“I’m a huge fan of podcasts,” said Amanda Maxham, host of the new Ayn Rand Institute podcast Rise & Fall: How Ideas Move the World. “The best ones are determined by the quality of thinking expressed in them. I’ve often listened to podcasts about some topic I’m interested in and think how much more compelling they would be if they included an Objectivist perspective.”

Maxham, an ARI research associate with a doctorate in astrophysics, will launch the podcast on February 2, releasing three episodes with the promise of about one per month to follow.

“I set out to make the podcasts I want to hear,” Maxham said. “To create each episode, I choose a theme and then gather audio clips I uncover from the Institute’s audio archives. The audio archives cover fifty years of lectures, courses and interviews by Objectivist voices. I combine those clips with original interviews to build an episode.”

The first three episodes of Rise & Fall cover topics such as Islamic totalitarianism, mosquitoes and the power of language. The topics vary, but no matter the topic, the podcasts explore those topics through the lens of the power of philosophic ideas to move and shape the world.

“The Objectivist perspective is unique,” said Maxham, “the idea that ideas are powerful forces in the world. Many people find ideas interesting in themselves but don’t understand the connection between their ideas and their actions and choices, and ultimately, the direction their lives take. I want to tell those stories through this podcast.”

Listeners don’t have to agree with an Objectivist  point of view to get value from these podcasts. “I listen to NPR podcasts all the time,” Maxham said, “and I often don’t agree with their content. In the same way, I hope thoughtful listeners will tune in to Rise & Fall for its serious and thoughtful discussions of ideas.”

Episodes of Rise & Fall are available now on YouTube here and soon on iTunes, Facebook and SoundCloud — stay tuned for details.