Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Tyler Cowen about his fascinating new book Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World.  Our recorded conversation is now the inaugural Occasional Podcast.  The interview will be available on iTunes soon, but you can listen now through the embedded player above.

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A professor of economics at George Mason University, Tyler Cowen is known to many habitual web surfers through his always absorbing blog Marginal Revolution.

A behavioral economist, Tyler is also deeply interested in culture, technology, and the arts.  His latest book combines all these subjects in one absorbing read.

Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World is loaded with provocative ideas and surprising claims.  I still haven’t wrapped my mind around a number of Cowen’s big ideas and insights.  I’ll be posting more about the book in the coming days, but (like it or not) I think he has identified some profound truths about our increasingly fragmented culture. 

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If, after listening to the podcast, you’d like to learn more about Tyler Cowen and the ideas he advances in Create Your Own Economy, I recommend you take a look at some of these links.

• Cowen’s video dialogue with the whip-smart Will Wilkinson at Bloggingheads.tv;
• The Marginal Revolution blog [if you use an RSS reader, you should definitely subscribe to the Marginal Revolution RSS feed];
• Tyler Cowen’s personal website points to all his books and writings [including his renowned guide to the best ethnic restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area];
• Imperial is the 1,300 page William T. Vollman book that Tyler mentions he has been reading;
• and, given the book and our discussion, you should be sure to check out Tyler Cowen’s Twitter feed.

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There’s so much in this book, and so many provocative ideas, I doubt anyone other than Tyler Cowen would nod in absolute agreement on every page.  I’d really like to hear from Occasional readers and (now) listeners.  What do you think?

• Is autism just another form of “neurodiversity”?  Should web surfers aspire to be more like autistics?
• Is the concept of a core curriculum entirely dated?
• Should we retire some of the increasingly antique-seeming forms of art and knowledge?
• Are today’s young people a “Dumbest Generation” or are they more culturally literate than their iPhone-deprived grandparents?
• Is storytelling a terrible way to share knowledge?

I’d love to see your reactions to these questions–and any others raised by the podcast or the book–in the comments section below…

If so moved, you can buy the book–and ensure that The Occasional receives a minute kick-back–if you order through Powell’s or Amazon.

[Ed.:  This is my first attempt at a podcast interview, so I'm painfully aware of some technical imperfections and rookie mistakes by the host.  Your comments, advice, and critiques are very welcome (andrew - at - theoccasional - dot -org).  I hope to make podcasts a regular feature at The Occasional.]

Help the nascent podcasting “industry” by taking this survey for podcast listeners.

Kurt Andersen hosts singer-songwriter Regina Spektor for music (from a new album) and conversation at Studio 360. Nice stuff.

As reported in the Studio 360 story linked above, MIT biologist Hazel Sive has found a fun and involving way of conveying her passion for science… providing rock soundtracks for videos of biological processes like frog embryo development. Her musical taste is decidedly baby boomerish, but the result is very enjoyable.

Beryl Markham was a colonial child, born in Britain and raised in Africa, where she met Ernest Hemingway on safari and was rumored to have had an affair with an English prince. She took up flying at a time when most people hadn’t even seen planes, became the only professional pilot in Africa and, in 1936, accepted a challenge to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

In early September, Markham set off from England in a tiny turquoise-and-silver plane filled with good luck gifts. She flew for more than 21 hours, survived a crash-landing on an island near Nova Scotia and went on to write her autobiography, West with the Night — the title a reference to the fact that she mostly flew in the dark.

Few lives have been lived as well or as fully as Beryl Markham’s adventurous existence.  A pioneering aviatrix and a gifted writer, Markham’s inspiring example is the subject of an NPR essay here: [read and/or listen].

I have kind of mixed feelings about Garrison Keillor, but this edition of his daily “Writer’s Almanac” contains some nice notes on John Updike on the occasion of his birthday:

BONUS: A veritable carnival of affability! Dick Cavett interviews Updike and John Cheever [at Cavett's semi-blog at the New York Times].