Walter IsaacsonEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

On this episode of The Strategerist, Walter Isaacson, known as one of America’s pre-eminent biographies joins host Andrew Kaufmann to discuss some of the world's greatest innovators: Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Benjamin Franklin. Jennifer Doudna. Albert Einstein. Even Leonardo DaVinci. His most recent work takes a look not at a person, but at a turning point in history: The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, a small but inspiring book that analyzes the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.

In today's episode, Ryan Holiday sits down with legendary biographer Walter Isaacson for a wide-ranging, deeply thoughtful conversation recorded live at the Texas Tribune Festival. They talk about Walker Percy and The Moviegoer , how Stoicism shows up in fiction, and why the ancient virtues still matter in the modern world. They talk through Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Viktor Frankl, and why history tends to outlast the noise of the present moment. 📚 Grab signed copies of Walter Isaacson's books at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/ Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson Walter Isaacson: The Genius Biographies: Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Leonardo Da Vinci (Boxed Set) 🎁 This holiday season, give the gift of Daily Stoic Premium | https://dailystoic.supercast.com/gifts/new 👉 The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up

Here's a genius move. Immerse yourself in a few more interests and watch yourself grow intellectually. That's the advice from biographer Walter Isaacson . And he should know as he's often considered the genius biographer. Isaacson is a bestselling author. He's written biographies about people including Leonardo da Vinci , Benjamin Franklin , Albert Einstein , Steve Jobs and Jennifer Doudna . He's a former editor of Time Magazine and served as the CEO of the Aspen Institute in addition to teaching at Tulane University. His latest book may be his most controversial due to his subject, Elon Musk . Isaacson spent two years with Musk with what he describes as unfiltered total access. He thought the book would primarily focus on electric cars and space travel. Then came the Twitter sale in the middle of his writing project. Now, Isaacson's Elon Musk is out and he's facing criticism from some in the tech world for taking hit too easy on a controversial leader. Isaacson says his job is to be a storyteller and it's a reader's job to reach conclusions on his subjects. On this Dying to Ask: The unusual deal Walter Isaacson struck with musk before writing the book How Isaacson found out Musk had accepted his offer to do the book How the Twitter sale impacted his research and book Why broadening your interests helps you think bigger

We were honored this past week to welcome back renowned author Walter Isaacson for a Special Edition COBT episode. Walter is a Professor of History at Tulane University and a Distinguished Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is also a good friend and someone with whom we are always thrilled to visit. In his wide-ranging career, Walter has served as the Editor of TIME magazine, Chairman and CEO at CNN, and CEO of the Aspen Institute. As you may know, Walter has previously written on other fascinating people including Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs and Henry Kissinger. Most recently, he has published his latest work entitled "Elon Musk." Mike Bradley, Todd Scruggs and I were so excited to visit with Walter and hear his unique insights on his time spent with Elon, discuss the overall process of researching and writing the book, and dig in to unique anecdotes about Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter (X). We three read the book in preparation for the discussion and can absolutely recommend it. We learned a ton! Walter begins our conversation by sharing his personal interest in writing Elon’s biography as the next feature in his series of books highlighting individuals ushering in a new era. Walter shares the course of events that sparked the book, starting with a two-hour phone call followed by a tweet from Elon that confirmed his appointment as his biographer. Elon’s tweet put Walter on the roller coaster of being by Elon’s side for two years, witnessing everything from business meetings and interactions with his family to rocket launches and late night factory line visits. We discuss the internal purpose and sense of mission that drives Elon, the urgency he expects from everyone around him, and his unique appetite for risk. Walter and the book take us on a journey from Elon’s childhood days in South Africa to emigrating to Penn to PayPal to SpaceX and up to and including his experience buying Twitter. With a lot of stops along the way! Walter shares the risks Elon took with building and launching the first at-scale private rocket company and the complicated situation he found himself in with Starlink satellites, especially in Ukraine. For those of you who are interested, we previously had the opportunity to visit with Trey Mendez, Mayor of Brownsville and tour SpaceX and found the SpaceX stories particularly interesting (episode linked here ). When we weren’t talking SpaceX and everything that came with it, we of course discussed Tesla, Elon’s plunge into AI, what Elon refers to as "the algorithm," and many other aspects of one of the world’s most impactful people. We want to thank Walter profusely for sharing his time and thoughts with us. He clearly had a fascinating firsthand experience pulling together what is an absolutely gripping read. For those of you in Houston, Brazos Bookstore in partnership with Halliburton Labs and Veriten is hosting a live open-to-the-public discussion with Walter on Sunday, November 12th the Ballroom at Bayou Place at 5:00 PM CT. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are available linked here . We look forward to seeing Walter in Houston and hope you enjoy the book and discussion as much as we did! Our best to you all.

A U.S. federal judge has restricted some government agencies and officials from communicating with social media companies to discuss content. Twitter has implemented usage limits on its platform, and Meta has announced Threads , a Twitter competitor available through Instagram. Writer Walter Isaacson, currently in the middle of biographing Elon Musk, discusses the role of social media in politics, Elon Musk’s role in news and democracy, and Musk’s leadership, both at Twitter and at Tesla. Plus, CEOs at Pinterest, Peloton, and Hertz are raking in over $100 million a year–more than Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. In this episode: Walter Isaacson, @WalterIsaacson Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Courtney Reagan, @CourtReagan Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie

Let's talk live with best-selling author Walter Isaacson about his upcoming biography "Elon Musk". You'll hear real stories from documenting the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era. Plus, Walter answers questions from the audience and shares new insights on Twitter. Hosted by Adam Soccolich. Follow along with us - live on Twitter ! EPISODE LINKS: Walter's Book: On Amazon Walter's Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalterIsaacson Walter's Website: https://isaacson.tulane.edu PODCAST INFO: Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/BestLiveAudio Podcast website: https://www.BestLiveAudio.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-podcast/id1657938930 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DJbqY0su2fGT8849a5IRL RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/bestlivepodcast/feed.xml SUPPORT: Check out the sponsors, it’s the best way to support this podcast.

Benjamin Franklin. In conjunction with the upcoming PBS premiere of Ken Burns’ four-hour biographical film BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, (Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 8 p.m.), WNET UP NEXT welcomes Walter Isaacson, creative consultant for the film and author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. “Just being interested in everything made him the quintessential, curious American,” Isaacson said of Franklin during his conversation with WNET UP NEXT. Considered one of America’s most significant historical figures and founding fathers, Franklin has been influential in many fields with roles as printer, publisher, inventor, humorist, diplomat, and scientist. Known for his pragmatism, Franklin established early public libraries and schools in addition to his early “media empire” of franchised printing establishments up and down the East Coast. He became internationally known for his experiments with electricity and creation of an early battery. As a diplomat, he was responsible for securing financial aid from France that helped defeat England in the American Revolution. As the witty writer of Poor Richard’s Almanack, he pioneered an American-style sense of humor that still exists today. Like Franklin, Walter Isaacson has worn many different hats over the course of his career, from serving as Editor of Time, to becoming CEO at CNN and The Aspen Institute. Currently on the history faculty of Tulane University, he also serves as a co-host of Amanpour and Company on PBS. In addition to Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, he has written many other books, including biographies of Steve Jobs, Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein, and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna. For more on BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: A Film by Ken Burns see the official film site . Recorded: March 4, 2022 Audio Engineer – Josh Broome Host/Producer – Tom Stewart Executive Producer/Editor – Daena McBride Special thanks: Jordan Lawrence of DKC and Christina Knight of The WNET Group WNET UP NEXT is a presentation of the Design, On Air Promotion, Fundraising and Traffic Department of The WNET Group . The post Walter Isaacson Joins WNET Up Next for a Preview of “Benjamin Franklin – A Ken Burns Film” appeared first on The WNET Group .

Designer babies? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice sit down with biographer Walter Isaacson to explore Neil’s interview with Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, Jennifer Doudna, about her pioneering work with CRISPR technology. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/show/the-code-of-life-and-crispr-with-jennifer-doudna-and-walter-isaacson/ Thanks to our Patrons Miguel Santana!!, Cristina Magistrali, Phillipe Dewindt, Toren Wallengren, Eric Huffman, Christopher Sukhanenya, Dmitry Pugachevich for supporting us this week. Image Credit: Tim Tim (VD fr), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus .

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character. Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin's life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America's best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard's Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation's alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century. Description courtesy of Amazon