discuss the future of immersive experiences, cinema, and much more.
Anthony Misquitta on Copyright and Artistic Expression
Anthony Misquitta is a world-class expert on copyright, intellectual property, and contract law. He is the general counsel at the Victoria and Albert Museum and, as a consultant solicitor at Keystone Law, independently represents clients in a range of sectors including software, media, music, luxury brands, fashion, and culture.
Join Anthony and Etan Ilfeld in this fascinating discussion of the nature and nuance of copyright and how it applies to art, culture, and innovation.
Jonah Paquette on Feeling Awestruck
Jonah Paquette is interviewed by Etan Ilfeld. Jonah is a clinical psychologist, speaker, and author. His book Awestruck teaches us how to be more alive through the power of experiencing awe. Did you know that our ancestors used to experience awe on a daily basis but we only do about twice a week? Modern civilization is awe-deprived.
Jonah gives tips on how to bring awe back into our daily lives. Also, we learn that we can experience negative awe through catastrophes but that they can also change our perspective and enhance our compassion and gratitude.
On average, for half of our waking hours, our mind wanders and doesn’t take in all of the present. That’s a shame because real life is right here, right now.
Whether it’s through nature, music, psychedelics, intense connection, that awe-inspired feeling that has been described as oceanic by Freud or as a peak experience by Maslow is vital to thriving in life. Awe makes us more present and grateful and breaks the cycle of negative rumination.
Mark Davis on Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis
This episode with Mark Davis is one-half of a longer interview and covers the fascinating history of hypnosis and how to use self-hypnosis to empower yourself. The other interview is in another podcast episode and explains CBT, how to relax, optimize sleep and overcome phobias.
Mark Davis is a therapist, trainer, meditation teacher – and the Director of The UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy, He trained in cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy in 2006 and has been a full-time therapist since 2007 – with a practice in Central London. Before becoming a therapist, he traveled extensively and explored various spiritual practices.
Mark Davis on CBT, Relaxation and Better Sleep
This interview is one-half of a longer interview and explains CBT, how to relax, optimize sleep and overcome phobias. The other interview is in another podcast episode and covers the history of hypnosis and how to use self-hypnosis to empower yourself.
Mark Davis is a therapist, trainer, meditation teacher – and the Director of The UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy, He trained in cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy in 2006 and has been a full-time therapist since 2007 – with a practice in Central London. I know that he knows his stuff because he treated me and helped me overcome my blood and needle phobia in only 5 sessions. Mark is extremely wise and curious. Before becoming a therapist, he traveled extensively and explored various spiritual practices. Whenever I’m hanging out with Mark, I feel like I’m soaking up wisdom.
Judy Piatkus on Publishing Books
Judy Piatkus is an entrepreneur, publisher and business coach specializing in conscious leadership. She founded Piatkus when she was in her 20s while she was raising a family and grew the company to become an international brand. Piatkus published influential self-help titles such as Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabatz Zin, Many Lives Many Masters by Brian Weiss, and many more amazing books.
Judy sold Piatkus to Hatchette in 2007, just before the global financial crash that she had shrewdly foreseen. She is now a keynote speaker, an angel investor, and a coach and mentor to start-ups. In 2011 she founded Conscious Café, a network that brings people together for deep conversations and connections.
To learn more, I highly recommend her book Ahead of Her Time.
Derek Frost on overcoming the AIDS epidemic
Jeremy’s battle lasted six long years--until conventional medicine finally developed ATR treatments which made HIV manageable and allowed Jeremy to start living a normal life again--and indeed he’s still alive today. Turning to spiritual reflection, yoga, nature - and always to love - Derek describes a transformation of the spirit and how compassion and empathy rose from the flames of sickness and death. Out of this transformation also came Aids Ark, the charity they founded, which helped to save, amongst the world's most marginalized people, more than 1,000 HIV-positive lives.
Derek speaks for a generation who lived through a global health crisis that many in society refused even to acknowledge. His book, Living and Loving in the Age of AIDS is a story of joy and triumph; about facing universal challenges; about the great rewards that come from giving back.
Neelakantha Bhanu on Mental Calculations
Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash has one of the fastest minds you've ever met. He took gold in the 2020 Mental Calculations World Championship and can calculate things like the cubed root of a 5 digit number within seconds. He's also the founder of 'Exploring Infinities', a math education startup that aims to eradicate math phobia. According to Bhanu, anybody can strengthen their math muscles, and there are lots of benefits to be gained. Join us for this inspiring interview.
Ben Aldridge: Learning New Things and How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Ben Aldridge's book How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable is appropriately subtitled: 43 Weird & Wonderful Ways to Build a Strong Resilient Mindset. The book is already an international bestseller and has rave reviews. It offers challenges and advice on how to push yourself out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. Demonstrating that constantly learning new things, really does cultivate a stronger, healthier, more resilient mindset. And let's face it, these days, resilience is more important than ever. Join us for this fascinating discussion.
Keren Landsman on Coronavirus and Pandemics
In this podcast, Keren Landsman and I discuss a wide range of topics from overcoming the Corona pandemic, to the history of pandemics and the future of humanity. In addition to being a physician and epidemiologist, Keren is also the author of the award-winning urban fantasy book, Heart of the Circle. Keren works for the Israeli Health Ministry as an epidemiologist and volunteers at Mida’at, an NGO that promotes public health.
Links mentioned in the podcast:
Mida'at - http://midaat.org.il/midaat/midaat_english/
Great books about pandemics:
Diana Rowland / My Life as A White Trash Zombie
http://www.dianarowland.com/zombies.html
Seanan McGuire (under the pen name Mira Grant) / Feed
https://www.amazon.com/Feed-Newsflesh-Book-Mira-Grant/dp/0316081051
Daryl Gregory / The Devil's Alphabet
https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Alphabet-Novel-Daryl-Gregory/dp/0345501179
John snow and the broad street water pump (Epidemiology and history)
https://youtu.be/TLpzHHbFrHY
Marianne Williamson on Spirituality
Marianne Deborah Williamson is an American author, spiritual leader, politician, and activist. She has written 13 books, including four New York Times number-one bestsellers. She currently ranks 9th on the Watkins list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Marianne also founded several charities and launched a series of conferences called Sister Giant to encourage more women to run for political office and campaigned last year for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. In this interview, we discuss her New York Times bestseller, Everyday Grace, as a stepping stone to probe her brilliant mind.
Tony Buzan on Mind Mapping
Tony Buzan believed that anyone can improve their memory, creativity, reading speed and spiritual intelligence. He developed mind mapping as a learning tool, co-founded the memory world championship, the mind sports olympiad, and the mind, body and spirit festival. He also managed to write over eighty books and was the editor of the International Journal of Mensa! His last book, Mind Mapping 2.0, was also a bestseller and has already been translated into 19 languages. Tony past away in 2019, at the age of 76 but not before leaving a very positive impact on the world. The interview you’re about to hear was recorded in 2016.
Russell Brand on Democracy and Spirituality
Russell Brand needs no introduction. Brand is a brilliant thinker, activist, actor, author, and comedian. His books have dealt with issues ranging from mentorship to addiction and mental health. In this interview, we discuss his book Revolution, which advocates for a non-violent social revolution based on principles of spirituality and the common good.
Ben Pridmore on Memory
Ben Pridmore is a three-time World Memory Champion winning the title 2004, 2008 and 2009. From Derby in the United Kingdom, Pridmore achieved this by winning a 10-discipline competition, the World Memory Championship, which has taken place every year since 1991. He has also earned the prestigious title of Master of Memory. Ben has an IQ of 159 putting him in the genius range.
He held the official world record for memorizing the order of a randomly shuffled 52-card deck, and has memorised a pack in a time of 24.68 seconds on television. This record was beaten in 2010 by German memory athlete and lawyer Simon Reinhard. Pridmore's victory at the 2009 World Championship was his eighth consecutive memory competition win since coming second at the 2007 World Championship. He is the title holder for the UK Memory Champion for the years 2007–2011 and 2013 and Welsh Open Memory Champion 2009–2012 and 2014.
Besides memory sports he is famous for his mental calculation skills and took part in the Mental Calculation World Cup in 2004, 2006 and 2010. He has also won several medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad including becoming the 2001 World Champion at the ten disciplined mind sport competition the decamentathlon including also chess and reversi.