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 Stephen Asma: On Monsters [19:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I first became aware of Stephen Asma’s book on the fine Washington Post Book World podcast (which sadly is no more). The Post also chose the book as one of its top non-fiction titles of the year for 2009, calling it “a safari through the many manifestations of our idea of the monstrous”. Their reviewer […]

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Here’s an intriguing question to start the new year with.
Last autumn I interviewed Marcus Chown about his latest popular science title, We Need to Talk about Kelvin. At the end of the interview (which you can find here), we made this short video in which Marcus tackled a question famously posed by the Italian physicist, […]

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Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster and journalist.  His academic interests led him from physics to philosophy via theology (he began his professional life as a priest in the Church of England). He went freelance ten years ago and now writes regularly for the Guardian, The Philosophers’ Magazine, TLS, Financial Times and New Statesman, alongside […]

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This is the second in an occasional series in which I ask an interviewee three questions - no tricks or traps, but no forewarning either.
This time my guest is writer, Robert Rowland Smith, who has just published a book entitled Breakfast with Socrates: The Philosophy of Everyday Life. I rather like the exclamation mark and […]

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Christopher Potter, after a distinguished career in publishing of over two decades, published his own first book this year: You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe, which the Sunday Times called “wonderful stuff, the most thoughtful pop science book of the last few years” and which New Scientist praised for its “crisp, […]

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This is the first in a new series of films in which (you may have guessed this from the title) I ask an author three questions on camera. No tricks or traps, but no forewarning either.
My first guest is philosopher Julian Baggini, who has appeared on Podularity before.
Click below to see how he responded to […]

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 Zalasiewicz: The Earth after Us [19:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What would a race of space-travelling aliens 100 million years in the future make of the Earth?
“One can imagine that they’ll be sufficiently scientifically curious to look on the world as extraordinary - because the Earth is extraordinary by comparison with all the other planets.
“And then to investigate its future present, as it were, […]

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 Richardson: The Making of Mr Gray's Anatomy [17:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“What’s so wonderful about Carter’s illustrations [for Gray’s Anatomy] is that they are not abject people, they are not shown as lumps of meat, they’re not shown as undignified, they’re not shown in pain. In fact, many of the illustrations are quite noble…
“It’s the first real anatomy book for students to be published since the […]

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“It’s increasingly evident that narration is built in to the human floor-plan as it were. Little kids take to story-telling very, very early… The fact is that we will tell stories; it’s part of being human.
“What effects those stories may have are often quite unforeseen by the people telling them, but if they are listened […]

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Philosopher Julian Baggini has taken to film-making to promote his latest book entitled Should You Judge This Book by its Cover? In the book, he subjects one hundred proverbs and other examples of homespun wisdom to philosophical scrutiny. And in the film - well, click below and see for yourself.
You can also listen to an […]

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