For years, the playwright David Adjmi was considered “polarizing and difficult.” But creating Stereophonic seems to have healed him. Stephen Dubner gets the story — and sorts out what Adjmi has in common with Richard Wagner.

• SOURCES:
  • David Adjmi, author and playwright.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The West End is enjoying a theatre revival. Can Broadway keep up?" by Daniel Thomas (Financial Times, 2025).
  • Lot Six: A Memoir, by David Adjmi (2020).
  • Stereophonic, (2023).

• EXTRAS:
  • "How Is Live Theater Still Alive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
  • "How to Make the Coolest Show on Broadway," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

The Gulf States and China are spending billions to build stadiums and buy up teams — but what are they really buying? And can an entrepreneur from Cincinnati make his own billions by bringing baseball to Dubai?

• SOURCES:
  • Simon Chadwick, professor of afroeurasian sport at Emlyon Business School.
  • Derek Fisher, high school basketball coach, former N.B.A. coach and player.
  • Kash Shaikh, chairman, C.E.O., and co-founder of Baseball United.
  • Rory Smith, football correspondent at The Observer.

• RESOURCES:
  • "China Keeps Building Stadiums in Africa. But at What Cost?" by Elian Peltier (New York Times, 2024).
  • "Manchester Off-Shored: A Public Interest Report on the Manchester Life Partnership Between Manchester City Council + The Abu Dhabi United Group," by Richard Goulding, Adam Leaver, and Jonathan Silver (Centripetal Cities, 2022).
  • "Manchester City's Cozy Ties to Abu Dhabi: Sponsorship Money – Paid for by the State," by Rafael Buschmann, Nicola Naber, and Christoph Winterbach (Spiegel International, 2022).
  • "China Renews Its ‘Belt and Road’ Push for Global Sway," by Keith Bradsher (New York Times, 2020).

• EXTRAS:
  • "What Is Sportswashing — and Does It Work? (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck. But she did have a Ph.D. in psychology, a brilliant coach, and a burning desire to know whether life is driven more by skill or chance. She found some answers in poker — and she’s willing to tell us everything she learned.

• SOURCES:
  • Maria Konnikova, author of The Biggest Bluff.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Gender Differences in Performance Predictions: Evidence from the Cognitive Reflection Test,” by Patrick Ring, Levent Neyse, Tamas David-Barett, and Ulrich Schmidt (Frontiers in Psychology, 2016).
  • “The headwinds/tailwinds Asymmetry: An Availability Bias in Assessments of Barriers and Blessings,” by Shai Davidai and Thomas Gilovich (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2016).
  • “The Two Settings of Kind and Wicked Learning Environments,” by Robin M. Hogarth, Tomás Lejarraga, and Emre Soyer (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2015).
  • "The Limits of Self-Control: Self-Control, Illusory Control, and Risky Financial Decision Making,” by Maria Konnikova (Columbia University, 2013).
  • “Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement” by J.B. Rotter (Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 1966).

• EXTRAS:
  • The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, by Maria Konnikova.
  • Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, by Maria Konnikova.
  • The Confidence Game, by Maria Konnikova.
  • Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, by John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.
  • "This Year’s World Series Of Poker Is Different," by Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova (2025).