Episode 40

The World We Overlook

Roman Mars (Host of the "99% Invisible" Podcast and Co-founder of Radiotopia)

We use a lot of stuff we don't understand. If you don't believe me, how many people do you know you can repair their car engine or fix their bike without help?

Guest headshot of Roman Mars

In conversation with

Roman Mars

Host of the "99% Invisible" Podcast and Co-founder of Radiotopia

Photo: Podcast Movement 2015

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Episode 40 with Roman Mars, originally published Apr 9, 2021.

We use a lot of stuff we don't understand. If you don't believe me, how many people do you know you can repair their car engine or fix their bike without help?

We use a lot of stuff we don't understand. If you don't believe me, how many people do you know you can repair their car engine or fix their bike without help? I don't know many. How many people do you know who understand exactly how a ballpoint pen works? I know none. How about a zipper? To me, it's magic. These last two are examples of things that are 99% invisible. They are there of course, but we never pause to think about them or how they work. Roman Mars, the well-known host of the 99% Invisible podcast and co-founder of Radiotopia, enjoys exploring these items and others like them. Today, we discuss some other 99% invisible examples and if we should care about missing them. Does it really affect our lives if we never know how a car engine runs, a bike gear works, a pen dispenses ink, or a zipper does its magic?

Recurring Question

"What books have had an impact on you?"

For Young Listeners

"What advice do you have for teenagers?"

Roman Mars is the host of the 99% Invisible podcast, which is all about the thought that goes into the things we glance over, and the co-founder of Radiotopia! Mr. Mars helps us notice things that we commonly miss in the world by running his highly successful podcast 99% Invisible . His podcast opens your eyes to how much design and contemplation go into things that we usually glance over like zippers and the ballpoint pen. To give you some perspective on how revolutionary 99pi is, Mr. Mars wrote a book called 99% Invisible City , which hit the New York Times Best-Seller list within its first week of release! Roman Mars helps show the common person the detail a designer sees through his entertaining, fantastic podcast 99% Invisible !

If you would like to know more about 99pi visit: 99percentinvisible.org/about/the-show

If you would like his full bio visit: Full Bio Photo credit: Podcast Movement 2015