The Avid Reader Show
The Avid Reader is a podcast for book lovers. Host Sam Hankin, owner of Wellington Square Bookshop, presents interviews, recommendations, and insider news from the world of books.
Episodes
Episode 787: Ancient Algorithms - Katrine ØGaard Jensen
In Ancient Algorithms, Katrine gaard Jensen mistranslates, rewrites, and remixes her award-winning translations of Danish Ursula Andkj r Olsen's poetry based on a series of self-imposed rules and rituals in collaboration with poets Sawako Nakayasu, Aditi Machado, CAConrad, Baba Badji, Paul Cunningham, and Ursula Andkj r Olsen herself. Envisioned as a shared debut, this collection of colla
Episode 786: Elegy in Blue - Mark Helprin
Told in an exceptional literary voice, mixing comedy and tragedy, Elegy in Blue is a hymn to New York, memory, loyalty, and love.High in a subsidized studio apartment, the unnamed 82-year-old narrator of Elegy in Blue looks out across the rooftops of Brooklyn all the way to the sea.His distinguished career on Wall Street is in ruins, his mansion in Brooklyn Heights has been burned to the
Episode 785: Marcus Hall - Our Bodies, Our Planet: A Parasite's History of Us
In praise of parasites, a surprising exploration of the profound impact of biological freeloaders on human history and our daily lives. Parasites and parasitic relationships are fundamental to life on Earth and to human history. Our Bodies, Our Planet explores how vital they are. Unlike harmful pathogens, parasites may produce no ill effects and may even improve our well-being and the liv
Episode 784: Andreas Marks - Japan's Manga Revolution: From Painted Scrolls to Comic Books 1680-1920
Manga didn’t begin in the 20th century — it emerged from a rich, inventive world of illustrated books in early Japan. 🇯🇵📚 In Japan’s Manga Revolution, art historian Andreas Marks takes us through the playful, dramatic, and groundbreaking works that defined Japanese visual storytelling: Hokusai’s sketchbooks, Utamaro’s creature studies, serialized adventure sagas, and the first publication
Episode 783: Eric Rath - Kanpai: The History of Sake
Lift a glass to the story of sake—from Japanese homebrew to global phenomenon. Sake, Japan’s iconic rice-based alcoholic drink, has been central to Japanese culture for over 1,300 years. Traditionally made with rice, water, and koji mold, it was consumed in early brewpubs and was vital to samurai rituals and festivals. Sake’s story includes homebrewers like clan matriarchs, ancient prince
Episode 782: Steve Ramirez - How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest To Alter The Past
A disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation by one of today's leading pioneers in the fieldAs a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain science, he foresees a future where we can replace our negative memories with positive ones. In How to Change a Memory,
Episode 781: William O. Stephens - Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher-King
The moving life and legacy of Rome’s great emperor philosopher. This book guides us through the fascinating life and writings of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor. Philosopher William O. Stephens explores Marcus’s reluctant rise to power, his marriage, and his efforts to mold his son into a just successor. He examines Marcus’s Stoic tenets as he describes the struggles
Episode 780: James Barrat - The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans At Everything
With the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, both existential fears and uncritical enthusiasm for AI systems have surged. In this era of unprecedented technological growth, understanding the profound impacts of AI — both positive and negative — is more crucial than ever.In The Intelligence Explosion, James Barrat, a leading technology expert, equips readers with the tools to
Episode 779: Michaela Vieser & Isaac Yuen - The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds across Landscapes and Imagination
Mapping the acoustic onto the human soul, moving meditations on the power and meaning of sound. Nature writers Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen set out in search of sounds beautiful and loathsome, melodious and disturbing, healing, strange, and intimate. The phenomena of sound may be fleeting and evanescent, but the memory of it can open a window into the soul, deepening our connections wit
Episode 778: Mary Roach - Replaceable You: Adventures In Human Anatomy
From the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff and Fuzz, a rollicking exploration of the quest to re-create the impossible complexities of human anatomy.The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available—sculpting noses from brass, borrowing sk
Episode 777: Svend Brinkmann - The Experience Society: Life Beyoned Subjectivity
An enlightening look at how our elevation of the sensorial and the subjective has impaired our ability to connect—and how we might build that connection back. In today’s so-called experience society, everything is judged by personal experience, from online shopping to funerals. Value is measured by how satisfying an individual finds their experience, and the experience economy thrives on
Episode 776: Einstein in Oxford - Andrew Robinson
An intimate account of Albert Einstein’s visit to Oxford in the 1930’s, casting new light on why he continues to be the world’s most famous scientist.In 1931, Albert Einstein visited Oxford to receive an honorary degree and lecture on relativity and the universe. While teaching, he naturally chalked equations and diagrams on several blackboards. Today, one of these boards is the most popu
Episode 775: Hidden in the Heavens - Jason Steffen
Are we alone in the universe? It’s a fundamental question for Earth-dwelling humankind. Are there other worlds like ours, out there somewhere? In Hidden in the Heavens, Jason Steffen, a former scientist on NASA’s Kepler mission, describes how that mission searched for planets orbiting Sun-like stars—especially Earth-like planets circulating in Earth-like orbits. What the Kepler space tele
Episode 774: Ciara Greene and Gillian Murphy - Memory Lane: The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember
We tend to think of our memories as impressions of the past that remain fully intact, preserved somewhere inside our brains. In fact, we construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them. Memory Lane introduces readers to the cutting-edge science of human memory, revealing how our recollections of the past are constantly adapting and changing, and why a faulty me
Episode 773: David Bates - An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence
A new history of human intelligence that argues that humans know themselves by knowing their machines.We imagine that we are both in control of and controlled by our bodies—autonomous and yet automatic. This entanglement, according to David W. Bates, emerged in the seventeenth century when humans first built and compared themselves with machines. Reading varied thinkers from Descartes to
Episode 772: Gareth Gore - Opus
A thrilling exposé recounting how members of Opus Dei—a secretive, ultra-conservative Catholic sect—pushed its radical agenda within the Church and around the globe, using billions of dollars siphoned from one of the world’s largest banks.In an era of disinformation and deep fakes, here is a real-life conspiracy which hid in plain sight for more than sixty years. Gore tells a shocking sto
Episode 771: Jonathan Silvertown - Selfish Genes to Social Beings: : A Cooperative History of Life
For all the "selfishness" of genes, they team up to survive. Is the history of life in fact a story of cooperation?Amid the violence and brutality that dominates the news, it's hard to think of ourselves as team players. But cooperation, Jonathan Silvertown argues, is a fundamental part of our make-up, and deeply woven into the whole four-billion-year history of life. Starting with human
Episode 770: Elizabeth Winder - Parachute Women: The Women Behind The Rolling Stones
Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women Behind the Rolling StonesDiscover the true story of the four women who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help shape and curate the image of The Rolling Stones—perfect for fans of Girls Like Us.The Rolling Stones have long been considered one of the greatest rock-and-roll bands of all time
Episode 769: Jim Baggott - Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement
The definitive account of the great Bohr-Einstein debate and its continuing legacyIn 1927, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein began a debate about the interpretation and meaning of the new quantum theory. This would become one of the most famous debates in the history of science. At stake were an understanding of the purpose, and defense of the integrity, of science. What (if any) limits shou
Episode 768: Lewis Cohen MD - Winter's End: Dementia and Dying
Arguably among the worst of all medical afflictions, the dementias slowly destroy one's personality, take a tremendous emotional, physical, and financial toll on patients and families, and are irreversible and inexorably fatal. Winter's End: Dementia and Its Life-Shortening Options is constructed around a lengthy and detailed nonfiction account that is layered with the voices of approxima
Episode 767: Rowan Jacobsen - Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul
When Rowan Jacobsen first heard of a chocolate bar made entirely from wild Bolivian cacao, he was skeptical. The waxy mass-market chocolate of his childhood had left him indifferent to it, and most experts believed wild cacao had disappeared from the rainforest centuries ago. But one dazzling bite of Cru Sauvage was all it took. Chasing chocolate down the supply chain and back through his
Episode 766: Debbie Urbanski - After World
A groundbreaking debut that follows the story of an Artificial Intelligence tasked with writing a novel—only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth.Faced with uncontrolled and accelerating environmental collapse, humanity asks an artificial intelligence to find a solution. Its answer is simple: remove humans from the ecosystem.Sen Anon is assigned to
Episode 765: Roz Dineen - Briefly Very Beautiful: A Novel
Roz Dineen’s Briefly Very Beautiful is a spellbinding dystopian novel about the lengths one will go to for their children in a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse. In a land destabilized by unsafe air, wildfires, floods, viruses, supply shortages, and homegrown terror, Cass is raising three small children by herself in the city. Her husband, Nathaniel, has gone all too willingly to
Episode 764: Chris French - The Science Of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure The Paranormal
An accessible and gratifying introduction to the world of paranormal beliefs and bizarre experiences.Ghostly encounters, alien abduction, reincarnation, talking to the dead, UFO sightings, inexplicable coincidences, out-of-body and near-death experiences. Are these legitimate phenomena? If not, then how should we go about understanding them? In this fascinating book, Chris French investig
Episode 763: Adam Forrest Kay - Escape From Shadow Physics: The Quest to End the Dark Ages of Quantum Theory
The received wisdom in quantum physics is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there are no actual causes for atomic events. This idea led to the outlandish belief that quantum objects—indeed, reality itself—aren’t real unless shaped by human measurement. Einstein mocked this idea, asking whether his bed spread out across his room unless he looked at it. And yet it remains one of the m
Episode 762: Christy Spackman: The Taste of Water Sensory Perception and the Making of an Industrialized Beverage
Have you ever wondered why your tap water tastes the way it does? The Taste of Water explores the increasing erasure of tastes from drinking water over the twentieth century. It asks how dramatic changes in municipal water treatment have altered consumers’ awareness of the environment their water comes from. Through examining the development of sensory expertise in the United States and F
Episode 761: Martin Fitzgibbon - Behind The Curtain: My Life And Rocky Horror
It's 1973 and The Rocky Horror Show is about to be launched onto an unsuspecting world for the first time. Martin Fitzgibbon was the young drummer recruited specifically to play an integral part in the show's success. Here, for the first time, Martin gives his unique insight into how the show and its participants became an overnight success and created a cultural phenomenon which fifty ye
Episode 760: Anne Curzan - Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words
A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English, from linguist and veteran professor Anne CurzanOur use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us
Episode 759: Sadie Dingfelder - Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination
An award-winning science writer discovers she’s faceblind and investigates the neuroscience of sight, memory, and imagination—while solving some long-running mysteries about her own life.Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she’s a little quirky. But while she’s made some strange mistakes over the years, it’s not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she t
Episode 758: Jamie Collinson - The Rejects: An Alternative History of Popular Music
Imagine you've made it. You and your friends have hit the big time in music and you're going to be a star. But then, quite suddenly, it's over. Your best friends don't want you anymore, and you're on the outside. Perhaps they're tired of your bad habits, they think you're not good enough, or they sense you just don't want it as much as they do. Whatever the cause, you're a reject. So, wha
Episode 757: Theodore P. Snow & Don Brownlee - The Sixth Element: How Carbon Shapes Our World
A cosmic perspective on carbon--its importance in the universe and our livesWhen we think of carbon, we might first think of a simple element near the top of the periodic table: symbol C, atomic number 6. Alternatively, we might think of something more tangible--a sooty piece of coal or a sparkling diamond, both made of carbon. Or, as Earth's temperature continues to rise alarmingly, we m
Episode 756: Kenneth Miller - Mapping The Darkness: The Visionary Scientists Who Unlocked The Mysteries Of Sleep
From award-winning journalist Kenneth Miller comes the definitive story of the scientists who set out to answer two questions: “Why do we sleep?” and "How can we sleep better?”A century ago, sleep was considered a state of nothingness—even a primitive habit that we could learn to overcome. Then, an immigrant scientist and his assistant spent a month in the depths of a Kentucky cave, makin
Episode 755: Chris Haufe - Fruitfulness: Science, Metaphor, and the Puzzle of Promise
Some ideas seem to possess a disproportionate ability to lead to new insights, new discoveries, new ideas, and even entirely new ways of thinking. Such ideas are said to be fruitful. Looking across the history of science and mathematics, we see creative minds preoccupied with the search for ideas of this kind. More precious than truth, but far less plentiful, fruitful ideas provide those
Episode 754: Ken McNab - Shake It Up, Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania and the Mayhem of 1963
A vivid, captivating account of the Beatles’s musical transformation throughout the pivotal year of 1963, as the world became caught up in the maelstrom of Beatlemania and its far-reaching cultural impact.The Beatles broke up more than half a century ago, yet millions around the globe are still drawn to the legacy of four lads from Liverpool. From the carefree innocence of "A Hard Day's N
Episode 753: Oliver Crisp, James Arcadi & Jordan Wessling - Analyzing Prayer: Theological & Philosophical Essays
Analyzing Prayer draws together a range of theologians and philosophers to deal with different approaches to prayer as a Christian practice. The essays included deal with issues pertaining to petitionary prayer, prayer as reorientation of oneself in the presence of God, prayer by those who do not believe, liturgical prayer, mystical prayer, whether God prays, the interrelation between pra
Episode 752: Joe Fassler - The Sky Was Ours
From prizewinning writer Joe Fassler comes a brilliant modern reimagining of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus as a story of obsession, longing, and the radical pursuit of utopiaIt’s 2005, and 24-year-old Jane is miserable. Overworked, buried in debt, she senses the life she wanted slipping away—while the world around her veers badly off course, hurtling toward economic and ecological colla
Episode 751: Nick Bantock - The Corset & the Jellyfish: A Conundrum of Drabbles
The internationally bestselling author of Griffin & Sabine returns with his newest literary mystery--a charming assemblage of his own illustrated stories. Each of the invitingly strange tales is paired with its own glyphic creature (perhaps created by Sabine herself).Little is known of the fascinating manuscript that Nick Bantock has come to possess. It was discovered in an attic in N
Episode 750: Harry Cliff - Space Oddities: The Mysterious Anomalies Challenging Our Understanding Of The Universe
Experimental physicist at CERN and acclaimed science presenter Harry Cliff offers an eye-opening account of the inexplicable phenomena that science has only recently glimpsed, and that could transform our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality.Something strange is going on in the cosmos. Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by
Episode 749: Richard Schacht - Nietzsche's Kind Of Philosophy: Finding His Way
A holistic reading of Nietzsche’s distinctive thought beyond the “death of God.”In Nietzsche’s Kind of Philosophy, Richard Schacht provides a holistic interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s distinctive thinking, developed over decades of engagement with the philosopher’s work. For Schacht, Nietzsche’s overarching project is to envision a “philosophy of the future” attuned to new challeng
Episode 748: Sy Montgomery - Secrets Of The Octopus
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals.This new book—written by the beloved author of the international bestseller The Soul of an Octopus, along with Warren Carlyle, founder of Octonation, and enhanced with vivid National Geographic photography—brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures.The companion to the highly-a
Episode 747: Dr. Marshall Poe - Plagiarism and AI
Sam and Dr. Marshall Poe, the creator and chief editor of The New Books Network, explore the topic of plagiarism within the academic world amid the current climate of political division. They discuss the actions of political factions aimed at either identifying and removing academics who deliberately steal the work and words of others, or attacking those academics whose political beliefs
Episode 746: Sy Montgomery - Secrets Of The Octopus
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals.This new book—written by the beloved author of the international bestseller The Soul of an Octopus, along with Warren Carlyle, founder of Octonation, and enhanced with vivid National Geographic photography—brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures.The companion to the highly-a
Episode 745: Kevin J Mitchell - Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will
An evolutionary case for the existence of free willScientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency--or free will--is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of
Episode 744: Philip Ball - Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science
Featuring two hundred color plates, this history of the craft of scientific inquiry is as exquisite as the experiments whose stories it shares. This illustrated history of experimental science is more than just a celebration of the ingenuity that scientists and natural philosophers have used throughout the ages to study—and to change—the world. Here we see in intricate detail experiments
Episode 743: Paul Halpern - The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes
Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can’t stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated. In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse
Episode 742: John Parrington - Consciousness: How our brains turn matter into meaning
What is the material basis of the thoughts that occur inside our heads?Where do imaginative, creative, or spiritual thoughts come from - can these really be the product of nerve impulses in the brain? And is the human mind radically different from that of other species, or is our uniqueness more superficial than real? In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new t
Episode 741: Claire Oshetsky - Poor Deer
Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died.No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to
Episode 740: Dylan Jones - Loaded: The Life (And Afterlife) of the Velvet Underground
Rebellion always starts somewhere, and in the music world of the transgressive teen—whether it be the 1960s or the 2020s—the Velvet Underground represents ground zero.Crystallizing the idea of the bohemian, urban, narcissistic art school gang around a psychedelic rock and roll band—a stylistic idea that evolved in the rarefied environs of Andy Warhol’s Factory—the Velvets were the first m
Episode 739: Mark Kurlansky - The Core of an Onion
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cod and Salt, a delectable look at the cultural, historical, and gastronomical layers of one of the world’s most beloved culinary staples—featuring original illustrations and recipes from around the world.As Julia Child once said, “It is hard to imagine a civilization without onions.”Historically, she’s been right—and not just in the kitchen.
Episode 738: Philip Goff - Why? The Purpose of the Universe
Why are we here? What's the point of existence? On the 'big questions' of meaning and purpose, Western thought has been dominated by the dichotomy of traditional religion and secular atheism. In this pioneering work, Philip Goff argues that it is time to move on from both God and atheism. Through an exploration of contemporary cosmology and cutting-edge philosophical research on conscious
Episode 737: Korynn Newville - Indiscernable Elements: Calcium
Indiscernible elements: Calcium explores the path a molecule can take through various stages of life and death - from the perspective of Calcium itself. through the use of detailed illustrations, poetry, and dialogue, author Korynn Newville creates a discussion around how humans can change the way they create the built environment to be more conscious of the wondrous systems at work in na
Episode 736: Matt Zwolinski & Miranda Perry Fleischer - Universal Basic Income: What Everyone Needs To Know
From Finland to Kenya to Stockton, California, more and more governments and private philanthropic organizations are putting the idea of a Universal Basic Income to the test. But can the reality live up to the hype? The motivating idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is radically simple: give people cash and let them do whatever they want with it. But does this simple idea have the pote
Episode 735: Alan Chodos & James Riordan - Ghost Particle: In Search of the Elusive and Mysterious Neutrino
The fascinating story of science in pursuit of the ghostly, ubiquitous subatomic particle—the neutrino.Isaac Asimov once observed of the neutrino: “The only reason scientists suggested its existence was their need to make calculations come out even. And yet the nothing-particle was not a nothing at all.” In fact, as one of the most enigmatic and most populous particles in the universe—abo
Episode 734: Estelle Erasmus - Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published
Successful essayist, columnist, writing instructor, and editor Estelle Erasmus will show you how to find your voice, write stellar pieces, and get published. In real-world, experience-based chapters, she coaches you to:- mine your life for ideas and incubate those ideas- choose the perfect format -- essay, op-ed, feature article, and more- research publications and follow editor etiquette
Episode 733: Ben Purkert - The Men Can't Be Saved
A knockout debut novel that tackles a haunting question: What do our jobs do to our souls?Seth is a junior copywriter whose latest tagline just went viral. He’s the agency’s hottest new star, or at least he wants his coworker crush to think so. But while he’s busy drooling over his future corner office, the walls crumble around him.When his job lets him go, he can’t let go of his job. Unf
Episode 732: Scott James Taylor and Sarah Thérèse Pelletier - Ladyhoppers
Sometimes to save the world, you've got to punch a few dragons…When the planet is being eaten by interdimensional parasites who literally tear holes in reality, what do you do? If you're Charlie Chase, you dive headfirst into an interdimensional adventure. Charlie knows her calling is a weighty one, but she trusts her mentor’s orders: Travel to another dimension, fix the tear, and get hom
Episode 731: Stephen Porder - Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth's Past and Will Shape Our Future
An ecologist explores how life itself shapes Earth using the elemental constituents we all shareIt is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth
Episode 730: Rafael Yuste - Lectures In Neuroscience
The human brain is perhaps the most intricate and fascinating object in the known universe. Through a mysterious process, the activity of billions of neurons within a few pounds of matter generates the unfathomable complexity of the mind.This book is a conversational and accessible introduction to the brain. Beginning from basic elements of neuroscience, the acclaimed scientist Rafael Yus
Episode 729: Sarah Bernstein - Study For Obedience
A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. Soon after her arrival, a series of inexplicable events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion a
Episode 728: Richard Halpern - Leibnizing
Why read Leibniz today? Can we still learn from him and not just about him? This book argues that Leibniz offers a powerful, productive model for transdisciplinary thinking that can push back against the narrowness of the humanities today.Richard Halpern recasts Leibniz as a great writer as well as a great philosopher, demonstrating that his philosophical project cannot be fully understoo
Episode 727: John Illsley - My Life In Dire Straits
The first, and only, inside story of one of the greatest bands in rock history--Dire Straits--as told by founding member and bassist John IllsleyOne of the most successful music acts of all time, Dire Straits filled stadiums around the world. Their albums sold hundreds of millions of copies and their music--classics like "Sultans of Swing," "Romeo and Juliet," "Money for Nothing," and "Br
Episode 726: Liba Taub - Ancient Greek & Roman Science: A Very Short Introduction
Ancient Greece is often considered to be the birthplace of science and medicine, and the explanation of natural phenomena without recourse to supernatural causes. The early natural philosophers - lovers of wisdom concerning nature - sought to explain the order and composition of the world, and how we come to know it. They were particularly interested in what exists and how it is ordered:
Episode 725: Lauren J A Bear - Medusa's Sisters
A vivid and moving reimagining of the myth of Medusa and the sisters who loved her.The end of the story is only the beginning…Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale were unique among their immortal family. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves a
Episode 724: David Connor - Oh God, The Sun Goes
The sun has disappeared from the sky. No one can explain where it has gone, but one wayward traveler is determined to try. As our unnamed narrator begins his odyssey across the parched landscapes of the American Southwest, he is drawn into a web of illusion and mystery, a shifting astral mindscape that shimmers with the aftermath of loss—and the promise of redemption.Oh God, the Sun Goes
Episode 723: Mark Coeckelbergh - Self-Improvement: Technologies of the Soul in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
We are obsessed with self-improvement; it's a billion-dollar industry. But apps, workshops, speakers, retreats, and life hacks have not made us happier. Obsessed with the endless task of perfecting ourselves, we have become restless, anxious, and desperate. We are improving ourselves to death. The culture of self-improvement stems from philosophical classics, perfectionist religions, and
Episode 722: Andrew Lipstein - The Vegan
In The Vegan, Andrew Lipstein challenges our notions of virtue with a brilliant tale of guilt, greed, and how far we’ll go to be good.Herschel Caine is a soon-to-be master of the universe. His hedge fund, built on the miracle of machine learning, is inches away from systematically extracting obscene profits from the market. His SoHo offices (shoes optional, therapy required) have been fin
Episode 721: David Neiwert - The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Right's Assault on American Democracy
The strange and terrible tale of the far right’s long war on American democracy . . . From a smattering of ominous right-wing compounds in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, to the shocking January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, America has seen the culmination of a long-building war on democracy being waged by a fundamentally violent and antidemocratic far-right movement that
Episode 720: Fiona Davis - The Spectacular
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to auditio
Episode 719: Katherine Heiny - Games and Rituals
The beloved author of Early Morning Riser brings us glittering stories of love—friendships formed at the airport bar, ex-husbands with benefits, mothers of suspiciously sweet teenagers, ill-advised trysts—in all its forms, both ridiculous and sublime.The games and rituals performed by Katherine Heiny’s characters range from mischievous to tender: In “Bridesmaid, Revisited,” Marlee, suffer
Episode 718: Nathan S Chapman & Michael W McConnell - Agreeing To Disagree
Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of ConscienceIn one of the most thorough accounts of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, Nathan S. Chapman and Michael W. McConnell provide an insightful overview of the legal history and meaning of the clause, as well as its value for promoting equal religious freedom and diversity in
Episode 717: Han Yu - The Curious Human Knee
Where would we be without the knee? This down-to-earth joint connecting the thigh and the lower leg doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. Yet, as The Curious Human Knee reveals, it is crucial to countless facets of science, medicine, culture, and history—and even what makes us human.The science writer Han Yu provides an informative, surprising, and entertaining exploration of the hum
Episode 716: David Acheson - The Spirit of Mathematics: Algebra and All That
Whether you have anxious memories of the subject from school, or solve quadratic equations for fun, David Acheson's book will make you look at mathematics afresh. Following on from his previous bestsellers, The Calculus Story and The Wonder Book of Geometry, here Acheson highlights the power of algebra, combining it with arithmetic and geometry to capture the spirit of mathematics. This s
Episode 715: How To Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes
Cody Cassidy's new book, "How to Survive History," is an engaging exploration of the ingenious strategies used by our ancestors to endure challenges throughout time. From ancient civilizations to the modern era, Cassidy presents practical advice based on historical records and archaeological findings. He brings history to life, bridging the past and present, and inspiring readers with sto
Episode 714: Jean Manuel Roubineau - The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic
An engaging look at the founder of one of the most important philosophical schools of ancient Greece.The ancient philosopher Diogenes--nicknamed "The Dog" and decried by Plato as a "Socrates gone mad"--was widely praised and idealized as much as he was mocked and vilified. A favorite subject of sculptors and painters since the Renaissance, his notoriety is equally due to his infamously ec
Episode 713: Vincent Figueredo - The Curious History of the Heart: A Cultural and Scientific Journey
For much of recorded history, people considered the heart to be the most important organ in the body. In cultures around the world, the heart-not the brain-was believed to be the location of intelligence, memory, emotion, and the soul. Over time, views on the purpose of the heart have transformed as people sought to understand the life forces it contains. Modern medicine and science dismi
Episode 712: Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies - Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music
Whenever a person engages with music―when a piano student practices a scale, a jazz saxophonist riffs on a melody, a teenager sobs to a sad song, or a wedding guest gets down on the dance floor―countless neurons are firing. Playing an instrument requires all of the resources of the nervous system, including cognitive, sensory, and motor functions. Composition and improvisation are remarka
Episode 711: Todd A Finkle - Warren Buffett: Investor and Entrepreneur
Warren Buffett is perhaps the most accomplished investor of all time. The CEO and chair of Berkshire Hathaway has earned admiration for not only his financial feats but also the philosophy behind them. Todd A. Finkle provides striking new insights into Buffett's career through the lens of entrepreneurship. This book demonstrates that although Buffett is thought of primarily as an investor
Episode 710: Andy Clark - The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
For as long as we’ve studied human cognition, we’ve believed that our senses give us direct access to the world. What we see is what’s really there—or so the thinking goes. But new discoveries in neuroscience and psychology have turned this assumption on its head. What if rather than perceiving reality passively, your mind actively predicts it?Widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive sc
Episode 709: Kelsy Burke - The Pornography Wars
For readers of Peggy Orenstein and Rebecca Traister, an authoritative, big think look at pornography in all its facets - historical, religious, and cultural.In the 1960s, sex researchers Masters and Johnson declared the end of the fake orgasm. Nearly two decades later, in 1982, evangelical activist Tim LaHaye foretold that the entire pornography industry would soon be driven out of busine
Episode 708: Michael Gordin - Pseudoscience: A Very Short Introduction
Everyone has heard of the term "pseudoscience," typically used to describe something that looks like science, but is somehow false, misleading, or unproven. Many would be able to agree on a list of things that fall under its umbrella - astrology, phrenology, UFOlogy, creationism, and eugenics might come to mind. But defining what makes these fields "pseudo" is a far more complex issue. It
Recommended
11 O'Clock Comics Podcast
123 GO! Food
1-2-3 Learn Spanish with Me!
128 Civics Questions for U.S. Citizenship Test
12 Hour Sound Machines for Sleep (no loops or fades)
#12minconvos
12 Minute Meditation
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson, Book Summary, Podcast, English
1440 Explores
1490 Doom - Lore Series Podcast
15 MINS OF FAME
15 Minute Mysteries: The Deep Dive
