The stereotypical obituary is a formulaic recitation of facts — dry, boring, and without craft. But Margalit Fox has shown the genre can produce some of the most memorable and moving stories in journalism. Exploiting its “pure narrative arc,” Fox has penned over 1,200 obituaries, covering well-known and obscure subjects with equal aplomb.
In her conversation with Tyler Cowen, Fox reveals not only the process for writing an obituary, but her thoughts on life, death, storytelling, puzzle-solving, her favorite cellist, and how it came to be that an economist sang opera 86 times at the Met.
Nathan Nunn on the Paths to Development
Melissa Dell on the Significance of Persistence
Annie Duke on Poker, Probabilities, and How We Make Decisions
Rachel Harmon on Policing
Ashley Mears on Status and Beauty
Paul Romer on a Culture of Science and Working Hard
Adam Tooze on our Financial Past and Future
Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert
Philip E. Tetlock on Forecasting and Foraging as a Fox
Emily St. John Mandel on Fact, Fiction, and the Familiar
Ross Douthat on Decadence and Dynamism
Russ Roberts and Tyler on COVID-19
John McWhorter on Linguistics, Music, and Race (Live at Mason)
Garett Jones on Democracy (More or Less)
Tim Harford on Persuasion and Popular Economics
Ezra Klein on Why We’re Polarized
Reid Hoffman on Systems, Levers, and Quixotic Quests
Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism
Abhijit Banerjee on Theory, Practice, and India
Tyler Looks Back on 2019 (BONUS)
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