The world rich. And tonight hes joined by david dobbs. And bringing the authors to the community and find our schedule harvard. Com events where you can sign up for our email newsletter and shop our shelves from home. This evening will conclude with time for your questions. If you have questions for our speakers, go to the q a box to submit at any time during the discussion. Well come to those the end of the talk and well work on answering as many of your questions as time allows and in a minute ill put up the link to purchase money for nothing, and it makes this virtual author series possible more than ever the future of a landmark independent bookstore. Thank you. We sincerely appreciate your continued support now and always and finally, and if we have any tech issues tonight during the event of the we will do our best to resolve them quickly. Thanks for your patience and understanding. And now, im pleased to introduce our speakers. Thomas levenson is a professor of science writing a
Thanks for joining us. My name is alex meriwether. Onbehalf of harbors bookstore im pleased to introduce tonight talk with Thomas Levenson presenting his new book money for nothing the scientists and corrupt politicians who reinvented money , panicked and nation and made the world rich. Professor levinson is joined by david dobbs. Through Virtual Events like tonights, Harvard Bookstore continues to bring authors and their work to our community and our new digital community. Find our Event Schedule at harvard. Com events where you can sign up for our newsletter and shopper shelves from home. This evening discussion will conclude for some time for your questions. If you have a question speakers go to the q and a box to submit a question at any time during the discussion. We will come to it at the end of the talk and work on answering as many of your questions as timeallows. And in just a moment ill post the harvard. Com link to purchase money for nothing in the chat box your purchases an
Starting with one big picture question of all the enterprises affected by the pandemic yours has to be one fe. The most you are about mobility and people have not been mobile. What is the main discovery will surprise you are taken from this experience. We lost 80 percent in eight weeks. That was quite surprising. But maybe even more surprising isat what happened next. People, no matter the circumstances in the midst of epidemic still have a desire to travel. Didnt want to go to crowded hotels, they did want to get in the car and go to another community and live there somewhere getting homes from airbnb there is a fundamental desire to travel and connect and see the world i dont think anything can stop it let alone a pandemic especially if veyou do it responsibly but there is a strong will to see the world it has to be done in a much narrower context. Host airbnb is a new way to do something people have done for a long time to travel and lodging. Because there is a large structure of ar
Deborahears, my wife and i have traveled across the country, especially across the towns, to learn about those parts of the american story. For conversation about future travel, i am glad to welcome the. Eo of airbnb, brian thank you so much for joining us. I have questions about your business in the olden times, in the future times. I want to start with one big picture question about all the enterprises that have an affected by the enterprise, yours has to be most affected. You are about mobility, and people have not been mobile. What is the main lesson, surprise, or discovery that you personally have taken from the experience in the last eight months or so. Ourn we lost about 80 of business in eight weeks, that we had spent about a decade building. That was quite surprising. What may have been even more surprising what is what happened next. What happens next is people, no matter the circumstances, in the midst of the pandemic, still had the desire to travel. They did not want to get
People have not been mobile. What is the main lesson, surprise, or discovery that you personally have taken from the experience in the last eight months or so. Ourn we lost about 80 of business in eight weeks, that we had spent about a decade building. That was quite surprising. What may have been even more surprising what is what happened next. What happens next is people, no matter the circumstances, in the midst of the pandemic, still had the desire to travel. They did not want to get on planes, they were not necessarily traveling for business, they did not want to go to a hotel or crowded tourist district, but they did want to get in a car with a tank of gas and go to a community, and often some of them were getting homes with airbnb. So i think there is just a fundamental desire that people have to travel, to connect, the see the world, and i dont think that anything can stop it, let alone a pandemic. Obviously, people have to do it responsibly, but there is still a very strongwil