Fifteen Questions
Fifteen Questions: Arthur Brooks on Barcelona, Baldness, and the Science of Happiness
The HBS professor and happiness columnist say down with FM to discuss his time as a professional french horn player, his conversion to Catholicism, and escaping workaholism.
Fifteen Questions: Michael Pollan on Psychedelics, Consciousness, and Journalism
The English professor and science journalist Michael Pollan sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about his research on food, psychedelics, and consciousness.
Michael Pollan 15Q portrait
Michael K. Pollan is a Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer and Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction. He teaches science journalism and has written books about food, plants, and psychedelics.
Fifteen Questions: Finale Doshi-Velez on AI Decision Making, Novel Writing and Unicorns
Computer Science Professor Finale Doshi-Velez sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about artificial intelligence in healthcare decision making, the dangers of “boring AI,” and writing what may be her first novel.
Fifteen Questions: Spencer Weinreich on Solitary Confinement, Religious Violence, and Quizbowl Grooming
Junior Fellow Spencer Weinreich sat down with FM to discuss the history of solitary confinement, the meaning of his tattoos, and being a “textual omnivore.”
Fifteen Questions: Bruce H. Mann on Legal History, Studying Debt, and Owning Golden Retrievers
Legal Historian Bruce Mann sat down with FM to discuss socratic teaching, the pervasiveness of debt, and supporting his wife, Senator Elizabeth Warren, on the campaign trail.
Serhii Plokhii portrait
Serhii Plokhii, History professor and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute, studies Ukranian history and recently published a book about Chernobyl.
Fifteen Questions: Serhii Plokhii on Atlantis, Chernobyl, and the Dangers of Writing History
History professor and Ukrainian Research Institute director Serhii Plokhii sat down with FM to discuss his newly-published book on Chernobyl, his role as a historian of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and how searching for the lost city of Atlantis pulled him into academia.
Maya Jasanoff Eclipse 15Q Picture
The trees began to sway and the bushes gently rustled as a breeze came over the courtyard. The shadows lost their strength.
Fifteen Questions during the Solar Eclipse: Maya Jasanoff on the British Empire, Joseph Conrad, and Judging The Booker Prize
The history professor talked with Fifteen Minutes during the solar eclipse about being in a family of academics, postcolonial literature, and reading.
.Maya Jasanoff 15Q Portrait
Jasanoff is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard. Her research has taken her from the city of Calcutta to the worlds of Joseph Conrad; she interests herself in subjects as varied as the workings of the British Empire and our obsession with ancestry.
Fifteen Questions: Yevgenia Albats on Journalism in the USSR, Freedom of the Press, and Her Bibliophilia
The journalist sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about her career, including being declared an enemy of the Russian state, investigative reporting on KGB officials, and her deep love of reading that was kindled in Widener Library’s basement. “In many countries, people are suffering because of their cruel leaders, because of injustice, because of poverty, because of absence of normal medical help,” she says. “Our job is to tell their stories.”
