Hunter Maats, Co-Author Straight A Conspiracy

Our guest… Hunter Maats, co-author (with Katie O'Brien) of the brand new book "The Straight A Conspiracy" 

One of my favorite talks ever! I first heard Hunter speak on The Bryan Callen Podcast, where he caught the attention of my dyslexic brain...it was rather mind blowing to hear him speak about history, the way humans learn information, and the higher levels we can all strive to reach.  Hunter Maats both inspired and empowered me, and I'm sure he'll inspire you as well. 

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Hunter isn’t really a native of anywhere. Born in Saudi Arabia, he’d lived in Brazil, Greece and New York before his family moved to England when he was eight years old. There he attended Eton College, England’s most stodgy and prestigious all-boys boarding school. After high school, he pursued his love of science by spending a year doing tumor virus research at Cold Spring Harbor laboratory, where he lived in the basement of the home of James Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA. It was a no-brainer for Hunter to major in Biochemistry when he enrolled at Harvard College in the fall of 2000. While at Harvard, Hunter devoted his spare time and his electives to a mixture of pranks and foreign languages. Occasionally, he mixed the two.

After graduating, Hunter moved to Los Angeles and helped to found "Overqualified Tutoring". A current owner of comically overstuffed bookshelves, Hunter has enjoyed tackling the one aspect of science that he has always found unsettling: the gap between the research that exists and the public’s knowledge. Today, Hunter spends his time finding more and more ways to bring those two together. When he’s away from the aforementioned bookshelves, Hunter can be found at cross-fit, eating Nicole’s food, or dreaming of Kansas City.

Even if you're not that into books and academia,  you can absolutely benefit from this interview.  It's not about just learning for a school situation, it's about understanding the processes of handling and retaining information.  Hunter has dedicated his energy to help empower people by shattering the stereotypes about learning abilities and intelligence, while teaching people that learning is actually "just a system" you can learn...

In this episode, we discuss dyslexia, motivation, mind-melding, the next 100 years, what happens when we pass on, why Katie O'Brien loves frolicking through wheat fields, and the moment that changed his life.

• How did Hunter become so motivated to help people learn? 
• The experience that changed his life...
• How Big is Big Mike?
• How can Taylor Swift and Brendan Schaub save the world?
• We talked dozens of books authors...
• Ancient History
• Learning Disorders.
• What are the powers and liabilities (or risks) of psychedelic drugs?
• What are some of the issue facing the world?
• Hunter sets a record by referencing over 26 books.
  
  

Whenever you have a second, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show tremendously, including my ability to bring on more incredible guests to answer all of your questions!  This show has had nearly 10,000 downloads…but only 26 or so reviews! If you’re listening, please leave a short one here. I appreciate the inside jokes about singing but new listeners are not privy to the joke so it makes me laugh, but I need feedback for them as well. 


Thanks guys, I appreciate each and every one of you, and I'm excited to see where we can take this podcast project!

Hunter reads a little, below are just some of the books mentioned.


Please ping Hunter Maats on Twitter (@huntermaats) to let him know what you thought!

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