In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life of Ibn Sina — better known in the West as Avicenna — the Persian polymath whose ideas transformed medicine, philosophy, psychology, physics, and logic centuries before the European Renaissance. Born near Bukhara during the Islamic Golden Age, Avicenna became a child prodigy who memorized the Quran by age ten, mastered Greek philosophy as a teenager, and eventually wrote some of the most influential scientific works in human history while fleeing political collapse, imprisonment, and assassination threats.

This episode traces Avicenna’s remarkable journey from royal physician to political fugitive, examining how he used observation, logic, and psychological insight to treat patients in ways that still feel startlingly modern today. We explore the famous story of the prince who beli ...