Abhishek Kumar

Podcaster: Co-founder: a gully cricketer and a freelance writer with The Economist not necessarily in that order [email protected]

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Few authors manage to turn spaghetti-like complex subjects into simple and entertaining prose. @edwardfishman is one of them. His book, "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare" is a New York Times Bestseller.

In this snippet Eddie explains history around the hubub around India buying oil from Russia.

Thank you Eddie for your time on the podcast.

Search for “The Point Blank Show” from wherever you get your podcasts to listen to the entire conversation
Apple: https://t.co/8nG5eAA450
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[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

@burke_jason has spent decades reporting from conflict zones around the world. His latest book, "The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s" is a gripping read.

In this podcast snippet, Jason talks about a time when hijacking wasn't even a recognised crime. Later when it became commonplace, Israeli pilots were trained to take the plane in a steep dive. The idea was to incapacitate the hijackers while (screaming) passengers were strapped to their seat belts. One interpid Israeli pilot did just that and was feted as a hero.

For those who like espionage tradecraft: Jason talks about how intelligence agencies operate in an analogue world. And how did Mossad stage an assassination to make it look like an accident while successfully misleading even allied intelligence services?

#ThePointBlankShow hashtag#Podcast

[If you wish to listen to the whole thing, please look for "The Point Blank Show" wherever you get your podcasts.]

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Why English has silent letters?

@DannyBate4, a linguist, is the author of "Why Q Needs U", a brilliant account of every letter of the English alphabet.

In this short segment, he explains why English has silent letters. Why does "E" sit quietly at the end of "take" or "wake"? Why do words like "aisle" carry letters that seem to do nothing?

Words that are now spelled with a “silent E” were once fully pronounced. Over time, sounds softened, vowels weakened and pronunciation moved on faster than spelling. Instead of disappearing altogether, some letters took on new roles. In words like "fat" and "fate", the silent “E” changes how the vowel A is pronounced, helping readers tell the difference between fat and fate, Tim and time.

Small wonder that English has become fertile ground for humour, says Danny. And to illustrate that, there’s a classic dad joke at the very end of this clip.

If you'd like to listen to the whole conversation search for "The Point Blank Show" from wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlie McCann @charlie_mccann]

Two men named William Woods, one of them an imposter. The wild tale of how a decades-long deception saw an innocent man end up in jail. My latest for @TheEconomist
https://t.co/0EqkGIg4oL

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

@PatrickMcGee_'s book 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥'𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺, is a brilliant read.

In this snippet from a longer conversation, Patrick describes how Apple’s Industrial Design, Product Design, Manufacturing Design and Operations teams work together to make products that changed the industry.

Industrial Design sat at the top. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 [𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮] 𝘪𝘴 ‘𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘧***𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦,” says Patrick.

It was not a one-way process. “𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯,” he says. This is pretty cool.

And even Jony Ive, Apple’s longtime design chief, the mind behind the iMac, iPod and iPhone, and often portrayed as a “𝘥𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯,” had setbacks. “𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘐𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘢, 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.” Killer designs weren't pulled off by just sitting in a cabin somewhere in California.

And what of Tim Cook? There are a couple of fun anecdotes about his working style at the end of the episode.

#ThePointBlankShow #Podcast

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Indian crowds greet his new film with prayer, confetti and milk https://t.co/tOPyatCwMb

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

@CharlieEnglish1 is the author of "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘐𝘈 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘒𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳". @TheEconomist has named the book as among 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 2025 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫.

In this brief snippet, Charlie describes a little-known chapter of Cold War history in which the CIA smuggled over 10m banned books into the Eastern Bloc for over three decades to challenge communist ideology.

Even books by authors like Agatha Christie were prohibited. In these detective thrillers, you encountered “people who owned their own homes, who maybe could drive a car, who could afford quite nice food,” says Charlie. “And if you were living in the Eastern Bloc, you had to queue often for the shops, and most people didn’t own their own vehicles and waited for years for their apartments.” So even such seemingly innocuous books had “a very strong political effect.”

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝, and why?

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐈𝐀 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 “𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭” 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 across various countries in a 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐫𝐚?

𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 through addictive apps like TikTok or Instagram? Is this the 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?

S𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸” 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Ludwig Siegele @EconoScribe, senior editor AI Initiatives at The Economist talks about how Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba are disrupting the status quo by building high-performing models at lower costs and releasing some of them as open source.

"You don't have to be in the valley to train and build a capable model...Bigger is apparently still better in AI but it doesn't have to be more expensive", he says.

How did China manage to pull this off in quick time and what does this mean for the global AI race? Did American sanctions, including the throttling of chip supplies, inadvertently help China?

Ludwig joined The Economist as a US technology correspondent in 1998 and has covered the Silicon Valley since the Internet, as we know it, was born.

#ThePointBlankShow #podcast

Apple: https://t.co/GLoL2BFi6O
Spotify: https://t.co/jyDpiDt5Xl

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Richard Overy is one of the world’s leading historians of war. He is the author of landmark works on World War II, totalitarian regimes and military power.

When I asked him which country has managed to avert a full-scale war through diplomacy, he offered India as an example.

How has technology changed warfare? Or has it? "In the end territory has to be controlled in old-fashioned ways: by infantry, by tanks, by artillery and conventional air power," he says.

And despite all the grim violence around us these days, Prof Overy remains hopeful and says that fears of a third world war may be overblown.

His latest book "Why War?" draws on decades of research to answer a fundamental question: Why do humans wage war?

Search for "The Point Blank Show" wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple: https://t.co/GLoL2BFi6O
Spotify: https://t.co/jyDpiDt5Xl

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Dear hivemind, especially of a certain generation, would you have any trivia or memories of watching Mike Brearley in action? He has kindly agreed for a podcast and I would be grateful for any insights, anecdotes or details that you think might help me. Many thanks.

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

Why do we act the way we do? How much of our behavior is hardwired and can we change it? Neurologist @guy_lesch explores these questions in his recent book "𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯".

In this snippet Dr. Guy talks a bit about our prefrontal cortex, region of the brain that sits behind our forehead and above our eyes. It is responsible for decision-making, reasoning and impulse control. What happens when it goes out of whack?

Search for “The Point Blank Show” from wherever you get your podcasts to listen to the entire conversation
Apple: https://t.co/8nG5eAA450
Spotify: https://t.co/wzwOOtxA2W

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

@sunita_krishnan is the founder of Prajwala, which has rescued and rehabilitated over 30,100 victims of sex trafficking. Her book, ‘I am what I am’ is an outstanding account of her life.

Her TED talk, a masterclass in storytelling, has over 50m views and came at a time when Prajwala was struggling. Moments before her speech, she recalls how “it was so intimidating and so frightening”. 11 minutes later she received a standing ovation. An audience member announced that she was willing to pledge $10,000 to Prajwala’s cause and urged ten people in the room to match it. In less than five minutes Sunitha had raised $100,000, a crucial lifeline.

Sunitha was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016 for her work, is irreverent, has a brilliant sense of humour and loves rom coms. I hope you might consider listening to the whole thing at leisure. The entire podcast is available on the following links.

Apple: https://t.co/8nG5eAA450
Spotify: https://t.co/wzwOOtxA2W

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

How did Barack Obama know for sure whether Osama Bin Laden was in that compound in Abbottabad? How did he arrive at a “probability score” before the attack? What are red teams and what role did they play in this decision?

Clarity of thought is one thing but communicating that without ambiguity is equally important, says @d_spiegel, emeritus professor of statistics at the University of Cambridge. His new book “The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck” is a brilliant read even for those without any background in statistics and mathematics.

In this snippet, Sir David also talks about his experience of being knighted at Buckingham palace for his contribution to medical statistics. He also talks fondly about the lessons that he learned from his parents that have stayed with him all along.

If you are interested follow “The Point Blank Show” from wherever you get your podcasts for such conversations:
Apple: https://t.co/8nG5eAA450
Spotify: https://t.co/wzwOOtxA2W

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

@aedmans was kind enough to join us to talk about his latest book, "May Contain Lies: How stories, statistics and studies exploit our biases - and what we can do about it". It's a fascinating book filled with anecdotes (and not a single equation).

In this short snippet Alex recounts one of his own experiences to illustrate why checking the facts alone is not enough.

And it doesn't take much to dig for the truth: Ask simple questions, says Alex. You don't have to "ask questions about standard errors or statistical pyro techniques." All we need is "simple common sense questions that anybody can ask about something that is important to them".

Follow “The Point Blank Show” wherever you get your podcasts to listen to the entire episode.

Apple: https://t.co/50YzIWqR3E
Spotify: https://t.co/HvRfYh4uDk

[Bishontherockz @BishOnTheRockx]

Feel like posting this today.
Trust Rahul Dravid to say this so beautifully.

Video courtesy - cricinfo.

[Abhishek Kumar @abhishekumar]

How @TedSchwartz13, author of “Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery” prepares himself before an operation. It's all about visualisation (at a whole new level)

For the entire podcast:
Apple: https://t.co/09RzPmp1CI
Spotify: https://t.co/HYpqPrrn6Z

Many thanks Dr Schwartz!