#AcademicRunPlaylist - 5/6/25

It was nice being on campus for, among other things, the Welliba event with David Barrett, and later on I was able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an engaging conversation with Kaoru Kaganoi on founding and growing East Africa's leading used car marketplace on the INSEAD emerging markets podcast https://inseademergingmarketspodcast.buzzsprout.com/1833434/episodes/16798453-east-africa-s-leading-used-car-marketplace-with-kaoru-kaganoi-peach-tech

Next was a great discussion with Achyuta Adhvaryu on the importance of improving worker well-being on the VoxDev podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Cb5JyMkqc

Next was an excellent talk by Todd Murphey on control for robotic learning at Northwestern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3X9gXskEuQ

Next was "Class Dismissed" by Anthony Jack. Jack follows up the can't-miss "Privileged Poor" with an important book that dives into the effects of Harvard's COVID-19 move to remote learning and the concurrent racial unrest on different groups of students. The style mirrors that of his earlier work, and many of the same issues are examined. In that sense, it's less revelatory than Privileged Poor, but if you haven't read that book it'll be eye-opening. The appendix is not to be missed, as Jack provides incredible detail on his interview and study design process. Highly recommend https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691237466/class-dismissed

Last was "Great Heroes and Heroines of Hawaiian Heritage" by Leilani Basham. There are far too few audiobooks on Hawaiian history, and Basham rectifies that with an incredible run through of that history from the 19th century to the present. I loved the coverage of more recent decades, and my only complaint is that I would've loved this to be twice as long. Highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B0F63VJTM8