If my memory serves me, the first time I was asked the proverbial What do you want to be when you grow up? The answer was, “An astronaut.” Later it became a drawer. Then a guy who makes television commercials. By middle school I decided I wanted to be an environmental engineer, before stints hoping to be a photographer and then filmmaker. In high school, after dreaming of being a teacher, I was certain I’d be a professional jazz saxophone player. In college, I jumped from humanitarian aid worker, to psychotherapist, to indie rock musician. After graduating I wanted to be a writer. Now, I make radio. Email me at sadler@wnyc.org
Simon Adler appears in the following:
The Unpopular Vote
Friday, October 25, 2024
The closest we ever came to abolishing the electoral college and why we probably never will.
Tweak the Vote
Friday, October 18, 2024
Is democracy fundamentally broken? Or does it just need a ... tweak?
Why Don't Sex Scandals Matter Anymore?
Friday, October 11, 2024
Roosevelt, Kennedy, Eisenhower — they all got a pass. But today we peer back at the moment when poking into the private lives of political figures became standard practice.
Shell Game
Friday, September 06, 2024
One man secretly hands off more and more of his life to an AI voice clone.
Human vs Horse
Thursday, August 08, 2024
The Summer Olympics are in full swing. Humans are racing against other humans from all across the globe. But you know the one race they don’t have? The one where a human competes agai...
Mixtapes to the Moon
Friday, May 24, 2024
They promised to change you. They ended up changing all of us. On July 20, 1969, humanity watched as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon.
The Moon Itself
Friday, April 05, 2024
There’s a total solar eclipse coming. On Monday, April 8, for a large swath of North America, the sun will disappear, in the middle of the day. Everywhere you look, people are talking...
Death Interrupted
Friday, December 15, 2023
An ICU doctor promotes accepting death, then his dad gets terminal cancer.
Toy Soldiers
Friday, November 03, 2023
The story of how a tiny device is having a huge impact on the war in Ukraine.
The Internet Dilemma
Friday, August 11, 2023
How the law that created the modern Internet may be destroying it—and us.
The Cataclysm Sentence
Friday, June 30, 2023
What’s the one thing you’d pass on if we all disappeared tomorrow?
The Library of Alexandra
Friday, April 07, 2023
One woman's quest to make all knowledge free.
The Flight Before Christmas
Friday, December 23, 2022
Tales of the endurance test that is flying on a commercial airliner with your fellow human.
The Weather Report
Friday, October 28, 2022
The story of how one man and one woman changed the weather forever.
Neanderthal's Revenge
Friday, June 10, 2022
A tale of guts, genes, and gratitude. Also, watching videos on your phone while on the toilet.
La Mancha Screwjob
Friday, May 20, 2022
We push through the fourth wall and travel 400 years into the past to unmask our obsession with authenticity and our desire to walk the line between reality and fantasy.
Hello, My Name Is
Friday, April 29, 2022
This week, we're talking names. They're some of the first labels we get, and they can both reveal and conceal. Do they shape us? Or the other way around?
How the Cassette Tape Helped Create the Internet
Friday, April 15, 2022
It started in 1983 with British programmer Simon Goodwin.
