Michael Lewis in Conversation on the Art of Writing

Published 2019-03-04
Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and other bestselling books, discusses his career and practice as a writer with Ramona Naddaff, associate professor of Rhetoric and director of the Art of Writing program at the Townsend Center for the Humanities.

All Comments (16)
  • These are next-level questions by the students. Heartening to hear such strong intellects at work.
  • @MarkLawsonY3K
    Woody Allen wrote a line about a character that likes radio over the newish invention of television. When asked why, the character replied, "The pictures are better." The conversation about reading vs hearing a narrative and then add visual seems like a great lunch topic. For that, I will thank you and report back (or not). Lawson di Ransom Canyon
  • @nbme-answers
    What college looks like: Student: In class we've been talking about Plato's Noble Lie and sort of how the idea of lying in pursuit of political power re-emerges in Machiavelli's The Prince. Reading "Have You Seen the President?", particularly the portion where you watch the State of the Union with Steve Bannon, reminded me how you have to constantly evaluate the integrity of your interviewees and their possible political agenda. So, in that vein, how do you assess information from political operatives like Steve Bannon without projecting your own expectations? Michael Lewis: … you mean, how do I detect bullshit? To learn more, see CPG Grey's "Rules for Rulers" on youtube.
  • Michael Lewis is very open and interesting and very easy to learn from🌷
  • @finze1
    Great interview. These students are lucky to have him in and to have Ramona as their professor.
  • Loved the talk. I feel so priveleged to be able to hear this talk from across the globe in Asia. But when he talked about whether he would write a book about someone running for president, i could only think about Andrew Yang. I mean come on, a total nobody who went on to beat Kamala Harris, Corey Booker and other established Democratic candidate. But the part about wanting to write instead of wAnting to be a writer, that was an ah-ha moment. It was such a good advice
  • @willmpet
    A tornado is an amazing thing! Once there was a tornado warning for St. Paul, and my brother told his three boys to come out of the screenhouse they were in to come inside to safety. Their response was, “Aww, Dad”. His response (and I will always remember) was, “A responsible citizen seeks safety”. They went inside with him and the tornado went up their street! They never found a piece of that screenhouse! 17:25 on 11/21/22
  • @willmpet
    I agree, Colorado Springs has only Colorado College and some Junior Colleges and a CU that was only for commuters. When I went to the University of Minnesota it was a significant part of the city (Minneapolis). There was an effect on the city that was significant, but that never happened in Colorado Springs because they never effected the cities’ life.
  • @artallen2860
    at 43:20. OMG!! Michael Lewis walked into my house to interview me. I hope I didn’t BS him. Maybe because I didn’t know he was a famous author I didn’t. Now you have to buy the paperback addition of The Fifth Risk to see what I’m talking about.
  • @JellyDonat
    Michael Lewis! Please write about Tulsi.