Ep. 1: Rugged flexibility, the ethics of driverless cars, and making sense of the housing crisis

Welcome to Office Hours

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Office Hours with the Absent-Minded Professor! As some of you know, I listen to a lot of podcasts in the car on my way to and from campus at Harvey Mudd. While the episodes I listen to are often the spark for my weekly essays, I’ve been thinking about a way to share a curated list of my favorite episodes with a bit of commentary.

Each month I’m planning to release a new set of podcasts from my recent listening history that I think would be of interest to you and worth adding to your “to listen” list. In each episode of Office Hours, I’ll record a short 5-10 minute segment where I introduce each podcast episode and share why it left an impression on me. Then I’ll share a link to a Spotify playlist where you can dive into the episodes in more detail if any of them pique your interest.

Office Hours posts will be available only to paid subscribers of the newsletter, although I’ll offer comped subscriptions to anyone who asks. I understand that some of you (e.g., students) may not be in a place where you can afford to pay for something like this and I want to make sure that you have a way to listen even if there’s no room in your budget for it right now. The buttons below will allow you to sign up for a free 7-day trial to try it out or to a short Google form where you can submit your email address and request a comped subscription.

If something here piques your interest or you have comments or suggestions about the content or format of these episodes I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment or shoot me a line via email!

Spotify Playlist

Click the button below to open the playlist of all the episodes directly in Spotify.

Direct Links to Individual Episodes