Ben Carson, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, joins the podcast this week. He has had an incredible career as a Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, an author of several books, and presidential candidate in the Republican primaries in 2016 prior to joining President Trump's cabinet. His appetite for knowledge started at a young age as an avid reader of books. "... for me reading really turned my life around completely. And I realized that if you can get a young person reading at grade level by third grade it changes the trajectory of their life." "I was interested in medicine even when I was a terrible student. I used to listen to the mission stories in church and Sabbath school they frequently featured missionary doctors who seemed to me to be like the most noble people of the earth. And that's what I wanted to do. And you know it changed over time from missionary doctor to psychiatry. So the doctor thing was quite early on. Listen to his fascinating political origin story as he explains how he navigated his journey from a self-proclaimed liberal democrat to running for president as a Republican nominee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices