Glorious and bracing interrogation of the world’s smartest people: Conversations with Tyler reviewed

Tyler Cowen is a man who leaves you at once in awe and perturbed. He is the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department at George Mason University, and the co-host of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. But his intellectual interests are staggering in scope, enough to unsettle. He is a true polymath. He embodies the American work ethic. He goes through ‘five or ten books’ a day. His Marginal Revolution blog is not for the faint of mind: he sends up to 40 emails each week. At any time of his choosing, Tyler pops into your inbox to show you a new study he’s found (‘which words do men use more than women?’), tips for getting better at watching films (‘get a mentor!’) or news from Norwegian sex resorts. He recently confessed that the only thing he’s not really interested in is geology (still, he said he’s fascinated by the role of the Massif Central in French history).